The Romanian boeuf salad, or Salata de boeuf, is the most popular Romanian salad, traditionally served at Easter and Christmas.
Try the most popular salad in Romania - none surpasses the traditional Romanian Boeuf Salad.
Easter is less than two weeks away, and I thought it would be a good idea to give you a few Romanian Easter recipes, like this beloved boeuf salad, the Romanian Easter cheesecake, chicken drob, or cozonac.
Easter is big in Romania, and I mean really big! I could almost dare say that Easter is quite a bigger deal than Christmas there. Or at least that's the way I feel about it, especially since I live in Germany, where Easter celebrations go quite unnoticed compared to Christmas.
I will start with this boeuf salad, which is something you will get for both Easter and Christmas in every Romanian family on this planet.
Although the name sounds French, the origins of this salad are actually Russian, Salad Russe or Olivier is very similar to the Romanian version. This potato, vegetable, and mayonnaise mixture is not only popular in these two countries but also in all the ex-Soviet countries, many other European countries like Bulgaria or Spain, several Middle Eastern countries, all throughout Latin America, and so on.
Ingredients
I don't usually weigh the ingredients when making salata de boeuf, but I did it this time for the post. You can use more or less of each according to your taste and the leftovers you happen to have.
The same goes for the mayonnaise; use as much as you like, and leave out the mayonnaise on top if you feel that it is too much.
Chicken or beef: I call the salad by its untranslated name, Boeuf (French for beef) salad. I don't use the English term “beef” because that would obviously make people think that there is beef in this salad - there isn't any!
That might have been the original idea, but as far as I'm concerned, I have never eaten this salad made with beef. Beef is not very popular in Romania (or at least not in the region where I grew up); we prefer pork or chicken. So I ever only ate this salad made with chicken or turkey.
But you can definitely use boiled beef or leftover roast beef to make the boeuf salad.
Fresh or leftover meat: You can make salata de boeuf with either freshly cooked meat or with leftovers. I make it with leftover chicken or turkey most of the time, either boiled meat leftover after making soup or stock or leftover roast chicken or turkey. Rotisserie chicken is also fine.
If using fresh chicken, cook 1 or 2 chicken breasts or 2 small whole chicken legs in salted water until tender and cooked through. Let them cool completely before using it.
A total of about 250 g/ 9 oz meat should be enough, but a little more or less is fine.
Potatoes: Use waxy potatoes; they are the best sort to use for salads.
Eggs: Hard-boiled eggs, either freshly cooked or leftovers.
Vegetables: Traditionally you would use the carrots and the chicken meat leftover after making the stock for the Romanian chicken soup with semolina dumplings - supa de galusti. I don't think my grandmother ever made this salad without making that soup first.
However, fresh carrots are perfectly fine. Cook them until tender and let them cool before using.
Some people use other vegetables as well, like peas or cooked celeriac and parsley root, leftover from making soup. You can add them if you like. Peas are fine for me as well, but overcooked celeriac or parsley root, not so.
Pickled vegetables: Pickled cucumbers (gherkins) and pickled red peppers. More genuine would be pickled pimientos or tomato peppers - gogosari in Romanian. Use them if you have them. If not, replace them with regular peppers. You can use more or less pickled vegetables to taste; I usually add more because I like the sweet-sour flavor.
Mayonnaise: You can use either bought or homemade mayonnaise. I always make the salad with homemade mayonnaise because I grew up eating it this way. And making mayonnaise is so easy; it takes about 2 minutes and all you need is an immersion blender.
Make mayonnaise with an immersion blender
- Place the egg, mustard, lemon juice, oil, some salt, and pepper into a jug or tall jar.
- Place the immersion blender in the jug and keep it fixed to the bottom. Turn it on and blend the ingredients without moving the blender for 10-15 seconds.
- Very slowly, the immersion blender is moved up and down to help emulsify the mayonnaise.
- The whole process should take less than 1 minute, and the mayonnaise will be perfect.
