Kartulisalat

Ingredients

The base

• 800 gwaxy potatoes
• boiled in their skins
• cooled completely
• then peeled and diced
• 4eggs, hard-boiled
• cooled and diced

The rest

• 250 gcooked sausage
• doktorivorst, or a mild bologna
• or ham, or cooked pork
• diced small
• 200 gpickled cucumbers
• diced, and drained well
• 150 gcooked peas
• or tinned, drained
• 1small onion, very finely chopped
• optional
• 2apples, peeled and diced
• optional, see the note
• 2cooked beetroot, diced
• optional, see the note

The dressing

• 200 gmayonnaise
• 150 gsour cream
• or all mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoonmustard
• 1 tablespoonpickle brine
• salt and white pepper
• a pinch of sugar, optional

To finish

• chopped dill
• or chives
• extra sliced egg, to decorate

Directions

1. Keep it refrigerated until it is served. Put out a portion and keep the rest cold. Set the bowl in a larger bowl of ice. Discard anything that stood out all evening. Boil the potatoes in their skins. Use waxy potatoes. Boil them in salted water until just tender. It should meet slight resistance.
2. Drain them and let them cool completely. That takes at least two hours. Warm potatoes fall apart when diced. Cold potatoes dice cleanly and hold up. Cool them quickly and refrigerate them. Peel the cold potatoes. Dice them into even cubes. About one centimetre is right.
3. Cool them in cold water. Crack the shell all over and peel under water. Dice them to the same size as the potato. Keep one back to slice for the top. So is cold roast pork. Use pickled cucumbers rather than fresh.
4. Drain them very thoroughly. Squeeze them gently in a cloth. Pickle liquid makes the salad watery. That is worth the extra minute. Keep a spoonful of the brine for the dressing. Drain them thoroughly. Add them last and fold gently.
5. Chop it very finely if you use it. Soaking the pieces in cold water for ten minutes softens that. Drain and dry them before adding. Add them only if your household does. If you want visible separate colours, add it at the last minute.
6. Combine the mayonnaise and sour cream. Add the mustard and pickle brine. Add salt, white pepper and a pinch of sugar. Whisk it smooth. Put all the diced ingredients in a large bowl. Add most of the dressing. Fold it through gently with a spatula. Fold rather than stir. Lift from the bottom and turn it over.
7. Add it gradually. The salad should be coated, not swimming. Hold some back to add before serving. Taste it and correct the salt. It will taste bland if you underseason. Cover it and refrigerate it for at least four hours. The flavours need time to come together. Serve it cold. Smooth the top and decorate it.

Technique

• Boil the potatoes in their skins and cool them completely — overnight is best. Skin-on potatoes absorb far less water and hold their shape, and warm potatoes fall apart when diced and soak up dressing until the salad goes greasy. This one step decides the result.
• Use waxy potatoes. Floury ones collapse into paste when folded through dressing.
• Fold, never stir. Lift from the bottom and turn it over; vigorous stirring breaks the potato down into a grey mash.
• Dice everything to a similar size, about a centimetre. That evenness is the character of the salad and uneven pieces eat badly.
• Drain the pickles thoroughly and squeeze them gently. Pickle liquid waters the salad and thins the dressing — but keep a spoonful of the brine for the dressing itself, where it sharpens things usefully.
• This is a mayonnaise and egg salad that often stands out on a table for hours. Keep it refrigerated until served, put out a portion and keep the rest cold, sit the bowl in ice if the room is warm, and discard anything that stood out all evening. Two hours is the usual guidance, one in hot weather.
• Chill it at least four hours and preferably overnight. A freshly mixed salad tastes of separate parts; a rested one tastes of one thing.
• Hold back some dressing to add before serving. The salad absorbs dressing as it chills and looks drier the next day.
• Season it properly. Potatoes absorb a great deal of salt, and this tastes bland if you underseason. White pepper rather than black, so it does not speck a pale salad.
• Beetroot bleeds into everything immediately. Add it at the last minute if you want separate colours, or fold it in and accept a pink salad — which is what most beetroot versions look like.
• Beetroot and apple are both genuine points of family disagreement in Estonia. The atlas records both inclusions and both objections and takes no side.
• Sour cream alongside the mayonnaise lightens the dressing considerably and adds a useful tang. Most Estonian households use both.
• This salad exists across the whole region — olivier in Russia, rosols in Latvia, rosolli in Finland, sałatka jarzynowa in Poland — sharing a construction and an era. Its origin is usually traced to a nineteenth-century Moscow chef named Olivier, which the atlas records as the commonly given account rather than as verified detail.

Substitutions

• Cooked ham or cold roast pork replaces boiled sausage.
• All mayonnaise replaces the mayonnaise and sour cream mixture, giving a richer salad.
• Diced apple adds sweetness and freshness where the household includes it.
• Cooked beetroot makes the pink version, closer to Latvian rosols.
• Tinned peas replace fresh with no real loss.
• A vegetarian version leaves out the sausage and adds more egg and vegetables.

Variations

• Rosolli in Finland leads with beetroot and is served at Christmas.
• Rosols in Latvia is the closest neighbour version.
• Olivier salad in Russia is the parent of the whole family.
• Sałatka jarzynowa in Poland uses more root vegetables and less meat.
• A herring version, with salted herring folded through, is made in some households.
• A version with no meat at all is standard at Lenten and vegetarian tables.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kartulisalat?

Kartulisalat is a salad & side from Estonia: creamy potato salad with sausage, peas, pickles; every celebration.

How long does Kartulisalat take to make?

Kartulisalat takes 40 minutes plus chilling of preparation and 30 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 8. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Kartulisalat?

Yes, within limits. Cooked ham or cold roast pork replaces boiled sausage. All mayonnaise replaces the mayonnaise and sour cream mixture, giving a richer salad. Diced apple adds sweetness and freshness where the household includes it. Cooked beetroot makes the pink version, closer to Latvian rosols. Tinned peas replace fresh with no real loss. A vegetarian version leaves out the sausage and adds more egg and vegetables.

What is the most important thing to get right in Kartulisalat?

Cool them in cold water. Crack the shell all over and peel under water. Dice them to the same size as the potato. Keep one back to slice for the top. So is cold roast pork. Use pickled cucumbers rather than fresh.