Mum's Czech Potato Salad

Cooking with Rich

2020-11-01T01:58:14+00:00

Potato salad, like schnitzel, mostly reminds me of Christmas dinner as a kid. A big plate of veal or pork schnitzel, a huge bowl of potato salad and maybe a piece of smoked pork shoulder or neck and I was in heaven. Usually there was something resembling vegetables on the table also (who knows what the green stuff was), but my memory was savouring a fork of schnitzel covered in a heap of mum's potato salad.

These days I will more often have my schnitzel with mash, because I'm lazy and rarely plan a day ahead, which is the recommended advance preparation time when making my mother's potato salad (or any for that matter).

The recipe below is straight from my mum, with only a very minor addition of the garlic chives, giving it an extra hint of herbs. Like most common dishes there are regional variations and personal tweaks. This recipe is fundamentally a Czech potato salad, differing a little from the many other potato salad recipes from Germany, Austria, England, Australia, America etc and even after researching specifically Czech potato salad, there are variations and 'secrets' that offer a variety of options. Some add celery, parsley or dill, or like my mum, some throw in a little protein, like ham, bacon or chopped sausage.

As always, have a go, let me know ... and don't be afraid to play around.

Mum's Czech Potato Salad

Preparation: ~1 hours (including cooking time) | Serves: 4-6 as side | Skill Level: Easy

Ingredients

1kg potatoes
3 eggs (hard boiled)
1 white onion finely chopped
1 carrot
~50g of gherkins finely chopped
80-100g frozen peas (defrosted)
375-400g of quality mayonnaise
1½ tbs Dijon mustard
2 tbs chopped garlic chives
salt & pepper to season
Optional: 150g of cubed ham, I left this out as it is hard to get where we are.

Method

Hard boil the eggs and roughly chop once cooked.
Peel, quarter and boil potatoes, you can add the whole carrot to the pot to par-cook. Don't over boil the potatoes, testing after about 12-15 mins to ensure they are cooked yet still firm. Once boiled half each potato piece again.
Take the carrot, which should be partially cooked but still firm and dice into small pieces.
Combine mayonnaise, mustard and season to taste with a little salt and pepper.
Once all the ingredients are cooked, chopped etc, add to a large mixing bowl and gently mix until all ingredients are well combined. Taste and add extra seasoning if required.
Let rest in the fridge for at least 1-2 hours, but the longer the better so the flavours combine.

Tips & Alternatives

The number one tip would be to make the day before you want to serve.
When cooking hard boiled eggs, fresh is best as they will be easier to peel. Place the eggs in a pot of cold water, heat to a boil, bring back to a simmer for 1 min and then turn off the heat and let the eggs sit for 10-15 mins. Rinse in cold water.
When I boil the potatoes, I usually peel and cut the potatoes to about twice the final size. I find it easier to control the 'doneness' this way, then cutting each piece in half after cooling. Simply place the potatoes in a pot of cold water and bring to boil, and continue for about 15 mins at which point you can start to test, making sure they remain firm.
You could easily add a little chilli for an extra zing or try using an alternative mustard like English.
You can swap the garlic chives for spring onion.

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