Chef Klaus
Berliner Kartoffelsuppe
The capital's winter soup is built from stored roots, smoked bacon, and floury potatoes, then crushed in the pot so the broth turns thick without cream or a packet.
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Berliner Kartoffelsalat
Created by
The capital's creamy potato salad, built on warm waxy potatoes that drink the dressing before mayonnaise binds the bowl, with pickle, onion, and egg doing the sharpening.
Salads
German
Potluck
Picnic
Make Ahead
25 min
Active Time
25 min cook•1 hr 50 min total
Yield6 servings
Berliner Kartoffelsalat belongs to the city table: potluck, picnic, weekday supper, the bowl carried to the balcony or set beside cold cuts and rye. Berlin leans creamy, with mayonnaise, pickle, onion, and egg. Swabia and Bavaria argue back with warm broth, vinegar, and oil, no mayonnaise in sight. Im Norden anders, im Süden anders. Good. German potato salad has never had one national version.
The technique is simple and easy to ruin: peel and slice the potatoes while they're still warm, then season them first with vinegar, pickle brine, onion, mustard, salt, and a little potato cooking water. Warm potato is open and thirsty; cold potato is shut and takes dressing only on the outside. Mayonnaise goes in after the potatoes have cooled to warm, not hot, because heat makes it greasy and loose.
Use waxy potatoes, the kind that slice cleanly and hold their edges. A floury potato falls apart and gives you mash with pickles in it. Let the salad rest at least an hour, because the onion softens, the pickle sharpens the cream, and the potatoes stop tasting separate from the dressing. Das braucht seine Zeit, even for a cold salad.
The potato became a German staple in the eighteenth century, pushed hardest in Prussia under Frederick II, whose 1756 potato order tried to force wider planting after grain failures and war shortages. Berlin's creamy potato salad reflects the capital's nineteenth and twentieth century cold-table cooking, where boiled potatoes, pickled cucumbers, eggs, and mayonnaise fit the urban larder and could be made ahead. The regional split remains clear: northern and eastern versions often use mayonnaise or cream, while Swabian and Bavarian cooks bind warm slices with broth, vinegar, and oil.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
waxy potatoes
Quantity
1.2kg
similar size
eggs
Quantity
3 large
mayonnaise
Quantity
150g
Gewürzgurken, German pickled cucumbers
Quantity
120g
finely diced
pickle brine
Quantity
3 tablespoons
white onion
Quantity
1 small
very finely diced
medium German mustard
Quantity
1 tablespoon
white wine vinegar
Quantity
2 tablespoons
reserved potato cooking water
Quantity
3 tablespoons
sugar
Quantity
1 teaspoon
fine salt
Quantity
1 teaspoon, plus more for the potato water
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
to taste
neutral oil
Quantity
2 tablespoons
chives
Quantity
2 tablespoons
snipped
tart apple (optional)
Quantity
1 small
finely diced
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| waxy potatoessimilar size | 1.2kg |
| eggs | 3 large |
| mayonnaise | 150g |
| Gewürzgurken, German pickled cucumbersfinely diced | 120g |
| pickle brine | 3 tablespoons |
| white onionvery finely diced | 1 small |
| medium German mustard | 1 tablespoon |
| white wine vinegar | 2 tablespoons |
| reserved potato cooking water | 3 tablespoons |
| sugar | 1 teaspoon |
| fine salt | 1 teaspoon, plus more for the potato water |
| freshly ground black pepper | to taste |
| neutral oil | 2 tablespoons |
| chivessnipped | 2 tablespoons |
| tart apple (optional)finely diced | 1 small |
Equipment Needed
- •Large saucepan
- •Small saucepan for eggs
- •Paring knife
- •Wide mixing bowl
- •Flexible spatula or broad spoon
Instructions
- 1
Boil the potatoes
Put the unpeeled potatoes in a pot, cover with cold water, salt it well, and bring it up gently. Starting cold cooks the potatoes evenly to the centre; drop them into boiling water and the outside softens before the middle is done. Simmer until a knife slides in with only a little resistance, 20 to 25 minutes depending on size.
Choose potatoes of similar size. A pot with big and small potatoes gives you half undercooked and half crumbling, and no dressing can fix that. - 2
Cook the eggs
Lower the eggs into simmering water and cook them 9 minutes, then cool them in cold water so the yolks set without turning chalky. Peel and chop them roughly; they should stay visible in the salad, not disappear into paste.
- 3
Peel warm
Drain the potatoes, saving a little cooking water, then let them stand just until you can handle them. Peel them warm and slice them 5mm thick into a wide bowl. Warm slices drink seasoning; cold slices sit there like coins in sauce.
- 4
Season first
Stir the vinegar, pickle brine, mustard, sugar, salt, pepper, onion, and warm potato water together, then spoon it over the warm potatoes and fold gently. The onion softens in the acid, the brine sharpens the potato, and the cooking water loosens the starch just enough to help the dressing cling. Let it stand 15 minutes.
- 5
Bind with mayonnaise
When the potatoes are warm but no longer hot, fold in the mayonnaise and oil. Not before. Hot potatoes make mayonnaise split and turn heavy; warm potatoes take the flavour and still keep the dressing smooth. Fold with a broad spoon from the edge to the middle so the slices stay whole.
- 6
Finish and rest
Fold in the diced pickles, chopped eggs, chives, and apple if using. Cover and rest the salad at least 1 hour in the refrigerator, then taste again before serving because potatoes swallow salt as they sit. Würzen, Fett, Salz zum Schluss. Add a spoon more pickle brine if it tastes flat.
Chef Tips
- •Use waxy potatoes such as Linda, Sieglinde, Charlotte, or Yukon Gold if that's what you can get. They hold a slice. Floury potatoes are for Knödel, dumplings, not this bowl.
- •Nicht aus dem Glas does not mean you must make mayonnaise on a Tuesday. It means don't drown good potatoes in sweet factory salad cream. Use a clean, plain mayonnaise and sharpen it yourself with mustard and pickle brine.
- •The salad should be creamy, not wet. If you see dressing pooling at the bottom, the potatoes were too cold when dressed or too much mayonnaise went in. Fold in a few more warm sliced potatoes if you have them. Weggeworfen wird nichts.
- •Serve with Bockwurst, Frikadellen, cold roast pork, or rye bread and butter. It also stands on its own for a picnic, which is why Berlin keeps making it.
Advance Preparation
- •Make the salad 4 to 24 hours ahead. The rest is part of the dish, because the potatoes need time to take the onion, pickle, and mustard through the slice.
- •Hold it covered in the refrigerator, then let it stand 20 minutes before serving so the mayonnaise loosens and the potato flavour comes back.
- •Keep leftovers refrigerated and eat within 2 days. Stir gently and correct with a little pickle brine and salt before serving again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 335g)
Calories
455 calories
Total Fat
26 g
Saturated Fat
4 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
22 g
Cholesterol
105 mg
Sodium
930 mg
Total Carbohydrates
47 g
Dietary Fiber
5 g
Sugars
7 g
Protein
8 g
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