Simply the Best Potato Salad, Ever! - potatoes

Method

• Peel and cut potatoes into large bite size pieces.
• Boil potatoes with a bit of salt.
• You want to cook the potatoes so that when poked with a fork, the break in half easily, but a NOT mushy.
• You don't want to over cook the poatoes because they need to have some structure to handle being tossed around (with other ingredients), and not dissolve.
• Lean toward under cooking rather than OVER cooking them.
• My guess is about 7 minutes after the water begins to boil.
• Drain, VERY well, and let them cool off a bit at room temperature.
• Then refrigerate potatoes until very cold 4-6 hours, or even over night.
• Hard boil eggs, as you are boiling potatoes.
• The eggs should be refrigerated for the same time that potatoes are, so that they too are really cold.
• While potatoes an eggs are chilling, cook bacon.
• The bacon need to be cooked until quite crisp.
• No flacid bacon!
• Drain on paper towel, and let cool to room temperature.
• It depends on what I am feeling like, sometimes I cook 2lbs of bacon -- I like a lot of bacon in it.
• Begin to wash the green onions, radishes, and celery.
• After cleaned allow to dry a bit on a towel.
• Keeping extra moisture out the mix is important.
• Cut off white part of onions and only use the green part.
• Chop in pieces about 1/4 to 1/2 inch, place in LARGE mixing bowl.
• Cut ends off radishes, and then proceed to chop into even pieces (you can use a food processor for this part).
• When finished with the radishes, you can place the bacon in the food processor and chop it up.
• I prefer to use "pulse", I don't want it minced.
• Cut the ends off celery, and take remaining stalk and cut lengthwise in half, or quarters, depending how wide it is.
• Then chop in 1/4 to 1//2 inch pieces.
• Do not use the food processor for celery, it makes it mushy and too much water is released from the celery.
• Add chopped radishes, bacon and celery to the bowl with the green onions.
• Mix thoroughly.
• Peel eggs, and chop (can use food processor on pulse", and add chopped egg to bowl with vegetables and bacon.
• Begin to add mayo by large spoonfuls.
• Mix each one into the vegetable mix.
• Also start to add ground black pepper to taste.
• Continue to add mayo, until all vegetables are sufficiently covered, and then add more mayo.
• You are going to begin to add in the potatoes, and they will absorb a LOT of mayo.
• Add enough mayo to make certain that all of the ingredients are covered in mayo.
• Cover bowl(s) and refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours.
• This allows all of of the vegetables and mayo to combine flavors.
• Keep refrigerated.