Parisian Salad (Parížsky Šalát)
Ingredients: 2/3 lb soft salami (Bologna, 300g), 1 onion, 1 larger can of sweet peas, 2-3 dill pickles, 8oz sour cream (200g), 3 tbsp mayo
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Something I always look for on my travels to Slovakia is stopping in a deli for freshly baked bread rolls (called rožky) and some Parisian salad, parížsky šalát. Whether this salad has anything to do with Paris is to me a mystery. At least my roommate who grew up in France has never seen something similar to this. Anyway, here is a recipe for this tasty and very simple side dish. Turns out, there are manz variations on this food. I ended up using the recipe posted here. It was the simplest of the bunch, and also resembled the most what I remember this salad being made of. Some of the other recipes called for ingredients like corn, eggs or ketchup, ingredients I don’t believe belong in this salad. But, just in case you want to experiment, I posted these variants below.
Here is what you will need. I used Bologna, since it has the closest consistency to the soft salami that is used in Slovakia.
Cut the salami (saláma) into strips. Also, either finely dice the onion (cibuľa) or grate it using the fatter holes on a food grater. One benefit of using the knife is that (if the knife is sharp), it won’t release as much of the juice which causes the eye irritation. The irritation is caused by an enzyme called alliinases which is released as the cells break. Fewer broken cells means fewer irritants being released.
Strain the peas (hrášok) and also add half the 16oz sour cream (kyslá smotana) container and 3 tablespoons of mayonnaise (majonéza).
Finally, add cubed dill pickles (zavárané uhorky), about a teaspoon worth of salt (soľ) and pepper (mleté čierne korenie) and mix through. Place in the fridge for few hours to allow the flavor mix through. Serve with bread – home made is the best!
Few variants
This recipe is very similar, but includes 6 hard boiled eggs, only one pickle, one tablespoon of ketchup, 3 tablespoons of oil, 1 tub of tartar sauce (but Slovak tartar sauce is different from the American kind). Amount of meat, onion or peas is the same.
A whole lot more complicated version is found here. Ingredients include 300g of salami, 1 onion, 3 eggs, 3 pickles, 100ml of tartar sauce, 100ml of sour cream, 200g of canned corn, 200g of canned peas, 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce, 2 tablespoons of oil, 2 tablespoons of ketchup, 2 teaspoons of mustard, 1 tablespoon of vinegar, salt and ground black pepper. WOW!!! The recipe starts with a quick boil of the Worcestershire sauce, oil, ketchup, mustard and vinegar. The mayo and sour cream is added once the mixture cools down. If you end up making this version, please leave a comment on how it turned out.
Yet another version is found here. This one uses 500g (1lb) of salami, 1 container of mayo, 1 soft butter, 2-3 spoons of mustard, pickles, 1 can of sweet peas, 1 can of corn, 5 hard boiled eggs, salt, black pepper, and 1 teaspoon of powdered sugar!
I actually made the recipe where you boil Worcestershire sauce with the other stuff and I wouldn’t use all of it. Maybe start with half of the boiled sauce and then add more to get desired taste…
I will definitely try your other recipe!
Lubos, I don’t know where “names” come from … “parisian, Italian, etc” I guess it’s to make it look fancy.
Anyway, the way you described the recipe was known in “old days” as Vlašský šalát and I used to eat it in Bratislava just across National Theatre a corner shop in 1960th, most students went there and had some šalát and rozky after “tough night of drinking and partying” before going to some class at university 🙂
oh it’s still in my old Slovak cookbook as Vlašský šalát
Miro, my understanding is that Vlašský šalát is similar but has potatoes… (like here) I just did a quick search for recipes, and there is again a HUUUGE variation – I think I even found one that is exactly the same to the one from above that calls for all that Worcestershire sauce and ketchup combo. So I think we’ll never know. Regardless, they all taste great!
Thank you so much for the recipes Miro.
I am originally from Bratislava and I can confirm that this is the closest recipe to the original Parížský Šalát I used to eat while living in there for 25 years. And it is soo good!
I just found your web site lokking for recipes for New Year celebration and made the salad right away yesterday. Well, the Vlašský Šalát is gone and I have to make another one. I used 1 lb bologna ingredients. I also baked some rohíky to make the eating experience even more pleasurable. My husband is former Czech and he loves to eat anything he used to eat while living in there.
I can make a statement, that no Worcestershire sauce goes into the original recipe (in the 70’s through end of 80’s). The same goes to the Vlašský Šalát, no Worcestershire sauce goes in.
