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The Batter Thickens

A food blog balancing sweet treats & healthy eats.

Northern Waters Smokehaus Potato Salad

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My family took a trip to Duluth last year, and we had a lunch at this place called Northern Waters Smokehaus. They had a crazy long line, but it proved worth the wait. We all had delicious sandwiches, but the real standout was their potato salad, which pretty much everyone at the table declared was the best they’d ever had.

So naturally, I started sleuthing for clues on how to recreate it. An internet deep dive quickly proved that no recipe has been published for it, but this is what I gathered:

  • This site mentions that the potato salad is specifically with pancetta and egg. Sure, pancetta isn’t hugely different from bacon, but I think those small upgrades can really add up to make a difference. I also learned later that they include all the pancetta fat, which is certainly never going to make something taste bad.
  • This instagram video of them making their potato salad didn’t provide any massive clues, other than confirm what the main ingredients are, and what the consistency of the dressing is. Confirmed ingredients: potatoes, hard boiled eggs, pickles, pancetta (with all the fat), and green onion. All that’s left is the dressing.
  • Their cookbook didn’t have the recipe, but it did have the recipe for their Koolslaw, which I also sampled. It was an excellent coleslaw, and I figured they might have some similar dressings. The coleslaw dressing had mayo, apple cider vinegar, and then what they call their “Misty Mountain Mustard.” So I went out on a limb and figured that the Misty Mountain Mustard is the secret ingredient in the potato salad. I played around with the ratios of the dressing a bit to get one that was more potato salad-y.

I did all this research and put this recipe together a year ago, but then I never actually made it. But I remembered it recently, when we drove through Duluth again this year, and I decided to get on it! Potato salad felt like something I needed an occasion to make, but… why? Just because it’s usually made for a crowd? It’s actually a pretty solid side to keep in the fridge and eat throughout the week with sausages.

Because I ate the Northern Waters Smokehaus potato salad over a year ago, I can’t accurately say whether this is a perfect re-creation of it. However, I can say that this potato salad is delicious! It just takes everything up a notch, and makes it something crave-able, which is not something I usually say about potato salad.

I enjoy potato salad! Especially when my mom makes it! I’m just not usually requesting it. But with this potato salad? I might request it. Something about the slightly more complex dressing, the addition of pancetta (and let’s face it, the fat), and even the pickles. I’m not even usually a pickle person, but they are essential to this! They round the whole thing out.

So I’ll have to return to Northern Waters Smokehaus to get their potato salad again as a comparison. But in the meantime, this potato salad will do great. Better than great!

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Northern Waters Smokehaus Potato Salad

  • Author: Audrey
  • Array: Array
  • Total Time: 0 hours
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Ingredients

  • 1 pound red or Yukon gold potatoes
  • 4–5 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
  • 3–4 green onions
  • 1 cup dill pickles (spears or chips), chopped
  • 4 oz pancetta

Misty Mountain Mustard:

  • 2 tbsp whole grain mustard
  • 2 tbsp spicy brown mustard
  • 1/2 tablespoon maple syrup

For the Dressing:

  • 3/4 cups mayonnaise
  • 1 recipe Misty Mountain Mustard
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • pinch of salt

Instructions

  1. Hard boil your eggs, then allow to cool and set aside.
  2. Add potatoes to a large pot then pour over enough water to cover potatoes by 1″. Season with a teaspoon of salt per pound of potatoes. Bring water to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium and cook at rapid simmer until potatoes are easily pierced with a paring knife, about 10 minutes. Drain with a colander.
  3. Dice your pancetta. You can either place on a baking sheet and cook for 10-15 minutes at 450 degrees, or put in a pan on stove and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4-5 minutes until browned and cooked through. Remove from heat and allow to cool, keeping all the fat.
  4. Chop green onions, pickles, and hard boiled eggs into bite sized-pieces. Once you potatoes have cooled a bit, chop them into quarters or whatever size is bite-sized.
  5. Put potatoes, green onions, pickles, and eggs in a bowl.
  6. Mix together the Misty Mountain Mustard, and then mix together the ingredients for the dressing.
  7. Put potatoes, green onions, pickles, and eggs into a bowl. Pour the dressing over the ingredients in the bowl, and then scoop the pancetta (and the fat) on top of the dressing. Mix everything together.
  8. Enjoy! You can eat this cold or at room temperature, and it can be kept in the fridge for 3-4 days.

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