{"id":5900,"date":"2014-11-30T14:23:56","date_gmt":"2014-11-30T13:23:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coquinaria.nl\/?p=5900"},"modified":"2019-12-13T08:27:15","modified_gmt":"2019-12-13T07:27:15","slug":"salade-russe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coquinaria.nl\/en\/salade-russe\/","title":{"rendered":"Salade Russe the Russian Way"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Straight to the recipe<\/small><\/a><\/p>\n

\"PortraitA recipe from 1866<\/h2>\n

The choice for this recipe is the result of a lecture I gave at the\u00a0Museum Hermitage<\/a>\u00a0in Amsterdam in October 2014. The lecture was complementary to the exhibition\u00a0Dining with the Czars<\/em>, which is open for visitors until April 2015. At the end of my presentation all the guests were served a glass of nineteenth-century Russian punch. One of the dishes I prepared during my research is the\u00a0Vinigret<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0Salade Russe<\/em>or, according to some,\u00a0Salat Olivier<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Language barrier<\/h3>\n

When researching another culture, one is at a disadvantage if one has no knowledge of that culture’s language(s). And if that language is written in another alphabet than the one you’re used to, it is even more difficult. One must depend on existing translations, or attempt to translate the recipes by using Google Translate. This obviously leads to great translations: \u042f\u0437\u044b\u043a \u0431\u044b\u0447\u0430\u0447\u0438\u0439 (YAzyk bychachiy<\/em>, ox-tongue) became\u00a0language of a bull<\/em>. It may not be correct, but at least you get a laugh out of it.<\/p>\n

Elena Molokhovets, A gift for young housewives\u00a0<\/em><\/h3>\n

\"Portrait<\/p>\n

Cookbooks are a fairly recent phenomenon in Russia. The oldest ones date from the end of the eighteenth century, whereas Dutch cookery books date from the late fifteenth century. The oldest English texts even go back to the twelfth century, and the Arabic ones to the tenth. Some older Russian texts, however, do concern information on food and some recipes. An example of these texta is the\u00a0Domostroy<\/a>\u00a0from the middle of the sixteenth century, when\u00a0Ivan the Terrible<\/a>\u00a0ruled.<\/p>\n

During the second half of the nineteenth century one book was particularly prevalent:\u00a0A Gift to Young Housewives<\/em>\u00a0(\u041f\u043e\u0434\u0430\u0301\u0440\u043e\u043a \u043c\u043e\u043b\u043e\u0434\u044b\u0301\u043c \u0445\u043e\u0437\u044f\u0301\u0439\u043a\u0430\u043c), written by\u00a0Elena Molokhovets<\/a>.\u00a0The first and last editions of this cookery book, in 1861 and 1917 respectively, coincided with two important moments in the history of the Russian Empire. In 1861\u00a0serfdom was abolished<\/a>\u00a0(which did not have immediate positive results), and in 1917 czar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate during the\u00a0February Revolution<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The first edition did not have any indication of who the author was. Ladies did not stoop to the writing of cookery books, so Molokhovets too wanted to remain anonymous. The second edition did provide readers with the author’s initials. Later editions were published under her full name. Molokhovets was still reluctant, but she was forced to do so\u00a0 because of plagiarism. It was not until the appearance of the Jubilee edition in 1911 that she declared herself being proud of her accomplishment. Nothing was known about when Molokhovets died, until Dutch Slavist Egbert Hartman (who also maintains a Dutch\u00a0blog<\/a>\u00a0on all things Russian) discovered records showing\u00a0 Elena Molokhovets died in 1918 in St.Petersburg, at the age of 86 or 87. In Soviet-Russia the\u00a0Gift<\/em>\u00a0was an example of the culinary decadence during the reign of the czars, but soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union new editions of the cookbook appeared.<\/p>\n

In Europe the first translation appeared in Germany in 1877. In 1992 Joyce Toomre published a translation of the twentieth edition from 1897 (some of the recipes were left out).\u00a0 (see\u00a0bibliography<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Indifference<\/h3>\n

The internet is swarming with Russian recipes “from 1861”. These recipes are actually based on Toomre’s translation from the twentieth edition (1897), which was published thirty-six years later. This even occurs with recipes that do not appear in the 1861 edition at all, like Boeuf Stroganoff<\/em>. I do not know whether people do not read close enough, or whether they just don’t care.
\nDear writers: is it really so difficult to clearly state which edition of a historical cookery book you are using? Do me a favour!<\/p>\n

