Paprika-Erdäpfelsalat (Burgenland Potato Salad)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large pot for boiling potatoes
• •Wide pan or skillet (24cm) for the paprika onions
• •Large mixing bowl

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook the potatoes

   Place the potatoes in a large pot of well-salted cold water, unpeeled. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a steady simmer. Cook until a thin knife slides in with no resistance, about 20 to 25 minutes depending on size. You want them cooked through but absolutely not falling apart. Waxy potatoes are not negotiable here. Mehlige (floury) varieties will crumble the moment you slice them and you'll end up with potato mush instead of a salad. Drain the potatoes and let them sit just long enough to handle, two or three minutes, no more. You need them hot for the next step.

   Look for festkochende potatoes, sometimes labeled 'waxy' or 'salad' potatoes at your market. Charlotte, Kipfler, or Annabelle varieties all work. If you can find Ditta or Sieglinde, even better. Those are what Austrian cooks reach for.
2. 2

   Prepare the Marinade

   While the potatoes cook, whisk together the hot beef broth, Apfelessig, mustard, and a good pinch of salt in a large bowl. The broth must be properly hot, not warm, not room temperature. Hot. This is the single most important thing about Austrian potato salad. When hot liquid meets a hot potato, the starch on the surface opens up and absorbs the Marinade like a sponge. If the broth is cold, the dressing just sits on the outside and the potato tastes like nothing. Gretel explained this to me when I was eight years old and I've never forgotten it.

   Hesperidenessig is the traditional Viennese vinegar, made from citrus fruit, with a delicate acidity that doesn't bully the other flavors. If you can't find it, good apple cider vinegar is the right substitute. White wine vinegar works too. Never use balsamic.
3. 3

   Slice and dress the potatoes

   Peel the hot potatoes. They'll be easier to peel than you think: the skin pulls right off when they're warm. Slice them into rounds about four millimeters thick, directly into the bowl with the Marinade. Work quickly. Every second the potatoes cool, they absorb less. Toss them gently with a large spoon or your hands if you can take the heat. Don't stir aggressively or you'll break the slices. Let the dressed potatoes sit for ten minutes. They'll drink up most of that broth. The bowl should look nearly dry.

4. 4

   Make the paprika onions

   Heat two tablespoons of the oil in a wide pan over medium-low heat. Add the sliced onions and the sugar. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft, golden, and sweet. This takes a solid eight to ten minutes. Don't rush it. If you hear sizzling, your heat is too high. You want them to melt, not fry. When the onions are golden and translucent, pull the pan off the heat entirely. Wait thirty seconds for the oil to cool slightly, then stir in the paprika. This order matters. Paprika burns in seconds and burned paprika is bitter and acrid. Off the heat, stirred into warm oil and soft onions, it blooms into something fragrant and deeply sweet.

   Use Hungarian édesnemes (noble sweet) paprika. This is the real thing, brick-red and intensely aromatic. The dusty, flavorless paprika that's been sitting in the back of your spice rack for two years won't do. If you open the jar and it doesn't smell like anything, throw it out and buy fresh.
5. 5

   Combine and season

   Scrape the warm paprika onions and all the oil from the pan over the dressed potatoes. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil. Fold everything together gently, turning the potatoes until every slice is coated in that golden-red dressing. The salad will turn a warm, burnished color. Season generously with salt and black pepper. Taste it. The Marinade should be tangy and bright, the paprika sweet and present without being sharp. If it needs more vinegar, add a splash. Austrian salads lean on their acidity. Don't be timid.

6. 6

   Rest and serve

   Let the salad rest at room temperature for at least fifteen minutes before serving. This is when the flavors come together: the broth finishes absorbing, the paprika settles into the potatoes, the vinegar rounds out. Scatter the chopped parsley over the top. Serve warm or at room temperature, never cold. Cold kills the paprika and tightens the potatoes. This salad belongs next to a crispy Schnitzel, a plate of Debreziner sausages, or simply with good bread and butter at a Heuriger table. Mahlzeit!

Chef Tips

• •Austrian potato salad never, ever contains mayonnaise. I cannot say this clearly enough. If you've been making potato salad with mayonnaise, that's a different dish from a different tradition and it has nothing to do with what we're making here. The Marinade is broth, vinegar, oil, and mustard. That's it. The potatoes themselves provide the body.
• •Make more Marinade than you think you need. Potatoes are thirsty when they're hot. If you dress them and the bowl looks soupy, wait ten minutes. It will all be absorbed. If the bowl looks dry before you've even let them sit, add another splash of warm broth.
• •This salad is best the day it's made, served at room temperature. You can refrigerate leftovers, but bring them back to room temperature before serving and refresh with a small splash of vinegar and broth. Cold Erdäpfelsalat straight from the fridge is a sad thing.
• •The paprika onion step is what makes this Burgenland, not Vienna. If you leave it out, you have a perfectly good Viennese Erdäpfelsalat. With it, you have something warmer, sweeter, and more complex. The border with Hungary is right there in the bowl.

Advance Preparation

• •The Marinade can be mixed and the broth heated while the potatoes boil. Everything should come together quickly once the potatoes are done.
• •The paprika onions can be prepared up to an hour ahead and kept in the pan at room temperature. Reheat gently before adding to the potatoes. The paprika loses its fragrance if left sitting too long.
• •The finished salad is best eaten within four hours. It can be made two hours ahead and kept at room temperature, covered, without any loss in quality.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 275g)