Potato Salad

This recipe is based on my father’s. He makes the best potato salad I’d ever had. The trick here is bacon and eating it warm.

Ingredients
2 lbs baby red potatoes
1 red onion thinly sliced
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced carrots
1 tbsp celery seed
3 slices bacon cut into 1/4 inch strips
1/2 cup mayonaisse
2 tbsp yellow mustard
salt to taste
pepper to taste
cayenne pepper to taste

Directions
Cut potatoes into 1/8ths. Add to a large pot over cold water. Bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are fork tender. Drain and cool.

 

Cook bacon over med heat for about 5 minutes stirring frequently.

 

Add vegetables and cook for about 6 minutes stirring frequently. For added texture reserve some of the vegetables.

 

Add any reserved vegetables and celery seed and cook for 1 minute.

 

Fold together all ingredients in a large bowl.

 

Eat immediately or refrigerate to let flavors meld for a few hours. I prefer to eat while still warm (thanks for the hint Dad).

Simple Baked Beans

 

This recipe is one I found on-line. It is originally from Cooks Illustrated. I’ve been looking for a good baked bean recipe that is from scratch. Most start with Van Camps pork and beans. This recipe isn’t as robust as I had hoped, but there is a silver lining: this recipe tastes just like Van Camps to me. Now I need to find a recipe that takes it to the next level.

Ingredients
4 oz. salt pork, trimmed of rind and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 oz (2 slices) bacon, cut into 1/4 ” pieces
1 medium onion, chopped fine
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp mild molasses
1-1/2 tbsp brown mustard
1 pound (about 2-1/2 cups) dried small white beans, rinsed, picked over
1 Tsp cider vinegar
Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Serves 6-8

1. Sort and rinse beans. Soak beans overnight in cold water 

2. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position. Heat oven to 300.

3. Cut up pork, bacon, and onions
 

4. Add salt pork and bacon to an 8-Quart Dutch oven. Cook over med. heat, stirring occasionally until lightly browned and most of the fat is rendered–approx. 7 minutes. Add onion and continue to cook, stirring occasionally until onion is softened–approx. 8 minutes
 
5. Add 1/2 cup molasses, mustard, beans, 1-1/4 tsp. salt and 9 cups of water. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil.
 

6. Cover pot and set in oven. Bake until beans are tender–approx. 4 hours, stirring once every 2 hours. Remove lid and continue to bake until liquid has thickened to syrupy consistency–approx. 1-1/2 hours longer.
 

7. Remove beans from oven, stir in remaining Tbs. of molasses, vinegar and salt/pepper. Serve.