Name: Bigly Potato Salad
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients: 3 lb Yukon Gold potatoes; 2 tbsp kosher salt (for boiling water); 3 tbsp white wine vinegar; 4 large eggs, hard-boiled and chopped; 2 stalks celery, finely diced; 1/2 cup red onion, finely diced; 1/2 cup dill pickles, finely diced; 3/4 cup mayonnaise; 3/4 cup sour cream; 2 tbsp Dijon mustard; 3 tbsp fresh dill, chopped; 1 1/4 tsp, plus more to taste kosher salt; 1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground; as needed paprika (for garnish)

Bigly Potato Salad

Prep

20m

Cook

20m

Total

40m

Bigly says

Folks. Potato salad. We're doing potato salad. And before we go ANY further, let me say this — and I'm going to say it loud because people in the back need to hear it — most potato salad in this country is a TOTAL DISASTER. It's potato MUSH. It's a sad beige paste with a hard-boiled egg crying in the middle. It sits at a barbecue for three hours in the sun and then somebody gets sick and blames the chicken. It's never the chicken. It's the potato salad. I've investigated. Personally.

This potato salad — MINE, the BIGLY one, the one we're making today — is a different animal entirely. The potatoes hold their SHAPE. Each cube of potato is a tender little soldier standing at attention. The dressing is creamy but it's BRIGHT, it has acid, it has bite, it has things going ON. There's pickle. There's mustard. There's dill — and the dill is the MVP, the dill is what separates the winners from the losers, and most people use NO DILL, which is INSANE, an empty kitchen on a Tuesday is what those potato salads taste like. We don't do that here.

My grandmother made potato salad — and she was a tough woman, the toughest, she could open a jar with her elbow, I watched her do it — and she taught me the two secrets when I was barely tall enough to see over the counter. ONE: season the potatoes while they're still HOT, you splash vinegar on them while they're STEAMING, they drink it in, they absorb the flavor, it's beautiful. TWO: the dressing is half mayo, half sour cream. Not all mayo. All mayo is HEAVY. Sour cream gives it lift. Sour cream gives it CLASS. Many people don't know this. Now you know. Believe me.

Ingredients

3 lbYukon Gold potatoes(Yukon Gold, not russet — russets fall apart and we are not building MASHED potato salad)
2 tbspkosher salt (for boiling water)
3 tbspwhite wine vinegar
4large eggs, hard-boiled and chopped
2 stalkscelery, finely diced
1/2 cupred onion, finely diced
1/2 cupdill pickles, finely diced(kosher dill, never sweet pickle, sweet pickle is a war crime)
3/4 cupmayonnaise
3/4 cupsour cream
2 tbspDijon mustard
3 tbspfresh dill, chopped
1 1/4 tsp, plus more to tastekosher salt
1 tspblack pepper, freshly ground
as neededpaprika (for garnish)

Steps

1
Scrub the potatoes and cut into 3/4-inch cubes. Leave the skins on for color and texture.
2
Place potatoes in a large pot, cover with cold water by 1 inch, and add 2 tablespoons of kosher salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
3
Cook 8-12 minutes, until a paring knife slides into a potato cube with light resistance — do not overcook. Drain immediately.
4
Transfer the hot potatoes to a large bowl. Drizzle with the white wine vinegar and toss gently. Let cool 15 minutes — the potatoes absorb the vinegar as they cool.
5
While potatoes cool, whisk mayonnaise, sour cream, Dijon, dill, salt, and pepper in a separate bowl until smooth.
6
Add the chopped eggs, celery, red onion, and pickles to the cooled potatoes.
7
Pour the dressing over the top and fold gently with a rubber spatula — fold, don't stir, you want the potato cubes intact.
8
Taste and adjust salt. Transfer to a serving bowl, dust the top with paprika, and refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving. Best the next day.

One more thing

Make this the day before. The day BEFORE — I cannot stress this enough — potato salad needs to sit, it needs to think about what it's done, it needs to make peace with itself in the cold dark of the refrigerator overnight, and then the next day, it emerges TRANSFORMED. You'll bring it to the cookout. Somebody else will bring a store-bought tub. The store-bought tub will not be touched. The owner of the tub will pretend they didn't bring it. They'll sneak it back to their cooler like a shameful pet. Don't make eye contact. Just keep serving the BIGLY potato salad. Smile. You're winning. Save me a piece.

★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★

Ask Bigly about Bigly Potato Salad.

Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.

Bigly Potato Salad

Ingredients

Steps

KEEP COOKING.

The Best Au Gratin Potatoes

Tremendous Baked Beans

The Best Corn on the Cob

Tremendous Couscous Salad