Romanian Beef & Vegetable Salad
Salată de boeuf, despite its French name, is one of the most Romanian presences on the celebration table. Boiled meat, root vegetables, peas and pickled cucumbers, all finely diced and bound with mayonnaise — a rich salad that, here, never misses Christmas or New Year. The name betrays the 19th-century fashion for French cooking, but the recipe has been thoroughly made Romanian, every family keeping its own version. It is usually made the day before, and the platter is carefully decorated, because its looks are a point of pride for the host. The work is in the cutting: small, even dice are the difference between an ordinary salad and one made by a real home cook.
The holiday salad
A fixture at Christmas and New Year
Everything diced
The even dice is half the recipe
Decorated with pride
Piped mayo, peppers, olives and egg
Ingredients 6 servings
- 400g boiled beef or chicken
- 4 medium potatoes, boiled in their skins
- 3 carrots, boiled
- 1 small celeriac, boiled
- 150g peas (cooked or frozen)
- 4 pickled cucumbers
- 200g mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp mustard
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Pickled red peppers, to garnish
How to make it
- 1Boil the meat, potatoes and carrots ahead of time and let them cool completely — chilled, they cut more cleanly and do not crumble.
- 2Dice everything as small and evenly as you can: the meat, potatoes, carrots and pickled cucumbers; the uniformity is what gives the salad its classic look.
- 3Fold them gently with the peas, then bind everything with the mayonnaise loosened with mustard and a little lemon juice.
- 4Season with salt and pepper, spread the salad on a platter and chill for at least an hour so the flavours settle (ideally overnight).
- 5Before serving, finish with a thin layer of mayonnaise, slices of pickled peppers, olives and egg.
Nutritional info
per serving (~350 g)
Estimated nutritional values.
Pairs perfectly with
