Chef Juliette
Mayonnaise de Volaille
Cold roast chicken, ciseled lettuce, and a shining coat of homemade mayonnaise, arranged with capers, olives, anchovies, eggs, and lettuce hearts, then tossed at the table as the canon intends.
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Potato Salad à la Parisienne
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 1994, Potato Salad à la Parisienne, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Waxy potato roundels take two dressings in order: dry white wine while lukewarm, then oil and vinegar, with chervil and parsley folded through so every slice stays distinct.
Salads
French
Picnic
Potluck
Make Ahead
25 min
Active Time
25 min cook•1 hr 10 min total
Yield4 servings
Salade de pommes de terre à la Parisienne (Parisian potato salad) teaches one clean rule: wine goes onto the potatoes while they are still lukewarm, before oil touches them. Warm starch drinks; oil coats. Reverse the order and the wine can only skid over the surface.
The classical instruction assumed a commis for tournage, the careful trimming of every potato into a perfect cork before slicing. For one cook, one stove, one evening, small potatoes of one size provide even roundels without wasting their sides. The tournage is brigade scaffolding and goes; the wine-first dressing and the source's full two-thirds-pint proportion stay because they are the dish. Its two-pound measure already gives four generous side servings, so the ratio needs no further shrinking.
You are after intact violet or ivory coins, lightly glossy with vinaigrette and freckled green with chervil and parsley. The decisive moment is the final fold: lift from underneath with a flexible spatula, turn only enough to distribute the herbs, and stop. Stir as though mixing dough and the roundels disappear.
Salade de pommes de terre à la Parisienne belongs to the Parisian bourgeois table and the city's professional cold buffet, where waxy potatoes could be prepared ahead without surrendering their shape. Parisienne names more than one treatment in the classical repertoire; here it means wine-soaked roundels with chervil and parsley, not the small browned potato balls that also carry the adjective. For generations, the salad has passed easily from buffet service to picnic cloths and home tables because it is dressed by absorption rather than bound with mayonnaise.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
waxy vitelotte potatoes or new kidney potatoes
Quantity
2 lb (907 g)
scrubbed and sorted to a similar size
cold water
Quantity
3 quarts (2.8 L / 2.8 kg)
fine sea salt
Quantity
1½ tablespoons (22 ml / 27 g)
for the cooking water
dry white wine
Quantity
⅔ Imperial pint, about 1.6 US cups (380 ml / 380 g)
white wine vinegar
Quantity
2 tablespoons (30 ml / 30 g)
fine sea salt
Quantity
¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 1.5 g)
for the vinaigrette
mild olive oil
Quantity
6 tablespoons (90 ml / 82 g)
fresh chervil
Quantity
2 tablespoons (30 ml / 4 g)
finely chopped
flat-leaf parsley
Quantity
2 tablespoons (30 ml / 8 g)
finely chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| waxy vitelotte potatoes or new kidney potatoesscrubbed and sorted to a similar size | 2 lb (907 g) |
| cold water | 3 quarts (2.8 L / 2.8 kg) |
| fine sea saltfor the cooking water | 1½ tablespoons (22 ml / 27 g) |
| dry white wine | ⅔ Imperial pint, about 1.6 US cups (380 ml / 380 g) |
| white wine vinegar | 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 30 g) |
| fine sea saltfor the vinaigrette | ¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 1.5 g) |
| mild olive oil | 6 tablespoons (90 ml / 82 g) |
| fresh chervilfinely chopped | 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 4 g) |
| flat-leaf parsleyfinely chopped | 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 8 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •4-quart wide saucepan
- •Thin paring knife
- •Wide, shallow 3-quart serving bowl
- •Flexible silicone spatula
- •Small whisk
Instructions
- 1
Simmer without breaking
Put the potatoes in a wide saucepan, add the cold water and 1½ tablespoons of salt, and bring just to a boil. Lower the heat immediately and hold the water at a steady, quiet simmer for 18 to 25 minutes, depending on size. They are ready when a thin knife reaches the centre with faint resistance but finds no chalky core. A rolling boil knocks the potatoes together and opens their skins, so keep the movement gentle.
Choose potatoes close in size. If one cooks before the others, lift it out with a slotted spoon rather than sacrificing it while the larger ones finish. - 2
Cut warm roundels
Drain the potatoes and leave them uncovered for about 5 minutes, just until you can handle them comfortably. Peel them thinly with a paring knife, trim only the two ends, and cut crosswise into roundels about ¼ inch (6 mm) thick. Tournage gave the brigade identical circles at the cost of useful potato; evenly sized potatoes give the home cook the same clean slices without the waste. If the roundels begin to fracture under the knife, stop for 3 minutes and let the potatoes firm slightly before continuing.
- 3
Give them wine
Lay the lukewarm roundels in a wide, shallow bowl, no more than two or three layers deep. Sprinkle the measured white wine evenly over them in three additions, waiting about 2 minutes between each and gently tipping the bowl so the wine reaches the lower slices. Do not stir. Let them stand for 10 minutes, spooning any wine at the bottom back over the top once. The quantity will look generous at first. It is exactly right. If the potatoes have cooled completely, warm the wine only to body temperature in the empty saucepan before adding it. Ça se rattrape; never reboil the potatoes.
- 4
Fold in vinaigrette
Whisk the vinegar with the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt until the salt dissolves, then whisk in the oil in a thin stream to make a light vinaigrette, the oil-and-vinegar dressing. Pour it over the wine-dressed potatoes and scatter on the chervil and parsley. Slide a flexible spatula underneath and fold from bottom to top two or three times, turning the bowl as you work. If slices begin to break, stop immediately. Ça se rattrape: spoon the dressing from the bottom over the untouched roundels and serve from this bowl without another turn.
- 5
Rest and serve
Let the salad rest for 20 minutes so the wine, vinegar, and herbs settle through every slice. Taste one roundel: the wine should arrive first, followed by clean acidity, mild oil, and the soft anise note of chervil. Serve cool or at room temperature, with the slices loosely layered rather than packed into a mound. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Vitelottes give violet roundels, but texture decides the dish. Any waxy potato that holds a clean slice is preferable to a handsome floury one that collapses in the bowl; russets stay out of this.
- •Use a dry, unoaked white wine with enough acidity to taste fresh. The source proportion is generous because the wine seasons the warm potato from within. Add it gradually, but use it all.
- •Fresh chervil is not decorative here. Its tender, faintly anise-scented leaves are one half of the herb finish, so chop them shortly before dressing and never replace them with dried chervil.
- •For a picnic, chill the finished salad within two hours and carry it in a cold cooler. Bring it out about 30 minutes before eating; deep refrigerator cold mutes both wine and herbs.
- •Pour the same crisp white wine used in the salad. A dry Muscadet or restrained white from the Loire keeps the table bright without trampling the chervil.
Advance Preparation
- •The complete salad may be dressed up to 6 hours ahead. Cover and chill it once it reaches room temperature, then remove it from the refrigerator 30 minutes before serving.
- •Do not cook the potatoes a day ahead. The white wine must meet them while they are lukewarm, and that absorption is the step the dish cannot surrender.
- •Chop the chervil and parsley no more than 30 minutes before dressing so their colour and fragrance remain lively.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 290g)
Calories
380 calories
Total Fat
21 g
Saturated Fat
3 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
17 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
360 mg
Total Carbohydrates
41 g
Dietary Fiber
5 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
5 g
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