Potato Salad 2 Ways: Gumbo Style vs. Sweet Relish

All right, folks. You know it's that time of the year, right? You know I like to get down for these holidays. So you already know that I'm gonna be doing a potato salad, right? But this time I'm gonna be doing it two way. And listen, they got two types of potato salads. One of them is gonna be sweet. That's more so like for a Southern sweet, you know, Southern style, you know, potato salad. And the other is gonna be more, a little bit more on the non-sweet. Let me rephrase that. It's not gonna be sweet at all, right? It's gonna be much creamier. The potatoes are gonna be softer. And guess what, folks? This is the one that you're gonna use if you wanna make yourself a gumbo. We're gonna exchange the rice out for the potato salad. Let's get it. All right, so listen. The first thing we're gonna do is, I've already peeled my potatoes. So look, let me just go ahead and grab one of these. I got them sitting in water right now just so that I don't have to, you know, we don't see no brown on them, right? So the first thing we're gonna do is, I'm gonna cut these down, right? So I'm gonna go ahead and just cut me a little flat spot. I'm not gonna discard this. I just want to get it flat, right? So what I'm gonna do now is just cut this down almost as if we making french fries, right? This will be for the one that I'm gonna do for my gumbo, right? You kinda like wanna make sure they're all the same thickness or close to it because when we boil these, we want these to be all ready at the same time. So this right here, we'll go ahead and just cut them down like this. Then if you gotta do some custom cutting, then you have to do that, right? But I'm looking at these right here. Look. You gotta do this any type of way that's best for you, but just try to get them all about the same thickness. Okay, so I cut everything up and I'm gonna show you the size that I use. I kinda like started out in the beginning, but I wanna show you about this. This right here is a good size. This one's a little bit bigger. I could cut that down, but it can stand here. Now remember, I'm saying I'm doing them two ways. The one that I use for a gumbo is gonna be much, much softer than it is for the regular Southern, traditional sweet potato salad, right? So I'm gonna drain this water right now and get rid of some of this starch. Put some fresh water in here, put this on the stove and get that going. And we're gonna get our eggs, you know, get those to boiling. You know, I got a splatter guard. That would have been a good thing, you know, to pour this all out with. Right, so let's pick these up. My sink is clean, folks. How many of y'all talk to me down in the comment section below, do y'all clean your sink? I do mine after, you know, like at the end of the day. Right, so let's start with some cold water. Oh, let's go with some hot water. Let's put that in here and let's fill that up. My middle burner, this is like a super burner, right? So I got it on high. I just center my pot. These are some of the things like we don't think about like when we cooking, right? You wanna make sure like if you're using one of these, like I like gas. I am not good with cooking with electric, you know, electric stoves. I know some people, depending on where you live around the country, that's what you guys have. I grew up on gas, so gas it is, folks. But anyway, I center everything up, got that going, got it on high and letting that go, right? We're gonna go ahead and get those to be fork tender and then we'll start, you know, doing the rest, right? So the next thing I'm gonna do is let's grab this. Now I want you guys to talk to me about how do you do, oh, I'm gonna do my eggs a little different. I was gonna stick them in here. You can do them two ways. Like you can put them in here, put them underneath the fire and then bring it up to a boil and then start it. But I'm gonna show you something. This is the way I do my eggs, right? I put the hot water in here. I'm gonna fill this up and I'm gonna get it boiling. Soon as I get it boiling, then I'll put it in there and then I'll start the timer. I like my eggs to go for, if it's already boiling, I like for it to go for at least 12 minutes. 