My great-aunt's 'secret' potato salad recipe came with a very specific warning

She wrote it down for me on a napkin at a family picnic in Boise, Idaho. The last line said, 'Do not, under any circumstances, add celery. It will ruin the texture and my ghost will haunt you.' I thought she was joking until I tried it with celery last summer. The salad turned into a weird, watery mess that nobody touched. Has anyone else gotten a family recipe with a truly bizarre but correct instruction?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_amy3d ago

Heard a friend's pie crust recipe warned against using a food processor.

anthony_campbell883d ago

My grandma's biscuit recipe insists you have to use lard, not shortening, and you can't overwork the dough. I used butter once and they came out like hockey pucks. She was right, the lard makes them flaky in a way nothing else does.

elizabeths513d ago

Wait, you actually used butter and got hockey pucks? @anthony_campbell88, that's wild because I thought butter was supposed to be the fancy upgrade. My mom always said lard was the secret too, but I never listened. Guess I should dig out that old recipe after all.