I am Ukrainian. And we have a custom to prepare Olivier salad for New Year’s Eve. It has a direct association with the holiday from our childhood.

How does it taste? This is a potato salad with mayonnaise dressing.

Every family’s Olivier salad is different. But Olivier salad always includes some kind of meat, sausage, or ham; potatoes; fresh and/or pickled cucumbers; fresh and/or canned peas; eggs; often but not always carrots; and sometimes an apple.

Olivier salad recipe — Olivier salad with beef

Ingredients and Substitutions

Meat. The salad can be made with chicken, quail, grouse, duck, beef, or beef tongue. Or add several types of meat. Sometimes the salad is made with boiled sausage, or some boiled ham is added.
Option other than meat. For festive variations, it is wonderful to add crayfish tails and top with a spoonful of red, black, or pike roe.
Cucumbers. The salad can only be made with pickled or marinated cucumbers, and you can add some fresh cucumbers.
Peas. It is customary to use canned peas. But you can also add fresh green boiled peas.
Carrots. Not everyone uses carrots. Just a little bit is needed.
Optional ingredients. I like to add some green onions, a chopped garlic clove, or a little truffle oil to the Olivier.
Dressing. Good ready-made or homemade mayonnaise. Some versions have a mixture of mayonnaise and sour cream.

How to cook the meat? If you use beef or chicken, you can bake it in the oven without spices, until cooked through. Use only salt and black pepper. Or boil the meat. Put the meat in boiling water, add 1 tsp each of allspice and black pepper, 2 bay leaves, half an onion, and a carrot. Boil until soft. Take out the carrot early, it should not be too soft. Chill the meat in the broth.

How to cook the vegetables? How You can bake vegetables or boil them in their skins. Baked vegetables are tastier. Simply place them in a baking dish sprinkled with coarse salt, or wrap each vegetable in foil and bake until tender. Or put the potatoes and carrots with skin in cold water and boil until tender.

Olivier Salad – Ukrainian Potato Salad – Olivye

Recipe

PREP TIME	COOK TIME	MAKES
30-50 minutes	20 minutes	4-5 servings

INGREDIENTS (serves 4-5)

200 g (7 oz) boiled or baked beef

150 g (5 oz) boiled ham

4-5 (120 g, 4 oz) pickled cucumbers

1 (120 g, 4 oz) fresh cucumbers

3 (350 g, 12 oz) boiled or baked potatoes

4 hard-boiled eggs

1 (150 g, 5 oz) boiled or baked carrots

1 can of green peas, 15-ounce (250 g, 9 oz canned peas without liquid)

1 clove of garlic

6-7 tbsp mayonnaise

INSTRUCTIONS

See above for how to prepare the vegetables, meat, and eggs.
Peel all the vegetables and eggs. Cut all the ingredients into equal cubes.
Toss the peas in a colander and rinse with water.
Put all the ingredients in a large bowl. Add salt, green onions, pepper, and mayonnaise. Crush the garlic in a garlic press and add to the bowl. Mix.

If you use store-bought mayonnaise: For example, Hellmann’s, which I like very much by the way, it would be too thick. You will have a very hard time mixing the salad or you will have to add too much mayonnaise. Just add 2-3 tbsp of cold water to the salad and stir.