13 is just right. Some people like yellow. If I'm eating a hard boiled egg, that's the way I like mine, about 11 to 12 minutes, right? So what I'm gonna do now is gotta do this, folks. Give it a couple of pinches of salt, right? Let's get it boiling. Okay, meanwhile, let's go ahead and prep, right? So I'm gonna go ahead and take my celery. I'm just gonna take a couple of stalks. Now, the full ingredient list for both is on my website, and that's smokingandgrillingwithab.com, and that's W-I-T-A-B.com, right? So if you guys wanna know, I'm getting ready to clean them. If you look right there, you can see this is like dirt that be in there. Anyway, I cut that off, but I still take cold water, you know what I mean? And I give this a little bit of a scrubbing. Now that I got them here, just wipe them off. Now, by me doing two different types, the one that I'm gonna use for my gumbo, I don't put celery in that at all. Now, I want you guys to tell me down in that comment section below, this is especially for the people who don't do sweet relish, right? So let me just, you know, do this. I want them to tell me, do they put celery in theirs? Now, it can be made any kind of way you want to, but we don't wanna compete with our gumbo, right? So just bringing this into play, just like you see. This'll be for my southern, my southern style. This is the one that I'm gonna be using, you know, with the sweet relish, right? So, then look, if you get a bigger piece like this, and then these, look at that. I'm gonna still come in here and cut this down the middle. I like them to all be uniform, you know what I'm doing, right, so the main thing is we wanna have that texture, that crunch, right? So we just take that, now look. You see that, look at that size. That's it, now you don't wanna overpower this one either. Now, when you guys go to the website, the recipe and the ingredient list will show you how to make a lot, especially if you're doing something like for a potluck, picnic, this last holiday that's coming up, this Labor Day, right? This'll get you in the game, right? But what I'm doing right now is, and one of the things I like about actually making potato salad is, I don't use measurements, folks. All right, so I got my celery, that's over here. Now we're gonna go ahead and do our onion. You know what I mean, I'm just gonna cut this down. And I'm doing them a little bit smaller than I normally do. You know what I mean, you get those people that say, hey, I don't really like onions like that. I've been making it the way I've been making it and everybody eat it all anyway, right? So now we'll just take it and we'll just cut this down like this and you can see all of that just dices, right? We'll do some more, all right? Anyway, there's something about like when you do things right, right? And then when you break them all up, you see how they are? This one right here didn't wanna do right. But I'm only gonna make a small batch of it. Again, on my website, smokingandgrillingwithab.com and that's W-I-T-A-B.com. I got everything that you need right there and the right measurements to get you in the game. Then you taste as you go and perfect it and get it to your palate, right? So, but I'm just showing you my technique and how I do. All right, so again, I only need a little bit of this one. All right, now we just pour this in here and then we get them to cool. We're gonna start off by doing a Southern potato salad. You know what I mean? This'll be more familiar for what you guys see, you know, and what you guys are used to, right? So what I'm gonna do now is I'm gonna go ahead and bring my Dukes in the play. I could have used Best Foods. Now, I'll just use Dukes just to change it up. You guys use whatever mayo you guys wanna use that you guys are familiar with that tastes great for you. I know they got all kinds, Best Foods, Dukes, Hellman, you name it, they got it. Now, I got my eggs. I just wanna show you, you guys had already seen I was doing hen eggs, right? I love hen eggs. Now, if you guys pay attention to this part right here, I got like a little bit of a hack for you. This is what we do, you know, when we cooking commercially and you know, for a restaurant, right? Since I'm gonna have, I got, you know, these bacon cooling racks. What I do is I just put this here right here. Instead of me cutting it, you know, the way grandma taught us, I just hit it like this and look, look down in there. Hello, just giving you guys a heads up. You know what I mean? This channel full of nothing but pro tips, right? So we'll take it like this, smash that in there and get it going, right? I'm only gonna use about four eggs for this one, right? Cause I'm not gonna make the big giant bats like I normally do. We're gonna make one just a little bit smaller. This is really about the technique and how to make a great tasting Southern style potato salad. All right, so this right here is just a half a cup, right? Let me go ahead and get my spatula. Now I'm gonna just add this to it. You know what I mean? We'll just put just a half a cup in first. And the reason I'm doing it this way, I really don't wanna say no measurements. Again, I'm doing this, you know, for by taste, right? This is just gonna be my Southern style, you know, potato salad, right? So I'm gonna just set this over here like that. Now I'm gonna go ahead and add some potatoes to it. We'll leave it like that. Just making a smaller batch than I