Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Bacon Bacon Bacon. Oh, and German Potato Salad too.

This one time, at band camp....just kidding. But seriously, this one time, my friend Cristina and I went to our friend Paul's house on Gross Ile. We spent the whole day drinking on the boat, cruising around, and when we got back to Paul's house, there was a feast of food for us. It was heaven. Paul's family is German, and there was this AMAZING German potato salad that I will never forget.

I had no experience with a potato salad before that didn't have either mayo or mustard in it. But this potato salad was a thing of beauty and I have been trying to recreate it ever since. This latest experiment is the closest I have come (I think), but it doesn't do the Prechter version any justice. What I can't remember is whether their version had bacon in it.

But this one does, so have no fear.


Cheesy Factor (1 no cheese, 10 all cheese): 1 (I don't know how something so wonderful has no cheese)
Dummy Factor (1 easiest, 10 hardest): 4
Time Factor (1 shortest, 10 longest): 4

Prechter and Bacon Hot German Potato Salad
3 russet potatoes, peeled (or 4 red skin potatoes, skin on)
3-4 slices of bacon
1/4 cup chopped onions
1/8 cup chopped red bell pepper
2 tsp flour
2 tsp white sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp celery seed
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 cup water
2 Tbl white distilled vinegar

Serves 4. Boil potatoes in water until tender. If using russet potatoes, let cool, then slice thin. Cook bacon in skillet until crispy. Set aside and then crumble. Saute onions and red bell pepper in bacon drippings in skillet until onions are golden brown. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt, celery seed, and pepper. Add mixture to skillet, stir, and cook until bubbly, then remove from heat. Stir in water and vinegar to skillet, then return to heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Boil and stir for one minute. Then mix in potatoes and bacon to skillet, tossing to coat in mixture and potatoes heated through (if using red skin potatoes, light break up potatoes with a fork or lightly smash into mixture).

Seriously, I don't care if you like vinegar or not. This sh-- is delicious. And cooking onions and bell pepper in bacon drippings??? Forget about it. Genius! What I remember most about the Prechter version is the vinegar. This is the first go around I have had with this version, but I may add a little more vinegar on the next one, just to see.

Bacon. YUM.