Picnic Days: Potato Salad All Day Long

They say it takes a village to raise a child. I agree. The more kind and caring adults a child has in his or her life, the more content and well rounded that child will grow to be. I was mentored all my life by a whole flock of my mother’s friends and I was very grateful for them when my mother unexpectedly died. I still am.
I tried to raise my children similarly, as did many of my friends. This weekend we are celebrating the graduation of the oldest of our brood from high school with a big picnic. One of my contributions is the potato salad, ten pounds of it.
This potato salad is the recipe my mother and her mother used. It is great for picnics for two reasons. First, it tastes better the second or third day after its made, so it can be made in advance. Second, because it has no mayonnaise in it, it doesn’t require refrigeration. It tastes best at room temperature.
This recipe works for any amount because all the ingredients are measured according to personal taste. The only portion of the recipe that calls for specific measurements is for the dressing of the salad.

German Potato Salad

• 5 pounds red potatoes
• 1 pound bacon
• 1 pound yellow onions, diced into ¼ inch pieces

For the dressing:

• 1 c. water
• 1 c. vinegar
• 1 c. sugar
• 2 T. flour

1. Boil the potatoes until they can be pierced with a fork
2. Drain and cool the potatoes.
3. While the potatoes are cooling, fry the bacon. Do not allow the bacon drippings to burn.
4. Remove the bacon from the pan and set it aside to cool.
5. Fry the onions in the bacon drippings until they are translucent.
6. Remove the onions from the bacon drippings.
7. Peel and dice the cooled potatoes into a large mixing bowl.
8. Crumble the bacon into the potatoes.
9. Add the onions into the mixture.
10. For the dressing:
11. Bring the water and vinegar to a boil in a medium size saucepan.
12. Carefully incorporate the flour into the sugar. If the two are not completely mixed, the dressing will be lumpy. This is not a total disaster, I have strained my dressing in the past.
13. Slowly stir the flour/sugar mixture into the boiling vinegar water. Boil the dressing, stirring constantly, until it is the consistency of cream.
14. Pour the hot dressing over the potatoes, bacon, and onions, using as much dressing as desired. I mix mine a little on the wet side if I am going to allow it to sit for a couple of days.
15. Salt and pepper the potato salad to taste. My mom used to add some of the onion flavored bacon drippings too.

Store the potato salad in an airtight until the morning of the picnic and serve it at room temperature.