Salt Lick Potato Salad

[hornian]

I was reading a thread on Around Austin about the Salt Lick, and it got me wondering if I could find the recipe for their potato salad (the only thing there besides the sauce that sets them apart food-wise). And lo and behold, it was pretty easy to find.

I think I'm going to try to whip up a batch of this next time I have a barbecue. I haven't made it yet so I don't know how it holds up to the real deal, but it looks about right.

5 large Baking potatoes
Salt and pepper
1 teaspoon Celery seed
1 large Onion diced
½ cup Juiced drained from dill pickles
1/3 cup Barbecue sauc
1/3 cup Vinaigrette salad dressing
1 cup Mayonnaise, or to taste

The day before serving, scrub the potatoes and boil them in salted water until tender but still slightly firm they should not be mushy. Plunge them into ice water, and when cool, peel them and cut them into 3/4 inch dice. Season the potatoes with salt, pepper, and celery seed. Marinate the onion in the pickle for a few hours or overnight in the refrigerator. To serve, drain the juice and add the onions to the potatoes. Add the barbecue sauce and salad dressing, tossing to coat evenly. Place back in the refrigerator for at least one hour before serving, and just before serving, add the mayonnaise. Adjust the seasoning and serve. Notes: It's the marinated onions that make the difference.

 

[GakFoo]

i'd like to try that recipe and appreciate you posting it. what does "&#8531" mean though. weird typo or computer glitch or something.

 

[WithoutAClue]

Salt Lick potato salad with their bbq sauce poured on top.

yummy...

 

[hornian]

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[DeadHeadHorn]

You, hornian, are a godsend. Post of the year.

 

[brwhorn]

very cool - now can you post their cole slaw recipe??? I love that stuff!

 

[mayberryrfd]

If you do a google search for Salt Lick recipes, you will get a few.

Food network online had this one:

Salt Lick Brisket

8 to 10 pound grain-fed beef brisket (recommended: Angus beef)
3 tablespoons dry rub (recommended: Salt Lick dry rub)
Barbecue sauce (recommended: Salt Lick BBQ sauce)

Dry brisket with a clean cloth. Evenly spread the dry rub over the entire outside of the brisket. Rub in lightly and dust off any excess. Start a fire in your grill using oak, other hard woods, or oak charcoal. Do not use mesquite in any form. Once the fire has reached the stage where you can hold your hand about 1-inch over the grill to a count of 4, place the brisket fat side down above the coals. Leave for 5 to 10 minutes or until caramelization begins. Turn brisket over and repeat process. Remove from fire. The purpose of this procedure is to set the spices into the meat so that they will not wash off during the cooking process.
Place the brisket on an open grill away from the coals and maintain a temperature to where you can hold your hand over it to a count of 12 or place in a closed smoker away from the coals at a temperature of 210 degrees F. Cook for 14 hours or until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F.

During the cooking process, turn and baste the brisket with Salt Lick BBQ sauce often (at least 4 times). If not using Salt Lick BBQ sauce, make sure your sauce has no tomatoes in it, as they will burn and leave a bitter taste. When turning the brisket, try not to use a barbecue fork. If you do, only insert it at the edges. Poking the center will cause the juices to run out and make the brisket dry.

 

[#3Rules]

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[CelisHorn]

That can't be right. Its still in the plateau at 160.

 

[pulque]

Hornian,
I have alway thought that Salt lick sucks. It is not centex bbq...

 

[hornian]

I don't think the salt lick sucks, it's just not the best barbecue. Their potato salad, on the other hand, IS the best.

 

[Smoky Brisket]

I've never really thought of it as "potato salad." It's always seemed like really good hash browns or something

 

[GakFoo]

i am trying this today. wish that recipe had a little more detail about the vinagrette. that could be a lot of things -- red wine, balsamic, basil and romano, zesty italian, etc. etc., and its been too long since i've been there to be able to recall what that might be. thoughts?

 

[badexcuse]

No mustard or mustard seed? Seems odd.

 

[TheFied]

My understanding is it is not potato salad but actually "German-style potatos" per my dad (his side is German) or Polish (per my wife who's side is Polish).

 

[TheFied]

Thanks for the recipe though.

 

[NickDanger]

I'm not going to post one of those barfing icons or anything. Everyone has their own tastes. I would not criticize anyone for liking a taste. That being said, I would spit out potato salad with pickle juice in it.

