Olivier salad takes first place in almost every housewife on the festive table. Firstly, the Olivier salad recipe is very simple, you will not forget it, and secondly, the salad is prepared easily and simply. In the cookbook of 1897, the technology for making an exquisite Olivier salad was published. Over time, the complex recipe gradually became simpler. The classic winter salad that migrated to Russian tables is still called Olivier, but it is prepared differently. Let's take a closer look at the differences in names, as well as the recipe for this classic salad.
What is "winter salad"?
Holidays accompanied by a stormy and massive feast are always associated with the smell of delicious snacks. Winter is the time of the year when the stomach asks for especially hearty food, so you can't get off with vegetables alone. While the main courses are indispensable, salads will help fill an interesting winter table and feed guests before serving a hot meal.
Winter salads are denser, nourishing, warm both literally and figuratively. Although nowadays any food from all over the world can be bought all year round, the most delicious winter salads are obtained from winter vegetables and fruits. Root crops: carrots, beets, celery, cabbage: broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, red cabbage, white cabbage, fresh and sauerkraut, as well as radish and pumpkin are available all winter and give us space for our culinary imagination. Vegetables can be present in a salad both fresh and boiled or baked.
Light fruits are also appropriate in winter salads, especially citrus fruits and apples. Try to replace the usual oranges in the salad with grapefruit boldly. Do not forget to add "winter" berries - cranberries and lingonberries. The choice is huge, so we can conclude what products are needed for any winter salad:
- vegetables;
- cereals;
- legumes;
- meat;
- berries;
- fruits;
- eggs …
Choosing salad "Olivier" or "winter salad"
Our Olivier salad can be called "winter". The simplicity of manufacture and the range of products captivates every housewife, forcing to prepare it for all holidays or even for everyday meals. Ingredients for winter salad are quite ordinary and can be bought at any store. The usual trick is that if it is meat, then you can take either beef or pork, depending on what you and your household like. The winter salad recipe in one of the variations allows the addition of chicken, sausage or ham.
Classic, modern salad recipe "Olivier"
It is very difficult to think of a more popular salad than Olivier! Often, sausage is now much more expensive than meat, but this does not stop Russians from using it as a component of a delicious winter dish. The main criterion when choosing is the speed with which you can prepare this product. I offer a classic recipe for making Olivier salad with meat. You can use absolutely any meat you like.
Description of preparation: salad "Olivier" with meat at home. For the salad, you will need the following ingredients: boiled meat, boiled potatoes and carrots, hard-boiled eggs, canned peas, herbs, pickles, mayonnaise. Chill the salad in the refrigerator before serving. Good luck!
Ingredients:
- Boiled meat - 600 grams (any);
- Potatoes - 6 pieces (boiled);
- Carrots - 2 pieces (boiled);
- Pickled cucumber - 4 pieces;
- Canned peas - 1 piece (can);
- Eggs - 5 Pieces (hard boiled);
- Mayonnaise to taste;
- Greens to taste;
- Lemon to taste.
Preparation:
All products are finely diced, the herbs are chopped. Mix everything. Salad ready.
A bit of history
Salad popular in the countries of the former USSR, one of the traditional New Year's dishes of residents of the post-Soviet space. The Olivier salad got its name in honor of its creator - the chef Lucien Olivier. This wonderful salad is also known under the names "Winter" and "Meat", and in other countries - as "Russian" or "Gusarsky".
Lucien Olivier worked in Moscow in the middle of the 19th century. He was a co-owner and chef of the Hermitage restaurant on Neglinnaya street. Real Parisian cuisine and exquisite interior attracted the Moscow creative intelligentsia: Turgenev, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, later Chekhov, Tchaikovsky …
After the Revolution, the restaurant was closed. The Olivier recipe had long been lost by that time. In fact, a century ago this dish was prepared differently, from more expensive ingredients. It was considered a real delicacy and was distinguished by its exquisite, excellent taste. The French chef jealously kept the recipe for his signature dish a secret.
Olivier originally served it as follows. The cooked fillets of partridges and hazel grouses were interleaved with layers of jelly made from broth and placed in the center of the dish. Boiled crayfish necks and pieces of tongue were laid out around. All this "beauty" was watered with a spicy, slightly spicy sauce (homemade mayonnaise). The dish was decorated with a composition of boiled potatoes, quail eggs and gherkins. But once the chef noticed that the restaurant's guests were stirring all the ingredients with a spoon, breaking the original "construction", and then ate the resulting mass with appetite. So the recipe for the old salad "Olivier" was transformed. Lucien began to serve the dish, mixing all the ingredients in advance and generously seasoning them with Provencal sauce.
As experts - chefs say, it is almost impossible to restore its original taste, because this very taste was formed not so much by ingredients as by spices, in which Lucien Olivier boiled hazel grouses and crayfish.
