Astoria is a famous hotel located in Manhattan between 49th and 50th streets and Park Avenue. Only honored guests stay there, who literally plunge into the atmosphere of prestige and power, slowly sipping expensive drinks and admiring the masterpieces of decorative art that adorn the salons and foyers of this luxurious building.
In the meantime, the guests of the mentioned hotel enjoy extraordinary dishes prepared especially for them by the best chefs, they never cease to be amazed and surprised by the culinary perfection and the art of service. After all, it is behind the scenes (that is, in the kitchen) that a professional team does everything possible and impossible so that every moment of your stay in the hotel leaves an unforgettable impression on customers.
General information
Salad "Waldorf" is an incredibly tasty, tender and light dish, which was first prepared in the named hotel (in 1896). It is worth noting that it is served to hotel guests to this day. Of course, since then the recipe has changed somewhat, but the salad from this has only become better and tastier.
Many housewives, having heard about such a culinary creation as the Waldorf salad, begin to doubt whether they can independently prepare an exquisite treat for the festive table. After all, most people believe that if it was served in an expensive American hotel, then it contains outlandish ingredients that are quite difficult to find in Russian stores, and even at an affordable price. But this is an erroneous opinion, since Waldorf (chicken salad) is an easy-to-prepare dish that requires the use of inexpensive and readily available ingredients. And so that you can see for yourself, we decided to present to your attention a step-by-step method of creating it.
American Waldorf Salad: Recipe
To make such a tender, tasty and light dish, we need to purchase a small amount of the following products:
Meat product processing
Initially, the Waldorf salad was prepared in the famous American hotel without the addition of a meat ingredient. But after some time, the chef of the hotel of the same name considered that such a dish was too light for the guests. To make it more satisfying, but still tender, the culinary masters decided to add dietary and healthy white poultry meat. And in this they were not mistaken. After all, such a component really makes the Waldorf salad more high-calorie, but no less tasty.
To prepare the chicken fillet, wash it thoroughly, and then put it in a salty boiling liquid, remove the resulting foam with a slotted spoon, close the lid tightly and cook for 35-45 minutes until fully cooked. After the specified time, the meat product must be taken out, cooled in cold air, and then the skin and bones are removed and the fillet is cut into small pieces. If desired, the meat can be divided along the fibers.
Preparing nuts
As a rule, Waldorf salad includes only walnuts. But for greater benefit and unusual taste, we decided to use cedar cone kernels as well. Both named ingredients should be washed well, and then put in a pan and fry a little. Next, it is recommended to crush the nuts into large crumbs, using a mortar or a regular rolling pin for this.
Processing of vegetables and fruits
In addition to poultry meat and roasted nuts, the Waldorf salad, the recipe of which we are considering, also includes such important ingredients as celery stalks and sweet and sour apple. The mentioned products should be washed well, and then be sure to peel. Next, the ingredients must be chopped into thin and small pieces.
To give taste and appearance, it is also recommended to add fresh red grapes (preferably pitted), which should be thoroughly washed, slightly dried, and then cut each berry in half. If you could not purchase such a product, then large black raisins are quite suitable instead. But before adding dried fruit to the dish, it needs to be sorted out, scalded with boiling water and kept in it for about half an hour. After the lapse of time, the raisins must be rinsed in a sieve and allowed to dry.
The process of forming a dish
As you can see, Waldorf salad does not include overseas and expensive products. Therefore, not only the best chefs in America can cook it, but also ordinary housewives who do not have any culinary skills at all.
After all the components for the dish are prepared, you can immediately begin to form it. To do this, you need to take a large enameled bowl and put the following products in it: chopped celery stalks, sweet and sour apple, boiled chicken breasts, chopped grapes, roasted walnuts and pine nuts. Next, all the components must be mixed, flavored with freshly squeezed lemon juice, ground allspice and high-calorie mayonnaise (you can use sour cream and even yogurt). After that, the finished salad should be placed in the refrigerator and kept in it for no more than 20 minutes. After this time, the dish must be laid out on a large flat plate, which is recommended to be lined with leaves of Korean cabbage or green salad in advance.
How to serve to the festive table?
