Salad Olivier: The dish that was invented in Russia is almost forgotten after the revolution and became again popular in the middle of the twentieth century. The story of a popular and beloved New Year's salad.

The story of the Olivier salad. How the original recipe has changed

The story of a popular New Year's salad has been going on more than one and a half centuries. Despite the fact that today this dish is an integral part of the holiday, it was not always the case. Today, the salad is known not only in Russia, but throughout the world, where it is called Russian salad. We tell the story of the dish that was invented in Russia is almost forgotten after the revolution and became again popular in the middle of the twentieth century.

The story of the famous salad

The Olivier salad was invented in the 1860s as a cook of Belgian and French origin Lucien Olivier. Olivier was a Moscow restaurateur and owner of the Hermitage restaurant on Trubnaya Square. To date, the restaurant building has been preserved, located at: Petrovsky Boulevard, house 14. It contains publisher and theater.

The Hermitage was considered a chic restaurant from the first days of its existence. Olivier popularized French cuisine in Russia, and the French menu was personalized for Russian cuisine. He asked the employees at the registration stance to wear Russian peasant clothes. Most of his visitors were merchants. Therefore, the chef prepared food corresponding to the status of its visitors, and they in return gave him an excellent fee.

Initially, the cook came up with a salad, but a dish. It was called mayonnaise from game. Today it is believed that according to this recipe, the Frenchman boiled a hazel grouse and partridges, cut into small pieces and laid on a plate alternately with jelly cubes from chicken broth. He also added boiled tails of Omar and pieces of calf tongue to the dish, which were seasoned with Provencal sauce (mayonnaise).

The central part of the plate was filled with a small hill of boiled potatoes and pickled cucumbers-cornish. According to the border, the dish was decorated with boiled eggs, which were cut into slices. The latter, by the way, were intended not for food, but were added only for aesthetic purposes, that is, they were elements of jewelry.

The dish immediately became very popular. Everyone who could at least somehow get to the restaurant wanted to taste it. Although the institution was aimed at the Moscow elite, the restaurant later opened its doors for university students. And sometimes other groups of people got there. According to legend, once, when the chef saw how some kind of ignorant awkwardly mixes all the parts of the dish in one heap, he was horrified.

Therefore, the next day, Lucien Olivier, in order to express his contempt for such an attitude to food, defiantly combined all the ingredients and abundantly poured them with mayonnaise. However, his new creation has become even greater success.

And then the first dish “mayonnaise from game”, the progenitor of our salad Olivier, one might say, died almost immediately after birth, unable to withstand competition with a generous portion of meat, vegetables, eggs and other products, eventually losing its original aesthetics.

The first recipe for olivier salad

Today it is believed that the original and classic recipe for Olivier's salad looked like this:

· Cooked fillets of two hazel grouse;

· Cooked calf language;

· 100 grams of black caviar;

· 200 grams of green salad leaves;

· Big Omar or 25 boiled crayfish;

· 250 grams of small salted cucumbers;

· 100 grams of capers;

· 5 cooked hard eggs cut into pieces.

All this is accompanied by Provencal sauce, in which it is also necessary to add 350-400 grams of olive oil, whipped with two yolks, vinegar and French mustard. The ingredients were cut into cubes, and then mixed with the sauce, which today is considered mayonnaise.

History of Olivier's salad in the twentieth century

The death of Lucien Olivier occurred in 1883, and he took the secret of his own dish with him to the grave. Later, many cooks tried to restore it or reproduce something similar, but most of this did not succeed.

After the revolutions of 1917, the restaurant of the French cook was closed. The Olivier salad and its ingredients, such as the hazel grouse, caviar, lobsters and more, began to be identified with the bourgeois class and were not approved by the Soviet regime. However, the dish continued to exist and change in its composition, although it lost its former popularity.

In the 1930s, Ivan Mikhailovich Ivanov was the chef of the Moscow restaurant. He was also a former student of the cook Olivier. Ivanov adapted Lucien Olivier's salad under Soviet reality, replacing some inaccessible ingredients, for example, such as a hazel grouse with a chicken. The Russian cook called the new dish capital salad.

Capital Salad Recipe

Since it was almost impossible to get hazelchikov and capers in the USSR, and the desire to prepare something similar to the famous French cook salad was present, the ingredients for the dish were chosen: the following:

– small potatoes – 6 pieces;

– carrots – 1 piece;

-boiled egg-3-4 pieces;

– onions – 1 piece;

– salty cucumber – 4 pieces;

– canned peas – 250 grams;

– mayonnaise – 200 grams;

– Salt and pepper to taste.

The tongue must be washed and put in a pan, but 300-400 grams may be enough for the salad. Cook for 3-3.5 hours over low heat, then cool and clean. Cook potatoes and carrots until cooked, and then clean and cut with eggs.

The rest of the vegetables are also finely chopped, put in a large bowl, add peas and mix. Then add mayonnaise and mix everything thoroughly again.

Olivier in other countries

In many European countries, Olivier's salad is called Russian salad, but the name “capital” is also found. The dish is very popular in the countries of the Balkan region. For example, in Serbia, a salad is called a Russian salad and also often served on New Year's holidays. In North Macedonia and Albania it is called Salad Ruse.

In the Bulgarian cuisine, a ham is sometimes added to the salad instead of sausage or meat. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the salad was given a name Ruska or Francuskawhich is also popular during the holidays. And in Croatia and Slovenia it is usually done without meat and potatoes.

In the Czech Republic it is called a potato salad and often served during Christmas. In Poland, the salad has become more vegetarian, in many cases the meat is not put in it, but some housewives add meat in home kitchen. In Greece, salad is also usually eaten without meat.

In the countries of Northern Europe, Olivier is called Italian salad. And in Finland, instead of potatoes, they sometimes put spaghetti. In the countries of the Asian region, such as Bangladesh, Pakistan or India, it is usually made of potatoes, peas, apples, pineapples and mayonnaise.

Modern recipe for olivier salad

In the late 50s and early 60s in the USSR, the salad began to appear more often on the tables of ordinary residents. The ingredients in it continued to change: instead of meat, they added sausage, additionally they began to add boiled carrots, pickled cucumbers, and later peas.

Since some products were in short supply and it was not easy to get them, they made Olivier only on special holidays. However, over time, when meat and mayonnaise became available due to large-scale industrial production, the salad has gained new popularity. And soon it became a traditional New Year dish.

Ingredients for Olivier salad (a portion of 4-8 people):

· Potatoes-400-500 grams;

· Carrots-400-500 grams;

· Boiled eggs-5-6 pieces;

· Salted or small-salted cucumbers-200-300 grams;

· Sausage (boiled or other)-200-300 grams;

· Mayonnaise-200-300 milliliters;

· Onions (on -hand or green) – 40 grams;

· Bank of canned peas, salt and pepper.

All ingredients, except peas, must be finely chopped and crushed into a large bowl. Then add peas and mayonnaise and mix everything thoroughly.