Cook's Illustrated

Better German Potato Salad

Published September 1, 2003.

Tired of cold potato salads? German potato salad is best served warm and offers a balance of big flavors from bacon and vinegar—when made correctly.

The Problem

Tasteless, broken down potatoes; unbalanced, flavorless vinaigrettes; and greasy, greasy, greasy overall.

The Goal

A hot or warm potato salad, pungently tangy from its vinegar dressing and chock-full of bacon flavor.

The Solution

Use low-starch potatoes (small red potatoes, for example) cut in half and cooked in heavily salted water. Fry up plenty of bacon, then use just part of the rendered fat in the vinaigrette, along with white vinegar, whole-grain mustard, sugar, and some of the potato cooking water, which adds a bit of body to the dressing (from the potato starch).

list of recipes
America's Test Kitchen

America’s Test Kitchen is a 2,500-square-foot kitchen located just outside of Boston. It is the home of Cook’s Country and Cook’s Illustrated magazines and is the workday destination for more than three dozen test cooks, editors, and cookware specialists. Our mission is to test recipes until we understand how and why they work and arrive at the best version. We also test kitchen equipment and supermarket ingredients in search of brands that offer the best value and performance. You can watch us work by tuning in to America’s Test Kitchen (www.americastestkitchen.com) on public television.