Wild Firebrand

As you very well know, your dad is an Irishman from Idaho. He likes his potatoes. And your grandmother, CoraLee McGuire Bricker, makes her signature potato salad that I could never (and would never even attempt to) compete with. But, since we moved so far away, I had to create something for your dad since he LOVES potato salad.

So, this is NOT the original Bricker recipe — especially since your grandmother tailors the recipe for every person based on what they like included or not — which you all know I don’t do. This is a humble offering that doesn’t pretend to be anything other than what it is — potato salad made out of love for a mountain man who missed his mother’s cooking.

It starts with a 5lb bag of russet potatoes roughly cut into similarly sized cubes —

Cover those with water in a pot and boil. Don’t cut the pieces too small or you’ll end up with mashed potatoes — keep your cubes upwards of an inch squared, but smaller than 2 inches. Add salt to the water. Don’t ask me and grandma how much — because its more than it should be but not too much, ya know?!

While that is boiling, gather your ingredients. You need a full 32 oz. jar of Claussen pickles — HAS TO BE CLAUSSEN for the crisp, cold, crunch! More about that later, but you’ll need Miracle Whip, a full can of olives, a couple of hard boiled eggs (make them yourself or use grocery-bought short cut), grainy mustard, and bacon. You only need 6-8 strips, but make more because there are pixies and brownies in the kitchen who mysteriously steal bacon off the counter top when you turn your back so …. make enough for the kitchen thieves!

Cut every pickle in that jar into moon shapes (by slicing a half). You decide how big you want the pieces — I used to cut them fairly large, but I liked having them in every bite so I cut them smaller now, but YOU DO YOU, boo! Keep the juice — more on that later.

Don’t forget to cook the bacon!

Drain the potatoes — and then put them in the freezer — for about 15 minutes to dry them out and keep them cold for the mixin’.

Once you have chopped the pickles, fried the bacon, sliced the eggs, and drained the can of olives, then pull the cold potatoes out of the freezer and start mixing everything together. Only YOU can determine the quantities of the MW (a cup +/-) and the mustard (2-3 tablespoons). (Teacup — you might try it with green olives if you’re feeling feisty.)

BUT HERE’S THE SECRET — add *some* pickle juice to the mix once you’ve added the MW. AND — strain the pickling spices out of the pickle jar (that’s why it has to be Claussens) and add them to the potato salad.

MOMMA HACK: Keep the remaining juice in the pickle jar and add chopped cucumbers or okra or carrots or jalapenos or turnips or whatever for a bright snack later — or freeze it for pickle pops. Don’t ever waste good pickle juice!

Add some paprika and put the potato salad in the fridge to get cold and keep the MW in a solid state — then, keep your dad from stealing ‘corners’ out of the serving dish while you wait for guests. OR, just give it to him for his birthday.

That’s it, my loves. Your Momma’s Potato Salad. I hope you enjoy it for years to come. Remember, your momma loves you!!