Katie's Homemade Potato Salad
 

By Mel Watkins

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They say that my mother, Katie Watkins, brought this recipe with her when she left Memphis, Tennessee, and migrated to Ohio back in the 1940s. A few years after the family settled in Youngstown, her potato salad had become the highlight of family meals. It was a year-round showstopper.

On winter Sundays, the table was usually filled with a platter of succulent Southern fried chicken, bowls of macaroni salad and collard or turnip greens simmered in fat back, hot corn bread, and, to wash it down, a few pitchers of freshly squeezed lemonade. After Church, everyone hurried back home and gathered in the living room. Those dinners usually included all of our immediate family and the usual assortment of distant cousins and friends like the long-winded Reverend Rose, a Baptist preacher whose speechifying was matched only by his appetite. At those meals, Mom's spicy potato salad nearly always disappeared first.

When questioned about where it originated, she'd always say that her mother, who I called Miss Aggie, had passed it along to her years before, when they lived in Tunica, Mississippi. Of course, nobody paid much attention to the explanation; it was nice to know where it came from but most of us were more interested in where it was going. Katie's desserts, the homemade rice pudding in particular, were the only dishes that came close to receiving as many calls for seconds.

But it was at summer outings at the city's large municipal park or at backyard picnics that it received most attention. On those occasions, despite plates stacked high with butter-soaked corn-on-the-cob and the aroma of sizzling ribs dripping with hot sauce rising from the grill, the whole family would stand around laughing and joking while impatiently waiting for Katie to arrive. No one touched a rib or ear of corn until she appeared.

One bowl wasn't enough, and Mom always needed help lugging the overflowing serving plates to the affair. So, when I was allowed, I'd carry one of the heaping platters from the car to the picnic grounds. It was one chore that I never complained about, since it gave me ample opportunity to dip a finger into the scrumptious concoction and conduct my own pre-meal taste test.

Preparing the dish was a ritual onto itself. As a child, I remember standing in the kitchen with my sister Doris (Watkins) Wallace and watching Mom carefully paring and dicing the fresh ingredients, then adding her special seasoning; I was always impressed by the way she went about it. Everything had to be just so--celery, onions and potatoes diced at exactly the right size, mustard and mayonnaise measured precisely. You didn't dare interfere.

My favorite part came after she had thoroughly mixed the mouth-watering concoction and placed slices of hard-boiled eggs and a healthy sprinkling of paprika on top as garnish. She always allowed me to lick the spoon.

Years later, it was my sister Doris who carried on the tradition. She remained in Youngstown and, whenever her family gathers for holidays, picnics or special meals, the potato salad takes center stage. My sister tweaked the recipe just a bit, adding a few of her own seasoning variations. But the result is a grand side dish that smacks of a loving tradition started decades ago by Katie. In addition to soliciting rave reviews, it's guaranteed to attract lots of love.

And, yes, it's every bit as tasty as it must have been back in the day in Tunica.

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KATIE WATKINS POTATO SALAD

(Serves 8)

INGREDIENTS:

 

4 to 5 medium to large baking potatoes

5 hard-boiled eggs (chopped) use one of the eggs to garnish salad

4 ounce jar of diced pimento (drained)

1 cup of sweet relish (completely drained)

1 cup of chopped onions

1/2 cup finely chopped green or red peppers

2 tsp salt or to taste

1 tsp white pepper

1 tsp red pepper

1 tsp yellow prepared mustard

1 tsp of cayenne ground pepper

1 tsp paprika

3 small stuffed sliced green olives for garnish

1 3/4 cup “Miracle Whip” Salad Dressing

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

Wash and scrub potatoes. Place potatoes in large covered boiler with cold water and cook until they are tender enough to be pierced with a fork. Allow potatoes to cool before they are peeled; cut peeled potatoes into small cubes -approximately 1/2 inch wide. Place the potatoes in a large bowl and add remaining ingredients. Gently fold MIRACLE WHIP into other ingredients, do not stir briskly or bruise potatoes. Garnish with sliced boiled egg, a second tsp. of paprika, and sliced, pimento-stuffed green olives. Remember, relish and pimento must be thoroughly drained.

Note: Presentation may be heightened by serving the potato salad on a platter lined with green leaf lettuce or by serving the dish on individual salad plates atop a bed of green leaf lettuce.

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