Cooking at Home: A Taste of Tradition

I learned much from my grandmothers, but how to cook was not one of those things. My Grandma Mary, who I called Nanny, remains famous in our family for the fact that she regularly burned things. My Grandma Palmer, who I called G'ma (pronounced GEE-ma), could make exactly three things: rice, strawberry Jello and German potato salad.

When I was a kid, this style of potato salad was ever-present at family gatherings. We ate it cold in the summer and warm in the winter, and for most of my childhood, I didn't even know there was another kind of potato salad. Sure, it didn’t have much competition, but it was my favorite thing G'ma made. Sweet, sour, salty, loaded with tender sautéed onions and piled with crispy bacon, her Warm German Potato Salad is the potato salad you don’t have to wait for a picnic or a barbeque to serve. It's equally great alongside a thick slice of ham, juicy pan-roasted steak or pork chops. (To be honest, it's not bad with strawberry Jello either.)