- Taste and adjust the taste with salt, pepper, and lemon juice.
- For more detailed information on this, check out our Whole Egg Mayonnaise Recipe.
Tips
- Make sure that all the vegetables, eggs, and meat are completely cool before making the salad.
- You can cook everything in advance and keep it in the fridge until ready to use.
- Dice the ingredients as regularly as possible.
- If you feel that there is too much mayonnaise, you can use the quantity required to mix with the ingredients and leave out the decorating mayonnaise.
- And don't forget to decorate this salad in a really tacky, Romanian style :). It is just not authentic enough if you don't decorate it as corny as possible.
- The boeuf salad made with bought mayonnaise keeps well in the fridge for 3-4 days. If using homemade mayonnaise, I try not to keep it for more than 2 days. It should never be too long at room temperature.
More traditional Romanian recipes
- Romanian Meatball Soup - Ciorba de perisoare
- Easy Potato Sausage Stew
- Sarmale - Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
- Chicken Paprikash with Dumplings
- Cremeschnitte - Romanian Vanilla Cream Pie
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Romanian Boeuf Salad
Ingredients
- 9 oz potatoes
- 4 ½ oz carrots
- 9 oz cooked diced chicken, about 2 cups, (Note 1)
- 3 hard-boiled eggs
- ½ cup diced pickled cucumbers /gherkins
- ½ cup diced pickled red peppers
- 1 cup (heaped) mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon mustard more to taste
- fine sea salt and pepper
- Decorating:
- black olives
- pickled cucumbers /gherkins
- pickled peppers
- For the mayonnaise optional, (Note 2)
- 1 whole egg
- 1 teaspoon mustard
- a squeeze of lemon juice
- 1 cup neutral-tasting vegetable oil no olive oil
- fine sea salt and pepper
Instructions
- Cook the potatoes, peel them, and let them cool completely.
- Cook the carrots until soft. If using fresh chicken, cook it as well.
- Cook eggs: Place the eggs in a saucepan, cover with water, bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes.
- Let cool: Everything should be cool before making the salad.
- Dice the potatoes, carrots, chicken, eggs, gherkins, and pickled red peppers. Place in a bowl.
- Add about ¾ of the mayonnaise and the mustard, mix well and add salt and pepper to taste.
- Decorate: Place the boeuf salad on a large plate or platter and smooth with a spatula. Cover nicely with the remaining mayonnaise and decorate with olives, gherkins, and pickled red peppers.
- Refrigerate for a few hours before serving.
Mayonnaise:
- Place the egg, mustard, lemon juice, oil, salt, and pepper into a jug or tall jar.
- Blend: Place the immersion blender in the jug and keep it fixed to the bottom. Turn it on and blend the ingredients without moving the blender for 10-15 seconds.
- Emulsify: Very slowly, start moving the immersion blender up and down to help emulsify the mayonnaise. The whole process should take less than 1 minute, and the mayonnaise will be perfect.
- Taste and adjust the taste with salt, pepper, and lemon juice.
Notes
- You can use leftover chicken from soup, roast or rotisserie chicken. Cooked beef or turkey are great as well.
- You can use bought or homemade mayonnaise.
Rick says
This is a fake "Salata de boeuf" since it has no "boeuf", so don't get misled. Apart from that, the real Romanian salad also includes parsnip and peas. All this people from Romania they use to call it Salata de boeuf but because the beef was scarce was substituted with chicken, turkey, and even bologna (parizer). I don't have any respect nowadays for so-called "chefs" who change recipes' main ingredients. In this particular case, calling it "Olivier Salad with chicken" should be better.
