Chef Elsa
Eiersalat (Austrian Egg Salad)
Cool, creamy Austrian egg salad with sour gherkins and tart apple in a mustard-yogurt dressing, the kind of honest Jause food that tastes like an Austrian Easter table and works beautifully all year round.
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Paradeisersalat mit Zwiebeln
Created by
Thick-sliced summer Paradeiser with sharp onion rings and a vinegar-forward Marinade, the side salad that shows up on every Austrian Gasthaus table from July through September.
Salads
Austrian
Weeknight
Quick Meal
15 min
Active Time
0 min cook•15 min total
Yield4 servings
Austrians don't call them tomatoes. They call them Paradeiser, from the old word Paradiesapfel, the apple of paradise. And in July and August, when the markets in Salzburg are piled with them still warm from the field, that name makes perfect sense.
Gretel always said you can tell someone's kitchen by their salad. Not the complicated ones with fifteen ingredients and a dressing that takes longer than the main course. The simple ones. A plate of Paradeisersalat tells you whether the cook understands timing, seasoning, and when to leave things alone. The tomatoes must be ripe. Not supermarket-firm, not pale pink, not mealy. Ripe. The kind that smell like summer before you cut them and give slightly when you press your thumb against the skin. If you can't find those tomatoes, don't make this salad. Make something else and wait.
The Marinade is vinegar-forward, as all Austrian salad dressings should be. A good Hesperidenessig or Apfelessig, a neutral oil, salt, a pinch of sugar to balance the acid, and that's nearly all. You dress the tomatoes while they're still at room temperature so the Marinade can soak into the flesh instead of sliding off a cold surface. The onion rings go raw and thin, sharp enough to cut through the sweetness of a perfect tomato. A scattering of fresh chives, maybe some parsley. Nothing else. This is good Austrian home cooking at its most honest: three or four ingredients that depend entirely on quality and timing.
The word Paradeiser derives from Paradiesapfel, the Austrian term for tomato that dates to the fruit's arrival in Central Europe from the New World in the 16th century. While Germany adopted the Italian-derived 'Tomate,' Austria kept its own name, one of many culinary vocabulary differences that mark Austrian German as distinct. Paradeisersalat appears as a staple Beilagensalat in Viennese cookbooks from the 19th century onward, always dressed with a vinegar-forward Marinade rather than the oil-heavy dressings found further south.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
ripe tomatoes (Paradeiser)
Quantity
600g
mixed varieties if available
white onion
Quantity
1 medium
peeled
Hesperidenessig or Apfelessig (apple cider vinegar)
Quantity
3 tablespoons
neutral sunflower oil or mild olive oil
Quantity
2 tablespoons
granulated sugar
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
fine salt
Quantity
to taste
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
to taste
fresh chives
Quantity
1 small bunch
finely cut
fresh flat-leaf parsley (optional)
Quantity
a few leaves
torn
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| ripe tomatoes (Paradeiser)mixed varieties if available | 600g |
| white onionpeeled | 1 medium |
| Hesperidenessig or Apfelessig (apple cider vinegar) | 3 tablespoons |
| neutral sunflower oil or mild olive oil | 2 tablespoons |
| granulated sugar | 1/2 teaspoon |
| fine salt | to taste |
| freshly ground black pepper | to taste |
| fresh chivesfinely cut | 1 small bunch |
| fresh flat-leaf parsley (optional)torn | a few leaves |
Equipment Needed
- •Sharp serrated knife
- •Serving plate or shallow bowl
Instructions
- 1
Slice the Paradeiser
Wash and dry the tomatoes. Cut them into thick slices, about half a centimeter. Not thin. You want slices with enough body to hold the Marinade without collapsing into mush on the plate. If you're using smaller tomatoes, halve or quarter them instead. Remove any hard core at the stem end, but leave the seeds and juice. That juice is flavor.
Use a sharp serrated knife. A dull blade crushes the flesh and pushes the juice out before it reaches the plate. You want clean cuts. - 2
Prepare the onion
Slice the onion into thin rings, as thin as you can manage. Separate them with your fingers. The onion is raw in this salad and it's meant to be sharp, but thin rings mellow faster in the Marinade and distribute more evenly across the plate. If your onion is very strong, soak the rings in cold water for five minutes, then drain and pat dry. This takes the edge off without killing the flavor entirely.
- 3
Make the Marinade
In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, oil, sugar, a generous pinch of salt, and a few grinds of black pepper. Taste it. The Marinade should be noticeably vinegar-forward, sharper than you think a dressing should be. The tomato juice will dilute it on the plate, so it needs to start with backbone. The sugar is not there to make it sweet. It rounds off the acid just enough that the vinegar doesn't overwhelm the fruit.
Hesperidenessig is a Viennese citrus vinegar, mild and fragrant, and it's the traditional choice for Austrian salad Marinades. If you can't find it, a good unfiltered Apfelessig (apple cider vinegar) is your best substitute. White wine vinegar works in a pinch. Balsamic does not belong here. - 4
Arrange and dress
Lay the tomato slices across a serving plate, overlapping slightly. Scatter the onion rings over the top. Spoon the Marinade evenly across everything. Don't toss it like a green salad. You want the slices to stay intact and the dressing to pool around and under them, soaking in slowly. Let it sit at room temperature for ten minutes. The tomatoes will release some of their own juice into the Marinade, and the onion will soften just slightly. This resting time is where the salad becomes itself.
- 5
Finish and serve
Scatter the chives generously over the top. Tear a few parsley leaves across if you have them. Give it one final pinch of flaky salt. Serve at room temperature, never cold. A tomato straight from the fridge tastes like nothing. The flavor lives at room temperature, which is why every Austrian grandmother leaves her Paradeiser on the kitchen counter, not in the refrigerator. Mahlzeit!
Chef Tips
- •This salad is only worth making from July to September when tomatoes are at their peak. I mean this seriously. In January, those plastic tomatoes at the supermarket will produce a sad, watery plate of nothing. If it's not tomato season, make a Krautsalat or a Gurkensalat instead and come back to this recipe in summer.
- •The ratio of vinegar to oil matters. Austrian Marinade is not a French vinaigrette. It should be roughly two parts vinegar to one part oil, or even sharper. The oil is there for a little richness, not to coat or emulsify. If your dressing looks creamy, you've used too much oil.
- •Bring your tomatoes to room temperature before slicing. If they've been in the fridge, give them at least an hour on the counter. Cold kills aroma, and aroma is half of what makes a ripe Paradeiser worth eating.
- •At my restaurant in Salzburg, we use a mix of tomato varieties when the market has them: Ochsenherz for their meaty flesh, small Cocktailparadeiser for sweetness, and the classic round ones for juice. A mix of colors and sizes makes the plate look like summer.
Advance Preparation
- •Slice and arrange the tomatoes and onion up to thirty minutes before serving, but do not dress them until ten minutes before you bring them to the table. Dressed too early, the salt draws out too much liquid and the slices go limp.
- •The Marinade can be whisked together several hours ahead and left at room temperature. Give it another whisk before spooning it over the salad.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 210g)
Calories
110 calories
Total Fat
7 g
Saturated Fat
1 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
6 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
350 mg
Total Carbohydrates
10 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
6 g
Protein
2 g
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