Ready and formed Waldorf salad (the recipe was described in detail above) should be served to guests on a common dish before serving the main hot lunch. By the way, for a richer taste and presentable appearance, it is recommended to sprinkle such a culinary masterpiece with dried cranberries or barberries. Once you try this unusual and very tasty dish, you will make it again and again. Indeed, in terms of taste and ease of preparation, such a salad is many times superior to other culinary creations.
In the process of cooking, do not be afraid to fantasize. After all, many famous dishes became much tastier and more satisfying precisely because the chefs tried to improve them in every possible way. As for the presented salad, very often housewives do not limit themselves to such basic ingredients as chicken fillet, nuts and celery, adding new components. So, a similar dish using canned pineapples is very tasty and juicy. Perhaps someone will try to add a pickled peach or a fresh orange ... Believe me, no one can refuse such an unusual salad.
Waldorf classic salad is an elegant story for real gourmets. A harmonious combination of apples, celery and walnuts with mayonnaise dressing impresses with freshness and juiciness. Such a light dish will decorate the festive feast and will do honor to the experimenting hostess. At the same time, it takes very little time to prepare a salad.
Fascinating about classic Waldorf salad - recipe history
About a hundred and twenty years ago, a new dish appeared at the American Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Created from celery stalks, sweet and sour apples and mayonnaise sauce, it soon found its way not only in a luxury hotel, but also spread throughout the world.
Note
Another delicious native of the USA is also famous -
It is interesting that today the authentic composition and the one that is called "classic" are different. In the original version, there were only three components (apples, celery and sauce), but the combination of apple-celery flavor with walnuts and mayonnaise dressing is considered a classic.
We also learn how to serve food. Vegetables and fruits are turned into thin straws, laid out in a slide and decorated with kernels of nuts and slices of apples.
Today you can experiment with serving dishes:
- in a common salad bowl,
- on portioned plates;
- in glasses or bowls.
Waldorf Salad Variations - Delicious additions to the classic recipe
There were many of them. In each country, their local ingredients are added to the dish, adding variety to the recipe. A whole palette of flavors opens up even to the most sophisticated gourmet. The hostess can choose to her taste and the composition of the refrigerator.
What is added to the base combination:
- grapes, blue plums;
- raisin;
- pineapple, pear;
- Cayenne pepper;
- chicken
- pecans;
- goat cheese, parmesan;
- Beijing cabbage, fennel;
- seafood.
What they run:
- mayonnaise with salt;
- whipped heavy cream with lemon juice (for a dessert option);
- whipped with lemon juice yogurt;
- lemon juice;
- wine vinegar with olive oil;
- mayonnaise with yogurt;
- French mustard, olive oil, sugar, wine vinegar.
Classic waldorf salad with chicken
We disassemble the boiled breast (200 g) into fibers. Red apple (1 pc.) Cut into thin strips, sprinkled with lemon juice. 3-4 stalks of celery cut into strips. Green grapes (100 g) cut in half.
The components are mixed and laid out in high slides on portioned plates.
100 ml plain yoghurt is mixed with the zest of a quarter of a lemon. Pour prepared dressing over salad.
Nuts (50 g) are calcined in a hot pan and chopped or left in halves. You can caramelize them, as in
Decorate to taste.
Waldorf salad - a classic recipe with a photo
Ingredients:
- celery stalks - 2-4 pieces;
- apples of different colors - 2 pcs.;
- lemon - 1 pc.;
- walnuts - 100 g;
- mayonnaise - 10 ml.
Cooking
My apples, cut off the peel, cut into strips. Sprinkle with lemon juice.
My celery, cut into thin strips.
Mix apple and celery preparations.
Nuance
For a greater variety of Waldorf salad, you can add fennel. Just before laying it, you need to hold it in ice water for about five minutes. Then leave the leaves for decoration, and cut the stem into a salad mixture.
Fry the walnuts in a dry frying pan (3-5 minutes).
You can make it even more interesting. Beat chicken protein with sugar, pour nuts into it, bathe them well in the mixture. Then lay out on a silicone mat and dry in the oven at 150 degrees.
Dressed with homemade mayonnaise with lemon juice. Mix and spread in a ring, as in.
We will serve classic waldorf salad according to a simple recipe, as in the photo. That is, decorate with fennel leaves and nuts.
