Lucien Olivier, the Frenchman who invented the salad so popular on our tables, worked as a cook in Russia in the 19th century. By the way, it was Monsieur Olivier who founded the Hermitage restaurant. But the name of this French chef was imprinted in the centuries by the history of origin.
The French chef lived in Moscow for a long time. But he always lacked something in this big city. He realized that he lacked French chic on Russian soil. Then he buys a plot of land and intends to open a French restaurant. If possible, the best in Moscow. Luck does not leave Monsieur Olivier. The Hermitage restaurant is becoming a very popular place among the bourgeoisie, among the nobility and even among ordinary students. At first, the restaurant prepared classic French dishes, the restaurant more than paid for itself. By the way, this building is still preserved. If you wish, you can walk around it and imagine the whole history of the creation of the salad with your own eyes.
The history of the salad "Olivier" begins when the classic French dishes became boring to the Russian people. Monsieur Olivier comes up with a new salad with a very refined taste. Customers immediately call this new salad "Olivier". This is the story of the creation of Olivier salad, but the story is just beginning. Many cooks try to repeat the recipe, but they fail. In the end, the salad recipe was simplified as much as possible.
As a result, Olivier himself revealed the secret of his. Today you can cook exactly the salad that was served at the Hermitage restaurant. True, this recipe will not much resemble our traditional Olivier salad, which every housewife knows how to cook. Olivier salad according to the recipe from the Hermitage restaurant includes boiled fillet of two hazel grouses, boiled veal tongue, 100 g of black caviar, 200 g of lettuce, 25 boiled crayfish (one large lobster will do), 250 g of small cucumbers, soy paste (half a can ), two chopped fresh cucumbers, 100 gr capers, 5 boiled eggs. This delicacy salad, like its counterpart, was dressed with mayonnaise.
The history of Olivier salad in its modern interpretation is a story of trial and error. After the death of the founder of the Hermitage restaurant, the recipe passed from hand to hand. It was discovered, and the chefs of wealthy metropolitan houses tried to recreate this salad for their employers. This situation continued until the First World War, then the 1917 revolution also happened. Many of the products that make up the salad were simply impossible to get. There were several new variations of the salad, using those products that could somehow be bought in stores. In Moscow in the 1920s, restaurants served Olivier salad according to a new, modified recipe. It included 6 boiled potatoes, two onions, three carrots, two pickled cucumbers, one apple, 200 grams of boiled poultry fillet, a glass of green peas and three boiled eggs. As before, the salad was dressed only with mayonnaise.
In the 19th century, when Olivier salad was invented, it was made from products that were accessible and understandable for that time. This is the basic principle that has preserved the modern salad recipe. After all, carrots, potatoes and green peas can be obtained at any time of the year and at a relatively low price. True, today all over the world Olivier has the name "Russian salad". Many foreigners love this dish and appreciate its taste.
It is with Olivier that any celebration is associated, for example, the New Year's table. This salad is one of the symbols of the celebration of the New Year. Almost every table has a bowl of salad. But has anyone thought about who invented the holiday appetizer and about the history of the origin of Olivier salad?
The history of the origin of salad "Olivier"
Olivier gets its name from the name of the person who came up with this recipe. His name is Lucien Olivier. He worked as a chef at a French restaurant called Hermitage in Moscow. This was in the eighteenth century. The chef's ancestors are from France. The Olivier dynasty lived in Provence. The family was professionally engaged in cooking, gained fame in their homeland by creating an unusual sauce, which they called patriotically - "Provencal", in honor of the province of France where the family comes from. Now this sauce is called mayonnaise. The youngest of the Olivier brothers, whose name was Lucien, went to conquer Moscow, where he came up with his unique Olivier salad. At that time in Russia, cooking was lame, restaurants served snacks such as: pickles and sauerkraut, cranberries or mushrooms. Salad was considered pickled, seasoned with sour cream. Then Lucien decided to conquer the culinary community of Russia, to do something unique, new and inimitable. The key concept was the lightness of the salad. The restaurant had a council of chefs on the theme of the novelty, each offering their own versions. Olivier conjured his salad for several days, conducted samples and tastings. As a result, a light salad was developed, which glorified its creator Lucien Olivier.
