July 16 2016
A beautiful day here less than 80 and no humidity! I had some nice rib eye steaks from my butcher to fix and was having potato salad and asparagus with it. I thought it would be just the wife and me but the son had to go out of town on business so the DIL and grandson was going to eat with us.
I made up the potato salad early. It was in the quest for Van Skyver’s potato salad. They were a local family that had popular potato salad here in Wapakoneta for years selling over 500 pounds on a 3 day week-end. They sold out and a couple people sold it for a while but the last lady with the recipe moved out of the state.
Nancy Van Skyver always said when asked for the recipe that it was a popular recipe that was in cook books. I tried to copy the recipe several times without success. I got to thinking what cookbooks was popular back when they first made the potato salad and it was Betty Crocker’s. It had one for Old Fashioned potato salad. I searched the net and there were plenty that said Old Fashioned or Grandma’s potato salad with about the same ingredients, I used one from Martha Stewart with a few changes.
The rib eyes got salted with kosher salt and in the fridge overnight. Three hours before cooking I added some granulated garlic and fresh ground pepper. I had made some gorgonzola chive butter for on top. The butter is a stick of soft butter, 2 Tbs. of crumbled gorgonzola and a Tbs. of snipped fresh chives mixed well. Place on plastic wrap and roll then in the fridge.
I was afraid the asparagus was not enough for 4 so I fried some corn I had frozen from last year.
The rib eyes went on my smoker at 225 deg. and took about 40 minutes to get to an IT of 111 deg. I nuked the asparagus and in my cast iron server with a little olive oil, two pats of gorgonzola butter and some garlic flakes then in the smoker with the steaks. I had my Weber Spirit at 400 deg. and seared the steaks 3 minutes per side on the back of grill grates. The grates were about 500 deg. I took all inside and served.
The wife and I both shared some of our steak with the grandson. The daughter in law ate veggies. Steaks were just right for us and all loved the potato salad. We didn’t think it was Van Skyver’s style but the wife said make it like this from now on! Potato salad is about like my chili; I make it different every time.
After the smoke ready to grill
Smokin Don
Recipe:
My Old Fashioned Potato Salad
2 pounds of white or russet potatoes
Dressing:
¾ cup Hellman’s Mayonnaise
¼ cup sour cream
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon yellow mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon sugar
1 medium onion chopped small
2 to 4 stalks celery diced small. I only used two but we thought it needed more
3 hardboiled eggs chopped small
Peel and cut up potatoes to desired size; mine were about ¾ inch pieces. I steamed the potatoes for 15 minutes in my rice cooker. I like them steamed better than boiling them.
Whisk together the dressing ingredients then add the chopped onions and celery. Add the potatoes and chopped eggs; stir to mix well. Check for seasoning and add if needed. I usually let people add their own if needed. The potatoes were still a little warm; I think they take on flavors better than waiting until they are cold. Let set until cooled down and then in the fridge.
