The recipe
A Memorial-Page Potato Salad with One Unforgettable Instruction
Lloyd Potato Salad is preserved in the In Memory front matter of the Centennial Cookbook 1893–1993 from Farmersville, Illinois, and is credited to Velma (Snyder) Wise. The recipe sits among the cookbook’s memorial material, giving this crowd-size potato salad a direct connection to the community history behind the collection.
Five pounds of red potatoes are boiled in their skins, peeled while still hot, chopped with hard-boiled eggs and onion, then dressed generously with Miracle Whip, sugar, celery seed, salt and pepper. The final instruction—“Do not flatten”—is one of those small source details that says more than a modern rewrite ever could: this salad is meant to stay loose, chunky and visibly homemade.
Why it matters
Why This One Is Worth Bringing Back
Lloyd Potato Salad comes from the In Memory front matter of the Centennial Cookbook 1893–1993. Like Art’s Barbeque, its placement gives it more weight than a routine side dish: this is a recipe the cookbook’s compilers chose to preserve alongside the people being remembered.
The proportions make clear that this was food for a crowd. Five pounds of red potatoes are paired with eight hard-boiled eggs, a large onion and three-quarters of a quart of Miracle Whip, then seasoned with salt, pepper, sugar and celery seed. The potatoes are boiled in their skins, peeled while still hot and chopped with a knife rather than mashed.
The most distinctive line comes at the very end: after the salad is transferred to a large serving bowl, the cook is told, “Do not flatten.” That tiny instruction says a lot about the intended texture and presentation. The salad should remain loosely mounded and visibly chunky, not compressed into the dense, smooth surface common to some deli-style potato salads.
Serve it beside Art’s Barbeque for a pairing drawn directly from the same cookbook’s memorial pages, or explore the Centennial Cookbook Archive File for more source context.
Modern kitchen notes
If You're Making It Today
These are modern editorial suggestions, not changes to the archived recipe. When a variation comes directly from the original source, we will say so.
Peel the potatoes while they are still hot
That is a source-specific step, not a modern rewrite. The printed directions even suggest holding the hot potato with a fork while peeling it.
Chop rather than mash
The potatoes and hard-boiled eggs are chopped with a knife in the bowl. Keeping irregular pieces intact is what gives this salad the rustic texture implied by the source.
Respect the final “Do not flatten” note
Transfer the finished salad gently and leave it loosely mounded before the paprika goes on top. That presentation cue is one of the most memorable details in the recipe.
Recipe card
The Preserved Recipe
Lloyd Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 5 lbs. red potatoes
- 8 eggs boiled
- 1 tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp. pepper
- ¼ C. sugar
- ¾ quart Miracle Whip Salad Dressing
- 1 large onion
- ¼ tsp. celery seed
- Paprika
Instructions
- Boil unpeeled potatoes. Boil eggs to hard. Drain potatoes and peel while hot using a fork to hold potato. Put peeled potatoes into a large bowl and chop with knife. Shell eggs and put in bowl with potatoes, chop with knife. Add chopped onions, salt, pepper, celery seed and sugar. Stir in Miracle Whip. Put in large serving bowl. Do not flatten. Sprinkle with paprika.
Notes
From the archive
More From This Cookbook
Explore more recipes preserved from Centennial Cookbook 1893–1993.