It is believed that the chef did not reveal the original salad recipe. But two publications have come down to us mentioning a salad recipe similar to Olivier.
The recipe for the original salad "Olivier"
First recipe: 
- Cut half of the carcass of fried hazel grouse.
- Boil three potatoes and cut into cubes.
- Cut one fresh cucumber into slices.
- Three - five olives.
- Capers - one teaspoon (small cabbage).
- Cut the ingredients, season, mix.
- Provencal - 20 grams for salad dressing.
- Three to four lettuce leaves for decoration.
- Three necks of crayfish for decoration.
- Lanspic - 100 grams (clear broth used to make aspic). Designed for decoration.
The second option, from another source of that time:
- two grouse,
- beef tongue,
- 100 grams of pressed caviar,
- 50 grams of lettuce leaves,
- 25 boiled crayfish
- 100 grams of pickles,
- 100 grams of soy-kabul,
- two cucumbers,
- 100 grams of capers,
- 5 boiled eggs
- mayonnaise.
The cooking method is the same, cut the boiled products, season with sauce.
Until today, the original recipe has undergone huge changes, because it was customary to cook Olivier only from hazel grouse. Now this salad usually consists of the following products:
- Boiled potatoes - about seven pieces,
- Fresh cucumber - five pieces,
- Boiled sausage - half a kilogram,
- Boiled eggs - four pieces,
- Mayonnaise,
- Green peas - one can,
- Dill.
Cooking method:
- Cut everything into cubes.
- Fill with mayonnaise.
- Add dill.
- Mix.
For example, one of these recipes offers shrimp instead of sausage, avocado instead of cucumbers.
Lucien Olivier at the end of the 19th century and was considered a rare delicacy. Lucien Olivier himself never passed on the exact recipe of his salad to anyone - this appetizer was very expensive at that time and its preparation for wealthy merchants brought considerable profit to the author.
The variations of the recipes of the original Olivier salad that have survived to this day are only replicas and attempts to recreate the taste of the famous salad.
In the book "A guide to learning the basics of the culinary arts" The 1897 edition lists the following Olivier salad recipe:
Olivier's original recipe
Ingredients for 1 person:
- Fritillaries - 1/2 pieces
- - 3 pieces
- - 1 piece
- Salad - 3-4 leaves
- - 1.5 table. spoons
- Cancer necks - 3 pieces
- Lanspic - 1/4 cup
- Capers - 1 teaspoon
- Olives - 3-5 pieces
Step by step cooking recipe:
Cut the fillet of fried good hazel grouse into blankets and mix with boiled, not crumbly potato blankets and slices of fresh cucumbers, add capers and olives and pour over a large amount of Provencal sauce, with the addition of soy kabul. After cooling, transfer to a crystal vase, arrange with crayfish necks, lettuce leaves and chopped lanspic.
Serve very cold. Fresh cucumbers can be replaced with large gherkins. Instead of hazel grouse, you can take veal, partridge and chicken, but the real Olivier appetizer is prepared without fail from hazel grouse.
For the sauce: Provence mayonnaise should be made in French vinegar with 2 eggs and 1 pound of Provence (olive) oil.
According to others, the original Olivier salad recipe is as follows:
Preparation of Olivier salad according to the classic recipe of Lucien Olivier
The method of preparation, serving and serving is similar to the first recipe.
Rumors and facts
It is believed that originally Olivier came up with kil not a salad, but mayonnaise for vodka. The word "mayonnaise" has undergone linguistic changes - originally meant a dish seasoned with Provence sauce. It was Provencal sauce that subsequently began to be called mayonnaise. And on this dish was laid out the fillet of hazel grouse, lobsters, crayfish necks, fresh cucumbers, black pressed caviar. And all this was poured over with Lucien Olivier's own Provence sauce. And in the center of this large dish was his designer delight - a slide of potatoes, chopped eggs and gherkins.
