- Cousin!
Welcome to the cook out, the greatest gathering
of black family and food of all time.
(energetic jazz music)
If you get an invite to The Cookout,
whatever you bring has to be fire
because if it's not, that chicken ain't gonna be
the only thing gettin' roasted.
So, I'm gonna show you how to make some staples
of The Cookout, like Uncle Ron's barbecue,
grandma's macaroni and cheese,
or Aunt Cleo's sweet potatoes.
But, today we're starting with an absolute classic,
potato salad.
Potato salad seems simple, but it's real easy to mess up.
Now, if you stick with me, I'll show you how to make
some potato salad that ain't gonna sit on the table.
I'm Jermaine Rawlings, and I'm inviting you to The Cookout.
So, for black people, potato salad is a sense of nostalgia.
We literally want what our grandmother made growin' up.
So, don't get cute.
I use Yukon Gold potatoes because they have a very thin
skin and I don't like peelin' potatoes
'cause ain't nobody got time for that.
You wanna start with cold water
and you add the potatoes to,
and then bring it to a boil.
All right, so it's very important to season your potatoes
before the potato salad is done.
I use chicken bouillon.
I use this for my mashed potatoes,
I use this when I'm makin' pasta
'cause it gives it such a more robust flavor.
And if you're vegetarian you can use veggie bouillon.
And now, we're gonna stir this up.
Need a spoon.
We're gonna bring this up to a boil,
let it go for about 15 minutes
or until it's fork tender,
I'll strain it, and we'll be right back.
All right, so, potatoes are done.
I checked them earlier.
They were fork tender.
Now it's time to chop.
When you're chopping the potatoes
you wanna make sure that the pieces
aren't too big or too small.
People don't like to eat a full potato with one bite.
So, chop 'em up a little bit,
so that way they fit on a fork.
You also don't wanna make them too small
because then it becomes mashed potato salad
when you're mixin' it up in the bowl
and nobody wants that.
The perfect size for the potato salad
is kinda like a pineapple tidbit, just like that.
As you're cutting you'll notice
some of the peels are coming away.
It doesn't really matter,
it's gonna get mixed up in the bowl anyway, so don't trip.
That is all our potatoes.
And now we're gonna move on to the celery.
When you're cutting the celery
you wanna make sure you're getting very small pieces
'cause once again, nobody likes a chunky potato salad.
So, always cut the half and the other half,
so that, in some places that is called a quarter.
I usually go for celery because I like the texture.
So, it gives you a little bit of crunch,
but not too much crunch.
And then also the flavor just goes with it.
And once again, that's what my grandmamma did.
Celery is pretty much one of the only vegetables
you wanna put in there.
You don't wanna start puttin' carrots, no raisins,
no capers, no olives, because our grandparents
were not eating those in their potato salad.
Some people are scared to use a sharp knife.
They think it's dangerous.
But it's actually dangerous to use dull knife.
So, make sure your knife is sharp and just be careful.
Keep your eye on what you're doin'.
So, we're gonna add this to the bowl.
Next, we have hard boiled eggs.
Boiled eggs is the only protein
you wanna add to your potato salad.
Don't get cute, once again, and add smoked salmon.
As much as I love bacon,
a lot of black people don't eat pork.
We don't do the whole swining and dining type thing.
Leave bacon out of it 'cause this ain't for you,
it's for everybody.
With the eggs, I just give 'em a quick chop,
nothin' real precise, just make sure
they're small enough to evenly distribute.
And people like to have the eggs in there,
so you wanna make sure they get some.
So, don't put big ol' chunks and then
you only got three people with eggs in their potato salad.
Now, we're just givin' it another quick chop,
make sure there's no big chunks.
And then we add these to the bowl.
All right, so onions.
Some people like red onions,
some people like brown onions,
but, for this you want a sweet onion
'cause it's a milder onion taste.
Depending on the cookout, it might be some people there
that you might wanna holler at.
You don't want your breath smellin' like onion.
So, you get the sweet onion
so that way it's not as strong,
and then also, what I do is I grate the onion
so that way you don't have chunks of onion
in the potato salad.
So, before you grate it, you want to cut the onion in half,
'cause I'm only gonna use half this onion, by the way.
Take that part off.
Then you grab it and you're gonna grate it over top.
(grater scratching)
It's almost like you're juicing your onion.
We all like onion juice, right?
When you're grating your onion be careful
because you can lose some skin on them knuckles
if you slip up, so.
I'm cryin' little thug tears 'cause this potato salad
gonna be so good.
All right, we're done grating onions
and as you can see, our bowl's gettin' a little full.
Five pounds of potatoes.
So, I'm gonna get a bigger bowl
and the ingredients for our mayo mixture.
See you guys in a second.
All right, folks.
Now we're ready for one of the most important parts,
the mayo mixture.
Some people like mayo, some people don't.
I like mayo in my salad as well as mustard.
