Hot German Potato Salad

My first memory of German Potato Salad is (sadly) when I saw some in a can and brought it home, heated it, ate it and was disappointed. That's a long, long time ago. So now-a-days, being an up to date fellow, I googled: "german style potato salad" and after 3 or 4 pages of citations lost interest in what ALL those people had to say. Next, I tried to google: kartofelsalat with little better success. Pennsylvania's German population calls this dish: Deutscher Kartoffelsalat

What I want in a German style Hot Potato Salad is both sweet, sour and herby. Some of the recipe I saw omitted the herbs, or (ghastly feelings flow through me as I type this:) a vegetarian German Hot Potato Salad (What is the point without the bacon grease mixing with the vinegar?) Some recipes used parsley and others used chives. A good start, but most omitted the diced green bell pepper. Those that had hard boiled eggs, failed to have other ingredients I wanted. Yikes, some German language recipes used mayonnaise.

So here is my completely extemporaneous version, made up in my head, right now as I type, 'cause I want to leave a record of this for the next person who wants it 'just right'.

3 pounds red potatoes
1 cup green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, peeled (a little) and diced
6 hard boiled eggs (can be boiled for the last 10 minutes with the potatoes)
1 1/2 cups red onion, diced
4 to 6 stalks of celery, peeled and diced
2/3 cup of pickle relish (not dill flavoured pickle relish)
8 ounces of bacon, cut in 3/4" slices
1/3 cup + 2 tbs. of malt vinegar (no substitutions)
1 tbs. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. mustard powder
1 tbs. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. celery seeds
1 bunch fresh dill, chopped

You can omit or change quantities of any or all of the above to suit yourself. Prepare all the ingredients as listed above before you start cooking the sauce or potatoes.

In the malt vinegar add the sugar, garlic powder, salt, mustard powder, Dijon mustard. Bring to a simmer. Cover and remove from the heat. While this cools, on a low boil, cook the potatoes for 25 minutes. After 15 minutes, add the eggs, which have been pricked to allow for steam to escape. Five minutes before they are done, reheat the vinegar. When the potatoes and eggs are cooked, remove the potatoes from the water (reserving it if you bake bread), and put the potatoes in a covered pot. The eggs go in ice water for 5 minutes ONLY. Crack the shells, slice and reserve.

Simultaneously with the above, saute the bacon in a saute pan large enough to hold the potatoes, eggs and bell pepper. Once the bacon has rendered it's fat, lower the heat as much as possible. Slice the potatoes in their jackets, add the bell pepper, celery and onion. Mix well. Add the liquid, raise the heat a little. Add all remaining ingredients, except the chopped dill. Cover the pan, lower the heat to the minimum and heat through for 5 minutes. Remove the lid, add the dill and toss it well into the dish. Serve with sausages.

N.B. no picture of this dish is given as it never looks good in photographs.