As conceived by Lucien Olivier, there was no need to eat this “slide”. But soon the cook noticed that the guests were mixing its contents and eating with pleasure. Then he decided: if you want a salad, you will have it. The original Olivier salad recipe was different from the current one. “It included the fillets of hazel grouse I mentioned, lobsters, crayfish necks - a whole range of ingredients - and all this was seasoned with Provencal sauce.
There are other versions of the "Real Olivier Recipe", however, based on the list of ingredients and comparing them with historical facts that have survived to this day, they do not inspire confidence.
Many people know and love Olivier. People call it "meat salad". Even in Soviet times, he was present at every festive table and was considered an integral attribute of the feast. In those days, few people cared about the history of Olivier salad, the main thing was only that it was tasty and nutritious. Each time, the housewives cooked "meat salad" according to a single recipe that everyone knew. Over time, culinary experts began to add their own special ingredients, while each claimed that his cooking option was correct. That is why the question often arises of what really needs to be put in Olivier salad. The history of origin will help to lift this veil.
Monsieur Lucien Olivier
Before you give the laurels to the creator of the salad, you should find out who he was. It is interesting that the life of a talented cook will explain to us why this culinary masterpiece is so popular among the Russian people, and we will know the real story of Olivier salad. The name of the creator of this dish was Lucien Olivier, he was a Frenchman capable of culinary arts. He was born in 1838. He had two older brothers who cooked no less tasty. But they preferred to stay in their homeland. In his youth, Lucien left for Moscow in order to earn extra money. He chose this particular country because he knew that Russian people were interested in it. It was here that the history of Olivier salad began. It should be noted right away that an improved Provence mayonnaise recipe was born in this family, which Lucien used in his kitchen. Olivier began his business with the opening of his own restaurant "Hermitage", which at first was a huge success.
The secret of the restaurant
Lucien quickly gained popularity. All this became possible thanks to mayonnaise, in which he added mustard in the right proportions and a few spices, which gave the sauce an original spiciness. The huge demand prompted the culinary specialist to open another restaurant in France. His brothers in France enjoyed the same success and were also able to start their own business.
Olivier: the history of a culinary masterpiece
As you know, if you eat one sausage, it will soon get bored, and you want to try something new. The same principle worked here too: people were piquantly monotonous, and there were fewer and fewer customers in the restaurant. It was thanks to this that Lucien thought about a new interesting dish that would attract customers. In the course of culinary experiments, he came up with a new recipe, now known to everyone as Olivier salad. The history of the origin of this dish is so interesting that you just can’t wait to try it. But it is known that today's salads are fundamentally different from the one that was created at the beginning. It was exquisite and something unusual, something that returned the popularity of the Hermitage, and its owner - the glory of a great culinary specialist. Fans of this dish gave it a name - Olivier. The story doesn't end there.
original recipe
Lucien himself named the dish he created "Game Mayonnaise" and could not call it by his own name - "Olivier". The French chef did not change the classic recipe at first, and it consisted of well-boiled partridge meat and hazel grouse, between them he put the jelly that remained from the broth. He also cut into pieces the tongue of a young calf and laid it out along the edges, alternating with small ones. Then he poured it with a small amount of mayonnaise, which he made with his own hands. There was a place in the center, which he filled with coarsely chopped eggs and gherkins. All this he served to visitors who enjoyed this combination.
Olivier's Secret
The history of the creation of this dish, one might say, has just begun. Many chefs and just housewives tried to repeat this recipe in their kitchens, but, to their surprise, nothing worked. Many tried to find out what the secret was, but Lucien cooked the dish alone, in a closed room, without revealing his secrets. In fact, the secret was in the very mayonnaise, which recently "became boring" to the restaurant's visitors.
Gourmet meal turns into a salad
Lucien tried to make his new dish not only tasty, but also original in appearance. But soon he had to make some adjustments and change his external beauty, and this did not make the salad less in demand. The fact is that the ingredients that were placed in the center of the plate were more likely intended for decoration. But a Russian person does not have the mentality to leave food untouched. This is what was reflected in the fact that the history of the origin of Olivier has changed a little. Once Lucien noticed that his visitors mix all the ingredients and only then eat them. He realized that for Russian people the dishes are not as important as their taste, so he interpreted his own recipe. Now the chef cut all the ingredients into slices, poured in a sufficient amount of branded mayonnaise and mixed everything well. A Russian person has an exquisite and beloved Olivier salad. The French chef took the classic recipe with him without revealing the secret. The great culinary specialist died in 1883.
