Crispy Potato Salad

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Crispy Potato Salad

Ingredient Notes

Yuzu juice:

Yuzu is a Japanese citrus with a sour, floral and aromatic flavour that’s distinct from lemon or lime. The perfumed quality is what makes it interesting in a mayo. You’ll find bottled yuzu juice at Asian grocery stores and most specialty food shops. If you can’t track it down, a blend of roughly 60% lemon, 20% lime and 20% grapefruit juice gets you close to the tartness and slight bitterness, though the floral note won’t be there.

Kipfler potatoes:

Kipfler are a waxy, firm-fleshed potato and that’s exactly what you need here. Floury potatoes will break apart when you par-cook them and won’t hold up when you press them onto a hot flat plate. Waxy varieties keep their shape through both cooking stages and give you a clean crisp face without falling to pieces. Baby potatoes work as an alternative. If using baby potatoes, halve them the same way and adjust the par-cook time as they tend to cook faster.

Peanut oil:

Peanut oil has a neutral flavour and a high smoke point, which makes it a reliable choice for emulsifying into the mayo where you want a clean base without any competing flavour. Any neutral oil works here: grapeseed or canola are all fine. Avoid using olive oil in the mayo as the flavour is too assertive and can make the emulsion taste bitter. Keep the olive oil for the potatoes on the flat plate.

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Ingredients

1.5kg (3.3lbs) kipfler potatoes
60ml (¼ cup) olive oil
sea salt and cracked black pepper, to season
4 spring onions, sliced on the bias

YUZU MAYONNAISE

2 egg yolks
1½ tsp Dijon mustard
50ml yuzu juice
200ml peanut oil (or other neutral flavoured oil)
sea salt and white pepper, to season

Equipment

Chopping board
Chef’s knife
Large saucepan
BBQ flat plate or cast iron skillet
Wire rack over tray
Tall jug
Immersion blender
Large mixing bowl

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Directions

PAR COOK THE POTATOES

Place the potatoes in a large saucepan of cold salted water. Bring to a boil over high heat.
Cook for 30-35 minutes, until fork tender. Drain and set aside to cool.

MAKE YUZU MAYO

Place the egg yolks, mustard, yuzu juice and oil in a tall jug. Season with salt and white pepper.
Using an immersion blender, start blending at the bottom of the jar. Gradually move the blender upwards as you blend to emulsify the oil into the yolks. Take your time to avoid the mixture splitting.
Cover and refrigerate until you are ready to use it.

BBQ POTATOES

Preheat the BBQ flat plate over high heat. Halve the potatoes lengthways and season the flesh side with salt.
Cover the flat plate with the oil and place the potatoes flesh side down. Cook them for 3-4 minutes, until golden and crisp, then turn to brown the skin side.
Transfer to a wire rack over a tray and set aside to cool for 15-20 minutes.

FINISH AND SERVE

Transfer the potatoes to a large mixing bowl, along with two thirds of the spring onions and the mayonnaise.
Toss gently to coat the potatoes in the mayonnaise, then transfer to a serving platter. Garnish with the remaining spring onions and season with cracked black pepper.

Notes

Chef Tips

Cool the potatoes before tossing with the mayo

If the potatoes are still hot when you add the mayo, the heat will break the emulsion and the mayo will turn greasy and oily. After coming off the flat plate, transfer them to a wire rack over a tray and give them 15 to 20 minutes. You want them warm to the touch, not steaming. This step also lets the crust firm up slightly so the potatoes hold together when you toss them.

Get the flat plate hot before the potatoes go on

A flat plate that isn’t hot enough will steam the potatoes rather than caramelise them and you won’t get any colour. Preheat it over high heat for a few minutes until it’s properly hot before you add the oil. The oil should shimmer and move immediately when it hits the surface. Once the potatoes are flesh side down, don’t move them for the full 3 to 4 minutes. Moving them early pulls the crust away before it has a chance to form.

Storage

Keep the crisped potatoes and the mayo separately in airtight containers in the fridge if prepping ahead. Combined and dressed, the salad keeps for up to 2 days refrigerated. Do not freeze the dressed salad as the mayo will separate when thawed and the potato texture suffers.

FAQs

Can I make this ahead?

Yes, and I’d recommend it for a big lunch. Par-cook the potatoes and make the mayo the day before, keep both covered in the fridge. On the day, crisp the potatoes on the BBQ, let them cool for 15 to 20 minutes, then toss and serve. Once dressed, the salad is best eaten within 2 days.

What if the mayonnaise splits?

It happens, usually from adding the oil too fast or tossing with potatoes that were still too hot. To rescue a split mayo, add a fresh egg yolk to a clean tall jug and slowly blend the split mixture back into it from the bottom up, treating the split batch as the “oil” for a new emulsion. Take your time and it should come back together.