Loaded Potato Salad

Memorial Day weekend again. Last year I packed a cooler and drove to Grinnell. This year Kevin suggested we host and have Dad and Mom come to us. So I did what I do: I cooked for two days straight. Pork tenderloin sandwiches — the Iowa kind, always the Iowa kind. Potato salad, Mom's recipe. Baked beans, slow and sweet. Deviled eggs, because I had a dozen eggs and deviled eggs at a cookout is not optional, it's constitutional.

Dad seemed better this weekend. Not good — I've stopped using "good" for Dad because good implies a trajectory and Roger Weber's trajectory is what it is — but better. He ate. He sat in the backyard and watched Jack's garden and asked questions about the corn height and the tomato varieties and the green bean production, and for a few hours he was the man he used to be: the farmer, the expert, the one who knew things about soil that nobody else knew. Jack sat next to him and they talked in their language — the language of planting dates and moisture levels and the particular shade of green that means a plant is healthy versus the shade that means trouble.

Mom helped me make the potato salad. Side by side in the kitchen, her hands and mine, doing the same motions at the same speed because I learned the rhythm from her and the rhythm is permanent. She boiled the potatoes while I chopped the celery and onion and hard-boiled the eggs. We assembled it in silence — mayo, mustard, pickle juice, salt, pepper, mix, taste, adjust, taste again. "More pickle juice," she said. She always says more pickle juice. She's always right.

The go-kart appeared. Noah and Kevin have been working on it for months and it is — it exists. It moves. It is a plywood platform on four wheels with a salvage motor and a steering mechanism made from a garden hose nozzle, and it goes approximately eight miles per hour, which is fast enough to be thrilling for an eleven-year-old and slow enough to be terrifying for his mother. Noah drove it around the driveway. Dad watched from his lawn chair and said, "Good engineering." Noah beamed.

We ate in the backyard. The whole family. Paper plates, plastic cups, pork tenderloin sandwiches bigger than the buns. The sun was warm and the corn was growing and my father was eating and my mother was alive and my children were fed and that was Memorial Day and it was enough.

The potato salad is always the recipe I come back to — not because it’s the flashiest thing on the table, but because it’s the one that puts my mother’s hands next to mine. We didn’t talk much while we made it this year; we didn’t need to. The rhythm was already there, learned so long ago it lives in muscle memory now. If you want to make it yourself, the only thing I can tell you is what she always tells me: more pickle juice than you think, and then taste it again.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 40 minutes (plus chilling) | Servings: 8–10

Ingredients

3 pounds Yukon Gold or russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1 teaspoon salt, plus more for boiling water
6 large eggs, hard-boiled and peeled
3 stalks celery, finely diced
1/2 medium yellow onion, finely diced
4 slices thick-cut bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
3 tablespoons dill pickle juice (or more — taste and adjust)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 cup dill pickles, finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh chives or flat-leaf parsley, chopped (for garnish)
Paprika, for garnish

Instructions

Boil the potatoes. Place cubed potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold, well-salted water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook 12–15 minutes, until fork-tender but not falling apart. Drain and spread on a baking sheet to cool completely, about 20 minutes.
Hard-boil the eggs. If not already done, place eggs in a saucepan, cover with cold water by 1 inch, and bring to a full boil. Remove from heat, cover, and let sit 11 minutes. Transfer to an ice bath for 5 minutes, then peel. Roughly chop 4 eggs; slice 2 for topping.
Make the dressing. In a large bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, yellow mustard, pickle juice, apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Taste — it should be tangy and just a little sharp. Add more pickle juice if it isn’t.
Combine. Add the cooled potatoes, chopped eggs, celery, onion, chopped pickles, and half the bacon to the dressing. Fold gently with a rubber spatula until everything is evenly coated. Try not to break up the potatoes.
Taste and adjust. This is the step that matters. Add salt, pepper, or more pickle juice until it tastes right to you. It should taste bright and creamy, not flat.
Chill. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours, or overnight. The flavors improve substantially as they sit.
Finish and serve. Before serving, top with sliced eggs, remaining crumbled bacon, fresh chives or parsley, and a dusting of paprika.

Nutrition (per serving)

Loaded Potato Salad — The Recipe Mom and I Make Side by Side Every Memorial Day