Carol's Potato Salad

This is the best potato salad. I promise. Many years ago, my grandfather told my grandmother that she did not have to make potato salad anymore because whenever they had a barbeque or some other event where potato salad was wanted, they would just ask Carol (their daughter, my mother) to make it. This caused a big argument, because my grandmother's potato salad was good; my mother's potato salad was great.

Most of the time when my mother Carol makes this, she does not rely on measurements. She eyeballs the ingredients, but it always comes out great.

If you aren't making it for a crowd, be sure to modify halve the recipe. Or, you could make it large and have more for yourself to eat for several days.

Ingredients (Can be adjusted for taste)

6-8 Yukon Gold potatoes
6-10 red potatoes
2 TB dried dill
1 TB Lawry's Season Salt
1 tsp celery salt
2 tsp pepper
3 stalks of celery
3-5 scallions
3/4 cup dill pickles
1/2 cup green olives
1 large can sliced black olives
2-3 cups mayonnaise
2 TB mustard (or more - to taste)
2 TB sugar
1/3 cup pickle juice (or more- to taste)

Garnishes- your choice- parsley, sliced boiled egg, and/or paprika

Start with about 6-8 Yukon Gold potatoes, and about 6-10 red potatoes. Wash the potatoes in the sink to get any excess dirt off that may be still on them. Remember potatoes are root vegetables, and while they are washed to clean them up to sell them, you want to make sure to wash them again.

Put them in a large pot and fill the pot with enough water to cover the potatoes. Add a tablespoon of salt to the water. Bring the potatoes to a boil and boil them for 20-25 minutes, or until you can insert a fork and they are soft. It's OK to boil them whole with the skin on. Once they are boiled, they are easier to peel.

Drain the potatoes in a colander. Let them cool enough to handle.

Once you can pick the potatoes up, take a paring knife and peel the potatoes. The skin should come off easily. Cut them up into bite-sized chunks and put them in the bowl you plan to use to mix all of the ingredients together.

Pro tip: If you don't have a bowl large enough, you can use a large pot. Perhaps the pot you used to boil the potatoes in would be large enough.

After the potatoes are peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces, now you want to spice them up. You will need Lawry's Season Salt, celery salt, pepper, and dill.

Add 2 tablespoons of dill, 1 tablespoon of Lawry's, 1 teaspoon of celery salt, and 2 teaspoons of pepper to the potatoes. Mix well. You can always add more salt later, but you cannot take salt out, so be careful not to add too much.

Next you will need three stalks of celery and three to five scallions. Wash them, cut them into 2 inch pieces, and put them in a food processor. Process them until they're fine-chunky, but try not to over-process them. You aren't making baby food.

Add the celery and onion mixture to the potatoes.

Next you will need dill pickles, green olives, and black olives. You will need 3/4 cup of pickles, 1/2 cup of green olives, and a can of sliced black olives. Put the pickles and olives in the food processor and process them. You want them chunky. The sliced black olives do not need to be processed. You can drain them and put them in just as they are.

Mix all of the ingredients together so that all the items you have added are well-distributed.

Now it's time to make the dressing.

You need 2 cups of mayo, 2 tablespoons of mustard, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and 1/3 cup of pickle juice. Put these items into the same food processor you have used to cut up the other items. You do not need to clean the food processor before making the dressing, because any stray olives, pickles, or celery will end up in the dressing and then go into the potato salad.

Once you have made the dressing, taste it before putting it on the potatoes. You may need to adjust it by adding more mustard or more pickle juice. If you find it too strong, add more mayo. Sometimes it takes several whirs in the food processor to get it right. It will be saucy, not too thick. This is OK. When you put it on the potatoes, the potatoes will absorb some of it.

Once it tastes good to you, dump it on the potato mixture and mix it so it's evenly distributed throughout the salad.

You can garnish with parsley, a sliced boiled egg, and/or paprika.

That's it.

Once you  make this potato salad, it will become a staple in your family.