[miss marmelstein]

My potato salad:

Nix on all that you've read: you need to use soft baking potatoes, not waxy potatoes that hold their shape and don't take in the mayo that is lathered upon them.

Boil as many baking potatoes as you need. Fish them out when they're soft and peel off the skin. Put them in a bowl and if they don't fall apart, cut them in pieces. Add a small amount of minced onions and parsley as well as mayo, Dijon mustard, vinegar, salt, pepper. Stir it around. They will absorb the delicious mustard/mayo mix and you will have to mix more in until it has a highly delicious and deep flavor.

Cole Slaw? Use Savoy cabbage and mix in plenty of the dark and nutritious leaves. Add in a few minced sweet red peppers for additional flavor and color.It's pretty as well as delicious.

[miss marmelstein]

I’m coming up with my own variation of Laurie Colwin’s succotash - a most delicious version of corn and lima beans cooked with fresh ginger in a bath of chicken stock. I leave out the okra because I find it disgusting - unless someone here can prove me wrong!

[leaning conservative]

You’re right, baking potatoes are the way to go. I also will bake them & keep the skin on.....you get a drier, denser potato.

As far as okra goes I love deep fried okra, but it does not appeal any other way.

Just a shout out to Dan Quayle.... I totally understand why you wanted to put the e on potato. I always do.

[kitchen]

My Aunt Elaine flatly announced she would not be cooking during the Summer months. Not really true, because she would cook breakfast, but dinner was out. After breakfast, she would make potato salad one day, macaroni salad the next, and then cole slaw. Three day rotation. Sunnyside Farms, around two corners, had fresh Jersey tomatoes and corn every day. Her butcher packed burger in square 1 pound packages which she cut into 1/4 pound squares. The men folk were responsible for starting the charcoal and cooking the burgers. Bond Bread delivered fresh rolls every other day. Charles Chips brought chips weekly. The chips were perfect with the clam dip and onion dip during cocktail hour before dinner.

Six days a week it was burgers with a big slab of those wonderful, acidic, Jersey tomatoes and a scoop of cole slaw, corn on the cob, potato salad, macaroni salad, and fresh green peppers, carrots, celery, and sliced kosher pickles - the kind you fished out of a barrel. Sunday they went out for dinner.

Here are Aunt Elaine's potato salad and cole slaw recipes. Essentially the same as my Mom's, Grandmom's, and Great Grandmom's. I never got to talk to anyone born before the Civil War, but they probably passed them down. Last Monday an 8 year old GD asked for the potato salad recipe.

Potato Salad

Gently boil non-waxy potatoes in their jackets. When cooked through drain and, while holding on a Granny fork or similar, peel. If you are lucky, the skins will slip off. Coarsely dice into about 3/4" cubes. Add finely chopped yellow onions, celery and sweet pickle relish.
Make a dressing of yellow mustard and vinegar, and pour over the potatoes. The dressing should permeate the potatoes and not leave liquid draining off. If the potatoes have cooled you can heat the mustard-vinegar mix. Once the mixture is absorbed toss with mayonnaise.
Add diced dill pickles and chopped hard boiled eggs. Chill and enjoy.

Cole slaw

Cole slaw requires a good spicy cabbage and sweet carrots.
Shred the cabbage coarsely, about 1/4" wide, and the carrots quite fine. About 5 or 6 parts cabbage to carrot. It's O.K. to enjoy the cabbage hearts separately.
Toss with a dressing of mayonnaise and lemon juice. Add sugar to taste, depending on your cabbage and carrot.

Salt and pepper... you know your audience.