Classic French Salad
Description
A simple dish to prepare. The famous "Olivier" salad, named after the renowned chef Lucien Olivier, was served at his own restaurant "Hermitage" in Moscow. The recipe has successfully survived even into 21st-century cookbooks. Besides grouse and tongue, the original salad also included black caviar. However, I suggest leaving it out—it doesn't quite go well, in my opinion, with meat, poultry, and crayfish tails. The most important part in preparing the classic version is the dressing. I recommend making it yourself rather than substituting mayonnaise, otherwise the whole salad will be ruined. You can use 9% apple cider vinegar. Just check. Serve chilled.
Instructions
- 1
Step 1
First, boil the beef tongue in salted water with half a carrot and onion.
- 2
Step 2
Meanwhile, you can boil the potatoes in their skins.
- 3
Step 3
We also boil quail eggs for 3-4 minutes.
- 4
Step 4
And also prepare the quails. Rub the carcasses with olive oil.
- 5
Step 5
Sear the poultry in a pan until lightly browned. At the same time, place a pot with water on the stove, add half an onion and half a carrot, celery, sumac, spices (salt, bay leaf, cranberries, and a couple of juniper berries) to it.
- 6
Step 6
Lower the quails into boiling water.
- 7
Step 7
Boil the quails for half an hour over low heat.
- 8
Step 8
While the main ingredients are cooking, prepare the dressing. All dressing ingredients should be at room temperature! Take chicken eggs, olive oil or other vegetable oil (refined only!), vinegar, mustard, sugar, salt, and lemon juice.
- 9
Step 9
Mix everything with a blender until smooth and refrigerate.
- 10
Step 10
If the tongue and grouse are cooked, as well as the potatoes and quail eggs, you can proceed to assemble the salad. Drain the brine from the pickled cucumbers and chop them finely. Also, peel and finely chop the fresh cucumber.
- 11
Step 11
Finely chop the quail eggs, wash and dry the salad leaves, then cut them into cubes.
- 12
Step 12
Boiled tongue cut into cubes.
- 13
Step 13
Similarly, prepare the grouse, remove the bones, and cut the meat separated from the bones into cubes.
- 14
Step 14
Place the tongue and grouse into a deep pot.
- 15
Step 15
Add the cubed potatoes there.
- 16
Step 16
As well as lettuce leaves, pickled and fresh cucumbers.
- 17
Step 17
Add the eggs, salt and pepper to taste. Mix everything together.
- 18
Step 18
Dress with the prepared mayonnaise. Mix again.
- 19
Step 19
Place the salad in a salad bowl.
- 20
Step 20
Boil the crayfish in salted water.
- 21
Step 21
Clean them and remove the necks.
- 22
Step 22
Garnish the ready classic French Olivier salad with crayfish tails and fresh herbs to taste before serving.