The classic Olivier salad with meat is another symbol of the New Year that we are used to seeing on festive table. But few people know that the author of this dish is the French chef Lucien Olivier, who opened the Hermitage restaurant in Moscow in the mid-19th century. His signature appetizer, Olivier, made from partridge and hazel grouse meat, with the tongue of a young calf, crayfish necks and a layer of jelly from the broth, brought gourmets from all over the capital to the restaurant. The meat basket was filling boiled potatoes, eggs, gherkins, capers, olives and poured delicious mayonnaise made according to a unique author's recipe. Many have tried to find out the real french recipe classic Olivier salad, but Lucien kept his tricks a secret. Over time, Russian chefs adapted the overseas snack to our reality, and in Soviet times A recipe for Olivier with boiled sausage appeared, which instantly caught on and became popular. Interestingly, modern Olivier has lost its French roots and is known abroad as “Russian salad”.
How to prepare a classic Olivier salad
In the past, Olivier salad was associated with prosperity, so housewives always prepared this appetizer for the New Year's table. The step-by-step recipe for classic Olivier looks very simple. First, potatoes are boiled in their skins and eggs are hard-boiled, and when the products have cooled, they are peeled and cut into cubes. Pickled cucumbers with cut off tails are cut into cubes, boiled meat (beef, chicken, turkey) is chopped, liquid is drained from a jar of peas, onions are finely chopped. All ingredients are mixed in a salad bowl and seasoned with mayonnaise. Although classic Olivier cooked with meat, as it was in the original recipe of the French cook, doctor's sausage can also be considered a variant of the classic.
The number of products is calculated based on the number of eaters and taste preferences. Some people like more meat, others don’t add eggs, and some add twice as many potatoes. The classic Olivier salad includes 400 g of meat or sausage, 5 medium-sized potatoes, 5 eggs, 4 pickles, a can of green peas, 2 medium onions and 200 ml of mayonnaise. The classic calculation of potatoes and eggs is simple - there should be exactly as many of them as there are guests at the table. You can also put it in a salad boiled carrots, dill and green onions.
A new look at traditional Olivier
It is interesting that the well-known salads “Winter”, “Meat” and “Stolichny” are variations. However, the classic Olivier can be turned into a real delicacy if you replace the meat with shrimp or fish, such as salmon. This is quite acceptable, and Lucien Olivier also used seafood. Some Olivier recipes contain apples, oranges, pomegranates, pickled or fried mushrooms, avocado, arugula, lettuce, any tasty smoked fish, red caviar, beets and even raw cabbage, which is added to Olivier in some regions of Ukraine. Italians prepare “Russian salad” with green beans, Germans - with smoked sausage, Americans - with tuna and canned corn, Spaniards - with crab sticks and asparagus. In Bulgaria, ham or salami is added to Olivier, in Iran they use meat salad as a filling for sandwiches, and Greeks, Serbs and Poles generally prepare this snack without meat.
A few secrets of making Olivier
It is difficult to cut meat beautifully, but to make the salad look more aesthetically pleasing, first cut the meat along the grain and only then chop it crosswise. Don't overcook the potatoes, otherwise you'll end up with cubes instead. mashed potatoes. It, of course, will not spoil the taste of the salad, but the aesthetics will suffer. By the way, there should be more potatoes and carrots than other salad components. Country eggs with bright yolks and halves of quail eggs look very beautiful in Olivier.
Try not to take large pickled cucumbers, otherwise there will be seeds in the salad, and it is better to remove the skin from hard cucumbers so that the Olivier turns out tender and pleasant to the taste. Place the sliced cucumbers in a colander or sieve to drain excess moisture. Instead of pickled cucumbers, you can take pickled or fresh cucumbers, which are often mixed together. Pickled squash also adds a piquant salty taste to the appetizer. In general, experiment!
When using fresh onions Pour boiling water over it after chopping to remove the bitterness, otherwise the salad will have a strong taste. You can make mayonnaise yourself, adding spices for flavor - it is not only tasty, but also healthy. If you are on a diet, replace sausage with veal or chicken breast, and mayonnaise - low-fat sour cream or yogurt.
