Julia Child's Potato Salad Technique Makes Your Side Dish The Star Of Any Party

A whole baked salmon or a platter of roast chicken might be the main attraction at a get-together, but it's the selection of yummy sides that can turn a party plate into a feast. And what would any party be without a batch of potato salad? To turn this side into the star of the show, copy Julia Child's technique and slice your potatoes into rounds.

Slicing the potatoes into discs instead of traditional cubes does two important things. Firstly, the rounds simply look fancier and lend the finished potato salad a classier aesthetic that's reminiscent of French-style side dishes. While it may be a subtle change, it gives this classic potluck favorite a little makeover that will make your guests look twice. Secondly, thinner rounds of potato cook far quicker than bigger chunks because more of their surface area is exposed to the boiling water. Plus, it's faster to slice a whole potato and create rounds of varying diameter than to cube it up into identical chunks. As each circle is varied in size, the salad also looks visually appealing and distinctive. Additionally, because they are all the same thickness, they cook at an even rate, producing taters that are perfectly tender and toothsome. All this means you can cook your spuds at speed, saving you time to get on with arranging the main dish, drinks, and dessert.

Child dressed her potatoes in seasonings, minced onions, and, perhaps unusually, most of a cup of chicken broth while they were still hot. Rather than making the spuds soggy, this technique helped them to absorb more flavor. Alternatively, if you don't want to use chicken broth, you can employ another of Child's tricks and sub it for some of the starchy cooking water the potatoes are boiled in. No matter whether you use broth or starchy water, this step prevents the spuds from absorbing all the mayo dressing that they're finally coated in and becoming dry. You can use a homemade mayo to truly lend your potato salad a homespun vibe or use a store-bought brand (Julia Child's favorite mayo brand was Hellman's). Having said that, one ingredient that will instantly upgrade your potato salad is sour cream. Its tangy flavor cuts through the heaviness of the mayo and produces a slightly lighter dish.

Child's potato salad featured chopped dill pickles, hardboiled eggs, celery, crispy bacon, and parsley too, so it definitely wasn't a run-of-the-mill side dish. However, to give it an even greater upmarket vibe, you could slice the pickles into rounds or add half-moon slivers of red onion to mimic the circular shape of the potatoes. Setting the salad in the fridge overnight also allows the flavors to mingle.