Add More Flavor And Texture To Regular Potato Salad: Make It Russian Style

We love a good spin on potato salad — catch us adding Italian pesto sauce to our bowl for max flavor — and are often inspired to look overseas for inspiration on dressing up this classic summertime dish. Falling down the "international potato salad" rabbit hole, we discovered Olivier salad, also called Russian salad or salad Olivye. Here's the cool thing about Russian potato salad: within a few loose confines, it's utterly customizable. A good Russian salad is different from American potato salad in that it contains meat, first and foremost, along with egg and diced veggies, all mixed together in a mayo-based dressing. It has much more texture and nuanced flavors than an American potato salad, thanks to the fact that it generally contains many more ingredients. The specifics are up for a lot of debate and vary not just from one area of Russia to another, but also based on family traditions.

Legend has it that Russian potato salad was the brainchild of Lucien Olivier, a French/Belgian chef living in Moscow and working at the ultra-ritzy Hermitage restaurant. Olivier closely guarded the recipe for his signature salad, but it contained premium ingredients like grouse (a game bird), caviar, and high-end seafood. This was over 150 years ago, and, in the interim, the salad has spread far and wide, gaining new names and cultural influences. Persians enjoy Salad Olvieh on holidays and other special occasions, and a classic Spanish potato salad is called "ensaladilla rusa," or "little Russian salad." In Russia itself, families are known to bust out the Olivier salad at New Year's and other red letter days, with younger generations trying to replicate just how Babushka made it, often sans written instructions.

What meat and veggies will you put in your Olivier salad? In Russia, a native summer sausage is often used as the centerpiece of the dish, but we've seen ham or boiled chicken used as a substitute. Honestly, though, there's no wrong answer. Peas are the one veggie that appear in almost all variations on this salad, and they often come from a can. Social media has hot opinions on the inclusion of carrots and/or onions, for example, with some loving the respective sweetness and sharpness, and others saying that a good Russian salad shouldn't bowl you over with strong flavors. We've also seen apples incorporated! The mayo is another topic that's up for consideration, because Russian mayonnaise is a different product than what's available on American shelves. We've heard of adding Japanese kewpie mayo for a flavor swap in potato salad, but the right answer here might be to whip out the immersion blender and make your own.

The exquisite texture of Russian salad, which pairs chewy meat with crisp veggies with tender potatoes, is another element that you can play with to add some creativity to your bowl. Some home cooks will dice every single element finely so that the salad is more homogenous, while others will savor bigger chunks. The addition of herbs and/or pickles is another hanging question, because the flavor profile you choose is what's at stake. Some claim that dill is a "must have" in any Russian dish, along with sliced or diced gherkins, while some prefer the cool crispness of fresh cucumber. Basically, this potato salad is a treat for those who love to experiment in the kitchen!