I add canned sweet baby peas to both salad recipes and Polish Pickles purchased at Sam’s Club. These pickles are the closest to what we used to eat in Czechoslovakia and make the food I cook much more identical. I use Primo II hard salami from Sam’s Club for the Vlašský Šalát. If the sourcrem/mayo mis is too thick, I dilute it with the Polish Pickles juice. Therefore I use little less pickles.
I have also a question. I am looking for a recipe for Feferonkový Šalát – it mid be called Rumcaijs in Czech. We can’t agree on this one with my husband. This salad is spicy and we used to buy just a little to the addition to all other salads while living in Czechoslovakia. This salad should have ingredients of: Sýr, paprika, feferony, sterilovaná zelenina., olej, cibule, koření. I think it would be the best to use smoked Gouda cheese for this salad and most likely sterilized red paprika. I spend quite bit of time on the net looking for the recipe to no avail.
Thank you again for this great site.
Hi Dagmar, glad it worked out for you and thank you for your comment. Can’t say that feferonkovy salat rings any bells… Sorry!
But anyway, I checked in one of the cookbooks I use (Slovenska Kucharka), and although there is no recipe for feferonkovy salat, there is one for “paprikovy salat”: 600g green bell pepper, 3 onions, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp oil, water, salt, vinegar. Remove the seeds from the pepper, slice into thin strips, salt, and put in a bowl. Thinly chop the onion or cut into thin slices, put on top of the pepper, add water mixed with sugar and vinegar, top with few drops of oil. This is bit different than what you describe. If you end up experimenting and getting the recipe right, it would be great if you could share it here.
Sorry for the late response about Feferonovy salat. I came up with this recipe, sorry for the Slovak language:
Feferónový šalát
Potrebujeme:
300 g údeného syra,
150-180 g cibule,
100 g sterilizovaného hrášku,
100 g oleja,
200 g sterilizovaného paprikového šalátu,
90 g sterilizovanej kápie,
80 g sterilizovaných feferónov,
mleté čierne korenie a soľ podľa chuti
Postup:
Syr nakrájame na tenké rezance, cibuľu, kápiu a feferóny nadrobno. Zmiešame s paprikovým šalátom (môžeme ho jemne nasekať), hráškom a olejom. Dochutíme čiernym mletým korením, prípadne soľou.
Leave the salad in a fridge for 1 day, it will taste much better.
Hi Dagmar!
Here’s the recipe for “feferonkovy salat.” I hope, it’s the one, you were looking for! 🙂 Happy New Year!
http://www.receptyonline.cz/recept–feferonkovy-salat–2734.html
very good one is here and also his other salad is good.
http://varecha.pravda.sk/recepty/salat-z-tresky-s-feferonkovym-a-s-cerstvym-s/10609-recept.html
Miro, as far as I know, the name “Parisian salad” comes from the main ingredient – “pariser wurst”, and the recipe (here I am most wrong) dates back to first Czechoslovak Republic.
…most probably wrong… (shame on me)
Lubos, my old slovak cookbood has Vlašský šalát without potatoes.
But you are right there is a huge variation, I just go what I ate while in college in 1965
it really does not matter, there are so many different ways to make a dish, there is no binary choice, aka “this or nothing”
cheers 😉
I also know this as Vlassky salat. My friend, Milan, makes it at his restaurant, but in English, he has it has “Welsh Salad.” I attempted this salad once before, but I thought the flavor the mayo was too strong, so perhaps following your recipe will yield better results. Any tips on not smashing the peas when mixing everything together?….I find it incredibly hard to do. Oh, and Miro, the way I know doesn’t have potatoes either…..
Amanda about the peas. I know what you mean. Here is what I do.
1 – I add peas at the end so I don’t “mush” it much when adding other ingredients earlier. Peas don’t need to be there early, as they don’t add some strong flavor like onion, garlic, etc., and need to be “in” to blend the flavor. We used to do this for some other practical reason, our daughter did not like peas as thus when making salads with peas, peas went in at the end only for those folks who liked it.
2 – you have another option, I don’t use it much but some folks do, and it works. Use frozen peas or a canned peas but drain them and put them in a freezer for a while. When frozen they won’t get smashed when mixing the salad. Of course in this case you need to let it sit for a while so that peas can thaw
Thanks Miro! I may hold off tll the end to put the peas in since my Mom isn’t a fan of them. I really appreciate the tips!
