Knockwurst with Warm Potato Salad
I am crazy about any type of cold cut: sausage, salami, mortadella, pate, and, particularly, the fat, pink boiled ham of my youth. It was boiled very gently, bone in, and sliced by hand for each order. I also love different types of prosciutto shoulder or hind leg, as well as ceroelas, a moist sausage served hot, plain, in a crust, or in brioche with lentil or potato salad. I love hot dogs, knockwurst, and bratwurst, as well.

When I am in New York City, I often make a point of stopping at Katz Delicatessen on Houston Street, my favorite place in the city for pastrami and corned beef sandwiches. Go to the counter, give a buck to the man who is cutting the pastrami, and ask him to give you slices from the part of the pastrami or corned beef that has a little fat. The sandwich he will make from this will be practically a foot tall, with the meat contained between two slices of soft and fragrant rye bread and the sandwich accompanied by a fat, sour gherkin; it just doesn't get much better.

Very often when my friend Jean-Claude comes to visit, I make a warm potato salad for lunch with a couple of knockwursts. He loves sausage as much as I do. I shop at Ferraro's in New Haven, where I can get really thick, big knockwursts of very good quality. I like them just warmed up in hot water, or cut in half, briefly sauteed in a skillet, and served with potato salad.

I am a great lover of potato salad and prepare three or four different types. I particularly like the one I make with small Red Bliss potatoes or fingerlings with the skin on or off. I like sauteed leeks in my potato salad and a lot of parsley, onion (red torpedo or a milder onion, like a Walla-Walla or Vidalia), chopped garlic, lots of Dijon mustard, a little white wine, a good red wine vinegar, lots of chives, ground pepper, and plenty of good extra -virgin olive oil, the best you can get. This potato salad is best lukewarm.