German Potato Salad with Bacon

Wash your potatoes. Leave the skin on and slice them using a mandolin, to 1/8 inch to 1/4 inch thickness. I chose to use a combination of baby Yukon golds and baby red potatoes and it was a very nice combination that I would highly recommend.

Place potato slices in a large steamer basket and steam for 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are fork tender in the middle of the slices. Mine took 15 minutes but it will depend on the thickness of your slices. When done steaming, remove potatoes and cover them to keep warm.

Meanwhile, add chopped bacon to a hot skillet. (Honestly, I say 6 pieces of bacon in the ingredient list, but I wouldn’t hesitate to use 7 pieces.) Sauté bacon until browned and crispy, about 3 to 4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon remove cooked bacon to a plate lined with paper towels to drain. When cooled, crumble or chop it.

Discard all but 2 1/2 tablespoons bacon drippings. It seems like a lot, but this is the base of your dressing. Sauté chopped onion in bacon drippings for about 3 to 4 minutes until onions soften. Add the white wine vinegar, water, mustard, sugar, salt (it seems like a lot of salt, but it’s needed—I use coarse grain kosher salt), and fresh ground pepper. Whisk ingredients together. Simmer for 4 to 5 minutes, until mixture is reduced to about 2/3 cup. I eyeballed this. Remove from heat.

Add potatoes to the pan and spoon the dressing mixture over the potatoes. Try to separate the slices so that dressing gets on each piece of potato. Mix in the bacon and chopped green onion. Add more salt and pepper to taste if desired (I didn’t). Transfer to a bowl and serve warm.

Side note: The original recipe calls for fresh dill, but I hate dill so I skipped it. I can’t imagine it needing it, it is so flavorful without it and the green onion I added gives it a pop of color. But if you are into dill go ahead and add it! The original recipe called for 1/4 cup fresh dill.

Recipe adapted from epicurious.com.