Emeril Lagasse's Secret Weapon Ingredient For The Ultimate Potato Salad

A batch of potato salad prepared with spuds, mayo, and seasonings makes the perfect blank canvas for some culinary experimentation. From incorporating fresh herbs and a dash of mustard to subbing the mayo for Greek yogurt, there's plenty of bandwidth to get creative and elevate your serving of delectably dressed taters with scrumptious add-ins. However, there's one secret weapon ingredient that's worth keeping in your back pocket if you want to make the ultimate potato salad: Worcestershire sauce. Featured in a potato salad recipe created by American chef Emeril Lagasse, this tangy condiment lends the spuds an umami quality and depth without adding bulk.

Worcestershire sauce is a thin mixture of vinegar that's been slightly sweetened with molasses and sugar. Along with spices and seasonings, such as garlic and onions, this savory elixir also contains fermented anchovies and tamarind extract. These two key elements are the ingredients that lend Worcestershire its distinctive piquancy and savoriness. Lagasse adds only half a teaspoon of this punchy condiment to his dish because it's naturally intense and slightly salty. If you want to give it a try, simply stir a few drops into your dressed taters as the finishing touch. This move will imbue your spuds with a subtle tang that cuts through the creaminess of the mayo and rounds out its flavor. Better yet, as Worcestershire sauce can last for years in a cool dark place (even after opening!), you can keep it in your pantry to rescue other dishes in need of an umami punch.

Worcestershire sauce has such a savory flavor because the anchovies used to make it are rich in glutamate. This amino acid (also found in Parmesan, mushrooms, fish sauce, and soy sauce) lends foods a satisfying umami quality that you can't quite put your finger on; it makes dishes taste complete and gives them a fuller-bodied taste. As Worcestershire sauce is so concentrated, you can add it to your potato salad without loosening the texture of the dressing. Lagasse also adds hot pepper sauce to his spuds right at the very end to give them a little kick, but this isn't necessary if you enjoy milder flavors.

Other secret weapons celebrity chefs use in their potato salad include honey, dill, and lemon zest. Ree Drummond and Guy Fieri favor the piquancy of briny ingredients, such as pickles and capers, whereas Jamie Oliver adds pancetta for crispy texture and a saltier vibe. Aside from elevating the flavor of your potato salad with yummy add-ins, you can also improve its consistency by preparing the spuds in a different way. Lagasse smashes his cooked potatoes (retaining some of the lumps), but Julia Child's potato salad technique involved slicing the raw taters into rounds instead of cubes before boiling. This move encouraged them to cook faster but also gave the final dish a fancier, French-style appearance.