For this particular recipe
I use half Miracle Whip and half mayo.
Some people might be like,
"Well, you're just doin' too much."
Growin' up and to this day it's kinda like Craig.
I have like Kool-Aid, no sugar sometimes,
peanut butter, no jelly, ham, no burger.
I had a little bit of mayo
and I had a little bit of Miracle Whip
when I was developin' the recipe so, I just used both.
We're gonna add the Miracle Whip.
We're gonna add the mayo.
And then we have some dijon mustard.
And I like coarse stone-ground mustard
because I'm bougie now,
'cause, you know, I made it, you know what I'm sayin'?
Also, I add hot sauce.
This, right here, is actually Frank's 'cause
you can get it everywhere,
but some people prefer other hot sauces.
The hot sauce and the ground mustard
will give it a little bit of kick.
It's five pounds of potatoes, so it won't be too much,
so, don't be scared.
Worst case scenario you'll need to put hot sauce in it
'cause most people got it in their bag.
All right, you always wanna make sure you're mixing
this up in a separate bowl
because you don't wanna over work your potatoes
'cause then that's how they get mashed
and they get all weird and it'll sit on the table.
And then I'm gonna add in the garlic powder.
If you grew up in a black household then you know
everything gets garlic powder, onion powder, paprika.
So, mayo mixture is done.
Now we're gonna add everything together and mix it up.
All right, so now we're gonna add the relish.
This is a dill relish.
And then we have the sweet relish.
Now, some might ask, "Why are you using sweet relish?"
And I told you a little story
about the Miracle Whip and the mayo, same situation.
Also, the dill gives it a little bit of the savory
and then you have the sweet.
Now, once you have everything together
you're gonna mix it up.
Again, be careful because you don't wanna mash the potatoes,
just give it a light little mix.
Don't try to get trendy and add cheese
and all that stuff.
Just keep it traditional.
I'm pushin' it with the stone-ground mustard to be honest.
Now this, this is lookin' pretty good.
I'm just gonna be honest with you.
This ain't gonna last very long.
That's why I get five pounds of potatoes.
All right, we got this all mixed up.
And we're gonna put it in a better bowl
because you don't wanna show up with this bowl.
If you ever been to The Cookout,
you know presentation is everything.
So, you need to garnish.
So, put a little fresh cracked pepper on there.
You put a little paprika, you need that.
(laughs) You need the paprika.
If you think you put a little bit too much,
just put a little bit more.
What is potato salad without the paprika on top?
You need that.
A little bit of celery seed.
And then some fresh chive.
Don't go gettin' fancy, addin' some tarragon or dill.
You got dill from the pickles
and nobody likes licorice, so don't put tarragon in there.
Just a little bit of chive or green onion,
just keep it simple.
I like my potato salad cold, like every other black person.
So, we're gonna put this in the refrigerator
for a little bit, and then we're gonna have
some people from The Cookout try it out.
But, while we wait, I was curious to know
what other ingredients people hate to see
in their tater salad.
So, I sent a team around Tasty to find out.
Let's see what they came up with.
- What's up, Tasty.
Jermaine just led you through everything
that you should do when making the perfect potato salad,
but, we think it remains to be said
there's some things that you should absolutely
not do as well.
So, we're gonna go around the Tasty office
and see what the good people have to say.
Name one thing that should never go in potato salad.
- Raisins.
- No raisins.
- Raisins.
- Has anyone said raisins?
- [Interviewer] Yes.
- Raisins.
- I mean being it's Black History Month,
the first thing I gotta say is we gotta stop
gentrifying recipes as well.
Raisins.
Leave the raisins out of your potato salad, please.
For all potlucks, all cookouts, all everything, no raisins.
- Well, make sure the potatoes is firm,
they got the skin on 'em,
none of that mashed potatoes stuff in my potato salad.
And I want that crunch, that good (smacks lips)
you know what I'm sayin'?
Yeah, all that.
No raisins, though.
We're not doin' that raisins stuff.
- Yeah, so raisins, that's a no-go.
So, pretty much any fruit that isn't a potato
shouldn't be in there.
Wait, wait, you get what I'm sayin', right?
Luckily, none of that stuff is in here.
But, don't take my word for it,
let's let the homies try it out.
- Mmm, the ratio of mayonnaise to everything else is great.
Approved!
- Not a single raisin.
Approved.
- Mmm, this does not bring dishonor to our ancestors.
Approved. - Well, there you have it.
That's how you make potato salad worthy of a cookout.
So, tell me in the comments
what dish you wanna bring to The Cookout,
and maybe I'll tell you how to make it.
I'm about to go take a walk around the corner
with my cousins, but always remember, no raisins.
I'm Jermaine Rawlings, peace.
(upbeat jazz music)
- [Host] Oh, oh, yes!
(upbeat jazz music)
(camera clicks)
(upbeat jazz music)