normally do, folks. I'm gonna go ahead and get some of these diced onions, right? And then we gotta taste as we go, folks. Then we gotta definitely add some celery to it, right? Cause this is where we get that real crunch from. And it'll provide some taste too, right? I'm gonna add that there. All right, let me go ahead and clean my hands. Now I'm gonna add some mustard. And this is to really, to be honest with you, you know, all of us creators that are putting this out here for people to learn, you know, how to make, you know, things like this, which will be, you know, potato salad. It's really about your palate, right? I'm gonna add just a little bit of this Cajun seasoning. Right, we'll just put that over here. And then I'm gonna go ahead and just add a pinch of salt. Right, it's gonna need that. It's gonna probably need one more after that. And then the next thing is, I'm gonna go ahead and put just a little bit of, this will be a little bit of sweet relish, right? So when it comes to this here, because this is like my base, I'm gonna go ahead and just add, this is a third cup. We'll just put this right here. Put this off to the side. I'm gonna get my big spatula. And now what we're gonna do is just mix this in, you know, like this. Really, it's like a little bit of a fold technique. Now this first batch of potato salad, potatoes, I didn't take these all the way down. You know what I mean? Because just the process of just folding these, you'll see it started thickening up the way it's doing right here. Ah yeah, I can see it's gonna take a little bit more relish, right? So let me just keep moving this around, get everything, use that spatula, get all your wet ingredients off of that side. Let's go ahead and just get it all mixed. Just keep folding it in right over the top and you'll start having something that look like this. Right? Now I'm gonna add just a little bit more, you know, relish to it. Even with the, I usually drain it, but it's okay to have some of the liquid from the sweet relish. And you guys let me know down in the comment section below, is this the one that you guys make? All right, so let me just keep doing this. We'll taste it and make any adjustments from here. And that's how you really make, you know, potato salad. So this is the texture, the color, and the taste that I'm looking for, right? Just as I keep folding this over, I can see my eggs, you know what I mean? Look, there's an egg right there. I adjusted it, added salt to it, right? Only thing I didn't do is, I saved this for doing this on camera. It's time to come with that fresh cracked black. Now remember, on my website, I give you guys a base. It'll make a lot. You still gotta tailor make it the way you want it. You know what I mean? I get you in the ballpark. I'm gonna say I get you 90% there. You know, some of you guys have a different palate. Some of you guys really don't like to do, you know, deal. You know what I mean? Some of you guys like to do deals. Some don't like it when it's sweet relish, right? Things of that nature. Some of it like it to be a little bit more wet. So you wanna add more, you know, mayonnaise to it. Remember, but if you're using everything that you like already, I got you in the ballpark. And if this is the first time you ever made, you know, potato salad, trust me, folks. You're gonna be designated to bring it, you know, from here on. Now, I got my bowl. I'm gonna go ahead and just put it in here. And what I'm gonna do is, I'm gonna put this in the refrigerator and let this chill for about an hour, right? This is how we gonna display it. You guys let me know. Does this look right? Because half of it is to look too, right? All right, now, you guys just seen how easy it was to make that Southern style, you know, potato salad. Remember, we kind of like just work it and taste as we go and we get the profile that we like. And you know, really, to be honest with you, we get the profile that we grew up on. That's the one you like. For me, I like the sweet relish. Now, we finna transition and move over into making a, this is gonna be the gumbo, you know, style, non-sweet potato salad, right? So I want you guys to let me know down in the comment section below. I'm gonna do this part again. How many of y'all really do yours like this, right? But I bet you often do them like that, you know, from here on out. So we just add four. This is shaved off a lot of time as far as just cutting these. You know your eggs, right? And again, I'm gonna move this out the way just so I can show it to you. Look at that. And they perfectly cut, right? Now, first thing I'm gonna do is, I'm gonna go ahead and put in my mayonnaise. Now, this recipe right here is more measure-based. It's a reason why we do it this way. We not gonna make no whole lot of adjustments to it. We gonna go ahead and finish