In the early 2000s, I lived in St. Petersburg, Russia, for close to a year. I’d been traveling through Europe and northern Africa for much of the year before that and was drawn to the local flavors in each country and region I visited. Russia presented an interesting dichotomy: a love of all things pickled yet little tolerance for anything spicy or powerfully flavored.

The salad and dressing recipe I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon shows how this dichotomy can be a complementary pairing, which is perhaps one reason both tangy and mild flavors were so popular in Russia. In contrast, the blend that many Westerners know as Russian dressing, which often contains chili sauce, horseradish, and other hot or sharp flavors, would have been too much for my Russian friends. They even found my homemade mac and cheese, with its dash of mustard powder, too spicy. But the tangy combination of pickled vegetables and sour cream in this potato salad was just fine.
Learn to make Potato Salad with Pickles and Creamy Dressing