Olivier Salad: Russian Salad

The developer of this salad was Lucien Olivier, a chef from Belgium, who actually might have been born in France, and he developed the salad in the 1860s at the Hermitage, a popular restaurant in Moscow. Olivier either owned the restaurant, or he was one of the owners, but whatever the case, he did perform chef's duties at the restaurant. The thing is, the salad, which is really a type of potato salad, he put together changed a great deal over the years, and since Chef Olivier guarded the recipe, no one truly knew the exact ingredients, although the main items were obvious. Further, however, even some of the main ingredients changed over time and his presentation of the salad also changed, as for one thing, the sauce, which he originally used to top the salad, he later mixed it into the salad. The popularity of the salad brought numerous variations in recipes, including in areas beyond Russia. As such, this is my version, which I've given as vegetarian, but if you'd like, mix in some diced ham or diced chicken breast. Of course, you can use the meatless salad as a side dish to a serving of meat (see photos below). 

Ingredients (multiple servings):

1 cup mayonnaise (reduced fat type is fine)
1/4 cup sour cream (reduced fat type is fine)
2 to 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 medium potatoes, boiled in their skins, cooled, peeled and diced
1 medium to large carrot, peeled and diced
1 cup cooked peas, cooled and drained
1/4 cup diced gherkins
2 to 3 hard boiled eggs, chopped
3 tablespoons capers 
2 tablespoons chopped dill
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 teaspoon salt

In a bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, sour cream, extra virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon chopped dill, the ground black and white pepper and the salt. In a much larger dish, add the diced potatoes, diced carrot, peas, diced gherkins, chopped egg, capers and 1 tablespoon chopped dill. Gently mix the salad to distribute the main ingredients, then mix in the dressing (I add half of the dressing, mix, then add the other half and mix, but whatever you prefer to do).

NOTE: I consulted the article at the following link for some of the information about the history of this salad:  https://web.archive.org/web/20180718213638/http://www.sras.org/Russian_olivier_salad

"Olivier Salad" as a side dish for a smoked pork chop ...

WORD HISTORY: 
Mammoth-This word for "an extinct type of large elephant of shaggy hair and curved tusks" seems to come from Uralic, the language family with prominent members Hungarian, Finnish and Estonian, but with numerous other smaller and less well known languages. Uralic is thought to have developed in and around the Ural Mountains. Uralic languages have forms like "me, ma, meh, mah," having to do with "earth;" that is, "soil, land," with further Uralic forms like "ahnt," meaning "horn, tusk." The idea is that these two forms were combined to describe the large hairy creature with long curved tusks. As Russian moved northward and eastward it borrowed the word as transliterated "mamant," then later as "mamont," as tusks and fossils of mammoths were found in western Siberia in the 1600s and 1700s. English borrowed the word in the early 1700s from Russian, but likely with heavy reinforcement from Dutch "mammuth," which Dutch got from Russian. German borrowed the word in the 1700s, initially as "Mammuth," then "Mammut," but German borrowed it from French "mammouth," itself from Russian. English also developed usage of the word adjectivally to indicate "very large in structure, gigantic."