Just like here in the South, the Japanese take their potato salad seriously. “Anytime I’m in Japan at an izakaya and I see potato salad on the menu, I always order it to see the different versions they’ve come up with,” says chef Jacqueline Blanchard of New Orleans’ Sukeban restaurant. As the chef of her own izakaya, she travels to Japan regularly—and as a native Louisianan, she’s constantly seeing similarities between the two cultures.
“We have a lot of interesting parallels between south Louisiana and Japan, like rice, seafood, climate, industry, and our drinking culture,” she says. Potato salad falls right into that. “We grew up with potato salad being a staple at family gatherings, dinners, and alongside (or sometimes in) our gumbo. So I love that the Japanese have their own tradition of potato salad within izakaya culture as well.”
Her version is inspired by several she’s tried while traveling: crunchy cucumbers, carrots, sweet onion, scallions, and crispy niboshi, which are small dried fish that give it an umami crunch. “It’s been a guest favorite from day one,” she adds.
Izakaya Potato Salad 
yields
Serves 4 to 6
3 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
1 English cucumber, seeded and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons minced pickled ginger, plus 1-2 tablespoons pickling liquid
1 cup diced carrots
1 small sweet onion, thinly sliced
½ cup thinly sliced scallion
2 tablespoons sushi vinegar
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
1½ cups kewpie mayonnaise
Shiro dashi, salt, and sugar to taste
Crispy niboshi (optional) for garnish
Ingredients
steps
- In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook the potatoes until tender and nearly falling apart (they should be almost spreadable). Drain and set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine cucumbers with ginger pickling liquid. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan of salted boiling water, blanch carrots for about 3 minutes. Drain and set aside.
- Drain any excess liquid from cucumbers. In a large bowl, combine potatoes, cucumbers, pickled ginger, carrots, onion, scallion, vinegar, mustard, and mayonnaise. Stir well to fully combine. Season with dashi, salt, and sugar. Garnish with crispy niboshi.
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Recipe Adapted from
Jacqueline Blanchard of Sukeban in New Orleans, Louisiana
