Vinegret

Ingredients

To boil

• 3medium beetroot
• 3potatoes
• 2carrots

To add

• 4pickled cucumbers, diced
• 1onion, finely chopped
• 200 gsauerkraut, drained, optional
• 200 gcooked white beans or peas, optional

Dressing

• 4 tablespoonsunrefined sunflower oil
• 1 tablespoonpickle brine
• 1 teaspoonmustard, optional
• salt and black pepper

To finish

• chopped dill
• chopped spring onion

Directions

1. Leave the skin and the root tail intact. Boil the beetroot whole in unsalted water. Give them forty-five minutes to an hour. Boil the potatoes and carrots separately in their skins. They need about twenty-five minutes.
2. Cool everything completely before peeling. Warm vegetables mash when you dice them. Peeling is easy once they are cold. Cut all the vegetables into small even dice. About one centimetre is the usual size.
3. Dice the pickled cucumbers to the same size. Chop the onion much finer than the rest. Put the diced beetroot in its own bowl first.
4. Toss it with a tablespoon of the oil. It stops the beetroot bleeding into everything else. Put the potato, carrot, cucumber and onion in a large bowl. Add the sauerkraut and beans if you are using them.
5. Drain the sauerkraut well and chop it roughly. Add the oiled beetroot last of all. Fold everything together gently with a spatula. Do not stir hard or the potato will break up. Whisk the remaining oil with the pickle brine. Add mustard if you want a sharper dressing. Pour it over the salad and fold it through.
6. Season it with salt and plenty of black pepper. Taste it, remembering the pickles are already salty. Cover the bowl and refrigerate it for at least an hour. Two hours is better and overnight is fine.
7. Fold it once more before serving. Scatter chopped dill and spring onion over the top. Serve it with slices of dark rye bread. It keeps for three days in the refrigerator.

Technique

• Vinegret is distinct from olivier salad, the other great Russian salad, which is dressed with mayonnaise and contains no beetroot.
• Versions with herring are usually called by a different name and belong to a related but separate tradition.

Substitutions

• Vacuum-packed cooked beetroot saves a great deal of time, though the flavour is slightly flatter.
• Any neutral oil works, but unrefined sunflower oil is what makes it taste Russian.

Variations

• Some households add cooked white beans for substance.
• Sauerkraut is standard in many families and left out entirely in others.
• Adding chopped pickled mushrooms is common in the north.

History

A cold salad combining diced boiled beetroot, potato, carrot, pickled cucumber and onion, dressed with vegetable oil, documented across Russia and the wider former Soviet Union as an extremely common everyday dish, its distinctive deep purple-red colour derived directly from the beetroot staining the other ingredients during mixing. Its name, borrowed from the French word vinaigrette despite the finished dish bearing little direct resemblance to French vinaigrette-dressed salads, reflects a period of significant French culinary and cultural influence on Russian aristocratic and later broader Russian cuisine beginning in the 1700s and 1800s. Vinegret remains one of the most commonly prepared everyday salads across Russian households, valued for its affordability and its long shelf life once prepared.

Frequently asked questions

What is Vinegret?

Vinegret is a salad & side from Russia: beet, potato and pickle salad with sunflower oil. A cold salad combining diced boiled beetroot, potato, carrot, pickled cucumber and onion, dressed with vegetable oil, documented across Russia and the wider former Soviet Union as an extremely common everyday dish, its distinctive deep purple-red colour derived directly from the beetroot staining the other ingredients during mixing. Its name, borrowed from the French word vinaigrette despite the finished dish bearing little direct resemblance to French vinaigrette-dressed salads, reflects a period of significant French culinary and cultural influence on Russian aristocratic and later broader Russian cuisine beginning in the 1700s and 1800s. Vinegret remains one of the most commonly prepared everyday salads across Russian households, valued for its affordability and its long shelf life once prepared.

How long does Vinegret take to make?

Vinegret takes 30 minutes of preparation and 45 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Vinegret?

Yes, within limits. Vacuum-packed cooked beetroot saves a great deal of time, though the flavour is slightly flatter. Any neutral oil works, but unrefined sunflower oil is what makes it taste Russian.

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

Drain the sauerkraut well and chop it roughly. Add the oiled beetroot last of all. Fold everything together gently with a spatula. Do not stir hard or the potato will break up. Whisk the remaining oil with the pickle brine. Add mustard if you want a sharper dressing. Pour it over the salad and fold it through.