Ingredient Substitution Guide

1. Step 1

   Bring a big pot of water to a boil and add a lot of salt (about ½ cup should do it). Add the potatoes and cook until tender all the way through, about 30 minutes. Remove them from the pot and let them drain until they’re cool enough to touch but still warm. Gently peel the potatoes, using a paring knife as needed, then cube them into pieces that are about an inch or an inch and a half. Do the size you want, but be consistent.

2. Step 2

   While the potatoes boil, mince the onion, celery and eggs by hand, keeping them separate. The pieces should be small enough that you don’t end up seeing distinct pieces of onion, celery and egg in that potato salad. Be sure to mince those celery leaves too.

3. Step 3

   Drain the jar of relish in a strainer and run it under cold water to rinse all the sauce off. You don’t want the sugar from the relish brine, just the sweet pickles. Use paper towels or a clean tea towel to press all the liquid out through the strainer and get the pickles as dry as you possibly can.

4. Step 4

   Put the potatoes in a big mixing bowl and add the strained relish, celery and eggs, along with half the onion. Add the mayonnaise and a nice big healthy squeeze of mustard (about ¼ cup to start). Sprinkle on a pinch of sugar and a lot of salt, pepper and hot paprika. Get the mix going, taste it and see how onion-y it seems. Add more onion if you want and taste again. 

5. Step 5

   Now, see if it needs more mayonnaise. It should be very creamy, but in no way wet. If you put the salad in a glass container to bring to a picnic, it shouldn’t move around in there. If it’s drier than it should be, add more mayonnaise by the tablespoon. Taste and add more mustard, salt, pepper and paprika if it needs it. The potato salad is delicious at room temperature, but as refreshing as a beer when chilled until cold. It’s even better after a full 24 hours in the fridge. 

Tips

• Avoid dill pickle relish for this recipe — you want a sweet relish that’s got a little bit of red bits of pimento. 

• You want to use enough mustard to turn the salad yellow. The turmeric in French’s yellow mustard is an essential element here. When buying mustard, check the date on the bottle: You want the freshest one, with the latest  expiration date you can get.

• If you don’t have hot paprika, use sweet paprika with shy pinches of cayenne. You don’t want it to be hot on the tongue, but it’s great when it’s hot at the back of your throat.