My Granny was an incredible cook. My mom remembers Granny (her MIL but Mom as she called her) would tell her I made you German potato salad, which was her favorite. I’ve eaten it many times and it’s my sister’s and my favorite too, but I have never made it before. Today, I’m watching mOm make it. This is the version on the bespattered recipe card that Granny gave mom that had her latest changes.
Granny’s German Potato Salad
4 large potatoes
2-3 celery ribs, minced
1 or more onion, minced
1/2 # bacon
1/2 c bacon fat (reserved from bacon above)
1/2 c cider vinegar
1/2 c sugar
salt and pepper
3 T chopped parsley
Cook potatoes in salted water, scrubbed but whole and unpeeled, covered, until tender. Peel when hot (use hot mitts which go straight into the washer). Cut into uniform pieces and place in a bowl with the onion and celery.
Fry the bacon, cut fine, until crisp. Pour off fat and save 1/2 c, discard remaining. Leaving bacon in the pan, add vinegar and sugar, taste for salt and add more if needed, add ground pepper to taste. Cook for 15-20 minutes. Pour over potatoes and serve at once with vienas (“vie-annas” as Granny pronounced them) or weiners. Sprinkle with parsley.
Granny remarked to mOm that she thought her mother must have been of Germanic descent as this recipe originally was hers. Granny’s family history is a great mystery.
Heather in SF 
