No. 1480 — Mixed Meat or Fish Vinaigrette
English historical translation of Molokhovets recipe No. 1480 from the 1901 Russian cookbook, retaining original methods and measures.
Use assorted leftover roast game, veal, beef or boiled fish such as sturgeon, pike or salmon.
Add one or two cooked or baked beetroots, a spoonful of gherkins, one large peeled fresh or salted cucumber, one herring, two hard-boiled eggs, five or six pickled saffron milk-cap mushrooms and a spoonful of mixed pickles.
Add five or six boiled potatoes, two spoonfuls of capers, three spoonfuls of sauerkraut, half a glass of white beans cooked in salted water and twenty pitted olives.
Cut everything into small even cubes, add parsley, salt and pepper, a third glass of vinegar, two spoonfuls of olive oil, a teaspoon of prepared mustard if liked and two or three lumps of sugar.
Mix and pile on a platter. Surround with shaped slices of boiled potato and beetroot and garnish with parsley, multicoloured aspic, half lemon slices and hard-boiled eggs.
For a fasting-day version omit the non-fasting ingredients.