Salade niçoise: This is how you bring a piece of France home
Very nice: great salad, only authentic with fish, olives and tomatoes.
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If you can save yourself from being swept away by the summer travel rush, or to relax at home or take advantage of the off season, you can at least go on culinary excursions when you’re bored or the weather is bad. For example, Nice salad is part of the French Riviera. Or is it part of Provence? Maybe a pinch of Paris? Precise localization is difficult. After all, France is the country of origin. The correct name for this summer dish is “salad niçoise”.
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Since Nice is part of the Provence region, one might think that the salad comes from Provençal cuisine. But there is no written evidence for this. The only thing that is clear is that in the 19th century on the Côte d’Azur, a salad of pickled tomatoes, olive oil and anchovies appeared among fishermen to use the smallest fish.
Escoffier Culinary Guide
However, at the same time, the first recipe for Nice Salad, which is popular all over the world, was discovered by none other than Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935), who was considered the king of haute cuisine and was the head chef at the Ritz Hotel in Paris. But Escoffier was born in Villeneuve-Loubet, just 15 kilometers from Nice. He must have learned about the creation of anchovies and tomatoes as a child.
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In 1903, he published his standard work, The Culinary Guide, which is still popular among top chefs today. It also includes a nice salad. At Escoffier, it consists of potatoes, green beans and tomatoes, topped with capers, anchovies and olives. But over time, a different composition prevailed. Today, the main ingredients are usually lettuce, tomatoes, olives, anchovies, tuna and hard-boiled eggs. Tuna is a recent invention and is mostly served in restaurants that have nothing to do with authentic French cuisine.
Almost anything goes with a nice salad
Sometimes you can also find artichokes, onions, radishes, cucumbers or corn in the salad, but no potatoes. Even today, people in Nice turn up their noses at Escoffier’s ideas.
The fact that original recipes can be modified to make them taste even better than the original version shows that baking is more conducive to experimentation than baking. Nice salad without potatoes is an example of this. Basically, everything is allowed. If it has to be “niçoise”, it doesn’t work without fish, olives and tomatoes.
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Do not distort the character of the food
The traditional and purist side also advises against experimenting with overly flavorful dressing options or herbs. Even balsamic vinegar was banned. Also, the simple nature of the food should not be distorted by expensive or exotic ingredients.
Ingredients for a good salad (4 pieces)
- 500 grams of green or green beans
- Half of 500 grams of cherry tomatoes
- Half a cucumber, cut
- four sliced hard-boiled eggs
- 50 grams of black olives
- two onions, cut into rings
- eight anchovy fillets in butter
Then add salt and pepper to the mixture, drizzle with olive oil and garnish with basil leaves. In general, optics are of great importance in maintenance. A nice salad shouldn’t just be thrown into a bowl.
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