Vivid visually and in terms of taste, hearty, made from simple and affordable ingredients - this is a vinaigrette. The recipe for making such a salad has been known in Russia for many centuries, but few know where the vinaigrette was first prepared and what its original composition was.
Each family prepares a vinaigrette, often modifies its recipe, changes it to suit their taste preferences. This salad was prepared by our mothers and grandmothers, but no one ever thought about its history of origin. So where did the vinaigrette first start? You need to look for the answer to this question both in historical sources and in the composition of the dish.
What is vinaigrette
This is a vegetable salad that can be seasoned with various sauces. It is easy to prepare, affordable in terms of cost, does not require special knowledge and skills, even a novice housewife can cook it. In Russia, the following vinaigrette composition is most often used:
- potatoes,
- carrot,
- beet,
- onion,
- peas,
- cabbage,
- cucumbers.
In other countries, additional ingredients may be added to it - boiled chicken or quail eggs, mushrooms, seafood or boiled, smoked sausage, meat, and even salted or pickled herring.
In Russia, such a salad became popular in the 19th century, both among the nobility and among the poor. In the second category, it was considered a festive dish, and in rich houses it was prepared on the day of the arrival of dear guests, wishing to surprise, they added unusual ingredients to it.
The history of the appearance of the dish
When answering the question of where they first began to prepare the vinaigrette, controversy always arises. Its name is of French origin and literally translates into Russian as "vinegar". Based on this, it can be assumed that the salad was first prepared by the French.
In some historical sources of English origin, there is a mention of a similar dish, but the list of its ingredients includes salted fish, and it looks more like a Russian “herring under a fur coat”.
There is even a legend about the vinaigrette. Allegedly, there was a French chef at the court of Alexander I. Once he was present at the preparation of an unusual dish in a remote part of Russia. The legend does not explain how the French court of the emperor got there. Seeing that vegetable salad is seasoned with vinegar, the chef exclaimed vinaigre, and this is how the name of the dish appeared.
Which of these stories is true and which is fiction - both cooks and historians have argued and will argue about this. But in many French and English culinary sources, this salad is called Russian.
Step-by-step classic recipe for making vinaigrette
To prepare a classic vinaigrette, you will need boiled beets, potatoes and carrots, a can of green peas, pickled or pickled cucumbers, sauerkraut, and a head of onion.
It is recommended to cook vegetables separately from each other, cool before cutting. It is better to cut them into cubes of the same size. The proportions of potatoes, carrots and beets are one to one, that is, they should be equally divided.
Sauerkraut is washed, cucumbers are chopped into strips or cubes, like vegetables. The same is done with fresh onions. The juice is carefully drained from the pot. The prepared ingredients of the vinaigrette are combined in a large container, mixed gently. The salad is ready for dressing.
As a dressing for the classic vinaigrette, fragrant unrefined oil from sunflower seeds is used. Whether or not to add vinegar to the vinaigrette is a matter of taste.
Modifying the vinaigrette is easy. You can put beans in the salad instead of canned green peas. Boiled chicken meat will make it more satisfying, pickled or salted fish will make it brighter in terms of taste, and black pepper will make the vinaigrette spicy.
The benefits and harms of vinaigrette
The calorie content of the vinaigrette salad is low - just a little more than 100 kcal per 100 grams. It can be safely eaten at least every day by those who follow the figure or are trying to lose weight. But you can only fill it with vegetable oil - it can be a highly refined olive or sunflower product.
The vinaigrette has many useful qualities. Thanks to the substances that make up the ingredients, it has a beneficial effect on
- vision - carotene,
- thinking is glutamate,
- intestines - fiber,
- immunity - lactic acid,
- blood vessels and heart - vitamin P, C.
Beet juice and pulp help to reduce the acidity of gastric juice, cleanse blood vessels. The unique composition of the classic vinaigrette is a guarantee of the body's protection during the period of respiratory diseases and flu. The salad is recommended for stomach ulcers, but only if you reduce the amount of pickles and cabbage in its composition.
Despite the impressive list of useful properties of vinaigrette, it also has contraindications. Eating such a salad is not recommended for diabetics, patients with osteoporosis, those who have been diagnosed with urolithiasis, colitis or gastritis, and are allergic to the components of the dish.
Rules and shelf life of the vinaigrette
It is not recommended to cook large portions of vinaigrette. Even in the refrigerator, such a salad can be stored for no more than 18-20 hours. It belongs to perishable dishes, and if the vinaigrette has stood for several hours after cooking, you can eat it only after making sure that it has not deteriorated.
The vinaigrette remaining after dinner should be placed in a container with a tight lid and put into the refrigerator. The salad cannot be stored in the freezer - the vegetables will freeze and after thawing they will give abundant juice, become soft and not tasty.
In addition, the storage duration of the vinaigrette depends on its composition. If meat or fish is added to the salad, it will be unusable after a few hours. Certain types of dressing will also significantly shorten the shelf life of the vinaigrette. These include mayonnaise, dairy products, and vinegar.
