Salată de Boeuf (Romanian Beef Salad)

This is a traditional Romanian dish, generally served during all festive and special occasions. It consists of a combination of finely chopped beef and root vegetables, folded in mayonnaise and finished with pickled vegetable garnishes. The name suggests a French culinary influence as the word boeuf is old French for cow and several well know French dishes such as Beef Bourguignon still use the term. The dish is…
Ingredients
Salad
- 1 kg (2 lb 3 oz) potatoes (any variety, though some prefer red)
- 350 g (12 oz) carrots, peeled and diced in 1 cm cubes
- 350 g boiled beef, cut in 1 cm cubes
- 1 can of peas or 300 g (10.5 oz) fresh peas
- 350 g pickled dill gherkins (not too sweet and very firm), diced in 1 cm cubes
Mayonnaise
- 2 hard boiled eggs, yolks removed
- 1 fresh egg yolk
- 250 ml (8.5 oz) canola or vegetable oil
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1 tsp (5 ml) French mustard
Garnish
- Boiled egg white, sliced into long thin strips
- Gherkins, sliced into long thin strips
- Pickled red peppers, sliced into long thin strips
- Sliced black olives
Steps
Salad
- Boil potatoes gently in skins until tender. Cool. Remove skins.
- Boil carrots until tender.
- Boil beef gently 1 hour.
- Boil or steam fresh peas well, if using.
- Cube potatoes, carrots and beef to about 5 mm, the size of the peas.
- Cut gherkins very finely: slice 3 mm (⅛ inch) thick, then cut at 3 mm intervals along length and width.
- Fold everything together gently. Do not season.
Mayonnaise
- Beat cooked egg yolks and raw yolk until well mixed.
- Add oil slowly while beating until it thickens into mayonnaise.
- Add lemon juice and mustard.
- Reserve a small quantity of mayonnaise for garnish.
- Fold rest of mayonnaise into cubed meat and vegetables. Ingredients should be well covered but not suspended.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Place in one large bowl or several smaller bowls.
- Spread reserved mayonnaise on top. Garnish, arranging in attractive shapes.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Salată de Boeuf (Romanian Beef Salad)” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2026-01-26, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo. Salată de boeuf.png by Sacha47, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia. Resized; otherwise unchanged.






