German-style potato salad, 3 ways: putting this misnomer to bed
Have some German potato salad. But which one will you choose? Check out our 3 very different but traditional German potato salad recipes from 3 regions of Germany: Bavarian, Swabian and Rhineland.
German-style potato salad is a common side dish in countries outside of Germany. However this is a misnomer. There is no one German-style potato salad. Instead, there are regional differences and each housewife, of course, has their own way of making their potato salad.
Today we’re sharing three different German-style potato salads from three different regions of Germany. Perhaps you will find one recipe that you like the most and it will become the German-style potato salad that you serve at barbecues and with grilled meat.
The best potatoes for German-style potato salad
We went into the different types of potatoes in detail for our Reibekuchen (German potato pancakes) recipe, so I won’t go into a lot of detail here.
For potato salad, you need waxy or (directly translated) firm boiling potatoes. They contain less starch and don’t fall apart when cooked. Germans use them for their potato salad, but also for fried potatoes and potatoes in their jacked because they are ‘juicier’ and have a finer texture.
As a general rule, red-skinned potatoes will be waxier and they will also generally have a thinner skin. New potatoes, Red Bliss, Red Adirondack, Charlotte, Maris Peer and Jersey Royal are all waxy potato varieties, like the ones needed for these German-style potato salads.
Try and keep your potatoes all about the same size. That way they will all cook evenly and you won’t have some with hard middles while others are threatening to fall apart, despite being waxy potatoes.
Bavarian potato salad
The first of our German-style potato salads come from Bavaria. Bavaria is the largest state in Germany and has the second largest population. Its capital is Munich; other major cities include Nuremberg and Augsburg.
If you have never been to Germany, when you think of a “typical German” you probably think of someone drinking beer and eating sausages while wearing traditional costumes – Lederhosen for men and Dirndl for women – and performing a stomp dance when they are not speeding down the autobahn in their German automobile. While these traditions are often considered to depict Germany as a whole, they actually come from Bavaria.
Bavarian potato salad
Equipment
- frypan
- knife
- large spoon
Ingredients
- 500 g potatoes (firm boiling)
- 1 medium onion
- 2 large pickles
- 1 large apple such as a Granny Smith
- 150 g bacon pieces
- 100 mL strong beef stock
- 6 tablespoons vinegar preferably apple vinegar
- 5 tablespoons canola, vegetable or olive oil
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon mustard
- 1 teaspoon fresh parsley finely chopped
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Peel and cut the potatoes into slices and boil in lightly salted water until cooked. Germans would traditionally boil them with the skins on then peel and slice them when cooked.
- Dice the onion, peel, core and dice the apple, cut the gherkins into small cubes, brown the bacon and drain off the fat and finely chop the parsley.
- Pour the stock into a small saucepan. Add the vinegar, oil, sugar, mustard and season well with salt and pepper. Stir to combine well and bring to the boil. Allow to boil for about 30 seconds then remove from the heat.
- Combine potato slices, diced onion, gherkin cubes, diced apple, and bacon cubes in a bowl. Pour over the dressing and stir through. Allow the salad to sit and soak up the dressing for about 2 hours, stirring regularly. Add the parsley and check the seasoning and stir through again before serving.
Nutrition
Swabian-style potato salad
The second recipe in our German-style potato salad trio is the type of potato salad typically made by the housewives of Swabia, which is the area around Stuttgart. It is significantly simpler compared to the other two German-style potato salads that we are sharing today, but is no less delicious.
This recipe is one that my ex-boyfriend’s mother taught me to make. She wanted to make sure I could make her son’s favourite potato salad. She also bought me an egg cooker, to make sure he had eggs the way he liked them…
She introduced me to the German way of ‘peeling’ potatoes for their potato salad or fried potatoes. It is quite simple and ingenious, though I often find myself having to peel our potatoes with a potato peeler because the potatoes are too old and have started to sprout.
You simply run a knife around the potato to pierce the skin, but not cut deep into the potato. Try and make the start and end of the cut line up. Some German housewives will even have a knife that they use specifically for this purpose, though any small and sharp kitchen knife will do.
Boil the potatoes until cooked, with their skins on. The time will depend on the size of your potatoes.
When they are cooked through, drain off and rinse with cold water. The peel should have peel back a little along the cut. If you are lucky, you should be able to simply pull both ends of the peel off. Voilà! Peeled potatoes!
I’ll let you in on a secret: Because this Swabian-style potato salad doesn’t contain and egg-mayonnaise or cold meats or anything else you are supposed to avoid, it is a really good potato salad to eat while pregnant. The stock and vinegar can also help quell any cravings (as I can attest). Just go light on the onions…
Swabian potato salad
Equipment
- large spoon
Ingredients
- 500 g potatoes
- 2 small onions
- 1 tablespoon mustard
- 124 mL hot stock preferably beef or vegetable
- 1 knife tip nutmeg
- salt and pepper
- white wine or apple cidre vinegar
- cooking oil of your choice
Instructions
- Run the knife around your potatoes then boil them in their skins. Once cooked, remove the skins and slice finely while still warm. Place in a large bowl.
- Finely slice the onions and spread over the potatoes.
- Pour the hot stock over the potatoes and onions a little at a time – the potatoes should be coated but not swimming in the stock.
- Add the oil, mustard and vinegar to taste and mix well. Together with the stock, this will give the impression that the salad is wet. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Serve warm.
Notes
Nutrition
Rhineland potato salad
The third German-style potato salad is actually my mother-in-law’s recipe. She has lived in Solingen, near Cologne, nearly all her life.
Naturally, it is Peter’s favourite – which boy does not think his Mum’s potato salad is the best?
It differs from the others in that it uses mayonnaise or salad cream in the dressing, rather than just oil and vinegar.
Rhineland potato salad
Equipment
- knife
- small bowl
Ingredients
- 500 g potatoes
- 3 boiled eggs peeled
- 1 small onion
- 100 mL stock
- cornichons
- 3 tablespoons egg-based mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon mustard
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Peel, cube and boil the potatoes.
- Drain the cornichons and slice into small pieces, approximately 5 mm thick.
- Finely dice the onion or slice the spring onions and place them the small bowl.
- Add the stock cube to the small bow and pour over boiling water until the onions are just under the water. Stir well.
- Add the mayonnaise and mustard and season. If it is not creamy enough for your liking, add more mayonnaise. Stir well.
- Drain the cooked potatoes and place them in the salad bowl. Add the mayonnaise and onion mix and stir through. Allow the salad to sit for a couple of hours, preferably somewhere cool, stirring regularly to ensure that all the potatoes are covered in the dressing.
- Finely chop the parsley and sprinkle it over the top. Cut the eggs into quarters and lay the quarters on top to serve.
Nutrition
German-style potato salad – only three of many
These are just three of the many types of German-style potato salad. Some use radishes and fresh cucumber, ham or Fleischwurst (a type of German breakfast meat), while others use sour cream and dill rather than oil and vinegar or mayonnaise.
What I find interesting, however, is that all of these recipes use stock, something that is not commonly used in the Australian, British or American potato salad recipes I know. Of course, if you are going to cook potato salad like a real German housewife, you will cook the potatoes with the peel on and even have a knife specifically for the potatoes. I don’t. Yet.
Which German-style potato salad looks most appetizing to you? Which recipe are you going to try or your next barbecue?