Lubos, this salad is similar to salata de boeuf and olivier salad, the former is Romanian, and the latter is popular with Poles, Russians, and others. There are so many similarities among different countries’ recipes. The Romanian salad is made with leftover roast beef and olivier salad is made with, all of things, hot dogs!
thank you very much.is there something better to use insteed bologna. i mean something more healthy.
What should really go in here is something we call dietna saláma, or “diet salami”. It looks and tastes much like bologna, even though I completely agree that there is nothing “diet” about it. I guess you could get the low fat or turkey version? Some other people suggested using hot dogs, so you can give that a shot too. Good luck.
Just plain ol’ smoked ham works perfectly. There’s nothing in it but the ham. My mom makes this around the holidays when we have left over ham and everyone is sick of eating the same stuff. Almost any deli meat will do that you like to eat, just make sure you don’t get it thinly sliced or it’ll just feel weird.
I go along with that. Thing is that not too many years ago we did not have thousand different selections in hams and salami, etc., and thus traditional recipes did not differentiate. I was “go to a cellar and get some ham or sausage.”
I know times are different now, but it does not change anything in traditional Slovak cooking. that bring me to a point of what is Slovak cooking, as it can be anything and it’s changing. I’ll make my post about it in other thread “What is Slovak food?”
My mom used to make this without the peas. And she ground up the balogna. But called it ham salad. I just loved it. Yum. Think I will give it a go.
I am going to give this a try. Looks really good.
Ted jsem ji udelala,tady na Floride!!!Mnamka!!!!!!Moc dekuji za recept!Je VYBORNY!!! 🙂
Jeste se musim pustit do rohlicku 🙂
Moja mamka nejakp nerobievala salaty, ona ich radšej pohodlne kupovala v deli a tento bol môj najoblubenejsi. Práve som si ho urobila a s čerstvo upecenym rozkom práve nie je nic na svete lepšie :o)
Luboš ďakujem za recepty a celkovo za tuto stránku. Moja stará mamka varila skvelo ale bohužiaľ uz nežije a jej receptar zdedila sesternica na Slovensku. Ja žijem v UK a rokmi som si akosi zvykla variť po anglicky. Tvoje recety sú úžasné jednoduché výborne vysvetlene takze sa chystám pustiť do viacerych pochutok.
I grew up in Bratislava and i was very happy to find your website. i made this salad today and it was delish. i think the only difference that i remember is the addition of eggs. even my roommate who is swedish and croatian enjoyed it and remembers eating something similar to it as a kid.
Hi! Just found your site, and have enjoyed browsing the recipes. My father was Russian and Slovak. He referred to us as Hunky! He made a bread spread which we all loved, that this recipe reminds me of. He would take a large bologna (about 5 lbs) and grind it through a meat grinder. He would also grind a lot of dill pickles. He then mixed the two and added enough mayonnaise to hold everything together. We would eat this between two slices of white bread as a sandwich. It was very delicious. Don’t know if he ever had a name for it. Thank you for your work on this site!
Parížský – takto sa to píše po česky.
Parížsky – takto je to správne po slovensky!
Heh, dakujem. Uz som to opravil. Moja slovenska gramatika teda fakt neni dobra po 20tich rokov v USA!
Dakujem,
jedeb z velmi mála Slovákov, ktorí sú schopní uznat chybu a ju opravit.
Blahozelám,
môzete vymazat moj komentár a Vasu odpoved.
I just try it. Its great thanks for these recipe. 🙂
Great!!! Made it couple of times this year and this New Years I will make this for Chlebicky.
Hi Lubos! This looks delicious! My dad used to make a “salad” which was really a bread spread. He would take a whole bologna, pull the skin off, put it through a meat grinder, and then grind in an almost equal amount of dill pickles. To this he would add enough mayonnaise to bind everything together. We would then eat this on sliced bread or hamburger rolls. My whole family loved this! Do not remember what he called it…
Our family came to America from a little village around Prague in 1890 and this is the way they always made their variation of this salad. Everything was put through a meat grinder.
2 pounds Ham
1 pound Bologna
1 1/2 large Onion
5 or 6 Dill Pickles
Grind all and mix together well. Dress with approximately 3 T. (or to taste) Yellow Mustard, about half that amount of Ketchup, and roughly that same amount of Mayonnaise. Taste and adjust dressing if necessary.
I’ve loved this “Ham Salad” all my life and make it for special occasions and family events – it’s a family tradition!