\"TheIs Salade Russe<\/em> in fact Russian?<\/h3>\n

According to many internet sources,\u00a0vinigret<\/em>\u00a0derives from\u00a0Salat Olivier<\/em>, a creation of the French or Belgian cook\u00a0Lucien Olivier<\/a>.
\nBut is that true? Not entirely. Olivier (1838-1883) co-owned the\u00a0Restaurant Hermitage<\/a>\u00a0in Moscow from 1864. He is said to have created a salad that became very popular with his customers. He kept the recipe to himself. The salad has been reconstructed based on descriptions from customers. It contains black grouse, veal tongue, caviar, lobster, lettuce, cucumber, roasted soy bean flour (soy Kabul<\/em>), milk-cap mushrooms and hard-boiled eggs. Everything is cut into small cubes and served with a sauce of olive oil, cream, egg yolks, mustard, vinegar and ‘secret herbs’.
\nDuring the Soviet-era the salad is transformed into what we now associate with Russian Salad: potato, onion, carrot, gherkin, apple, green peas, chicken, hard-boiled eggs and mayonnaise.<\/p>\n

In Molokhovets’ cookbook this salad is called \u0412\u0438\u043d\u0438\u0433\u0440\u0435\u0442 (Vinigret<\/em>, from French ‘vinaigrette’ which literally means\u00a0sour wine<\/em>). This could indicate the recipe has a French origin. However, this kind of salad with a typical combination of vegetables, pickled greens and fish\/meat is typical for the Scandinavian cuisine of the nineteenth century, not the French. Therefore I concluded that the Russian vinigret has no French roots, even though it was named after vinaigrette. All Olivier did was getting rid of the typically Russian red beets and sauerkraut to make a salad that fits better into the refined\u00a0haute cuisine<\/em>. That does not mean the salad is French in\u00a0origin<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Salade Russe<\/em>\u00a0on page 428 in\u00a0La cuisine classique<\/em>\u00a0vol.2 from Urbain Dubois and \u00c9mile Bernard (1856) does not contain any meat or fish. But on page 354 under the heading ‘Garnitures froides’ you can find a recipe for\u00a0Mac\u00e9doine Russe<\/em>\u00a0that resembles the Molokhovets’ recipe, except that it doesn’t contain the beans and sauerkraut. Dubois and Bernard do not consider\u00a0vinigret<\/em>\u00a0as a dish in its own right, but merely as a preparation to be used as decoration in other dishes.<\/p>\n

Call for assistance<\/h3>\n

Maybe someone with time on his or her hands and knowledge of nineteenth-century Russian could be so kind to look for recipes of\u00a0vinigret<\/em>\u00a0before Molokhovets (1861). When did this recipe first appear in Russian cookery books? My knowledge of the Russian language is very, very limited; otherwise I would have taken on this task myself. In the Dutch version of this page I offer a dinner with Russian recipes from the nineteenth century at my home as a reward. So, if you ever visit the Netherlands…<\/p>\n

The original recipe<\/h2>\n

This is the Russian text from the second edition (1866) of\u00a0The Gift<\/em>. According to Toomre in her introduction to her edition of the twentieth edition, the first edition had 1500 recipes. This second edition also contains 1500 recipes, but Toomre writes that some changes were made in this edition. So, without actually\u00a0having seen the 1861 edition, I will not state that the recipe was already present in the first edition.
\nMy English translation of the 1866 recipe relies heavily on the translation by Toomre of the 1897 edition. I did use the Oxford Russian-English dictionary and Google Translate to check whether there were any differences between these versions. Without having seen the\u00a0Russian<\/em>\u00a0text of 1897, it is difficult to determine whether small differences are the result of the two Russian editions of the\u00a0Gift<\/em>\u00a0or the translation by Toomre.
\nIn later editions this salad is not called\u00a0vinigret<\/em>\u00a0but\u00a0vine<\/strong>gret<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

604. Vinigret (Salade \u00e0 la Russe)
\nTake various cooked meats: game, veal or beef, or boiled fish such as sturgeon, pike or salmon. Add 1 or 2 boiled or baked beets, 1 spoon gherkins, 1 large pickled or fresh peeled cucumber, 1 herring, 2 hard-boiled eggs, 5 to 6 marinated saffron milk-cap mushrooms, spoon pickled vegetables, 5 to 6 boiled potatoes in small pieces, 2 tablespoons capers, 3 tablespoons sauerkraut, 1\/2 cup beans, boiled in salted water, 20 pitted olives.
\nCube all this, add parsley, salt, pepper, 1\/3 cup vinegar, 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 tablespoon prepared mustard, and if you like it, 2 to 3 pieces sugar. Mix, arrange on a platter and place attractively sliced boiled potatoes and beet on it. Surround with parsley or decorate with coloured aspic, lemon and hard-boiled eggs.
\nOn meatless days, omit meat.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Modern adaptation of the recipe<\/h2>\n

The taste of this salad is more pronounced than that of the average ready-bought salad today. It is important to prepare this dish at least two hours in advance, but preferably even longer. The sauce is more acid than we are used to, as it contains more vinegar than oil. For my version I chose another ratio, as can be seen in the recipe below. If an even smoother taste is preferred, one can use mayonnaise (oil, vinegar and egg yolks) instead of vinaigrette (oil and vinegar). Modern Dutch versions are Potato Salad<\/a> and Herring Salad<\/a>.
\nMain course salad<\/span>\u00a0or cold buffet dish\u00a0for 8 to 16 persons<\/span>;\u00a0preparation in advance<\/em>\u00a0\u00a01 hour<\/span><\/span>;\u00a0preparation<\/em>\u00a05 minutes<\/span><\/span>;\u00a0decorating the salad<\/em>\u00a015 minutes.<\/p>\n

