Vinegret (russian: винегрет) or Russian vinaigrette is a salad in

Russian cuisine Russian cuisine is a collection of the different dishes and cooking traditions of the Russian people as well as a list of culinary products popular in Russia, with most names being known since pre-Soviet times, coming from all kinds of social ...

which is also popular in other post-Soviet states. This type of food includes diced cooked vegetables ( red beets,

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Uni ...

es,

carrot The carrot ('' Daucus carota'' subsp. ''sativus'') is a root vegetable, typically orange in color, though purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist, all of which are domesticated forms of the wild carrot, ''Daucus carota'', na ...

s), chopped

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the on ...

s, as well as

sauerkraut Sauerkraut (; , "sour cabbage") is finely cut raw cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria. It has a long shelf life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid formed when the bacteria ...

and/or brined pickles.
Винегрет
'. In: В. В. Похлёбкин, ''Кулинарный словарь от А до Я''. Москва, Центрполиграф, 2000, ( William Pokhlyobkin, ''Culinary Dictionary''. Moscow, Centrpoligraf publishing house, 2000; Russian)Салаты и винегреты
In: П. В. Абатуров, Л. С. Акулов, А. А. Ананьев и др., ''Кулинария''. Москва, Госторгиздат, 1955-1958 (P. V. Abaturov, L. S. Akulov, A. A. Ananyev etc., ''Cookery''. Moscow, Soviet state publishing house for business literature, 1955-1558; Russian)И. А. Фельдман, ''Любимые блюда''. Изд. Реклама, 1988, с. 180-186, (I. A. Feldman, ''Favourite dishes'', Reklama publishing house, 1988, p. 180-186; Russian)Л. Я. Старовойт, М. С. Косовенко, Ж. М. Смирнова, ''Кулінарія''. Київ, Вища школа, 1992, с. 218 (L. Ya. Starovoit, M. S. Kosovenko, Zh. M. Smirnova, ''Cookery''. Kiev, Vyscha Shkola publishing house, 1992, p. 218; Ukrainian) Other ingredients, such as

green peas The pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the flowering plant species ''Pisum sativum''. Each pod contains several peas, which can be green or yellow. Botanically, pea pods are fruit, since they contain seeds and d ...

beans A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes thr ...

, are sometimes also added. The naming comes from

vinaigrette Vinaigrette ( , ) is made by mixing an oil with a mild acid such as vinegar or lemon juice (citric acid). The mixture can be enhanced with salt, herbs and/or spices. It is used most commonly as a salad dressing, but can also be used as a marina ...

, which is used as a dressing. However, in spite of the name, vinegar is often omitted in modern cooking, and

sunflower The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a large annual forb of the genus ''Helianthus'' grown as a crop for its edible oily seeds. Apart from cooking oil production, it is also used as livestock forage (as a meal or a silage plant), ...

or other vegetable oil is just used. Some cooks add the

brine Brine is a high-concentration solution of salt (NaCl) in water (H2O). In diverse contexts, ''brine'' may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawater, on the lower end of that of solutions used for ...

from the pickled cucumbers or sauerkraut. Along with

Olivier salad Olivier salad ( rus, link=no, салат Оливье, salat Olivye) is a traditional salad dish in Russian cuisine, which is also popular in other post-Soviet countries and around the world. In different modern recipes, it is usually made with ...

and dressed herring, vinegret is served as ''zakuska'' on celebration tables in

Russophone This article details the geographical distribution of Russian-speakers. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the status of the Russian language often became a matter of controversy. Some Post-Soviet states adopted policies of derussi ...

communities. Despite the widespread popularity in Russia and Ukraine, the basic mixed salad recipes were adopted from Western European cuisines as late as the 19th century.В. В. Похлебкин, ''Национальные кухни наших народов''. Москва, изд. Пищевая пром-сть, 1980 ( William Pokhlyobkin, ''The Ethnic Cuisines of our Peoples''. Moscow, Food Industry publishing house, 1980; Russian) Originally, the term ''vinegret'' denoted any mixture of diced cooked vegetables dressed with vinegar. Later the meaning changed to any mixed salad with beetroots. Modern Russian and Ukrainian cookbooks still mention the possibility of adding mushrooms, meat or fish, but this is rarely practiced. Similar beetroot-based salads are prepared throughout Northern Europe. Examples are

herring Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Ocean ...

salad and beetroot salad in North German and Scandinavian cuisines (see also :de:Heringssalat, :sv:Rödbetssallad), as well as

rosolli In Finnish cuisine, rosolli is a salad eaten mostly as a cold side dish, in particular as part of the traditional Finnish Christmas meal. Overview Rosolli is made of cooked, diced root vegetables, especially beetroot, carrot and potato, often ...

Finnish cuisine Finnish cuisine is notable for generally combining traditional country fare and '' haute cuisine'' with contemporary continental style cooking. Fish and meat (usually pork, beef or reindeer) play a prominent role in traditional Finnish dishes ...

, with the name for the latter stemming from ''rassol'' (russian: рассол), the Russian word for

. File:Vinigret.jpg, Vinegret with beans File:Vinaigrette salad.jpg, Vinegret with green peas

References

External links

Vinaigrette Recipe
Russian Recipes

Vinaigrette Recipe
Natasha's Kitchen
Vinegret - Russian Beet and Sauerkraut salad
{{Salads Salads Russian cuisine Ukrainian cuisine Soviet cuisine Vegetarian dishes of Ukraine

See also

References

External links