For something unusual, cut the ingredients into strips rather than cubes - it will be very unusual. And most importantly, the salad should be seasoned with mayonnaise immediately before serving, otherwise it will lose its freshness. You can add a little horseradish and mustard to the dressing. Olivier is decorated with herbs, green peas, curly slices of meat and vegetables, and beautifully cut eggs.
Recipe: not quite classic Olivier with meat
Cut into thin slices 300 g of boiled veal tongue, mix with 3 boiled potatoes and 3 boiled eggs, cut into cubes. Add thin half rings of 2 onions, finely chopped red bell pepper, any greens and mix with sauce.
Prepare the sauce like this: beat 2 eggs with 2 tsp. salt without a slide, add 2 tbsp. l. milk and beat again. Next, pour in 2 tbsp. l. vegetable oil and 1 tsp. sugar, stir well and season the salad.
Olivier is prepared from simple, accessible and inexpensive ingredients. Therefore, you can confidently apply for New Year's table Olivier, and to make the salad seem more festive, diversify it interesting ingredients. Your family and guests will appreciate this delicious, appetizing and beautiful dish, because Olivier never gets boring!
How many generations have grown up on this never-aging salad! It’s difficult to calculate, even if you really wanted to. After all, before there was no family in the Union in which this dish did not occupy a dominant place on the festive table. It was a tradition, which, however, came at a cost to the wallet.
Yes, it's hard to imagine what happened before green pea or sausage could only be bought “through connections,” that is, either through friends or by overpaying. And now there is plenty of this goodness, and few people remember what a deficit is! Because Olivier is made not only on holidays, but also for every day .
Since there are many more possibilities, there are no less variations of the traditional salad. But a classic is a classic. Because the base is often left , and add other completely products. Let's cook Olivier according to the classic recipe , and then you can practice with variations!
Ingredients for preparing traditional Olivier salad
- Meat (boiled, ham, sausage) – 200 gr.
- Potatoes - 3 pcs.
- Carrots - 1 pc.
- Eggs - 3 pcs.
- Onion - 1 pc.
- Pickled cucumbers – 2-3 pcs.
- Green peas – 100 gr.
- Mayonnaise - to taste
- Salt and pepper - optional
How to prepare a classic Olivier salad correctly - step-by-step recipe with photos
Traditionally, housewives, preparing for the holidays, prepared all the ingredients . After all, the whole family and guests were waiting for the delicacy. Therefore, meat (if you didn’t take boiled sausage), potatoes, carrots and eggs were cooked for future use, chilling it all in the refrigerator , so that later you can just start cutting. But it's never too late to boil your vegetables right before cooking. We need them wash well with a brush and, without peeling, place in a saucepan. 15-20 minutes and you're done! The same situation applies to eggs and meat.
From the history of salad . It just seems to us that we are using a classic recipe! After all, it turns out that its author, Lucien Olivier, took it with him to the grave! How was it? The young man, having arrived in Moscow, decided to amaze the public with his culinary talents . And he succeeded! Then, in 1860, in the capital there was only talk about the talented Frenchman. It feels like no one else but him could arrange this festive feast . Later, Olivier became the central dish in the Hermitage restaurant, created by a young man.
So, cut the peeled and cooled potatoes into small cubes.
Step 1. Cut the boiled potatoes into cubes
Nowadays, every housewife has her own recipe with bells and whistles. And in those days, except for Lucien Olivier, no one undertook to prepare his famous salad. The author jealously guarded the recipe from prying eyes and did not let anyone get close to the salad. And even more so, he did not allow me to experiment with his sauce, which we all know as “Provencal”. Peel the carrots. By the way, there are many opinions about the presence of this vegetable in Olivier. Some people neglect it altogether and don’t put it in their salad. But still, a certain recipe has reached us, so we will maintain the proportions. Let's chop the carrots finely, and then take on the sausage ( different varieties or one - your choice), if not boiled meat, which goes perfectly.
Step 2. Cut the sausage into small pieces
The next ingredient, without which Olivier is not Olivier, is cucumber. Yes, you can make a salad with fresh, but that comes later. Now let’s prepare it traditionally. And let’s take not pickled, but salted. Why is it advisable to put salted cucumber?