I like dill pickles and pickled okra, but I don't like them mixed with anything else. My parents have gobs of pickle relish in 4 or 5 different fridges. I have no idea which one likes it or what it goes into, but that scares me far more than anything that ever lived in my closet or under my bed. I bet I could round up 15 jars of it with less than 1/4 inch left in the bottom of any of them.

 

[hornian]

There's not the actual juice in the salad though, Nick; just the onions that were "marinated" in the juice. I've had it dozens of times and never noticed a pickle flavor. Have you never been to the Salt Lick? It's not that far from San Antonio.

 

[NickDanger]

I've never been there. In my advancing age, I ask about things like pickle juice and I would decline. I'll be happy you are enjoying yours. Nobody is wrong about what they like to eat.

 

[GakFoo]

I made this recipe this weekend to go with some grilled chicken i had brined in a apple chipotle brine. both turned out great. some thoughts on the potato salad that i thought i'd share.

I think i diced my onions a bit larger than they do at the restaurant, and i will dice them finely next time because they stood out so much because of the flavor. hornian's note is abolutely right -- the marinated onions really jump out at you and make the dish unique. as far as the other ingredients and amounts, it was spot on and the taste was exactly how i remember it overall.

however, i would strongly go with the "to taste" on the mayo. i used the whole cup and it made it VERY creamy. i recall salt lick's potato salad being a dry, somewhat vinegary "german potatoes" dish as some have stated on here, as opposed to what we traditionally think of as potato salad which is very creamy. i would try more like 1/3 cup of mayo if i were to make it again. it goes on at the end, so you can always add more, but i wouldn't if you want a consistency similar to the salt lick's.

tasted great though. thanks to hornian for posting it and giving me the idea.

i'd like to hear how others' versions turned out if anyone gives it a shot.

 

[michaelpshayes]

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[hornian]

I'm making some to take to a pot luck 4th of July barbecue tomorrow (I don't want to show up the host or I'd just smoke a brisket or a pork loin or something). I'm taking pictures along the way, and we'll see how it turns out. I have the onions marinating right now, the rest of it will come later.

 

[hornian]

Alrighty, I finally got around to making this. It was an interesting experience. I think I boiled the potatoes a little bit too long, because when I mixed everything together the consistency got a little bit closer to mashed potatoes, but oh well. It still tastes great. Oh, and I doubled the recipe, that's why I have two onions to start out with.

First things first, I got a couple of white onions:

And then I diced them up pretty darn fine. It wasn't very fun and my eyes watered a lot, but it was worth it:

Then I placed them in a tupperware, covered them with dill pickle juice, and let that marinate in the fridge over night:

This morning I boiled the potatoes, skin on. When they were done, I peeled them by hand (no tool needed, the skin slipped right off), and this is what they looked like (only two shown, I had 8 all together):

Then I chopped them up and threw them in a bowl:

A couple more potatoes joined them in the bowl (I only made half the batch at the time), and then I added the celery seed, salt, and pepper and mixed that all up:

When that was mixed up, I added about half of the marinated onions to the bowl:

And then stirred that all together:

Then I grabbed my vinaigrette dressing and salt lick barbecue sauce (I bought the spicy kind because it was all they had at my local HEB):

And I poured 1/3rd of a cup of each on top of the potatoes:

Then I mixed everything together and this is what I had:

Like I said, I think I cooked the potatoes a little too long, since all that mixing turned them into close to a mashed potato consitency, but it's still a potato salad. I left out the mayo, because the taste test said that it didn't need anything else. And as far as taste goes, it's great. The celery seed and marinated onions are what really give it that distinctive flavor. And I actually really like the little kick from the spicy barbecue sauce as compared to the normal sauce. All in all, it's pretty darn close to the real thing, and very tasty. I'll be making this in the future.

 

[Mrmyke709]

The original chef over there was Hisako Roberts. She made use of anything in the kitchen, such as peach juice from the peaches for cobbler, and hence, the use of the pickle juice. Nothing got thrown out if it was useful.
I remember the days when they only were open on the weekend, and Family Style was cheap. We'd leave bloated, drunk, and satiated.

 

[utexas_61]

i am just posting cause i am going to use this next week and don't want to lose the page

 

[hullabelew]

ut61, Thanks for snagging that from the back pages. I may make it this weekend. Cooking some ribs for the games on Saturday so your timing is perfect.