Salad Olivier is a classic salad from Russia made using cooked, diced potatoes, carrots, peas, pickled cucumbers, ham or chicken, boiled eggs and mayonnaise.
The salad is seasoned with salt, pepper and herbs. All of the ingredients are combined and chilled. It is served as an appetizer or side dish.
Perhaps the most popular variation is salad olivieh – the Persian twist on salad olivier. It is made by slightly mashing the potatoes and it has a strong flavor since Persian pickles are flavored with herbs and spices such as garlic and hot peppers. It is often used as a sandwich filling.
Other meats used to make salad olivier are duck or game birds like grouse or hen. Some variations are made with seafood such as shrimp or crab. Vegetarian versions are made without the meat.
Soviet salad olivier is very basic, containing limited ingredients due to poor availability during the Soviet Union era. Fancier versions are the most costly to make due both to the quantity and quality of ingredients, sometimes aiming to be as close as possible to the first salad olivier.
Origin & Cultural Significance
The original salad olivier was created in 1860 by Russian chef Lucien Olivier. At that time, the salad was made with expensive, hard to find ingredients including lettuce, caviar, smoked bird and mayonnaise from Provence.
Since Lucien was the only one to prepare the salad, which he did in private, he took the exact recipe to his grave but not before one of his assistants was able to secretly observe the ingredients. The assistant Ivan Ivanov would later try to sell the salad using a different name, which did not gain popularity.
He would later sell the recipe to a food magazine where some of the ingredients were changed to make the salad more suitable for home cooks. Now Salad Olivier is a quintessential dish at family gatherings and celebrations and holidays.
Russian Salad Oliver Recipe
Salad Olivier is a classic salad from Russia. It is made using cooked diced potatoes, carrots, peas, pickled cucumbers, ham or chicken, boiled eggs and
mayonnaise.
Ingredients
- Pickled cucumbers (medium) - 5
- Yellow potatoes (large) - 2
- Carrots (large) - 3
- Eggs - 5
- Onion (medium) - 1/2
- Bologna or ham - 1 lb
- Canned sweet peas (rinsed and drained) - 12 oz
- Mayonnaise - ½ cup
- Salt - to taste
- Black pepper - to taste
- Dill (optional) - 1 Tbsp
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to boil.
- Cook the carrots and potatoes in it until they are easily pierced with a fork.
- Boil the eggs for 11 minutes.
- Set the veggies and eggs aside to cool to room temperature.
- Dice the veggies, bologna or ham, and eggs into small cubes.
- In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together with a spoon.
- Toss in the mayonnaise until all the salad ingredients are evenly coated.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Sprinkle with fresh dill, if using.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 174Total Fat: 10gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 90mgSodium: 279mgCarbohydrates: 13gFiber: 3gSugar: 3gProtein: 8g
Nutrition is provided and calculated by Nutritionix. It is for general information purposes and is only a rough estimation.