Lettuce new life
We can say that the history of Olivier salad did not end here either. Although Lucien did not reveal the original recipe to anyone, nevertheless, in 1904 the dish was “reconstructed”.
One former visitor to the restaurant remembered all the ingredients that the creator of this masterpiece added. The only discrepancy was only in the composition of the Provence sauce, to which Lucien added his "secret" spices. So, the new salad included the following components:
- fillet from two boiled hazel grouses;
- 25 crayfish;
- one veal tongue;
- half a can of soy kabul;
- half a can of pickles;
- 200 grams of lettuce (fresh);
- 100 grams of pressed caviar (black);
- two fresh cucumbers (chop);
- 5 hard-boiled eggs;
- 100 grams of capers.
All components were filled with a special French Provence. It was made from 400 grams of olive oil, vinegar and two fresh egg yolks. These ingredients were shipped from France.
Having considered what Olivier was like, having briefly learned about its origin, many will notice that the modern dish is fundamentally different from the one that was originally served.
This is not surprising, since in the Soviet years people did not have such an abundance of food on the tables that wealthy restaurant owners and nobles could afford. For most families, a new version of Olivier has gained popularity, which many still use. Almost everyone loves him since childhood. Here is his recipe:
- 4 hard boiled eggs;
- half a kilo of Doctor's sausage;
- 4 boiled potatoes;
- 4 pickles;
- a can of canned peas;
- a pack of Provence;
- herbs and salt optional.
All components are finely chopped, mixed and seasoned with the famous sauce. Here, everyone's favorite dish of Soviet times is ready!
Lettuce Interpretations
Today, Olivier has a different name and is better known as "meat salad". That is why many remembered that sausage should not be added to it, but white meat should be put. Since it is difficult to get partridges and hazel grouses, housewives boil many types of olivier with this ingredient, which differ in their composition. Now carrots, apples, onions are put in salads. Other components, on the contrary, are removed. Here is one of the recipes for a modified Olivier:
- 4 eggs;
- 4 potatoes;
- 1 apple;
- 1 onion;
- 1 breast;
- 1 can of peas;
- 3 pickled cucumbers;
- 2 carrots.
Vegetables, as usual, are boiled and cut. Breast and eggs are also boiled and chopped. Onions and cucumbers are chopped. But it is worth considering that it is not recommended to store salads in which onions are added for a long time, since this vegetable gives the dish an unpleasant aftertaste over time. Next, peas are poured into Olivier. Everything is diluted with Provence. If necessary, greens and salt are added.
The other option is slightly different. You will still need the same amount of potatoes, eggs, carrots, breast. We put less pickled cucumbers, one is enough, pour 100 grams of peas and the same amount of canned olives. Also chopped fresh cucumber is added. Refueled in the usual way.
The third method is interesting in that you need smoked fillet and 200 grams of champignons from a jar. A peeled apple with sourness is also added here, it is chopped into small pieces. Then 200 grams of peas, three "uniforms", four eggs. All crushed components are mixed. Olivier is salted and peppered. Next, you need to get 250 grams of fat sour cream from the refrigerator, pour a teaspoon of granulated sugar and salt into it. This mass is well whipped, after which 2 tbsp. tablespoons of lemon juice and a tablespoon of cognac. In the future sauce is poured 1 tbsp. a spoonful of nutmeg. The salad is dressed with the finished mass.
The winter New Year and Christmas holidays are approaching us at a very fast pace. Is it possible to imagine any winter holiday in our area without the traditional Olivier salad? True, it is impossible, because for many years and several generations this salad itself has become one of the integral attributes of New Year's (and all sorts of different) celebrations, even fit into our collective subconscious. But what is the history of this salad so beloved by everyone, what was it made from before and how has it changed over the years, read about all this further.
