Romanian Olivier Salad: Salată de Boeuf

Salată de boeuf, or 'beef salad', is a traditional Romanian dish made of boiled and diced root vegetables, pickles, boiled chicken and mayo that always graces our tables during special holidays like Easter and Christmas.

For a lot of Romanians, salată de boeuf is a core memory. This dish is an essential part of our most important holiday meals at Easter, Christmas and New Year's Eve.

But it's not just it's inclusion on the table that makes it memorable, it's also the process of making it.

I think a lot of us Romanians, both in Romania and abroad, have warm memories of this salad being made around the holidays.

Every family has their own salată de boeuf experts who toils each holiday to make it.

As bystanders we witness the endless whisking of egg yolks and oil into homemade mayonnaise, careful boiling of vegetables and chicken, and precise dicing to make it all come together.

Then, the final step of decorating. Always done lovingly (though usually very quickly) and by each person in their own unique and characteristic style.

It's a great honor to step into the venerable role of salată de boeuf expert and I'm honored you've chosen this recipe to guide you.

Just remember that this recipe is just a guide. Salată de boeuf originates from Olivier salad - there are a lot of variations both in Romania and beyond.

This salad is made slightly differently by each person, in each family, each region and even each country. That's the beauty of it.

If you want to know more about the amazing culinary evolution of this salad, see the recipe background section below. Otherwise you can just skip to recipe.

Quick Summary

• Peel and quarter the vegetables;
• Add the vegetables and chicken breast to a pot of boiling water - cook the chicken for 12-14 minutes or until fully cooked through and remove the vegetables as soon as they're fork tender so they don't overcook;
• Allow the chicken and vegetables to cool so you can handle them;
• Finely dice the vegetables, chicken, and pickles;
• Mix all the salad ingredients together in a bowl until evenly mixed. Taste and adjust salt;
• Decorate the salad with more mayo, boiled egg, roasted red pepper, pickles and black olives if desired.

Jump to:

• Quick Summary
• Recipe Background
• Ingredients
• Equipment
• Instructions
• Serving Suggestion
• Recipe
• Related
• Comments

Recipe Background

Salată de boeuf is Romania's version of Olivier salad or Russian salad as it's called in some places.

The story goes that Olivier salad is a root vegetable, pickle and mayo salad that was first developed by French chef Lucien Olivier, head chef of Moscow's Hermitage restaurant in the 1860s.

This style salad has since spread all across Europe and even as far as the United States and New Zealand, slightly evolving and taking on different names with each move.

In fact, a few weeks ago I came across a thread on Reddit asking users in r/europe to weigh in on what this salad is called in their country.

I was absolutely tickled seeing this because this salad is such a perfect example of how recipes cross borders and evolve with different ingredients and culinary sensibilities.

It really goes to show that each country has it's own preferences and strongly held beliefs about what the 'traditional', 'original' or (ugh) 'authentic' recipe is 'supposed to be'.

This is why the concept of authenticity or originality is not so helpful when it comes to culinary evolution.

People can get really attached to how they expect a recipe to be. And rightfully so, since food traditions reflect our culture and memories.

But it's also important to keep sight of the fact that food is not static. It's mean to evolve and in my humble opinion, only gets better when it does.

There are so many variations of this salad. Some countries include beet and peas, while others find the idea absolutely abhorrent.

"Beetroot and mayo, but no herring? What a waste." u/reddyst

When it comes to the Romanian version, the funny thing is it's called salată de boeuf i.e. 'beef salad', but most people make it with boiled chicken.

I found a really interesting Romanian survey by temananc.ro that surveyed almost 3000 Romanians about their salată de boeuf preferences and learned the following:

• 70% of Romanians prefer salată de boeuf made with chicken instead of beef but this also varies by region (in Banat region about 50% of people use beef!);

Other fun facts:

• 64% include green peas - but this also varies by region as low as 53% in Bucharest and as high as 80% in Transylvania.
• 92% make salată de boeuf with homemade mayonnaise;
• Finally (my favourite) - 54% spent less than 2 minutes decorating their salată de boeuf! Sounds like me...

