Kartoffelsalat

Germany — the Bavarian/South German vinaigrette version is the older style, found throughout southern Germany, Austria, and German-speaking Switzerland; the North German mayonnaise version developed in the 19th century with the wider availability of mayonnaise; German immigrants took the mayonnaise version to the United States where it became American potato salad

Germany's most regionally contested dish — the North German version (mayonnaise-dressed cold potato salad, often with pickles, mustard, and boiled egg) and the South German/Bavarian version (warm potato salad dressed with bacon fat, white wine vinegar, mustard, and fresh herbs, served at room temperature) represent fundamentally different philosophies about what the same name means. The Bavarian Kartoffelsalat (which is also the Austrian standard) is a vinaigrette-dressed salad where the potatoes absorb the dressing while still warm — the starch leaches slightly from the cut surface and thickens the dressing into a natural emulsion. Both versions require waxy potatoes (festkochend) that hold their shape after boiling; floury potatoes collapse into mash. The North German version is the origin of American potato salad (carried by German immigrants).

Served alongside Bratwurst at a Bavarian Biergarten; with Wiener Schnitzel as the Viennese variant; at German summer barbecues (Grillabend) alongside Bratwurst and Rostbratwurst; the Bavarian version must be at room temperature, never cold from the refrigerator — cold fat congeals and the salad loses its characteristic silky texture