this up and then we taste it. We do not want our, you know, potato salad to overpower the gumbo, right? And that's the one that we making right now. So let me go ahead and get another one. Now, this is a half a cup, folks. I'm gonna go in here and get myself, I wanna have one cup of mayo. This is almost down to a direct, you know, science. All right, the first one, we only put like a half a cup. All right, this one here, we want this to be more creamier. You know what I mean? And you want it to just be, you'll see. You guys gotta trust me. For those of you guys that don't do the ones with the relish in it, the sweet relish, you know what I mean? This will be something a little bit more what you guys are used to. But I wanna have a discussion with you guys down in that comment section below, right? So let me put this in here like that. This is my second half cup. All right, so now when it comes to the yellow mustard, remember I told you, I done took this time to get this down to a science, right? So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna just add three tablespoons of yellow mustard, right? We'll just call that one, two. I know it's a little residue on here, but usually if you measure this out the proper way, whatever's left on here, that's okay. I'm not gonna even, you know, get you out of there with no spatula. That right there is just enough. All right, so then I took out one deal pickle, right? I'm gonna set that off to the side. Now I'm gonna get myself, you know, just a couple of onions, tablespoons of onions. And these are very, very small diced. One, two. Don't do as I do. Do as I say, folks. I just added a couple more to it, right? So that's done. Now I'm gonna move these out the way. All right, now what we're gonna do is we're gonna cut this deal pickle down, right? So I'm gonna go ahead and just cut it down like this. Because what I need to do is get a couple of tablespoons of this deal. All right, so we got it like that. This'll stop it. That's why I do that, folks, so that it'll stop it from moving. When you have it like this, look, it just moves around. All right, I'm gonna go ahead and just cut one more here. I'm gonna eat all that pickle. Pause. Now I'm gonna finely dice this, right? So you just wanna go in thin layers, right? Now all you need, actually, I'm gonna save those for a sandwich. You know what I mean? Or a burger or something like that. Put that on there. Now what we'll do is we'll just come here, we tuck it, use the knife, get it like this. Let me get it so you guys can see, right? And then we just come down here like this. And now we take it and bring it around like this. Kind of like just get it all even. All right, so got them diced. One tablespoon, two tablespoon. Now remember, I just said, I'm gonna go ahead and just add just a little bit. We just don't wanna overpower it. Cause listen, I use this and put this inside a gumbo. Again, you gotta let me know. Have you ever even heard of that? Some of y'all have never even heard of it, you know? But trust me, if you're from the South, especially Louisiana, it's a certain area that way. They eat it like that. And every time I go to Emeril's, I always, I mean, always get my potato salad, you know, inside, you know, right in the center of my gumbo. All right, so then you wanna get yourself, you know, a green onion. You know what I mean? And what you wanna do is you wanna go ahead and dice this. We're gonna dice this all the way down to the whites. As we would say on the street, all the way down to the white meat, right? So we'll just continue to, you know, move this down. Once you get your knife work, you know, a little, you know, a little better. That's what I love about cooking. It just makes you a little better, you know? All right, so now we take this right here, and that we're gonna add to it. Set this off to the side. Just a little fact, you guys, about me. Whenever I eat a sandwich, I always have a green onion on my plate. I eat it all the way down. Cut this off the end like this, and enjoy that with the sandwich. All right, so got my green onions here. You know what I mean? I'm just gonna go ahead and add these to it. I held a little bit back. I usually use just two of the sprigs on there. You know what I mean? But this time, you just saw I had three. We'll just put that in there just like that. Next, we're getting ready to add our Cajun seasoning. Now, this Cajun seasoning, this is just a half a teaspoon, all right? Remember, you do not wanna overpower it, folks. Now, I'm finna come with my garlic powder, pepper. We only put about a half a teaspoon, right? I got it on fine right now. So I'm gonna go ahead and just add this to it, just the way you guys see. Just about a half a teaspoon. It's the combination of this whole medley that I'm putting together that makes it just right. And