When Southern Living Editor John Floyd told our Foods staff to get down to potato salad basics, he meant it: "No celery, onion, or pickle," he insisted. We could keep the hard-cooked eggs, even though some people consider them heresy. A recipe with only potato and mayo would be, well, no potato salad at all in our book.

Because John wanted readers to know that potato salad "is as easy as boiling eggs and potatoes and mixing them with mayonnaise," I found myself on a mission. I asked co-workers, family, and perfect strangers what ingredients they considered essential.

Opinions were strong--and strongly divided. I delved through old cookbooks and queried food researchers. I found a wide array of tastes, along with some unusual ingredients. In the 1906 edition of New Southern Cook Book (the earliest reference to potato salad I could find), E. P. Ewing added whipped cream to "make [the dressing] light." Other additions, such as pickle and mustard, are more common.

The brand of mayonnaise is another area of strong personal preference. Duke's, Hellmann's, Blue Plate, and Bama all have passionate advocates. Some are local favorites--Blue Plate is popular in Louisiana, for example, and Duke's in South Carolina.

With all these considerations, finding one combination that would please many people offered quite a challenge.

Then I remembered the wonderfully simple and delicious version my niece Michele Fipps makes. She "married into" the recipe when she joined the Fipps family of Johns Island, South Carolina. "Most of my husband's surviving sisters make this the same way," Michele told me. "The recipe came from their mother, who called it 'poor man's salad.' We have it at every family gathering. I always make it right before we leave home, because we like it warm or at room temperature."

Recipe Development Director Mary Allen Perry came up with some variations for those of you who just can't do without a little celery, onion, or pickle. It's all a matter of what you consider the basics. Give this recipe a try, and let us know what you think.