Sides & Sauces

Side dishes and salads in Eurasia are diverse and distinctive. Slavic salads are known for heaviness, often containing boiled tubers and dressed with mayonnaise or sunflower oil. Caucasian side dishes can also be quite filling, with heavy use of beans, cheese, and nuts. Central Asian sides tend to be light, focusing on bread and perhaps basic salads of cucumber and tomato or the spicy soy or carrot salads of the Koryo Saram. During celebratory feasts, side dishes often come to the fore, with the emphasis not on a central dish, but on supplying feasters with a wide array of dishes.

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See also: Food Traditions

Many of these foods may have various regional or national names and/or variations. We have tried to reflect that in the articles as well.

Olivier and Rasols Salads: Holiday Traditions With Fascinating Histories

Russia’s Olivier Salad (Салат «Оливье») and Latvia’s rasols are well-known staples of their respective cuisines and common additions to holiday tables. Today, the recipes for both are quite similar, with chopped vegetables, egg, and meat dressed with mayonnaise. Olivier is now eaten throughout the former USSR and has even become common as “Russian Salad” in […]

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