- Firstly , this is what our ancestors traditionally did. Secondly, by putting pickled cucumber in the salad, we will make it taste pleasant.
- Secondly , there will be no need for salt, which in no way gives us health.
So let's take it out of the bottle required quantity cucumbers and chop them smaller. What about the skin? Someone takes it off, but I like it this way - it turns out brighter, because the peeled cucumber becomes whitish, and there is still fiber!
Step 3. Cut the pickled cucumber into fine cubes
Those who love Olivier salad know that there are never too many eggs in it! Yes, that's almost true. But it’s still better to keep the proportions. I don’t know about the author of the recipe, but when I make his salad, I cook the same amount of eggs as medium potatoes. Maybe even one more. The main thing is that the eggs are hard-boiled and then thoroughly cooled.
Plus, here are some more tips:
Tip 1 . To prevent egg pieces from falling apart while slicing, dip your knife in hot water or vegetable oil.
Tip 2 . Choose a knife with a very sharp, thin, long blade for slicing. Then the pieces will all be as chosen.
Step 4. Chop the boiled egg
Another ingredient is controversial. Onion. His presence irritates many, but without him the salad will not be a salad. Another question is how to cut it! You can do it very finely and subtly, then the wolves will be full and the sheep will be safe. That is, the onion will not be particularly noticeable in taste. You can use leeks - they won’t sound so bright in the Olivier salad. But without onions - nowhere.
Tip 1 . If you scald the onion with boiling water before adding it to the salad, it will become softer and lose its usual bitterness.
Tip 2 . If you are cutting salad for future use, it is better to chop the onion in the right amount each time.
Step 5. Finely chop the onion
That's all, the preparation for Olivier is ready. All that remains is to combine it all in a bowl. By the way, earlier, when they cut to New Year's holidays Olivier, they literally did it with basins! Then everything was put in the refrigerator without dressing with mayonnaise. And this is very wise. Because every time added to the salad fresh mayonnaise makes it fresh. So, let's combine all the products. It is very important to choose the right green peas - they should be young and sweet.
Step 6. Remove green peas from liquid
By the way, about mayonnaise. To know for sure that it is low in calories and everything in it is only healthy, you can prepare it yourself at home. Now let’s carefully stir the salad, adding green peas, straining the liquid from the jar, and serving! You can sprinkle with herbs.
Step 7. Pour mayonnaise and stir the salad thoroughly
Options for preparing Olivier salad
Probably, the one who first invented the salad in this world did not know what to feed the guests, and took everything that was only nearby from the products. This is how you can make variations of Olivier, of which there are plenty in this world. You just have to want it!
With liver
Almost the same products are involved here as in traditional recipe. But, instead of meat or sausages, I once put liver, because there were no others meat products. And I didn’t regret it. It turned out very tasty. So, we take boiled potatoes, prepared liver, carrots, onions, eggs, cucumbers and tomatoes. Let's cut it finely, as for Olivier, and season it traditionally with sour cream or mayonnaise.
I called it tender because the cutting here is completely different. We cut the sausage, potatoes, and carrots into thin strips. In addition to traditional products, I added a little cheese, grated coarse grater, and finely chopped white cabbage. Thinly sliced and mixed with mayonnaise, the ingredients went well together. The salad turned out tender, juicy and very filling!
Why air? Yes, because the salad looks and tastes very light. And this despite the presence hearty ingredients. In addition to carrots and potatoes, onions and eggs, I added new ingredients to this salad that refresh the salad. It was grated cheese fresh apples and lettuce leaves, which perfectly coped with the role of fresh cucumbers. Instead of green peas, I added canned corn. Hence the airiness of the dish! Season with sour cream or yogurt.
With salmon or seafood
To prevent Olivier from becoming boring, and we cook it often, sometimes even as an independent second course, I sometimes experiment. So, I put smoked meats once, and regular chicken and beef the second time. And recently I made a salad. That is, all the products from the traditional Olivier remain here, but instead of meat we cut fish. By the way, it can be very different. Even more interesting is a salad with seafood instead of meat or sausages!
And today I continue the festive and New Year theme.