If one fine day you suddenly want to cook something original, healthy and very tasty, then there is probably no better dish than Waldorf salad. This can be done in different ways. And each recipe is good and interesting in its own way.
diet option
Women sometimes use Waldorf salad during their dieting period. In this case, one of his recipes is perfect, for which you need to take:
100 grams of petiole celery, a little salt, 50 grams of walnuts, one sweet and sour apple, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, a little black pepper, and 1 tablespoon of yogurt and mayonnaise.
Preparing this Waldorf salad is very simple:
- First, the washed celery stalks should be carefully chopped into small pieces.
- Then peel the apple and cut into thin slices.
- Roast the nuts lightly, and then chop them randomly with a knife.
- Prepare the sauce. To do this, mix yogurt with mayonnaise and add a little black pepper.
- The crushed products must be put in a salad bowl, and then seasoned with the sauce prepared in advance.
It turns out a very tasty low-calorie salad, which, in addition to its nutritional value, is useful in helping to eliminate swelling.
A bit of history
Waldorf salad was first prepared in 1883 by Oscar Cherki. At that time he served as the head waiter of the famous New York Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Once, as an original addition to freshly baked fragrant ham, he served an unusual salad to the guests, which consisted of only two main ingredients: diced sour apples and chopped fresh celery stalks into thin strips. All this he sprinkled with a pinch of hot cayenne pepper and seasoned with a filling of mayonnaise with lemon juice. The guests really liked the dish with its spectacular appearance and unusual taste. Visitors began to order it often. Therefore, soon the new product became part of the permanent menu and was already served as a signature dish of the establishment. And three years later, Chef Cherki decided to create his own cookbook and included a salad that had already become popular. The name for this dish was taken from the name of a fashionable hotel, where, in fact, it was created.
New recipe
Over time, various ingredients began to be added to the famous salad to give it a special taste and aroma. One of the most popular versions is the Waldorf Salad, which contains the following ingredients:
3 apples (sweet and sour, preferably with red skin), 50 grams of walnuts (peeled), a tablespoon of lemon juice, 4 stalks of celery, a pinch of nutmeg (ground), mayonnaise and 100 grams of sultana grapes (raisins can be used) .
The preparation of such a salad takes very little time:
- First, celery and apples must be washed, and then dried thoroughly with a napkin. They should not remain wet.
- Then the celery should be carefully chopped into strips.
- Cut apples into medium sized cubes. There is no need to clean them.
- Nuts must be crushed in a mortar so that small tangible pieces remain.
- Put the products in a bowl, sprinkle with ground nutmeg and mix well.
- Season the salad with mayonnaise and put it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. This time will be enough for him to insist.
After this time, the finished salad can be laid out on a plate and served. Grapes are used as decoration, as well as large slices of apples and halves of walnuts.
Snack
Waldorf salad is well known in world cuisine. The classic version of this dish must contain nuts. Even though they weren't in the original recipe. The main ingredients of this salad are apples and celery. Other additional components can be selected based on your own taste preferences. For example, an excellent option for a festive table would be a light salad prepared in a classic style. To prepare it, you will need the following products: fresh apples, celery stalks, grapes, yogurt, cinnamon and walnuts.
In this case, the usual cooking technology is used:
- First of all, you need to wash the apples, and then remove the middle in each of them and, without removing the peel, cut into small cubes.
- The celery just needs to be chopped. If the stems are very thick, then they should first be cut lengthwise. This way you can get smaller pieces.
- Cut the grapes lengthwise into two parts. If there are seeds inside, they can be easily removed. This method allows you to use any variety of grapes for making salad.
- Place products in a bowl.
- Separately prepare the dressing. To do this, add a little cinnamon to yogurt. This will make the sauce more flavorful. And if the apples are too sour, you can add a little natural honey to the dressing.
- Now you need to mix the ingredients thoroughly.
- Transfer the products to a salad bowl and decorate the dish with walnuts.
The mixture is juicy and crispy at the same time. It perfectly combines the sweetness and natural acidity of the original products.
Salad with meat
Many cooks often prepare Waldorf salad with chicken. You can make this dish in just 30 minutes. And for its preparation, the simplest products are required: small chicken breasts, a quarter teaspoon of lemon juice, 2 stalks of celery, 150 milliliters of mayonnaise, 1 apple, ½ teaspoon of mustard and 50 grams of nuts.
