An average American consumes 124 pounds of potatoes per year, including potato salads. American restaurants and grocery stores offer a simplified version of potato salad, stuffed with boiled potatoes, a few pickles, and mixed with mayonnaise.
As a former USSR resident, I am familiar with a more sophisticated version of potato salad called Oliviye. The Soviets or post-Soviets cook the salad almost for every holiday, especially for New Year’s Eve.
The history of the Oliviye salad leads back to the tsar’s Russia, when French chef Lucien Oliviye created a potato salad at Moscow’s Hermitage restaurant in 1860. The chief mixed boiled potatoes and eggs with gamebird, veal tongue, crayfish tails, pressed caviar, and mayo.
The salad was modified in the 20th century. I want to present the adapted recipe to my American audience and especially to students because Oliviye is delicious, it is easy to cook, and the salad is an inexpensive dish.
Ingredients:
– 5-8 potatoes
– 4-5 eggs
– ½ onion
– 1 pickle
– 1 can of sweet peas
– 5 tablespoons of mayonnaise
Bon appetite!
(Photo by Tatyana Nyborg)
(Photo by Tatyana Nyborg)
(Photo by Tatyana Nyborg)
(Photo by Tatyana Nyborg)
Some people advise mixing mayonnaise and sour cream, 50/50, as a dressing. Others recommend adding mustard or vegetable oil.
(Photo by Tatyana Nyborg)
