Beer'd Warm German Potato Salad

I love potato salad in the summertime.   It's creamy and fresh; the perfect compliment to the typical summer fare.

I wanted to try something different to go with barbecued flank steak, I found a recipe for a German potato salad that was just what I was looking for!  Warm potato salad made with a beer dressing.  That's my kind of thing!  And, it it rocked!

I used Headwall Alt., a German brown ale, by Tuckerman Brewery.  You can use whatever beer you like, but I recommend something lighter in flavor and color.  A strong tasting beer will overpower the other flavors in the salad and a dark beer will give the  potatoes an unappealing color.



Beer'd Warm German Potato Salad 

12  Small to Medium Red Potatoes
6 Slices Cooked Bacon, Crispy
3 Stalks Celery, Minced
3 Hard Boiled Eggs, Chopped
2 Tablespoons Butter
2 Tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Dry Mustard
1 Tablespoon Granulated Sugar
1 Cup Lager or Brown Ale
1/2 Teaspoon Tabasco Sauce
Salt And Fresh Ground Pepper, To Taste

Place potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium high and cook for 15 minutes or just tender.  Remove from heat and drain. Return to pan and cover with cold water.

Once the potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut into quarters.  Place in a large mixing bowl, set aside.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir in the flour until blended and smooth. Add the mustard and sugar. Slowly stir in the beer and Tabasco sauce. Increase the heat to medium high and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat as soon as it begins to boil.

Pour the beer dressing over the potatoes and mix gently so as to not smoosh the potatoes. Add the hard-cooked eggs, celery, and bacon. Add salt and pepper, if desisred.  Again, mix gently.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Reflect on this . . .

Hubby and I went out for hot wings and cold beer the other night.  When we got to our favorite bar we noticed something unusual . . . bags of what looked like water hanging from the eaves.


I assumed they were some sort of ward to keep gnomes from invading and wreaking havoc in the establishment.  Lord knows I've had my own issues with the little fellas (still do from time to time).  But just to confirm, when the waitress came to our table to take our order I inquired about them.


No, it wasn't about gnomes . . . or any other mystical creature, for that matter.  It was, however, a ward of a different kind.  Those bags full of water were there to detract bugs.  Really??


Okay . . . so I had to look into this repellent technique because I've never heard of such a thing.



Apparantly this is a method employed in the south and . . . even further south than that . . .  in South America.


Basically, you fill a strong clear plastic bag with clean water and hang it in direct sunlight wherever there is a flying bug problem.  The theory is that the water will refract and reflect the light.  It works kind of like a warning beacon to bugs who perceive the reflected light as movement and avoid it to evade a possible collision.


Some say to make the water bag even more effective put a very shiny penny in the bag . . . the shinier the betterer . . . put little pieces of shiny foil in the water.  This will increase the light infraction and thusly . . . supposedly . . . be more effective.


There are companies that actually attempt to market and sell these things . . . like finding ziplock bags and filling them with water is so complicated.


I also read the US military uses water bags for the purposes of keeping the bugs away.  My biggest concern about this is . . . are they making them or are they contracting out for somebody else to make them.  You’ve heard all the stories about how the military was buying toilet seats for $600, and $17 bolts?  Enough said.  


Anyhoo . . . I supposed it’s worth a try.  I mean . . . you know the kind of stuff flies like to hang out in and on.  Do you really want their nasty little feet touching you or your food?  Ugh . . . no way!


Then again, I doubt they would be useful against mosquitoes. Those flying parasites are out for blood . . . your blood . . . and I don’t think they’d easily be deterred by a bag of water.  Even if it does have shiny bits floating around in it.


And that’s all she wrote . . . 

Bacon Potato Salad

Everything is better with bacon . . . everything.

6 To 8 Medium Potatoes 

1/2 Pound Bacon, Cooked And Crumbled 

2 Celery Ribs, Finely Chopped

3 Hard Boiled Eggs, Chopped

3/4 Teaspoon Salt

1/4 Teaspoon Pepper

1/2 Cup Mayonnaise 

1/2 Cup Sour Cream 

Cook potatoes in boiling water for 30 minutes or until tender. Drain and let cool slightly. Peel and cut into 1-inch cubes.


Place potatoes in a large bowl. Add bacon, celery, eggs, salt and pepper. Stir together mayonnaise and sour cream until blended. Pour over potato mixture, tossing gently to coat. Cover and chill at least 1 hour.

You sockdologizing old man-trap

"Don't know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal — you sockdolagizing old man-trap."  The line from the play Our American Cousin that was delivered to raucous applause and laughter which disguised the gunshot that killed Abraham Lincoln.


But what does it mean . . . that word.  How exactly does one . . . uhm . . . sockdolagize?  


Sockdologer, a corruption of 'doxologer'.  It is which an expression of praise to God . . . like amen at the end of a prayer or Gloria at the conclusion of a hymn.  


It became a popular word in the mid-1800's.  In the common vernacular, and getting away from the religious meaning . . . it came to mean something that settles a matter . . . landing a knock-down blow.


But as it applies to the line in Our American Cousin, that doesn't really make much sense, does it?  The character, Asa Trenchard,  certainly wasn't paying Mrs. Mountchessington a compliment.





I'm still fishing here for the meaning.  So again . . . what on earth was the man talking about?  It's actually an obscure kind of reference . . . albeit an interesting one.



The Sockdolager  . . . AKA the Yankee Doodle . . . was a spring loaded, clamping fishhook that was patented in 1847 and sold in the Sears Roebuck Catalog.






Ah . . . now we're getting somewhere.  The woman . . . Mrs. Mountchessington . . . was most certainly being insulted.  He was calling her a humdinger of a grasping, manipulative man-trap.  


People of that time were most likely well aware of the Sockdolager to have elicited such a reaction . . . a reaction that was loud enough to disguise the sound of the gunshot that killed our 16th president.

It is interesting to note that the phrase "Sock it to me" . . . most memorably popularized by Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In . . . is most likely a further corruption of Sockdolager.  


During the Civil War battle of Middletown (1864), Union General Philip Sheridan said in reply to receiving word from William Emory about a recent victory, “Now then, tell General Emory if they attack him again to go after them, and to follow them up, and to sock it to them, and to give them the devil”.


"Sock it to them" he said!

Pickle Relish Potato Salad

7 Medium Potatoes

3 Eggs

1 Cup Chopped Celery

1/2 Cup Garlic Pickle Relish

2 Tablespoons Fresh Dill, Chopped

1/4 Teaspoon Garlic Salt

1/4 Teaspoon Celery Salt

1 Tablespoon Prepared Mustard

Ground Black Pepper to Taste

1/2 Cup Mayonnaise

Make the pickle relish by placing two garlic dill pickles in a small food processor and chop.  Set aside.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender but still firm, about 20-25 minutes. Drain, cool, peel and cut into 1-inch chunks.

. Place eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring water to a boil; cover, remove from heat, and let eggs stand in hot water for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from hot water, cool, peel and chop.

In a large bowl, combine the potatoes, eggs, celery, dill, relish, garlic salt, celery salt, mustard, pepper and mayonnaise. Mix together well and refrigerate until chilled.

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