Parisian salad Real recipe like in a restaurant

Parisian salad typical of the capital’s brasseries and bistros, a salad composed as you can make it at home with a few ingredients from the Paris region, Paris mushrooms and Paris ham.

How is this recipe truly Parisian and is there a real Parisian salad? This recipe gave me a little trouble finding its origin.

She doesn’t have a really extraordinary story other than that since the 20th centuryit became an essential classic of Parisian restaurants.
And also the fact that she is made with ingredients from Ile de France : Paris ham and Paris mushrooms

Paris ham or leftover stew?

I read in one of my books on French gastronomy and its history that originally, it was not ham that was put in the Parisian salad but leftovers from pot au feu. So not made with pork but with beef.

The pot au feuyou know of course. The expression designates both the container – the pot that is cooked in the hearth of the fireplace – and the contents. Zola in “The Belly of Paris” which I am currently reading described the pot au feu as a festive dish for the common people of Paris. It was also a classic of bourgeois cuisine at the time.
What did they do at the time with the leftovers? And when did they start to be used in a mixed salad. I’m going to dig into this.

Only here, I don’t remember in which book I saw this, and as I have a hundred books on gastronomy (in-depth books, I’m not talking about recipe books here!) I have to scan them one by one to find the source. I will update this article soon after.

Ideally dice a thick slice ou buy ham pre-cut into cubes.

Button mushrooms

Today there are very few mushroom farms based in Paris or Ile de France.
Originallymushrooms that need darkness as well as a constant temperature with fresh air circulation, without being too humid, were grown in abandoned quarries in the south of the capital such as Montrouge, Bagneux, Meudon, Nanterre, Carrières-sur-Seine in particular.
Until 1895, the catacombs of Paris also served as mushroom farms.

Then after the work carried out for the Paris metro, these mushroom farms left the Paris region and many settled in the tufa quarries in Loire region.
Today be careful because many of the button mushrooms that we find on our props come from… Poland!

Choose fresh, firm button mushrooms. They can be white or brown. The brown ones that I find at the market are generally denser and perfect eaten raw in salads like in this recipe.

Cut the mushrooms into stripsthis will contrast with the cubes of ham and cheese and will add volume to the plate.

Emmental or other pressed cooked cheese

It is generally Emmental that is found in Parisian salad. I suggest that as for the ham of cut the cheese into cubes.

Choose a good quality cheese.
Instead of Emmental, you can vary with another pressed cooked cheese: Comté, Beaufort, Gruyère… We are moving away from the traditional recipe but the main thing is to have a cheese that tastes good.

Add hard-boiled or soft-boiled eggs

It’s according to your taste, hard or soft.
The cooking rule for eggs is 3-6-9: 3 minutes for a soft-boiled egg; 6 minutes for a soft-boiled egg; 9 minutes for a hard boiled egg. However, count a little more if you have large eggs. Ideally use eggs at room temperature so that they do not split when in contact with boiling water.

Here I recommend that you cook the eggs for 7 – 8 minutes then immerse them in cold water. They should neither be runny nor too hard.

For the composition of the salad

For the proportions, I count here by person: 1 egg, 2 to 4 button mushrooms according to their size (here 4 medium, I am quite generous with this ingredient but I like it this way), 40 gr of ham and 40 gr of cheese.
This allows for a good balance between vegetables, fiber and proteins.

The vinaigrette is very classic.. Oil with a fairly neutral taste such as rapeseed oil, red wine vinegar and Dijon mustard. Adjust the quantities of vinegar and oil if you like more or less acidic or oily vinaigrette sauces.

So here is how to make a Parisian salad like in a restauranthas serve ideally nicely plated on individual platess.
And don’t ask me how I got this plate from the restaurant La Cour Saint Germain!

And it’s up to you if you want to adapt it into a more gourmet version like in the Top Chef event in 2014 or add potatoes, pickles, beans, tomatoes… And use the vinaigrette you’re used to.

If you are a fan of classic mixed salads of French cuisine, I am starting my tour of France. First, imagine being in Lyon with a delicious bacon frisee.