So you see, there's a lot of variation both in Romania and in other countries where this salad is made.

No sense is getting too hung up on the details as long as you like the way you make it.

Ingredients

• Potatoes: Potatoes make up the base of the salad.
• Carrots: Carrots add color and sweetness.
• Celery root: Celery root adds a vegetal element.
• Parsnip: Parsnip is sweet and earthy.
• Boneless skinless chicken breast: Boneless skinless chicken breast is a very traditional addition but you can also skip it to make the salad vegetarian.
• Pickles: Pickles bring an acidic counterpoint to the richness of the mayo and heartiness of the boiled root vegetables.
• Green peas: Green peas are not used in every family but my family has always made salată de boeuf with green peas. I personally like the color and texture they bring to the dish. I recommend frozen green peas since they have a better texture, color and flavor than canned.
• Mayonnaise: Mayonnaise is the dressing. It's traditional to make homemade mayo for this recipe and many people still do so. You can make your own or just use store-bought.
• Yellow mustard: Yellow mustard breaks up the richness of the mayo and adds a different flavor element.
• Salt: You'll need a decent amount of salt to counteract the sweetness of the vegetables and balance the richness of the fat. As always taste and adjust to your preference.
• White pepper: My family always uses white pepper. It's a bit more musky and less spicy as compared to black pepper so it brings a bit of earthiness and depth. You can also substitute black pepper or use both white and black pepper.

garnish / decoration

• Mayonnaise: The mayo covers the whole salad to make it an even and smooth white color.
• Roasted red pepper: Roasted red pepper adds bright pops of red.
• Black olives: Black olives sliced thinly add nice contrast.
• Pickles: Pickles can be sliced into both rounds and strips.
• Boiled egg: Boiled eggs can be sliced into rounds or you could also try slicing an egg into quarters and arranging it like a flower in the center of a salad in a round bowl.

Equipment

All you really need is a large pot to boil the vegetables and chicken as well as a good knife and cutting board.

Instructions

Preliminary note: How not to overcook

It's easy enough to boil some vegetables and chicken then finely dice them. That's the basic gist of it.

However, there's just one point to note: it's quite easy to overboil the vegetables and chicken resulting in soggy veg and hard chicken.

For the most part if you do this it will still be okay once it's all diced and mixed together but it's something to keep in mind.

I can't give a precise time indication for either because it really depends on the size of the veg, how you cut it and also it's starting level of hydration.

In general you can expect the vegetables will take about 15-18 minutes to get to fork tender. The chicken should take about 12-14 minutes depending on thickness.

For reference, chicken should reach an internal temperature of 74 C / 165 F.

Step 1: Boil the vegetables and chicken

Peel and then rinse the potatoes, carrots, parsnip and celery root then cut them into rough quarters.

Add the vegetables and chicken breast to a large pot of salted water (1 teaspoon salt per 2 liters / quarts of water). Adding the chicken and vegetables to the same pot infuses both with both flavor as they boil together.

Bring to a simmer and cook for 12-14 minutes then remove the chicken.

Check the veg every so often and remove as soon as they are fork tender so they don't overcook. Usually the potatoes and carrots first and then the parsnip and celeriac but depends on thickness so you'll have to monitor.

Step 3: Dice and mix the salad

Allow the vegetables and chicken breast to cool enough so they can be handled.

Finely dice the chicken breast, boiled vegetables and pickles very small - around the same size as the green peas or slightly larger.

Mix the diced vegetables, pickled and chicken with the mayo, mustard and seasonings.

Decorate with more mayo, black olives, roasted red pepper, boiled egg and pickles if desired. See next section for the low down on decorating.

Serving Suggestion

Salată de boeuf is basically always decorated when it's served for special occasions.

There aren't really any rules or formal methods for doing this besides covering the salad with mayo first.

You can also skip this step if you don't feel like doing it, but it does add a sort of festive appearance.

Recipe

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