The traditional Olivier salad is almost indispensable at every celebration. His recipe is almost settled, the ingredients are readily available. But the taste of the salad is different for each housewife. Most often, the difference in recipes lies in the use of meat components: sausage, beef or chicken.
The original recipe for Olivier salad, which was invented almost 200 years ago, is fundamentally different from the one we use today. Earlier, according to some sources, lobster, caviar and capers were used for its preparation. Later, lobsters were replaced with crayfish, and capers with pickles. Now the Olivier recipe has become much simpler and more accessible. It has undergone many changes, adapted to our capabilities and wallet. The result is a delicious, simple and high-calorie salad. There are always ingredients for it at home, and the taste is very different from different housewives. It would seem that the ingredients are similar, but the taste is different. It depends on one of the main ingredients - meat. Most often, Olivier is prepared with beef or chicken, less often with sausage.
Chicken salad
This is the most advantageous and relatively inexpensive salad option. Chicken is cheaper than a good doctor's sausage. Let's take a step-by-step analysis of the stages of making a salad at home.
We take the ratio of ingredients based on the number of guests for whom we are preparing a salad. We cook vegetables at the rate of one potato per person. Plus, depending on the guests' appetite, we add one or two potatoes, in case someone wants a supplement. It is necessary to take potatoes of the same size so that they are boiled at the same time. We take the rest of the ingredients to taste. The proportions can be adjusted during the cooking process. If it seems that something is missing, then you can add the missing ingredient in the right amount. Therefore, it is better to cook vegetables with a reserve. Usually, housewives, by the appearance of the salad, determine what is little or much there and adjust the taste during the preparation process.
Ingredients:
- Potatoes (6 pcs.);
- Carrots (1 pc.);
- Chicken or two chicken breasts (500 g);
- Chicken eggs (5 pcs.);
- Green onions or onions (50 g);
- Green peas (bank);
- Green or pickled cucumbers (2 pcs.);
- Mayonnaise or sour cream to taste;
- Salt.
Cooking steps:
- Vegetables (potatoes and carrots) must be thoroughly washed and boiled until tender over low heat. Check readiness with a thin knife. Carefully pierce the potatoes with a knife, it should go in without resistance. It is advisable to boil the vegetables the day before so that they cool completely, otherwise it will be difficult to cut the potatoes, and they will be starchy, stick to the knife, and the salad will not turn out tasty. It is not allowed to use potatoes cracked during the cooking process. Therefore, it is best to boil potatoes with a margin.
- Boil eggs on the day of cooking so that they retain their tenderness. Boil them over low heat, then cool under running cold water.
- It is advisable to cook the chicken whole so that the meat is tender and juicy. Gently dip it into boiling water, 10 minutes after boiling, salt the water. Boil until tender. It is important not to overcook to prevent the chicken from falling apart and becoming fibrous. You can use chicken breasts. It is better to take them on bones and with skin, so that the meat after boiling is juicier. Chill the meat on a plate at room temperature before use to avoid scalding and to allow excess liquid to glass.
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Boil the carrots until tender. It makes the salad brighter. The vegetable has its own strong taste, it is important not to shift it. You can take canned carrots with peas. In canned food, carrots are very soft and do not have their own pronounced taste. Vegetables: peel and finely dice the potatoes and carrots. We put them in a salad bowl.
Image - You should definitely try green peas before adding to the salad. Hard peas can ruin the flavor of the salad. Open the jar and drain the liquid through a colander. Add the peas to the salad bowl with the vegetables.
- Finely chop the skinless chicken meat into pieces and add to the vegetables, gently mix everything with a spoon so as not to crush the peas.
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Peel and chop the eggs with a knife or egg slicer. Mix with salad.
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Both onions and green onions are added to Olivier - whoever likes something or has something available. Green onions give the salad some piquancy, pleasant taste and aroma, but at the same time there is no pungency from it in the salad, and it does not "crunch" on the teeth like onions. In addition, not everyone loves onions. Much depends on the culinary preferences of the family. Wash the onion and chop finely. Add to salad.
Image - The next ingredient is cucumbers. You can use both fresh and pickled or pickled cucumbers. Depends on which version of the salad you like more. If you use pickled cucumbers, then be prepared that they can give the salad the taste of the pickle and the seasonings that were used for the marinade. It is better to use pickles or fresh ones. If the cucumbers have hard skin, then it must first be cleaned. Cut the cucumbers into small cubes. It is important to remember that if you do not plan to put the salad on the table right away, then you cannot add cucumbers to the salad. They are added to the salad before dressing and serving. But they should be handy in a separate bowl so as not to chop them in a hurry.
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Olivier salad dressing is usually mayonnaise. But some people like this dish with sour cream. Season the salad after adding the cucumbers. This is done in the salad bowl in which the dish was prepared; it should be deep enough to easily mix all the ingredients. Then you will need to transfer it to a clean salad bowl. Usually, Olivier is seasoned in two steps. At the beginning, add mayonnaise, mix and add a little salt. Let it stand for a few minutes. At this time, the salad is soaked in the dressing and salted. If you put it on the table right away, it may be a little dry, so be sure to try it again and add mayonnaise. If necessary, add a little more salt. Some do not salt the salad if pickled cucumbers are added, so you need to try each time before serving, since the ratios of vegetables may be slightly different or the cucumbers are more (less) salty than usual.
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Useful Tips
The salad is very satisfying, contains a lot of carbohydrates, fats and proteins. You should not abuse it for people with a tendency to be overweight or metabolic disorders. Sometimes they try to reduce its calorie content by adding lean mayonnaise, but one must remember that such mayonnaise does not contain eggs, i.e. proteins. There is as much fat in it, if not more, and instead of eggs, flour or starch is added, i.e. carbohydrates. Better to make mayonnaise yourself:
To do this, in a hand blender container, mix 150 ml of vegetable oil, one egg, a teaspoon of mustard and a quarter teaspoon of salt. You can also add ground pepper. Dip the blender into the container with the ingredients and turn it on at maximum speed for 5 seconds, then turn on the blender several times with short breaks until the mayonnaise reaches the desired thickness. It does not store for a long time, so it is advisable to cook it so much that it can be consumed at a time.
Sometimes grated apples are added to the Olivier salad. They are pre-cleaned from the skin and rubbed on a coarse grater. Add to the salad immediately so that the pectin does not have time to subdue in the air. But not everyone likes this version of the salad. Apples change their taste a lot. If you have not prepared a salad with this ingredient before, then it is better to cook a little for a test, to decide whether it is worth adding it next time.
