Gemischter Salat (Austrian Mixed Salad Plate)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large pot for boiling potatoes
• •Small saucepan for heating broth
• •Mandoline slicer or very sharp knife for the Gurkensalat
• •Large mixing bowls (one per salad component)
• •Colander for draining cucumber
• •Large oval serving plate or four small bowls

Instructions

1. 1

   Boil the potatoes

   Put the potatoes into a large pot of well-salted cold water, unpeeled. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a steady simmer. Cook until a knife slides in with no resistance but the potato doesn't crumble, about twenty to twenty-five minutes depending on size. Start checking early. Overcooked potatoes fall apart when you slice them and you'll end up with a paste instead of a salad. Drain and let them cool just enough to handle, five minutes at most. You want them warm, not cool.

   Use festkochende (waxy) potatoes. Kipfler, Charlotte, or anything labeled 'salad potato' or 'waxy' at your shop. Starchy varieties like Russets disintegrate when you try to slice them warm. The variety matters more than any technique in this entire recipe.
2. 2

   Dress the Erdäpfelsalat

   Peel the warm potatoes using a small knife or your fingers (a clean kitchen towel helps). Slice them about four millimeters thick, directly into a wide bowl. They should still be giving off warmth. In a small saucepan, heat your beef broth until it's properly hot, not just warm. Pour the hot broth over the warm potato slices. This is the moment that makes or breaks Austrian potato salad. Warm starch opens up and drinks the broth in. Cold starch locks its doors. You'll see the slices absorb the liquid within minutes. Add the finely diced onion, mustard, vinegar, sunflower oil, salt, and pepper. Fold everything together gently with a spatula, not a spoon, so the slices stay whole. Let the salad rest at room temperature for at least thirty minutes. Longer is better. Taste and adjust the seasoning before serving, because potatoes absorb salt as they sit. Scatter the chives over the top.

   Austrian Erdäpfelsalat never, ever contains mayonnaise. This is not negotiable. The dressing is broth, vinegar, mustard, and a little oil. If you've only known mayonnaise-based potato salad, this will be a revelation: lighter, more flavorful, and honest about what potatoes actually taste like.
3. 3

   Slice the Gurkensalat

   Wash the cucumber but don't peel it. Slice it as thin as you possibly can. A mandoline is ideal. You're aiming for translucent, the kind of thin where you can nearly see light through each slice. If you're using a knife, take your time and focus. Thick cucumber salad is not Gurkensalat. It's something else, something less good. Put the slices in a colander set over a bowl, sprinkle with the teaspoon of fine salt, toss to distribute, and let them sit for twenty to thirty minutes. The salt draws out the water that would otherwise dilute your dressing into nothing.

   If you have a mandoline, this is the time to use it. Set it to the thinnest setting. A sharp knife works too, but it takes patience and a steady hand. The thickness of the slices is the difference between a Gurkensalat that makes people close their eyes with pleasure and one that's just cucumber in vinegar.
4. 4

   Dress the Gurkensalat

   After the cucumber has drained, squeeze the slices gently in handfuls to press out as much liquid as you can. Don't crush them, but be firm. Put them in a clean bowl. Add the white wine vinegar, sunflower oil, pinch of sugar, and white pepper. Toss gently. The dressing should be sharp and bright, with the sugar just rounding the edges of the vinegar, never making it sweet. Add the chopped dill if using. Taste it. The Gurkensalat should make your mouth water. Cover and refrigerate until you're ready to plate. This salad is best served cool.

5. 5

   Prepare the Krautsalat

   Quarter the cabbage half, cut out the core, and shred it as finely as your knife and your patience allow. Thin, even ribbons. Put the shredded cabbage in a large bowl, add the teaspoon of salt, and work it through with your hands, squeezing and massaging the cabbage for two or three minutes. You'll feel it start to soften and release moisture. This is the same principle as the cucumber: drawing out water so the dressing can get in. Add the white wine vinegar, sunflower oil, caraway seeds, pinch of sugar, and a grind of black pepper. Toss well. Cover and let it sit for at least an hour. The caraway perfumes the cabbage slowly, and the vinegar softens the shreds into something silky. Krautsalat made an hour ago is good. Krautsalat made the night before is better.