\"Vinigret,<\/p>\n

150 gram\u00a0veal<\/span>, cooked
\n150 gram\u00a0beef<\/span>, cooked
\n400 gram poached\u00a0salmon<\/span>
\n1\u00a0salted herring<\/span>
\n2 hard-boiled\u00a0eggs<\/span>
\n600 gram boiled\u00a0potatoes<\/span>
\n2\u00a0red beets<\/span>\u00a0(preferably roasted)
\n1\u00a0cucumber<\/span>
\n150 gram marinated\u00a0mushrooms<\/span>\u00a0(pot) or stewed mushrooms (of\u00a0saffron milk-cap mushrooms<\/a>)
\n50 gram Russian\u00a0pickled gherkins<\/span>
\n50 gram\u00a0pickled vegetables<\/a>\u00a0(Russian or Polish food store)
\n100 gram\u00a0sauerkraut<\/span>
\n150 gram cooked\u00a0white beans<\/span>\u00a0(or half a small can)
\n20 green or black pitted\u00a0olives<\/span><\/div>\n
Sauce<\/em>
\n1 decilitre olive oil
\n1\/2 decilitre wine vinegar
\n1 Tbsp mustard
\n1 Tbsp chopped parsley
\npepper and salt to taste
\nsome sugar (optional)
\nDecoration (make a choice)<\/em>
\ntufts of parsley
\nlemon, in halved slices
\nhard-boiled eggs, sliced
\nboiled potatoes and beets in slices
\ncubes dark\u00a0meat jelly<\/a>\u00a0(lanspikom<\/a>)<\/div>
<\/div><\/p>\n

Preparation in advance<\/h3>\n

Beets are often just boiled, but when roasted in the oven, they taste better. Wash and clean the beets, but do not peel them. Just wrap them, without drying, in aluminium foil and place them in a preheated oven at 180 \u00b0C\/355 \u00b0F. Small beets take about forty minutes, larger ones need more time. Turn the beets over halfway through. Let the beets cool after roasting until you are able to hold them, and pull off the skin.
\nBoil potatoes and eggs.
\nStew or simmer the meat, or use leftover meat from making stock.
\nPoach the salmon in salted water.
\nCut the cucumber into cubes. Whether you peel it first is your choice. Sprinkle the cut cucumber with salt and let it stand in a sieve for thirty minutes. Then squeeze it gently and pat the cucumber dry. Or you could cut a pickled cucumber into cubes instead.<\/p>\n

Preparation<\/h3>\n

Cut all ingredients for the salad into small cubes and mix them.
\nMix all ingredients for the sauce.
\nAdd the sauce to the salad, mix well, and place the bowl in the refrigerator until you want to decorate the salad.<\/p>\n

\"TheTo serve<\/h3>\n

A dish like\u00a0vinigret<\/em>\u00a0really wants to be decorated. Use your fantasy and take your time. The salad is served cold, but not ice-cold. The\u00a0vinigret<\/em>\u00a0in the picture above was placed on the tablecloth of my sister’s garden table, which happened to have exactly colours as the salad. On the left is a picture of the salad from another angle, so you can see the convex shape.<\/p>\n

Ingredients<\/h2>\n

All descriptions of ingredients<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>Lanspik or lanspikom<\/h4>\n

I have translated this Russian word as\u00a0meat jelly<\/a>\u00a0(aspic), and it is prepared with calf’s feet. But according to Molokhovets the jelly is put on ice during setting and whipped with olive oil to create a firm foam. This thick foam is used as decoration. I just used set jelly, so the decoration on the picture is not quite authentic. The aspic could be coloured according by Molokhovets by using red gelatine (apparently this was already available).\u00a0 One could also add saffron for yellow , extract from cornflowers for blue or spinach for green. Without additions the jelly should be colourless.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Saffron milk-cap mushrooms<\/h4>\n

\"Saffron<\/a>The botanical name of these mushrooms, indigenous to Europe, is\u00a0Lactarius deliciosus<\/a>.<\/i>\u00a0The ‘deliciosus<\/em>‘ not only indicates clearly that these mushrooms are not poisonous, but even quite delicious! Russians are fervent gatherers of wild mushrooms to prepare and conserve. For this salad I used ordinary mushrooms: white champignons.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Solenyje (Russian pickles)<\/h4>\n

The vegetables are pickled in salt (sol<\/em>\u00a0in Russian), unlike in the rest of Europe, where vinegar is the main preservative. The pickled ingredients will start fermenting, like sauerkraut. For an authentic taste it is best to buy your pickles at a Russian or Polish food store, or make your own by using the recipes on\u00a0this page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Bibliography<\/h2>\n

The editions below were used by me. Links refer to available editions.<\/p>\n