Potato salad is a facet dish that sparks sturdy opinions. And Rodney Scott has lots of them. The award-winning pitmaster and proprietor of Rodney Scott’s Entire Hog BBQ, with 5 areas throughout the South, “grew up loving potato salad,” he shared on the Meals & Wine Traditional in Charleston. 

“My Aunt Fannie, she used to all the time make potato salad and it was scrumptious,” stated Scott, who led a seminar with chef Chris Shepherd and Prime Chef choose and govt producer Gail Simmons on find out how to construct the right meat-and-three plate. “For me, the required potato salad has a pleasant, candy, sort of spicy chew to it. That’s what I would like. I don’t like a bland potato salad.”

Alongside an entire hog, a Vietnamese-inspired slaw from Shepherd, and cornbread with miso-chive butter from Simmons, Scott confirmed the viewers find out how to make a potato salad that’s something however bland — and it features a “controversial” ingredient.

Begin with comfortable potatoes

Scott shared that he prefers to make use of red-skinned potatoes, unpeeled, for his potato salad. “I really like this potato as a result of the pores and skin sort of provides a taste to it for me,” he stated. He quarters them and boils them in salted water for about 15 to twenty minutes, till they yield simply to a knife.

“You don’t desire a potato that’s exhausting, as a result of then you definitely’re gonna be attempting to chomp into that potato salad,” he stated. “I’m certain you’ve all been to some restaurant — not ours — and located that hard-to-eat potato salad.”

Use a ‘controversial’ ingredient

Scott’s mayonnaise-based potato salad is full of taste from yellow mustard, distilled white vinegar, sugar, pink pepper flakes, cayenne, and an ingredient that may elevate eyebrows. 

“Right here’s a controversial dialogue: the kind of relish. There’s candy after which there’s dill. Some folks don’t prefer it too candy. I do, and as we speak I’ve the microphone,” quipped Scott. 

The kind of mayo additionally issues — particularly when you’re within the South, the place the cult-favorite model Duke’s reigns supreme. Made with solely egg yolks and a mix of distilled and apple cider vinegars, the South Carolina-born mayo provides a subtly candy tang to the dressing. 

“I exploit Duke’s — when you don’t prefer it, don’t go outdoors to key my automobile as a result of it’s not right here,” stated Scott with fun. He additionally folds in a beneficiant quantity of chopped hard-boiled eggs, which he likes to interrupt up together with his arms. 

Put sizzling potatoes within the dressing 

If you happen to’ve taken the time to make a flavorful dressing, you need to be certain that your potatoes take up as a lot of it as doable. Scott’s tip is so as to add your potatoes to the dressing as quickly as they’re performed cooking.

“You undoubtedly need your potatoes sizzling and naturally fork-tender earlier than you’re taking ‘em outta your pot,” stated Scott. “As soon as they’re chilly, they put up a bit barrier like, Yeah, I don’t wanna hang around.” After they’re nonetheless heat, “they simply invite every part in,” he defined.