The method of preparing this version of the dish remains almost the same:
- First, the breast must be boiled for 20 minutes in boiling water.
- After that, the meat must be cooled, and then remove the bones from it and remove the skin.
- The remaining boiled breast can be arbitrarily cut or disassembled by hand into fibers.
- Chop the celery into strips or small pieces.
- Do the same with an apple.
- Separately, prepare the sauce by mixing mayonnaise, mustard and lemon juice.
- Put all the chopped products in a deep plate.
- Pour in homemade sauce and mix well. You can add a little salt or pepper if you like.
To give freshness to such a salad, you can put a little chopped parsley.
original version
The recipe for Waldorf salad without mayonnaise deserves special attention. It usually uses the following ingredients: 700 grams of boiled chicken, 250 grams of red grapes, apples and celery.
For this dressing, a mixture is specially prepared, which includes: 300 milliliters of garlic-cream sauce, 2 teaspoons of mustard and 8-9 grams of honey.
The whole cooking process consists of three parts:
- First you need to prepare the main components. Apples and celery stalks should be cut into cubes. Grapes should be cut in half with a knife and, if necessary, removed from them the seeds. Meat can be chopped as desired. Put the products in one container, mix and refrigerate. You need to take them out just before cooking.
- The ingredients for the sauce just need to be thoroughly mixed. For the best flavor, the prepared mixture should be put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Before serving, pour the prepared products with the infused sauce and mix everything well.
Such a dish will look good on a plate lined with lettuce leaves. For decoration, you can also sprinkle it with fresh chopped herbs.
Salad Waldorf (Waldorf) is gaining more and more popularity and prevalence in the world. It was first made in 1893 in the New York hotel of the same name, from which it took its name. It was originally an extremely simple dish in terms of its ingredients, it was just a mixture of apple and celery with a dressing of mayonnaise and lemon juice.
Over time, this treat moved to other continents, "overgrown" with local ingredients. There was a huge mass of all kinds, sometimes unlike the original and each other versions of cooking. The only thing that has remained unchanged is the mayonnaise dressing with a drop of lemon juice.
Especially for you, we have collected on this page the best, affordable and original cooking methods. Choose your Waldorf salad, study the recipe and start cooking magic.
Recipe One: Waldorf Classic with Celery and Fennel
We will need:
- petiole celery - 2 stalks;
- Fennel - 1 small;
- Greener apple - 1 pc.;
- Mayonnaise homemade or regular - 2 tablespoons;
- Walnuts - 4 pcs.;
- Fatty cream - 4 tbsp. l.;
- Lime (lemon) - 1 pc.;
- White pepper (powder) - 1 pc.;
- Salt.
Cooking:
- If shelled nuts were purchased for the salad, carefully clean them so as not to get hurt. Then we roast them in a dry frying pan to add a pleasant aroma to the salad. The recipe involves chopped nuts, so we chop each half into 4 parts;
- Rinse the celery, peel the stalks, then chop into strips. Leaves can be left to decorate the dish;
Rinse lime (you can lemon) thoroughly, wipe with a clean cloth. With a grater, we scrape the zest from its skin. Juice is also squeezed out, but separately; - We wash the apples, cut them, get rid of the core with seeds. Cut into thin long rectangles. Lubricate them with a drop of citrus juice so that they do not have time to darken;
- Rinse crispy fennel and dry. Then cut similarly with apples and celery;
- Now let's prepare a gentle dressing with a slight sourness for our salad. Here is her recipe: take and then mix cream, mayonnaise, a few drops of lime juice, and zest. Season everything with white pepper powder and salt.
- Let's gather the ingredients of the treat together: fresh celery, sour apple. Also crunchy fennel. Pour dressing, mix. Ready! Start eating.
Tip: Ice water can bring back the crunch and freshness of fennel. Just dip it in there for a few minutes and then slice.
Recipe Two: American Waldorf with Grapes and Chicken
We will need:
- Chicken - 320 grams;
- Lemon - 1 pc.;
- Pine nuts - 50 grams;
- Green apple - 1 pc.;
- Medium-sized grapes (red or yellow) - 110 grams;
- Celery stalks - 2 pcs.;
- Walnuts (peeled) - 50 grams;
- Curly salad - 60 grams;
- Natural yogurt (light mayonnaise) - 50 grams.