Probably every housewife knows. And if he doesn’t know, then he certainly guesses. Is it really possible to tell something new about this traditional Russian table dish?
Previously, I took everything “by eye”, and it happened that there was only one potato in the salad, sometimes there weren’t enough cucumbers, that is, the result was different every time.
Now I take all the ingredients in quantities as in the recipe from that old book, and Olivier always turns out exactly as it should, neither subtracting nor adding (to my taste, of course). I will be glad if this the recipe will work and you too.
Ingredients for Olivier salad:
- 6 medium potatoes,
- 3 medium carrots,
- 300 g of boiled meat,
- 3 eggs,
- 300 g pickled cucumbers (precisely pickled, not salted!) -
this is an ordinary store-bought jar with a volume of about 0.5 liters,
— 1 bank canned peas,
- 1 medium onion,
- salt,
- mayonnaise,
- sour cream (optional).
Preparation of Olivier salad:
Let's prepare all the products, wash the potatoes, carrots and meat before boiling. I usually use chicken fillet as meat in my Olivier salad.
Comment about the products in the photo: onions are included in the salad recipe and many people love them, but I don’t like raw onions, so they are not in the photo. My potatoes were quite large, so I took 5 instead of six.
Pour into the pan cold water, bring to a boil and put in the potatoes and carrots. Now the water should boil again, reduce the heat and cook... well, for half an hour exactly, and then check the readiness with a sharp thin knife. It needs to be easily incorporated into the vegetables. A 100% sign that a potato is cooked is its bursting skin.
Chicken fillet cook according to the same principle: bring the water to a boil, put the meat in it, the water boils again, reduce the heat. Cook chicken fillet for 20 minutes.
We hard-boil the eggs, for which we put them in cold water, also bring to a boil and cook over low heat for 10 minutes. When the eggs are boiled, pour them cold water. This contrasting shower will make them easier to clean.
Remove the cooked products from the water and let cool. Peel, shell and cut potatoes, carrots, eggs small cube. Chicken meat can be pulled apart into fibers (by hand or using two forks) or cut into cubes. Drain the liquid from the jar of peas. We also cut the pickled cucumbers into small cubes (don’t forget to cut off the tails). Onion lovers chop the onion finely.
Let's assemble the salad! Combine all ingredients in a saucepan or bowl. To make mixing convenient, I took a 4-liter pan for this amount of food.
Add dressing. In the recipe, I deliberately do not write the exact amount of mayonnaise, sour cream and salt. They can vary greatly depending on the taste of sour cream and mayonnaise, on how salty the cucumbers are, and on the total amount of products.
Therefore, I do this: first I put two generous spoons of sour cream and mayonnaise, add 3 good pinches of salt, and begin to gradually mix. Then I try and add what I think is missing.
It all depends on your taste: for example, I like there not to be too much dressing, but there are salad lovers who simply “drown” in mayonnaise.
And finally, one more piece of advice from the same old book on home economics, how to calculate the number of salad ingredients per number of eaters. Focus on the number of potatoes. The recipe contains 6 potatoes, which means you will definitely have enough salad for 6 people.
Enjoy your meal!
P.S. And for dessert today latest video with a clip of cat jokes, my husband and I laughed together)
Today Olivier is prepared for all holidays and for variety home menu. But Olivier salad can be prepared not only according to regular recipe. There are other variations of this dish.
Classic recipe for Olivier salad with sausage
Let's first consider classic recipe, which is prepared with the addition of pickles and green peas.
Required ingredients:
- 5 eggs;
- 5 pickles;
- 2 medium carrots;
- mayonnaise and salt;
- 5-6 small potatoes;
- 150 g canned peas;
- 350 gr. sausages.
Preparation:
- Boil potatoes with skins and carrots. Boil the eggs in a separate bowl.
- Cut the prepared vegetables and eggs into cubes. Cut the sausage in the same way.
- Mix the ingredients and peas in a bowl with mayonnaise.
Classic recipe for Olivier salad with pickled cucumber not only tasty, but also healthy, because it contains boiled vegetables.
