How to prepare a classic Olivier salad? After all, it is not very clear what is considered a classic - either the one served by Lucien Olivier in the Moscow restaurant "Hermitage", or the Soviet-era version adapted for empty store shelves. You should not break spears about this, the main thing is that everyone likes the salad.
How to make a delicious Olivier salad
Everyone will have their own delicious recipe for Olivier salad. First, you need to remember the indispensable traditional products in its composition. It:
- potatoes;
- carrot;
- eggs;
- cucumbers;
- onion;
- canned peas;
- mayonnaise;
- meat products.
Cooking classic Olivier salad is a little different from its exotic options. The recipe for a traditional dish can contain any meat products: boiled sausage, any poultry meat, boiled beef, tongue and even fish. Lovers of exclusiveness can experiment with crayfish tails, shrimps, hazel grouses, quails, sturgeon and red fish.
Cucumbers in a salad can be either salted, pickled or fresh. Ideally, these should be gherkins.
That's all, the rest of the products remain unchanged, otherwise the prepared salad will not be Olivier, it will be some kind of new dish. Yes, you can also add mushrooms to the recipe in any form - salted or fried. There are lovers of the "zest" in the form of a sliced apple.
A few secrets of making Olivier
It is impossible to cook Olivier salad without potatoes. It is boiled either "in uniform" or after cleaning it.
To quickly and easily peel potatoes "in their uniforms", it is recommended to make a shallow cut in a circle on the tuber before cooking. And cool the ready-made potatoes sharply by placing them in ice water for literally a few seconds. The peel is removed simply by pressing on it with your fingers from both sides.
You don't have to make an incision in advance, just immerse the finished tubers in very cold water.
If Olivier is prepared only on holidays, then it is better to replace store mayonnaise with homemade mayonnaise, especially since its preparation with a blender will take only 5-10 minutes.
The salad looks beautiful if the ingredients are cut into equally even cubes. This can be achieved by taking a simple egg cutter as an assistant.
How to decorate Olivier salad
Preparing a delicious Olivier salad is one thing, but it still needs to be beautifully decorated for the festive table. We use any available products, including imagination. Here are just a few ways to spice up a salad.
1. Ladybugs made from tiny cherry tomatoes cut in half. The heads are made from halves of olives, the points on the shell are made from mayonnaise.
2. If the Olivier salad is made from red fish, then you can decorate it with halves of quail eggs with red caviar, as well as shrimps.
3. Eggs are easy to make chamomile or asters.
4. If the salad is being prepared for the New Year, then you can arrange it in the form of a Christmas tree. Just put it on a dish with a slide and decorate with dill sprigs or green onion feathers, imitating a New Year's tree. Above the "Christmas tree" will be decorated with a star made of carrots.
It is not difficult to prepare a delicious Olivier salad, you just have to focus on the tastes of your own or your guests and choose the right ingredients.