Cooking:
- First, let's deal with poultry meat. Defrost, rinse, dry a little. At this time, boil water, salt it, and then throw a whole piece of chicken into it. Let it boil again, be sure to remove the protein foam, which will soon form. When the product is completely cooked, take it out, send it to a plate to cool. Then we get rid of the bones, skins. We cut the meat into beautiful cubes or tear it into petals;
- Now comes the turn of other products from the list. Wash the lemon well, wipe with a dry cloth. Grate the zest from it and set aside in a small cup. Then we cut the fruit, squeeze out all the juice from it;
- We will wash the green apple, peel it from the skin if it is harsh (and in large fruits it is just that). We chop the pulp into thin rectangles, and remove the core with bones;
- We will also process celery with water, remove the top layer. Cut the juicy pulp like an apple;
- Now let's bring our nuts "to mind" a little. We throw them into a hot frying pan, fry them a little without any fat. Then we'll put it on a plate. Walnuts will also need to be chopped into pieces, and pine nuts will be left as is;
- Rinse the crispy green salad, dry it. Then tear into uneven pieces;
- Let's prepare the dressing sauce for our miracle salad. Here is his recipe: mix natural yogurt with salt, add lemon juice to your taste, as well as zest. Beat everything with a fork;
- Now it's the turn of the most juicy, sweet and fragrant of the ingredients - grapes. We separate small berries from the twig, wash each one well. Then spread them on a towel to dry a little. It remains only to cut each berry into halves, after which you can begin to assemble the salad;
- So, we form our Waldorf salad in the American version, as the recipe suggests: put celery, apple, green salad, chicken meat in a deep transparent salad bowl, add chopped grapes, and also add roasted nuts;
- We fill everything with a pre-prepared sauce, our tender, but satisfying treat is ready!
Recipe three "Royal Waldorf" with shrimp
We will need:
- Green apples - 2 pcs.;
- Celery - 2 stalks;
- Shrimp - 350 grams;
- Pepper powder (any) - ½ tsp;
- Walnuts - 50 grams;
- Fatty cream - 140 grams;
- Parmesan - 40 grams;
- Lemon -1 pc.
Cooking:
- Let's tackle the lemon first. We wash it, wipe it with dry napkins. Using a special or just a fine grater, we will erase the zest, and then squeeze the juice separately;
- Let's prepare the sauce, here is its recipe: whip heavy cream, add zest there, as well as lemon juice. Put in the refrigerator to infuse;
- While our dressing "reaches" the desired state, let's take care of the shrimp. Defrost them, as expected, in cold water or just like that. Boil water, add salt. You can also throw some spices there, for example, parsley, dried herbs or peppercorns. When the brine boils, pour the washed shrimp into it, cook them for 4 minutes. We take out with a slotted spoon, send to cool. After that, they can be cleaned (remove heads, shells, intestines). Pour seafood with a drop of lemon juice;
- Now it's the turn of the classic components of the salad, from which the whole story began. Wash the apple, cut into cubes (except for the core);
- Rinse the celery stalks, peel off the top layer. We chop the rest in the same way as apples;
- We clean the nuts, chop each of the halves into 4 parts. They can also be sautéed a bit to add amazing flavor to a salad;
- Now let's get to the cheese. Here we have 2 options - tinker and serve beautifully or just add to the salad. In the second case, it will be enough just to grate the parmesan into shavings. And for a slightly more complicated method, we do this: we rub the cheese, put it in small portions in a pan without oil. We wait until it melts, then remove it with a spatula and roll it out a little with a rolling pin to make a thin cheese cake or chips;
- Now let's assemble our original royal salad. To the main ingredients (apple, celery) add shrimp, walnuts, pour everything with sauce, season with pepper. We mix - almost ready!
- Let's make the final appearance of our treats. If you used a simple way to cut cheese, then just put the salad on a plate, sprinkle with cheese chips, decorate as you like. If you have prepared thin Parmesan “chips”, then put them in a serving plate at the bottom - this will be the base. On top we distribute the finished, already seasoned food, decorate.
Tip: To prevent the sliced apples from browning before the ingredients are mixed in the salad, sprinkle them with citrus juice, then toss evenly.
