Crispy Potato Salad

This is a potato salad, but the potatoes aren’t boiled and left soft. They’re par-cooked until fork tender, halved, then pressed onto a hot BBQ flat plate until the flesh side goes golden and crisp. That caramelised face is what makes this different from a standard potato salad. Combined with a yuzu mayo, it’s sharp, rich and has a proper texture contrast that a boiled potato salad doesn’t have. It’s also the kind of dish that suits a Christmas lunch where the BBQ is already hot and you need something that can sit alongside grilled meat without being an afterthought.

The yuzu mayo comes together in a tall jug with an immersion blender. Put everything in, blend from the bottom up, and it emulsifies quickly into a thick, glossy mayo with a citrus sharpness that a lemon mayo doesn’t quite replicate. The whole dish can be prepped ahead and kept in the fridge, which is exactly what you want when you’re cooking for a group.

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.

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