A trip to Nice may be a bit away yet but if you have been browsing our incredible vacation rentals in Nice and are looking ahead to your next holiday in this stunning city on the French Riviera, then why not bring a little bit of it into your kitchen to help tide you over? The easiest way to recreate memories of a place, or to get a literal taste of what a visit may be like, is to make a typical dish of the region to enjoy at home in the comfort and safety of your kitchen. If you're talking about Nice, then one of the most obvious dishes of the city that first comes to mind is the somewhat controversial salade niçoise. A traditional French favourite that is now served all over the world, it is a dish that people have incredibly strong opinions on and are very passionate about, with traditionalists and innovators alike arguing about the exact ingredients that should be used and how exactly it should be prepared.
Salade niçoise, known as niçoise salad in English or la salada nissarda in the Niçard dialect of the Occitan language, is traditionally made of tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, Niçoise olives, and anchovies or tuna and is then dressed with olive oil. Described as, "one of the best combinations of salad ingredients ever invented," by Delia Smith and, "the finest summer salad of all," by Gordon Ramsay, it dates back to at least the 19th century. The version known in Nice at this time was made up of just tomatoes, anchovies, and olive oil and, like so many of both France and Italy's most beloved dishes, comes from peasant food traditions, being described in the late 19th century as, "simple food for poor people".
Salade niçoise, known as niçoise salad in English or la salada nissarda in the Niçard dialect of the Occitan language, is traditionally made of tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, Niçoise olives, and anchovies or tuna and is then dressed with olive oil. Described as, "one of the best combinations of salad ingredients ever invented," by Delia Smith and, "the finest summer salad of all," by Gordon Ramsay, it dates back to at least the 19th century. The version known in Nice at this time was made up of just tomatoes, anchovies, and olive oil and, like so many of both France and Italy's most beloved dishes, comes from peasant food traditions, being described in the late 19th century as, "simple food for poor people".
As time went on, other ingredients were added to the version of the dish as it was served in Nice with Henri Heyraud's 1903 book, “La Cuisine à Nice,” including tomatoes, anchovies, artichokes, red peppers, black olives, but not tuna or lettuce, and being dressed in olive oil, vinegar, mustard, and fines herbes. The cookbook author and former mayor of Nice, Jacques Médecin's recipe became instrumental in cementing the traditionalists' opinions on what the salade niçoise should be. His iteration of the recipe called for hard-boiled eggs, lots of tomatoes, anchovies or tuna (but never both), and plenty of raw vegetables such as cucumbers, purple artichokes, green peppers, fava beans, spring onions, black olives, basil and garlic. He was, however, against adding lettuce and staunchly against adding any cooked vegetables (a stance many still firmly stand by today), saying, “never, never, I beg you, include boiled potato or any other boiled vegetable in your salade niçoise.”
However, even Heyraud's recipe is not universally accepted with the Cercle de la Capelina d’Or, an official organisation that was established to protest against deviation from traditional local recipes and to certify restaurants in Nice, disagreeing with the inclusion of otherwise widely-accepted ingredients such as green beans and potatoes and innovations that call for the inclusion of the likes of sweetcorn, mayonnaise, shallots, and lemon. It is such a hot-button issue that French chefs who try to publically innovate new variations on the dish regularly get banks of passionate hate comments online in response. Despite this, plenty of locals have their own take on the salade niçoise and it has been reimagined all over the world with lots of restaurants and hotels having their own, distinct in-house take. Famous chefs such as Daniel Boulud, Anthony Bourdain, Hélène Darroze, Gordon Ramsay, Nigel Slater, Delia Smith, Martha Stewart, Nigella Lawson, Jamie Oliver, Ina Garten, and many others have published their own unique recipes.
So, how does one make the salade niçoise, then? Plenty of different ways, it turns out! But, for a more traditional take on it, we recommend David Lebovitz's version here, which is inspired by two recipes from Nice (including the one with a mayor's seal of approval). However, if there are any ingredients that you aren't particularly fond of, you can always swap them out and try one of the endless variations or, even, invent one yourself! Just don't tell the purists that we said that!
If you're dreaming of a vacation in Nice and a trip to France, get in the midst of this passionate foodie debate while you look forward to your next getaway and the opportunity to try out some local takes on the highly beloved but incredibly controversial salade niçoise!
However, even Heyraud's recipe is not universally accepted with the Cercle de la Capelina d’Or, an official organisation that was established to protest against deviation from traditional local recipes and to certify restaurants in Nice, disagreeing with the inclusion of otherwise widely-accepted ingredients such as green beans and potatoes and innovations that call for the inclusion of the likes of sweetcorn, mayonnaise, shallots, and lemon. It is such a hot-button issue that French chefs who try to publically innovate new variations on the dish regularly get banks of passionate hate comments online in response. Despite this, plenty of locals have their own take on the salade niçoise and it has been reimagined all over the world with lots of restaurants and hotels having their own, distinct in-house take. Famous chefs such as Daniel Boulud, Anthony Bourdain, Hélène Darroze, Gordon Ramsay, Nigel Slater, Delia Smith, Martha Stewart, Nigella Lawson, Jamie Oliver, Ina Garten, and many others have published their own unique recipes.
So, how does one make the salade niçoise, then? Plenty of different ways, it turns out! But, for a more traditional take on it, we recommend David Lebovitz's version here, which is inspired by two recipes from Nice (including the one with a mayor's seal of approval). However, if there are any ingredients that you aren't particularly fond of, you can always swap them out and try one of the endless variations or, even, invent one yourself! Just don't tell the purists that we said that!
If you're dreaming of a vacation in Nice and a trip to France, get in the midst of this passionate foodie debate while you look forward to your next getaway and the opportunity to try out some local takes on the highly beloved but incredibly controversial salade niçoise!
Photo credit: Denkhenk / CC BY-SA 3.0