Dig House Tater Salad

Potato Salad...that staple side dish of church picnics, summertime barbecues, dish-to-pass events and sporting tailgates.  There are countless ways to make potato salad, but my recipe is loosely based on a 'tater salad' that I had many years ago, who's author was undoubtedly some unknown mom of a college student.

The Dig House today

I don't know who started it, or when, but back in the early 1980's at UW-Platteville there was an off-campus house at 40 E. Cedar St known as the "Dig House" because of a re-occuring party tradition known as the 'Potato Dig'.   The residents of said house would get 50 lb bags of potatoes and an alarming number of half-barrels of beer and throw a party.   Potatoes, being cheap, were the perfect fare for college students and the Dig House folks served them up mashed, french fried, baked and pretty much any way you could imagine, including potato salad.

At one of the Potato Digs that I attended, there was a terrific potato salad that had lots of dill and pickles in it.   I had never had such a thing in my young life and, due to the deliciousness of the salad and the inebriated state I was in, promptly ate a ton of it.

This is not that recipe, I have no idea who made that particular potato salad, but ever since I've made my potato salad 'in the spirit' of that potato salad.  I think it's pretty darn good.  I hope you'll think so too.

You will need:

4-5 large potatoes or 6-8 medium, peeled
4 eggs
1 stalk celery
3-4 Milwaukee Kosher Baby Dill pickles
1 small onion
4-5 radishes
1 cup Mayonnaise
1/8 cup Yellow Mustard
Juice of 1/2 lime
Salt and Pepper

Start by peeling the potatoes, cut into chunks, place in a saucepan with 1 T. Salt and the 4 eggs, cover completely with water and bring to a boil.  While this is boiling, dice up the celery, pickles, onion and radishes, put in a colander with 1 T salt and toss, set over sink or over large bowl.  The idea is to leech much of the water out of the vegetables.  Don't worry about the high salt content, most of it leeches out with the liquid.

Mix the mayo, lime juice and mustard together, salt and pepper this dressing to taste.

Watch the potatoes, you want them not quite 'done', so that you can slice them into cubes and have them be soft, but they'll hold their shape.   Depending on the potato, probably about 10-15 minutes of boiling.   When done, remove from heat, put pot in sink and run continuous cold water in the pot to cool the eggs and potatoes.

Dice the potatoes up into approx 1/4 to 1/2 inch cubes.  Peel the hard boiled eggs and dice up.  Place in large bowl and add the rest of the vegetable mix.  Add the dressing and toss liberally.  Adjust seasoning to taste, sprinkle with Paprika  and garnish with a sprig of Parsley.  Cover and refrigerate at least a couple hours before serving, best if it sits overnight.