   Caraway seeds are the soul of Krautsalat. If you don't like caraway, you don't like Krautsalat, and that's fine, but don't leave them out and call it the same thing. If you have whole seeds, crush them lightly in a mortar to release more flavor.
6. 6

   Dress the Häuptelsalat

   Wash and dry the butter lettuce leaves carefully. Tear the larger leaves into pieces you'd want on a fork. In a small bowl, whisk together the Hesperidenessig (or white wine vinegar), sunflower oil, pinch of sugar, and pinch of salt. Taste it. It should be noticeably vinegar-forward, bright and snappy, not oily. This is Austrian Marinade: the vinegar leads, the oil follows, the sugar balances. Do not dress the leaves until the moment you're ready to plate. Butter lettuce wilts in vinegar within seconds and there's no bringing it back.

7. 7

   Assemble the plate

   Toss the lettuce with just enough Marinade to coat each leaf lightly. Arrange the four salads in separate sections on a large oval plate or in individual small bowls on a tray. The Erdäpfelsalat goes on at room temperature, glossy and soft. The Gurkensalat comes from the fridge, cool and sharp. The Krautsalat sits at room temperature, silky and fragrant with caraway. The Häuptelsalat goes on last, freshly dressed. If you have Steirisches Kürbiskernöl, drizzle a thin stream of it over the greens or the Erdäpfelsalat. It will pool in dark green ribbons against the lettuce. Don't stir it in. Let it sit on the surface where you can taste it with each bite. Serve alongside Wiener Schnitzel, Tafelspitz, Backhendl, or any Austrian main course that's waiting for its other half. Mahlzeit!

Chef Tips

• •Use festkochende (waxy) potatoes and do not even think about mayonnaise. Austrian Erdäpfelsalat is dressed with hot beef broth, vinegar, and mustard. Mayonnaise is for other traditions. Here, the broth does the work, and the potatoes taste like potatoes, not like sauce.
• •The beef broth must be hot when it hits the warm potatoes. This is the single most important moment in the whole recipe. Warm starch absorbs liquid; cold starch repels it. If you let the potatoes cool before dressing them, no amount of broth will fix the texture. Gretel always said you could judge an Austrian cook by her Erdäpfelsalat, and she meant this.
• •Steirisches Kürbiskernöl g.g.A. (Styrian pumpkin seed oil) is a finishing oil only. Never heat it. Heat destroys its deep, nutty flavor and turns it bitter. Drizzle it at the table, straight from the bottle. Look for the g.g.A. protected designation on the label, which guarantees it comes from Styria. The color should be so dark green it looks almost black in the bottle but glows deep emerald when you hold it to the light.
• •Austrian Marinade is vinegar-forward. If you're used to French vinaigrette with three parts oil to one part vinegar, reverse your thinking entirely. Austrian salad dressings use more vinegar than oil, balanced with a pinch of sugar. The dressing should wake up your palate, not coat it in fat. This is what makes Austrian salads feel clean and bright next to rich main courses like Schnitzel.
• •Make the Erdäpfelsalat in the morning for dinner, or even the night before. The potatoes continue absorbing flavor as they rest and the salad gets better with time. Bring it to room temperature before serving. Cold Erdäpfelsalat from the fridge is a sad thing, stiff and muted. Room temperature is where it comes alive.

Advance Preparation

• •Erdäpfelsalat improves with time. Make it two to four hours ahead, or even the night before. Store covered at room temperature if serving within a few hours, or refrigerate and bring back to room temperature thirty minutes before serving.
• •Krautsalat can be made a full day ahead and refrigerated. The cabbage softens beautifully and the caraway deepens. Bring to room temperature before plating.
• •Gurkensalat should be made the same day you serve it. It releases water as it sits and becomes watery if left overnight.
• •Häuptelsalat must be dressed at the absolute last minute. Vinegar wilts butter lettuce within seconds. Wash and dry the leaves ahead, but keep the Marinade separate until you're walking the plate to the table.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 400g)