Adina says
Well, Rick, I was born and raised there, so I think I am not that fake or clueless. I am sure I mentioned the beef/ chicken thing somewhere in the post; it is just the way it is: a chicken salad that's called beef salad. And no, parsnips are not a part of it, I didn't even ever see parsnips in Romania when growing up, I even needed a moment now to think about their Romanian name. But I suppose some people might have used it instead of parsley roots, which might occasionally make it into this salad, which was originally cooked with boiled vegetables and leftover chicken used from making the stock for the Semolina Dumpling Soup (supa de galusti). The two dishes - soup and salata boeuf - were always served together in our house because we only made this salad to use up the overcooked veggies and meat from making stock. You might get peas in it though, depending on who's cooking. However, my grandma, who spent her entire life in Romania, never used peas and left out the parsley roots because she wasn't fond of their taste, and that didn't make her a fake chef; it was just the way she made her salad and she was a great cook! Cooking is personal, there is no standard recipe for any dish in this world, and someone who likes food and cooking should know that. Thanks for the "nice" comment and rating, though.
mjskitchen says
What an interesting "salad". I've never heard of this before nor seen anything like it. What a list of ingredients! It's amazing how you can get such a beautiful dish from all of those ingredients. Thanks for sharing more of the Romanian cuisine and culture.
Connie says
I almost didn't click through to this recipe as I thought "Not for us, we rarely eat beef". I'm in Canada, English/French bilingual, everyone would know "boeuf" even if not fluent in Fr :). However I'm interested in everyone's Easter food so was happy to read the post. This salad, without the chicken, is familiar to me as my father's family is from Eastern Europe. I like how special yours looks (not tacky!) and would love to put this on my Easter table even though, because of the pandemic, this year our gathering will be small.
And I agree - the pickles make this salad, add lots!
Adina says
Hi Connie, so nice to read your comment. Indeed, a beef salad without beef, but chicken is always better. 🙂 Our Easter table will be smaller than ever as well, the first time since I am married (15 years) that we will not have Easter lunch in my mother-in-law's house, she has a lung illness and we won't be able to see her in a long time. 🙁 It will be strange to be home for Easter.
Priya says
I can cut that meat portion ...I am love the presentation and which makes me eager to try this recipe
Adina says
I am sure it would still be good without the meat, I hope you like it, Priya.
Jess @ Sweetest Menu says
Wow! This looka amazing! I've never seen a salad like this before!
Adina says
Thanks, Jess. It is typical Romanian, although I have seen a Russian one that was pretty similar.
Chris Scheuer says
What a fun tradition! The name is so funny without any beef in the dish. I love family traditions like this that bring back childhood memories. Thanks for sharing.
Adina says
This Easter series is all about memories, I haven't celebrated Easter in Romania since 2003...
Thao @ In Good Flavor says
Thanks for sharing your memories and tradition. It helps to broaden my world. This boeuf salad is completely foreign to me, but I would love to give it a try!
Adina says
It would be great if you tried it, Thao!
Kate says
Wow, this is so interesting! I know absolutely nothing about Romanian food so I love to hear your stories. More Romanian recipes please! 🙂
Adina says
Thank you, Kate. There will be quite a few Romanian recipes coming during the next 2 weeks, I hope you'll like them.
Angie@Angie's Recipes says
The salad is new to me and it surely looks very tasty, Adina.
Adina says
Thank you, Angie.
Meghan | Fox and Briar says
It is so interesting to hear other holiday traditions! And to see how people celebrate holidays in different parts of the world. And love that the kitchy decor is mandatory on this salad 🙂
Adina says
Thank you, Meghan. I enjoy that as well, reading blog posts about different food, but not only, traditions. And I wouldn't even want to eat a Boeuf Salad that wasn't decorated in this "stylish" manner. 🙂 🙂
Anne|Craving Something Healthy says
I so love hearing about people's holiday traditions and the special foods that accompany them! Thanks for sharing this Adina - Hope you have a wonderful Easter 🙂
Adina says
Thank you, Anne. I wish a Happy Easter too. 🙂
Kathy @ Beyond the Chicken Coop says
I love hearing your memories and traditions! This salad sounds delightful. It would be wonderful over crackers!
Adina says
I am glad you like it, Kathy! 🙂