Salaryman Potato Salad

We love the umami-happy, cucumber-laced Japanese potato salad at Salaryman, chef Justin Holt’s extraordinary ramen house in Dallas, Texas. It’s delicious on its own, and spectacular topped with half an ajitama — one of those dreamy, Japanese-style marinated eggs with a golden, gelatinous yolk. We wrote about it in a July 2020 story about potato salad.

If you thought making ajitama was difficult, think again: It’s just a six-minute brisk boil followed by a peel then a bath in mirin, soy sauce and water. Four hours later, they’re done — though you can also let them steep overnight. Ajitama is short for ajitsuke tamago, which translates as “flavored egg” — ajitsuke is “flavored” in Japanese, and tamago is “egg.” These flavorful eggs are so good, we’ve been making extras to have around to add to green salads for lunch.

But ajitama is just one garnish possibility for this delicious potato salad: Holt says it works with “just about whatever you would like to top it with — bacon, pickled ginger, garlic flowers.”

The potato salad calls for HonDashi — powdered bonito soup concentrate, an umami-packed secret weapon of many Japanese chefs. For a vegetarian version, you could substitute a teaspoon of powdered shiitake (dried shiitakes spun in a food processor or spice grinder) and a half teaspoon of soy sauce.

Serves 2 to 4, “depending on how much you love potato salad,” says Justin Holt.

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut into half-inch dice

1 Persian cucumber or 1/3 hothouse cucumber

Salt

4 scallions

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon HonDashi

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar, plus more to taste as needed

2 ajitama eggs, halved (recipe follows)

Instructions

1. Place the diced potatoes into a pot of salted cold water, set over medium heat and bring to a boil. Cook until tender — not al dente, but not quite mashed potatoes. Drain and let cool.

2. While the potatoes are boiling, slice the cucumbers no thicker than your favorite burger pickle. Season to taste with salt and set aside in the refrigerator.

3. Cut off the green parts of two of the scallions, and slice them into long ovals on the diagonal. Set them aside for garnish. Cut the rest — white and green parts — into O-shapes.

4. Make the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, the Dijon mustard, the HonDashi, the garlic and the vinegar. Set aside.

5. Place the drained potatoes in mixing bowl. Use a tea towel to squeeze the excess water out of the chilled cucumbers, then add them to the bowl. Add the O-shaped scallions, and about 3/4 cup of the dressing and fold together until the ingredients are well combined. Do not overmix or the potatoes may become gluey or overly starchy. Taste and correct seasoning, adding salt and/or vinegar as necessary, along with additional mayonnaise, if you like. Combine gently again. Refrigerate at least an hour before serving to give the flavors time to marry.

6. Divide the potato salad among four small plates (or two larger ones), top each with half an ajitama (or two halves), scatter the diagonal sliced scallion greens on top and serve.

Ajitama (Japanese marinated eggs)

You can use the same amount of marinade for two to four ajitama. Because the above recipe calls for two eggs, that’s what we’re calling for here. But if it were use, we’d make four and eat the other two another time. Justin Holt suggests using the best soy sauce and the best mirin you can find.

Makes two ajitama.

Ingredients

2 large or extra-large eggs

1 cup filtered water

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/4 cup mirin

Instructions

1. Use an egg piercer or thumbtack to pierce a hole into the larger end of each egg.

2. Fill a medium saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Place the eggs on a slotted spoon or spider and lower it into the water. Reduce the heat to medium so the eggs simmer at a low boil. Cook for exactly six minutes; while the eggs are cooking prepare an ice bath.

3. After six minutes, transfer the eggs to an ice bath to let cool completely — at least 15 minutes.

4. While the eggs are cooling, prepare the marinade. In a small bowl, combine the water, soy sauce and mirin. When the eggs are completely cool, peel them and drop them into the marinade. Tear a piece of paper towel to just fit on the surface of the marinade, and lay it on the eggs. The eggs naturally want to float, but the paper towel will wick the marinade up to keep them covered in marinade. Refrigerate at least four hours or up to overnight.

Recipe notes

• At Salaryman, Justin Holt and his team make mayonnaise in-house, then season it as above. Holt suggested the commercial mayo hack used in the recipe, but of course this is wonderful with home-made mayo as well.

• Our recipe for ajitama is a hybrid of Holt’s ingredients and Serious Eats’ technique.

For the optional ajitama garnish