Russian Cuisine has a great variety of salads, which are very often dressed with mayonnaise-type dressing. Discovering what's under the creamy sauce is a part of the fun! ;-) Most of them contain meat, fish or seafood (you'll find those on Seafood page), vegetarian options are rare but there are some. In Russian culture the look of the dish is very important and salads are not an exception: they are decorated elaborately with greens and vegetables before serving.
Olivier Salad
The original version of the salad was invented in the 1860s by Lucien Olivier, the chef of the Hermitage restaurant, one of Moscow's most celebrated restaurants. Olivier's salad quickly became the restaurant's signature dish. The exact recipe -- particularly that of the dressing -- was a jealously guarded secret, but it is known that the original Olivier dressing was a type of mayonnaise, made with French wine vinegar, mustard, and Provençal olive oil; its exact recipe, however, remains unknown.
As inevitably happens with gourmet recipes which become popularized, those of the salad's ingredients that were rare, expensive, seasonal, or difficult to prepare were gradually replaced with cheaper and more readily available foods, until it evolved into the dish we know today.
Ingredients: 0,5 pound boiled meat (ham or brisket), cubed 0,5 pound cooked chicken, cubed 3 potatoes, boiled, peeled and cubed 0,5 pound canned green peas (drained) 1/3 of a small onion, finely chopped |  |
 |
|
**************************************************************************************************************************************
Herring under Fur Coat
The Russian name of this delicious salad is "Selyodka pod Shouboi", which literally translates as "Herring under fur coat". It consists of several layers of cooked vegetables, salted herring, eggs, mayonnaise and red beets on the top and is a traditional Russian dish for festive dinners year-round.
“Herring under fur coat” looks like a cake and can be served as an appetizer or the main course. Every family has its own recipe (some recipes call for egg, onions and apples and some don’t; the sequence of the layers may also vary) and it's special way of decorating this dish.
As with all salads of this kind, to enjoy the taste of the unique combination of all layers, “Herring under fur coat” needs to be cut into pieces all the way through and served like a cake (unless it’s made individually for every guest).
Dressing:
In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup mayo, 1/4 cup sour cream (or thick Greek yogurt), a dash of salt and pepper.
Grate the potatoes and spread 1/2 evenly on a serving dish. Cut the herring into small pieces (about 1/8-inch) and spread over the potatoes. Cover with another 1/2 grated potatoes and spread about 3-4 tablespoons of dressing over. Sprinkle with some finely chopped red onion.
Grate the apple over the potato layer, and spread 3-4 tablespoons of dressing on top. Sprinkle with finely chopped red onion. Grate the eggs and the beet over the apple layer. Top with the remaining dressing (make more as needed) and decorate with parsley, dill and grated egg yolk.
Another picture from Craig's first visit to Russia: "Herring under Fur Coat " made by my Mom. -> -> -> -> |  |
**************************************************************************************************************************************
Vinaigrette
One of the few vegetarian salads in national cuisine, which name originates from French word “vinaigre” – vinegar. In the early 1800-s Prince Bagration invited a French cook Antoine Kareem to work for the Russian Emperor Alexander I. When he saw Russian cooks adding vinegar to the dressing for this salad, he said “Ah, vinaigrette!” (“vinaigrette” – any sauce made with vinegar). Russian cooks liked the sound of the new word and the popular beet salad got its new name.
This is the recipe of Vinaigrette that my family uses: we add no vinegar because there is enough of it in pickles. If you choose to use salted cucumber instead (that’s what original recipe calls for), you’ll need to add a splash of vinegar into the dressing.
Ingredients : 2 beets boiled, 3 potatoes boiled , 3 pickled cucumbers , 2 carrots boiled , 100 g green peas (optional), 1 big onion chopped, vegetable oil , salt and pepper to taste.
Peel the vegetables. Set the beets aside. Cube and put the rest into a big bowl and add green peas (the cubes must be of the size of green peas). Cube the beets, put them into another bowl, add some oil and mix.
Dressing: Fry onion in vegetable oil until golden-brown (there should be enough oil to allow onion pieces to float), add pepper, let it cool.
Add
beets to the other vegetables, add a pinch of salt, mix carefully, pour
the dressing on the salad and mix again. Vinaigrette is usually served
as an appetizer with rye bread or as a side dish with salted herring,
pork chops or steamed salmon.