Olivier salad owes its name and at the same time its appearance to the talented French chef Lucien Olivier. At one time (it was back in the 19th century), this gentleman worked in Moscow on Trubnaya Square as the chief chef in the Hermitage tavern. But do not be surprised at the word "tavern", in fact it was not a tavern in the classical sense (as a place where local drunkards gather to take a good walk), but a real high-quality French restaurant, which was very fond of any sophisticated audience of that time - Russian aristocrats, rich merchants and landlords. To please his demanding customers, Mr. (or rather Monsieur) Olivier came up with new interesting dishes, experimented with various products in every possible way. As you may have guessed, the most outstanding result of his culinary experiments was the appearance of Olivier salad. But this masterpiece did not appear immediately.
First, Lucien Olivier came up with a dish called "game mayonnaise", for the preparation of which, the dish was served with pieces of fillet of hazel grouse and partridge mixed with cubes of jelly from the broth. Nearby lay boiled crayfish necks, poured with a special sauce, and in the center was a small mountain of potatoes with pickled artichokes, garnished with chopped eggs, which were not really intended for food, but were only an element of aesthetic decor.
One day, the great chef saw how one of the visitors to the restaurant, a fat landowner who loved to eat well, without ulterior (and even more so aesthetic) thoughts, simply took and mixed all the ingredients (including those that were only for decoration) and instantly ate everything. According to his satisfied face, Olivier decided to repeat this “feat” and the next day he mixed all the ingredients himself, and even watered them well with mayonnaise ... This is how the salad “of all times and peoples” appeared - Olivier.
But the first Olivier salad, of course, was not at all the way we know it today, but as historical sources say, it was even tastier! Still, for its preparation at the beginning, not some kind of boiled sausage was used, but real hazel grouses, partridges, crayfish necks, in a word, “aristocratic” ingredients, little accessible to the common people (how can one not recall the famous Soviet poet Mayakovsky with his winged: "eat pineapples, chew grouse, your last day comes bourgeois"). And indeed, the then Russian "bourgeois" (late 19th - early 20th century), eating an exquisite (and real!) Olivier salad of grouse and partridge, did not even know that they were chic in recent years, because very soon in 1917 a certain V. Lenin organizes his bloody Bolshevik coup, which Soviet historians will later call the "Great October Revolution."
But back to the Olivier salad, after its invention, it immediately became Monsieur Lucien's trademark, and was in great demand among restaurant visitors. Lucien Olivier kept the recipe for the salad in deep secrecy until the end of his days, and only after his death did it appear on the pages of Our Food magazine for March 1894. Here he is:
Fritillaries - ½ pieces. Potatoes - 3 pieces. Cucumbers - 1 piece. Salad - 3-4 sheets. Mayonnaise Provencal - 1 ½ table. spoons. Cancer necks - 3 pieces. Lanspic - ¼ cup. Capers - 1 teaspoon. Olives - 3-5 pieces. Cooking rules: Cut the fillet of a well-fried hazel grouse and mix with boiled, not crumbly potato blankets and slices of fresh cucumbers, add capers and olives and pour over a large amount of Provencal mayonnaise, with the addition of soy kabul. After cooling, transfer to a crystal vase, arrange with crayfish necks, lettuce leaves and chopped lanspic. Serve very cold. Fresh cucumbers can be replaced with large gherkins. Instead of grouse, you can take veal or chicken, but a real Olivier salad is prepared without fail from grouse.
Now, it's time to go to the store for grouse to feel the taste of real Olivier, as it was prepared before the October Revolution, in the 19th century. With the advent of the scoop, everything changed dramatically: expensive and rare ingredients were replaced by more familiar and cheap ones, boiled sausage instead of hazel grouse, green peas instead of crayfish necks. In the end, it was in the Soviet era that the Olivier salad was formed, which we know to this day, and which, I hope, we will certainly prepare very soon. (Maybe this article will inspire some of our readers to cook a real Olivier?) As for the salad itself, it seems that the secret of its such great popularity is in the simplicity of preparation (everything is ingenious - simple, isn't it?) And the relative accessibility of all ingredients in the winter, unlike many "summer" salads, which are unlikely to be prepared in winter. In conclusion, I wish you all happy holidays and delicious Olivier (with or without hazel grouse).
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