Mayonnaise recipe for Olivier
You can use store-bought mayonnaise for the salad. But the taste of the salad and its composition will be better if you season it with homemade mayonnaise, which is prepared quickly and does not require effort.
Ingredients:
- 400 g vegetable or olive oil;
- 2 eggs;
- vinegar;
- Provencal herbs;
- mustard in paste form.
Beat the eggs well and pour in the oil. Mix the ingredients until you get a white mass. Then add vinegar, herbs and mustard.
The delicious sauce for Olivier dressing is ready! It can also be used for other salads that you like to prepare for your family and guests.
Recipe for Olivier salad with tuna
Olivier salad is usually prepared with sausage. But the recipe can be changed and replace the sausage with tuna. The salad will turn out to be unusual and suitable for those who want to diversify the usual Olivier.
Salad ingredients:
- 2 carrots;
- 110 gr. pitted olives;
- 3 potatoes;
- 200 gr. tuna;
- mayonnaise;
- 4 eggs;
- 60 gr. canned red pepper;
- 100 gr. canned peas.
Preparation:
- Boil carrots, potatoes and eggs and cool. Peel all ingredients and finely cut into cubes.
- Drain the tuna and add to the rest of the ingredients, add the peas and chopped olives. Season the salad with mayonnaise and salt.
- Place the finished salad on a plate and garnish canned pepper and an egg.
Recipe for Olivier salad with fresh cucumbers
If you replace pickled cucumbers with fresh ones, the salad takes on a different taste and aroma. Try making Olivier salad with cucumber, the recipe for which is written below.
Ingredients:
- 3 fresh cucumbers;
- mayonnaise;
- 300 gr. sausages;
- 5 medium potatoes;
- carrot;
- fresh greens;
- 6 eggs;
- 300 gr. canned peas.
Ingredients:
- veal tongue;
- 2 quail or hazel grouse;
- 250 gr. fresh leaves salad;
- 150 gr. black caviar;
- 200 gr. canned crabs;
- 2 pickled cucumbers and 2 fresh;
- olives;
- 150 gr. capers;
- half an onion;
- half a glass of vegetable oil;
- juniper berries.
Dressing sauce:
- 2 tbsp. olive oil;
- 2 yolks;
- white wine vinegar;
- Dijon mustard.
Preparation:
- Cook the tongue for about 3 hours. Half an hour before it’s ready, put a piece of onion in the pan, Bay leaf and a few juniper berries, salt the broth.
- Place the finished tongue in cold water and remove the skin, put it back into the broth and turn it off when it boils.
- Prepare the dressing sauce. Beat the yolks with butter into a thick mass, add a few drops of Dijon mustard and vinegar.
- Fry quails or hazel grouse in vegetable oil, pour a glass of water into the frying pan, add spices (allspice, bay leaf and black pepper) and simmer covered for 30 minutes. When the cooked bird has cooled, remove the meat from the bones.
- Chop poultry, crab, capers and peeled cucumbers. Mix ingredients and add sauce.
- Wash the lettuce leaves and place some on a plate. Top with lettuce and remaining leaves. Place olives and quartered boiled eggs around the edges. Drizzle sauce on each piece and add a little caviar.
If you can't find hazel grouse or quail, turkey, rabbit or chicken will do. Eggs can be replaced with quail eggs.
Olivier salad recipe with chicken
Everyone is used to preparing a salad with boiled sausage, but if you add fresh boiled meat instead, the taste of Olivier turns out to be unusual. Recipe below winter salad Olivier with chicken will decorate the holiday and will please the guests.
Ingredients:
- 6 potatoes;
- 500 g chicken breast;
- 2 carrots;
- 6 eggs;
- mayonnaise;
- greenery;
- onion head;
- 2 cucumbers;
- a glass of peas.
Preparation:
- Separately boil carrots, eggs and potatoes, cut into cubes.
- Wash the chicken meat and cut into small cubes, add salt and spices, such as curry, paprika, garlic, Italian or Provençal herbs.
- Fry the meat in a frying pan and transfer to a bowl. Defrost the peas, finely chop the onion and herbs, cut the cucumber into cups.
- Mix all ingredients and season with mayonnaise or sour cream and mustard sauce.
