all of this explains why, at 25 years old, i still felt compelled to Google for the directions to hard boil an egg. BOY!!! No WONDER i was confused. the ideal boiled egg is apparently a highly debated thing. One could start with cold eggs, warm eggs, room temperature eggs, then drop them into ice water, luke warm water, boiling water, or water salted and flavored with St. Germane. once you do that i read suggestions to continue boiling, lid on or off, boil while stirring, add ice to the water, or top with a lid and turn off the heat. after this you can let them continue doing whatever it is they are doing for anywhere from 7 to 25 minutes
Rather then actually biting the bullet, I procrastinated and started the potatoes for my giant potato salad. Already frustrated by the egg debacle, I fill a pot put it on the stove and added some washed potatoes. SKIN AND ALL. BAH! why had i said i would make potato salad anyway? These people (my family) are perfectionist in the kitchen, of both Italian and Polish descent they have cooking down to an art...why hadn't i said i would bring something unimportant....like cookies, or ketchup.....
In the pot the unpeeled potatoes went and i set about the kitchen copping vegetables and mulling how to cook eggs to that beautifully firm, non rubbery and perfectly yellow pedestal i had set in my head. so instead of perfecting a method i figured i would boil these eggs the most basic way possible. i took the eggs STRAIT FROM THE REFRIGERATOR, chucked them in the boiling water with the potatoes (covered), set a timer for 10 minutes and waited for it to go off before i fished them out and rinsed them with cold water.
the resulting eggs were.....beautiful. once cooled a bit, i ran them under cold water and the shells peeled off easily with the thin skin that lays beneath it. no sticking, no breakage to the firm, squishy, not rubbery whites. when i broke the eggs open the yolks were cooked through and vibrantly yellow.....go figure. i hadn't bought organic free range egg or even brought the little cluckers to room temperature first. guess the easiest way was for the win all along.
when a knife easily passed through the potatoes, i strained them as well and rinsed them with cold water. over the bowl i intended to make the potato salad in, i squeezed the spuds, which slipped right from there skins and landed into the bowl, ready to be mashed with the remaining ingredients.
easy peasy potato squeezy
at this point i chopped the veggies, added the spices and condiments and mashed to combine. to note the potatoes are less firm in this salad, not smooth and mushy, but not your standard cut squares either. to note, my italian/polish cooking extraordinaire family LOVED this salad....either that or they really love me, are really good at lying and im highly gullible. i'd have to say im pretty sure the first statement and last are pretty accurate,but i've never caught them in the third. SOOOOooo maybe i was onto something by getting frustrated and throwing things every which way in the kitchen.
i wonder if that's how grandma did it?
Pretty Perfect Potato Salad ( For a Crowd!) |
INGREDIENTS Fresh Dill Weed 4 Cloves Garlic (minced) 2 Onions (minced) 1 Bunch Scallions (minced) 2 cups Spicy (Deli) Mustard 3 cups Mayonnaise 1 cup Dijon Mustard 8 Eggs 5 pounds Potatoes (russets are fine) 12 Kosher Baby Pickles (or 6 large, i like the lil' guys) 2 Green Peppers (cubed) 1/2 bunch Celery (chopped) splash of white vinegar pinches of : salt, pepper and paprika | DIRECTIONS |