it's gonna be creamy. Woo! Y'all just wait. Now, when it comes to the salt, I'm gonna be very, very precise with it, right? This is a half a teaspoon. That's kosher salt. Now, I'm finna come with one more, so a total of one teaspoon. All right, so now, I'm gonna go in here and just mix this up the way you guys are seeing. I'm not gonna mix this completely thorough, you know what I mean? Because I wanna go ahead and add my, but you see, I wanna go ahead and add my potatoes. But you guys can just see what I'm talking about. We want it to be creamy, right? Yes. Now, eventually, once this is all put together, I'm gonna take it and I'm gonna add, you know, put this in the refrigerator and let this chill for about an hour, right? Now, I'm getting ready to add our potatoes to it. All right, now, we'll just fold just like you guys are seeing right here. Now, let's just say you didn't get your potatoes as quite as soft as you would like for them to be, right? Because remember, I did too. So, this is out for the same batch for the southern, right? But if I keep working this, you know, around this way and the fact that these aren't as warm as they were when I first did it, right? But you see this? I'm gonna give you guys a little bit of a pro tip. Let me go ahead and grab my potato masher. We bring this into play. Now, I'm gonna go ahead and just break up about two thirds of it, you know, and mash it. You want it to scoop well too, right? So, I'm gonna leave this little section over there done. All right, we're gonna go like this. Yes. If you guys are looking at it and you can see the texture, this is coming out perfect. I don't need to guess at it. I don't need to come back later and add no more mayo to it. This is gonna be nice and creamy and tasteful, folks. All right, folks, look, I got two different potato salads right here and I can look at them and tell you which one is which, right? Both of them, I let them chill just a little bit. This one has gotten a lot more of a headstart as far as being in the refrigerator, right? This is the one right here that has the sweet relish and this one over here is the one that I would put, you know, like a scoop right in the middle for that gumbo, right? Now, I'm gonna be honest with you. This one right here, I can go either way. I'm just gonna keep it real with you. Keep it 100. Either one works, right? I'm just partial to the, if I'm gonna eat it by myself and I like to have that sweet along with that sweet barbecue baked beans, you know what I mean? I like to have the one with the relish. But I'm gonna be, like I say, I don't wanna keep saying I'm gonna be honest because I'm gonna be completely honest. Either one of these work. But when you're doing the gumbo, you wanna have it less, not that sweet relish. You wanna have it like just creamy. So when you put that hot gumbo in there, it kinda like melts it just a little bit. And then you can go in and get yourself a spoonful of the, you know, potato salad and get yourself some of that gumbo. Hey, with that being said, as you can see, it's a little hard to talk, you know what I mean? So let's go ahead and get some. I done already ate it several times. You know what I mean? This you guys know already. I'm gonna go ahead and just start over here. Really don't need to hit and eat nothing else. But if you guys come on in here and take a look, by me using that masher, you don't see all of the big ones. Look, you can see potatoes over here. This is more traditional, what you do for the holidays or you guys just wanna, you know, get down and have a function, right? But you wanna look at this one right here. When this is chilled properly, you put that scoop in the middle. Look at that right there. Nice, creamy. And it is savory. Now, with that being said, folks, bon appetit. I'd have said basically everything in the very, very beginning of this, you know, having both of them out here, they just both good. To me, they both have a different profile, you know, for a different, you know, style of eating. You wanna go completely savory, that'll be this over here, you know, along with the gumbo and this right here with them barbecue baked beans. Now, you gotta let me know down in that comment section below, which one do you prefer? Because some of you guys don't even do the Sweet Brothers. You like to do Dio. Try this one. Let me know. Hit me up in the comments. Let's talk about it. And is there anything else that you guys think that you would add to this or take away to make it your own? Now, let me take this time to say, thank you for watching this video. Don't forget to like, smash that subscribe button and tell everybody out here, there's a channel out here that's simplifying these recipes and taking a mystery out of cooking. And with that being said, this is Potato Salad Two Ways. I'm gone, folks. Peace.