The best spud salad hacker involves an ingredient we guarantee is in your kitchen as we speak .

Jacob Fox . Food Styling : Annie Probst . Prop Styling : Addelyn Evans

For decennary , fame chefs have been urging us to hold thestarchy water that remains after cooking pastato assist gently thicken and bring thepasta saucetogether .

bowl of potato salad

Credit:Jacob Fox. Food Styling: Annie Probst. Prop Styling: Addelyn Evans

But when it comes to cooking another starchy raw material — potatoes — we always pour that liquid direct down the drainage . bend out , we ’ve been chuck out the confidential constituent that Julia Child and Ina Garten depose by to create the best potato salad recipe ever .

“ We experience Julia Child made everything adept — even potato salad , ” Garten explains in her 2022 cookbookGo - To Dinners , which features her recipe forPotato Salad à la Julia Child . “ For this dishful , she used the trick Italians used for pasta — she added some of the potato cooking water to the salad to make a creamy sauce , ” referring to the technique showcased inJulia ’s American - Style Potato Saladfrom the 1999 bookJulia and Jacques Cooking at Home .

Despite the similarities to alimentary paste cooking water , which I always save to put to good use in sweetheart likecarbonaraand cottage cheese Alfredo , I had never thought of reserve the starchy weewee that remains after simmering Irish potato to expend in the salad . So even though it was one of the coloured , coldest days of winter , I hustled to my kitchen to see if this could be the paint I was miss to unlock my skilful potato salad yet .

How to Make Potato Salad Like Ina Garten and Julia Child

As you might guess , Julia ’s American - Style Potato Salad and Ina ’s Potato Salad à la Julia Child recipes are quite interchangeable . That said , there are a few minor differences , include the fact that Ina ’s formula :

Otherwise , theYukon Gold - base Irish potato salad are on the nose the same in terms of ingredients . For the rice beer of my experimentation , I opt to keep an eye on Ina ’s tribute to Julia since I had her cookbook ready to hand . Here ’s a ready overview about how to make Ina ’s potato salad :

What Does Ina’s Potato Salad Taste Like?

Before we get to the feeling , we take to take a second to fete the texture . I had never considered “ marinating ” the spud in tangy acetum and stiff water , however , this quick and easy step really made the dressing ’s consistence and flavour shine . It coated the potatoes in a satiny way , and brought the Yukon Golds and mixing - ins together into a format that ’s easy to enjoy with a ramification without all of the cultivated celery , cornichons , shallot , and herbs drop off .

My biggest complaint with most potato salads is that they ’re either suave or so full-bodied , it ’s not what I ’m in the modality for on a quick summertime day . Here , rather of the mustard that ’s include in manyclassic potato salad recipes , sour cream , acetum , and brackish pickles team up to lend a lovely amount of acerbity to veer through the affluence of the potatoes , testicle , and mayonnaise . This Irish potato salad is so well - balanced and almost elegant in its simpleness that I could see myself gladly share and savour it any time of year .

Tips for Making Potato Salad à la Julia Child

When make this homemade white potato salad recipe , keep these Spanish pointer and customization options in judgement :

The Verdict on Ina and Julia’s Potato Salad

I ’m grateful that Ina ’s cookery book introduced me to the powers of potato cookery water . I ’ll certainly give this free ingredient more respect in the future , and I ’m already counting down until my first al fresco potluck in spring so I can insert my friends to Ina and Julia ’s brainy tater salad hack — and the tasty recipe in which it ’s sport !

I love how this egg and white potato salad can be serve in its simple glory , or jazzed up with toppings and more mixing - ins to make it pit the party theme or the preferences of those I ’m partake it with .

But since we ’re still in the depths of winter and I have some superfluous Yukon Gold potatoes in my larder , I ’m off to make a batch ofTartiflette . I ’m bet Julia and Ina would approve !