Hash Brown Potato Salad

Hash Brown Potato Salad

Makes 20 small servings

6 lbs red potatoes
1 lb bacon
1/2 cup reserved bacon fat
1/2 cup corn oil
1/4 cup whole yellow mustard seed
1 Tbsp rosemary
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 pint cherry tomatoes (halved)
1/2 large red onion, diced
1/4 cup fresh snipped parsley
2 cups mayonnaise

Boil potatoes in salted water until almost tender. Do not overcook. Cut in
1/2 inch-thick slices.

Cook bacon until crisp. Drain, saving fat.

Heat the bacon fat and corn oil almost to smoking point. Add mustard seeds
to the hot oil/fat combination. Turn off heat. Cover pan and leave until
mustard seeds stop popping. Pour fat and mustard seeds over potatoes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Toss rosemary with potatoes to coat. Spread potatoes on two baking sheets,
making sure potatoes are in one layer. Bake in 350 degree oven until crisp
and brown, turning potatoes occasionally for more-even cooking;
approximately 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Sprinkle hot potatoes with vinegar. Let cool slightly.

Mix potatoes with remaining ingredients gently and thoroughly. Serve.

NOTE * To get the best crunch, barely cool the oven-crisped potatoes before mixing with the other ingredients. Serve right away.