"Secret Salad"

Source: This Week Magazine, January 2, 1949, p. 21

"Secret Salad"

"Found: the world's best potato salad, 20 cents a side portion on the Speck's menu--that century-old coffee house on Market Street in St. Louis. This restaurant-kitchen of the antiquated equipment has been dishing up the salad and other hearty German dishes since before the city's great fire in 1849. Good cooks of the town all have their own versions of the Speck's specialty--but always something is lacking. It took Thelma R. Leson [Lison], home economist for an advertising agency, to spy out its secret. Here's Thelma's recipe, and the real McCoy, say those in the know. Divine stuff served with boiled tongue, with baked ham, with corned beef."

Recipe

3 lbs. potatoes
1/4 c. diced bacon
1/4 c. chopped onion
1 tbs. flour
2 tsp. salt
1 1/4 tbs. sugar
1/4 tsp. pepper
2/3 c. cider vinegar
1/3 c. water
1/2 tsp. celery seed
3 tbs. chopped parsley

Wash potatoes. Put potatoes in a pan of water (make sure water covers potatoes), bring to boil. Cook until tender. Cool, peel, slice thin.

While potatoes are cooking, fry bacon until crisp, add onion to cooked bacon and cook 1 minuted. Blend in flour, salt, sugar, and pepper. Stir in cider vinegar and water. Cook 10 minutes, stirring well. Pour mixture over sliced potatoes. Add celery seed and parsley. Mix thoroughly. Serve warm. Yield: 6 portions.

I love potato salad! This is good with sandwiches, BBQ, and as a side dish for any meal.

Some people do not like potatoes cooked in their skin/jackets. Feel free to peel your potatoes before boiling.

Enjoy!