How to Make the Best Festive Appetizer: Beef Salad

A Romanian Salad, French in Name and Historically Having Almost Nothing to do With What’s in the Title!

If it sounds a tad confusing, here’s the disambiguation:

Romanians like many things but absolutely LOVE food; therefore, they create dishes that everybody loves to try and often become traditional foods for holidays. A beautifully looking festive beef salad is an appetizer always present on the Christmas, New Year’s Eve and Easter festive table!

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The story of Boeuf Salad, as we call it, has been initially a simple “game in mayo” dish about two hundred years ago. In time, the pheasant was replaced with beef and the French name (Boeuf) stack for unclear reasons.

It might have to do with French being spoken mainly among Bucharest’s high society in the twentieth century’s interbellum period. In that era, Bucharest, the capital city, was frequently called Little Paris.

Today, beef salad has any meat in it, and I usually prepare it with chicken.

Now, because Romanians are also incredibly superstitious, there is a strong argument against eating chicken on the first day of the year. Unless you want to be going backwards the entire year, sort of like chickens scratching the ground and thus creating the back-walking illusion!

No, we don’t want that! This is why we eat fish on January first so that we are slick and quick in our endeavours like a fish in the water!

If the argument is not strong enough, you can still use chicken in your Boeuf, but after the year we’ve had, are you really willing to take the risk?

Boeuf salad is mainly an appetizer made with boiled vegetables (potatoes, carrots, celeriac, peas, parsley) mixed with pickles (gherkins, bell-peppers) and a dollop of mayonnaise.

The best part of making this festive beef salad is that anyone can release their inner artist and go crazy with decorations. I like to use halved olives, boiled egg whites, finely cut pickles, but the list does not stop here. Be creative; it’s fun!

What is important is that a large plateau of this unique appetizer is always present on each Romanian festive table, and every New Year’s Eve dinner starts with it. So does the Easter dinner!

Any normal year, Romanians would go crazy partying until the sun would come up on January first. The restaurants, hotels, boarding houses and any other place that can hold festive parties would be fully booked since August.

In the crazy second year of the pandemic, this will not happen for the second time in our recent history. It sounds surreal and completely alien. But it does not mean that we won’t set the table in the evening, imagine we’re at a monster New Year’s Eve party, the music is blasting in the speakers and the fireworks will go any minute above our house!

We better make it be the last time as well! Nobody will forget these past two years, but we should learn something from history and never allow a repeat!

Ingredients for festive beef salad

Potatoes

Pickles (bell peppers, cornichons)

Diced beef

Carrots

Celeriac

Parsnip

Green peas

Mayonnaise

Pitted olives

Eggs

Spices (salt, black/green pepper)

Method

In a large pan, boil the meat first, changing the water at least once. If you use diced beef, the boiling time should be at least 10-15 minutes. If the beef chunk is bigger, it is better to dice it into smaller pieces.

Add the peeled carrots, celeriac (quartered), parsnips and potatoes and boil until ready. Check with a fork that everything is thoroughly cooked.

On a large chopping board, chop all the vegetables (after they cool down) and mix in a large bowl (or a large pan.)

For food safety, use a different chopping board to chop the meat. Place the beef into the mixing bowl with the vegetables.

Drain the pickles, save a few for decorating and finely chop the rest. Squeeze out the excess liquid before adding them to the mixing bowl.

Finely cut long pieces of pickles and place them on a piece of absorbent paper. Leave aside until you get to the decorating part.

Boil the eggs for at least 6 minutes until hard, peel and remove the yolks. You will only need the whites, finely cut, to decorate the salad.

Cut the olives in halves or rings and leave them aside with the pickles.

Empty half of the mayo jar onto the chopped vegetables, add mustard, salt and pepper and mix with a large wooden spoon without crushing it too much.

Place the festive beef salad mix on a large plateau and use a knife to give it a beautiful, regular shape.

Use the rest of the mayo to cover the salad, top and side.

Decorate with the finely chopped pickles, egg whites, olives and boiled peas.

Refrigerate before use and serve it cold alongside the main dish.

Enjoy your festive beef salad and have a great holiday season!

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A Romanian Salad, French in Name and Historically Having Almost Nothing to do With What’s in the Title!