Last updated on June 7th, 2018 at 03:03 pm
Beef Salad known as Salata de Boeuf in Romania, is a traditional salad made for Easter, Christmas and New Year’s Eve. It can be served as a side dish, or a meal on its own.
Bet you’ve never had this salad before and I can’t say I’ve had this anywhere else or seen it on any menu. But it is the most traditional salad in Romania for all holidays. If we didn’t make this, it just wouldn’t feel like Christmas, or New Year’s Eve. I have no idea what it is about this salad, but it’s really only made around the holidays. Sometimes I like to give you guys a glimpse into Romanian cuisine, it’s not as known as other cuisines like Italian or Chinese, but we do have some interesting recipes like this salad. We call this salata de beouf and beouf isn’t even a Romanian word, it’s actually French for beef, so basically if you were to translate that it’s Beef Salad. The funny thing is my mom almost always made this with turkey breast or chicken and that was because she doesn’t eat beef.
Growing up I was always in charge of cutting up all the meat and vegetables. It was my favorite thing to do and I took my job as a sous chef quite seriously. Now that I’m married to a Romanian I usually make this with beef, unless my brother in law comes for dinner, he can’t have beef, so then I’ll make it with turkey. It really is up to you, turkey, chicken, beef, it will all work. The salad is quite delicious and if I were to compare it to any kind of American salad, I’d say it’s probably the closest to a potato salad.
You have to realize it was quite difficult to actually turn this into a recipe, because as long as I’ve made this and my mom has made this, we always just boiled some potatoes, about 8 potatoes or so, a few large carrots, 2 turkey breasts or one big piece of beef if making it with beef, 1 or 2 cans of peas and a jar of pickles. I know, it probably sounds weird, but we always just did it by tasting it. My mom always said that the quantities for the ingredients should be somewhat equal, but one thing to keep in mind is that you want to make sure you use enough pickles. Also we always always soak the the peas and pickles on paper towels so most juice comes out of them. We also always shape it nicely with the back of a knife in a bowl and then top it with mayonnaise. I know you’re thinking holy calories, but hey’s it’s for the holidays, what isn’t loaded with calories?
I didn’t do this here, but sometimes we decorate the salad by making pretty flowers out of roasted peppers, pickles and boiled eggs, but who’s got time for that. I’m lucky if I add the mayo. The salad is quite easy to make really, boil some potatoes, carrots and meat then chop your heart out. We then mix it all together with mayo and mustard, yeah I told you it was weird, but trust me, it’s really really good! So why not try something different for your New Year’s this year?
Try some of my other traditional Romanian recipes:
- Romanian Cabbage Rolls (Sarmale)
- Romanian Stuffed Peppers (Ardei Umpluti)
- Romanian Meatball Soup (Ciorba de Perisoare)
If you try this recipe, please let us know! Leave a comment, rate it and tag a photo #jocooks on Instagram so we can see it. I always love to see what you guys come up with!
Beef Salad (Salata de boeuf)
Ingredients
- 2 lbs beef or turkey, white or dark meat
- 2 lbs potatoes peeled
- 1 lb carrots peeled
- 1 1/2 cups pickles chopped
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1/2-1 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup mustard
- 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
- 1/4 tsp pepper or to taste
Instructions
- Boil the beef for about 3 hours, or use a pressure cooker to finish faster. It needs to be very tender. If using turkey or chicken, boil the meat until cooked through, probably takes about 45 min to 1 hour for turkey breast, depends on the size of your breast. Take the meat out and let it cool before chopping.
- Boil the potatoes and carrots. Let everything cool and start dicing everything.
- Dice the meat, potatoes and carrots, they should all be small pieces about 1/2 cm by 1/2 cm. Make sure you drain all the juice from the diced pickles and peas.
- Add all the veggies and meat to a big bowl, then add 1/2 cup of the mayo and mustard, season with salt and pepper and mix everything together. You will end up with a big bowl of salad, traditionally we smooth out the top of the salad with a knife and spread more mayonnaise and smooth that out.
- Cover with plastic wrap and you can refrigerate it for days up to a week.
- Serve salad cold, do not warm it up.
Notes
Nutrition
This was actually the very first recipe I ever posted on Jo Cooks and reposted now with new pictures.
Of course the real recipe has parsley and celery root and no peas but I guess yours is good too.
It depends what part of the country you’re from, and everyone has their own recipe. This is my mother’s recipe.
My family loves this dish but I omit any meat, otherwise I make it exactly as written and decorated the same as in other comments.
Thanks
My lady boss said that her husband is not eating this kind of salad, but when he tasted it..he already liked it.
What kind of mustard do you use? Will french’s work? I want to surprise my Romanian boyfriend with this 🙂
French’s will be just fine, that’s what I usually use.
Hi Jo,
Your recipes are amazing, most especially this one…the old authentic “Salata de boeuf”.
I decided to buy your cooking book which I just received but I am kind of disappointed because most of the recipes which are here, are not on the book.
There is anyway I cant get these ones?
Thank you
The book has unique recipes, otherwise why would you have to pay for it, since the recipes here are available for free on the blog. 🙂
I haven’t had this in years (decades?), but it was a staple in my Romanian/Jewish (secular) family–made for all sorts of occasions and for none. We made it with beef and–something I recommend highly–we added bits of diced fresh apple. The contrast between the apple and pickles worked well and added some interesting crunch.
