Salată de boeuf is the Romanian version of Olivier salad: finely chopped beef or chicken and root vegetables in mayonnaise, finished with pickles.

Olivier salad was created in the 1860s by Lucien Olivier, chef of the Hermitage restaurant in Moscow, and is now common across the former Eastern Bloc. Wikipedia calls the Romanian variant, salată de boeuf, a traditional dish: chopped beef or chicken and root vegetables folded into mayonnaise and finished with Romanian mixed pickles. Romanian recipe pages present it for the Christmas and New Year table. La Mama Universitate lists it for RON 29, made with beef, potatoes, peas and pickled vegetables.

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Make it at home

Serves 83 hrEasy

Ingredients

  • 500g beef brisket or chuck
  • 500g floury potatoes
  • 300g carrots
  • 200g celeriac
  • 200g pickled gogoșari (or roasted red peppers)
  • 150g pickled cucumbers
  • 200g cooked peas (frozen, defrosted)
  • 3 eggs
  • 300ml sunflower oil
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • Salt and white pepper
  • Pickled gogonele, olives and parsley to garnish

Method

  1. Simmer the beef in salted water with a bay leaf for 90 minutes until tender. Cool in the broth, then dice into 1cm cubes.
  2. Boil the potatoes, carrots and celeriac whole until tender; peel and dice into 1cm cubes.
  3. Make the mayonnaise: whisk 1 raw egg yolk with mustard, lemon juice and a pinch of salt, then drip in the sunflower oil while whisking until thick and glossy.
  4. Hard-boil 2 eggs, peel and chop.
  5. In a large bowl, combine the beef, all the diced vegetables, peas, chopped pickled gogoșari and pickled cucumbers.
  6. Fold in two-thirds of the mayonnaise. Season with salt, white pepper and lemon juice to taste.
  7. Press the salad into a serving dish, smooth the top, and cover with the remaining mayonnaise.
  8. Decorate with hard-boiled egg slices, pickled gogonele, olives and parsley.
  9. Chill at least 2 hours before serving so the flavours bond.

Editor tip. All vegetables must be diced the same size: the bite is the dish. The mayonnaise can split if the oil goes in too fast at the start; ease the first 50ml in drop by drop.

Common allergens: Egg, Beef, Pickles.