After we came to the States, in the 1960s, we sometimes made it with canned (or frozen?) vegetables and used leftover meat–usually beef, but not always. It was “rasol” or chicken used to make soup. That variation wasn’t as tasty, and we certainly cut down on the mayo, but it was quick, used up things that were lying around and made for a quick cold lunch, whether at home or on the go. After I moved away from home, I took the quick route, but started to see it as something with no nutritional value and somewhat limited taste. But it may be time to give it another try…
Hi Jo,
I know this is an older post but New Years always has me thinking Salata de Boeuf!
Great traditional recipe, we’ve substituted all kinds of meat over the years including elk.
I’ve recently learned our Romo salata is based on the Soviet “Salad Olivier” invented in the 1860s. Kinda neat it’s roots go back that far.
La Multi Ani and I’m big fan of your blog!
La Multi Ani! Very interesting! Still one of my faves for the holidays. 🙂
This is by far my husband’s and mine best treat for the holidays! We’ve served it to a lot of our family, friends, and neighbors, and everyone absolutely loved it! One time I even made my own mayo for it! (It was great, but I figured, too much work, the store bought mayo is perfectly fine). I like decorating it with thin strips of roasted bell peppers and the white part of a boiled egg. If we have kalamata olives, I use those, too, for decorating. This is such a fun and versatile recipe, and the taste is amazing. Thank you for sharing, Jo!
My pleasure!! So glad you like this. When I was a kid I was in charge of decorating it with strips of pepper, olives and boiled egg. It was so much fun, and I always took my job seriously. 🙂
Great salad, I totally forgot about it this Christmas. I will make it for Easter for sure. I have never ever eaten this with boeuf, it is always chicken. 🙂 I make it the way my grandma used to, no peas but lots of chopped eggs and homemade mayonnaise.
Yeah I’m sure there are many variations of this salad, this is just how my mom and mother in law makes it so that’s how I do it. 🙂 I heard some people put olives in it too, I think that’s something I’d like to try once.
Thanks for the recipe. What kind of beef would be used? I’m thinking chuck roast?
Chuck roast would be just fine or sirloin. Any kind of roasting meat for this would be fine. Hope you like it!
I received a recipe very close to this one from my sister-in-law when she immigrated here from Croatia. She called it Francuska Salata (you can search for it). The only variation from what I can tell right off is that there is no meat but diced hard boiled eggs. Through the years we have replaced the mayonnaise with Miracle Whip which gives it even more of a tang. This is my son’s favorite potato salad. I make it now and then, but always for his birthday.
Interesting, never heard of the name. I use miracle whip sometimes too, and love it!
I have only had Salat de Boeuf with hard boiled eggs, never meat. We also use Miracle Whip. It is my mother’s favorite dish to make, and my family is from judet Timis. Thanks for posting this recipe!
My pleasure!
I love this salad. Growing up we only made it with chicken so even though the dish says beef I am not in such a rush to try it true to name aha. And yes, it gets covered in mayo and then decorated with eighties style fruits and veggies lol. I like that you include romanian recipes on your blog, hopefully some people will try our food and learn how good it is! My boyfriend loves eating this with bbq lay chips. And yes I def understand the struggle with writing recipe, all our family friends would ask for one and it would always confuse u bc it seems so simple.
BBQ lay chips?? Ha ha ha, I have to try this!!
Thank you for this recipe! My girlfriend is Romanian, and she is making this today. Since we will not be together for the holidays, she is telling me all about her traditions. This dish sounded so good, I looked it up and found your blog! I am looking forward to more of your traditional family recipes.
I have already learned to make a delicious zacusca, and will try my hand at sarmale and mici eventually. But this salată de boeuf is my next endeavor, and I will take it to my family get-together this weekend. After that, maybe ciorba de perisoare – have any recipes for it? 🙂
Multumesc!
Oh I’m making this today too, it’s one of my favorites for Christmas! Cu placere!
My brother in law’s mother – survivors of the holocaust – makes this delicious salad but she doesn’t use meat of any kind.
Thanks for writing this post. I have a silly question, though…. What type of pickle do you use? Dill pickle? Bread & Butter style pickle? Do you have a favorite brand that you use?
Thanks in advance for your advice!
There’s no such thing as a silly question. I use dill pickles and my favorite brand is vlasic.
Jo,
I plan on making the sarmale next week for a group of friends so hopefully i dont mess them up 🙂 I havent had them in over a year because my husband and i moved away from my family. Its tradition for us to have them for all the big holidays also!
Also, i have always loved salate de beouf but have never had it with beef before. Growing up it was always made with chicken. So its normally made with beef?
Yes it is traditional made with beef, hence the name salta de beouf, beouf meaning beef. 🙂 I know my mom always made it with chicken or turkey as well, but my husband loves it with beef, so since I’ve got married I always make it with beef. You’ve got to try it, it’s good both ways.
Hi Jo,
I came across one of your recipes and thought it looked delicious, than started looking through them all and when I saw the recipe for stuffed cabbage it made me so happy! I am Romanian and grew up with my mom making all these Romanian dishes so it just has brought back so many good memories. I can’t wait to get started on baking and cooking now!
Thank you for making your recipes so easy to follow and so eye catching and beautiful!
Ramona
You’re welcome, you’ll have to let me know how they turn out. 🙂