Cod Liver Salad

Name: Cod Liver Salad: Layered Festive Recipe
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: Canned cod liver 1 can (200–230 g); Potatoes 2–3; Carrots 1–2; Eggs 3; Pickles 3–4; Green onions (green tops only) 5–6 stalks; Homemade mayonnaise to taste; Hard cheese 50 g; Black peppercorns 3–4

☆ 4.8

1 h 10 mins

I was about to make my cod liver sandwiches again when a salad came to mind… For all the abundance of salad recipes, most salads people make are vegetable ones, from seasonal vegetables. Our beloved Olivier, herring under a fur coat and Mimosa don’t count; they’re sacred. There are also vinegret salads served with herring (very tasty, by the way), or exotic salads with chicken, fish and seafood. History has seen to it that practically any ingredient can go into a salad.

In the days of “developed socialism”, “good” restaurants always had the classic “Northern” salad on the menu. Nowadays that salad is thought to be made with cabbage, but back then it was served in individual glass bowls and made with canned cod liver, which was incredibly hard to come by at the time. And it wasn’t cheap either, by the way. But it did its job of whetting the appetite brilliantly. Nothing complicated: cod liver, eggs, green onion, mayonnaise. Sometimes boiled potatoes to make it feel less rich. Cod liver salad needs no advertising.

Back then, canned cod liver was the top item in the grocery packages handed out to especially “valuable” citizens. Needless to say, you couldn’t just find it in a store. Later, when everything suddenly fell apart, the scarce canned goods appeared in huge quantities; or rather, the number of cans went up. But what was inside was a surprise. By the state standard, a can of cod liver is supposed to be 85% liver, with the rest oil and spices. In reality it was the other way around. So people would shake the can next to their ear before buying, trying to guess how much oil there was compared to liver.

The best canned cod liver is made at sea, aboard ships. The lower grades are made from frozen liver.

Cod liver isn’t just tasty, it’s also very good for you. It’s an excellent source of vitamin A. In fact, it’s teeming with vitamins. And any liver is a healthy food in general. A liver cake is pure vitamins.

Eating cod liver on its own is hardly a treat; I don’t like it. But as the main ingredient of an appetizer, now we’re talking! Today we’ll make a cod liver salad with eggs, pickles and potatoes, arranged in layers and served in individual portions, just like in good restaurants.

Cod liver salad, layered and served in individual portions, as it was done in good restaurants. A classic fish salad for the holidays.

Ingredients

2–3 servings

Canned cod liver 1 can (200–230 g)
Potatoes 2–3
Carrots 1–2
Eggs 3
Pickles 3–4
Green onions (green tops only) 5–6 stalks
Homemade mayonnaise to taste
Hard cheese 50 g
Black peppercorns 3–4

Step-by-step recipe

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Prepare the liver, vegetables and eggs

Prepare the cod liver. Once you’ve checked the contents of the can remotely by shaking it next to your ear, open it. Make sure there’s enough liver inside. Carefully pour off all the oil, and even let it drain. Transfer the cod liver to a small bowl and mash it thoroughly with a fork. While you’re at it, pick out and discard the bay leaf and allspice that are often added for flavor.

Boil the carrots and potatoes in their skins. Then cool and peel them. Finely grate the carrots into one bowl and coarsely grate the potatoes. By the way, it’s best to use low-starch potatoes so they don’t clump.
Hard-boil the eggs. Cool them under cold running water and peel. Separate the whites from the yolks. Coarsely grate the whites and finely grate the yolks, into separate plates, of course.
Peel the pickles or fermented cucumbers with a knife, coarsely grate them, then lightly squeeze out the brine. Finely chop the green onion with a knife. Finely grate the hard cheese. And that’s all the prep.

How to layer the salad

Get out three glass bowls, the kind used for dessert or ice cream. They’re very handy for individual salads. Put grated potato on the bottom of each bowl. Level it gently with a teaspoon or your fingers, trying not to pack it down too much.
Add a layer of mashed cod liver. By the way, I used to think that when it comes to cod liver in this salad, the more the better. Now I think differently. I find a third of a can per serving ideal, half at most. And keep in mind it has 600 kcal.
Season the liver with black pepper: crush 3–4 peppercorns or grind them in a mortar.
For the next layer, sprinkle with green onion.

Pipe on some mayonnaise. It’s worth making the mayonnaise yourself; it’s easy. Put the mayonnaise in a small plastic bag, snip off a corner to make a tiny hole, and squeeze it out. That makes it easier to spread over the salad.
Put the grated pickles on top of the mayonnaise. Why? Call it nostalgia for Olivier salad. Oh, and by the way, no apple. Better to add more pickle. The appetizer is rich as it is, and the sourness of the pickle helps a lot.
Next, spread the grated egg white evenly over the salad. The white should cover it completely. At this stage, press the layers down a little with your fingers or a spoon, but not too hard. What matters is that the surface is level.
Add the grated carrot.
Sprinkle with grated cheese, evenly and densely, without gaps.
Spread on a second layer of mayonnaise.
And now for what’s probably the prettiest part: sprinkle the salad with egg yolk. That’s how Mimosa salad is usually done, and it ends up looking like a spring sprig of mimosa.

Serving

Drizzle the salad with a little mayonnaise, just a few strokes, and garnish.
How you garnish it is up to you. I put a black olive and a few capers on top and sprinkled it with green onion.
Put the salad in the fridge for a couple of hours to soak.
Serve the salad on its own, as an appetizer with strong drinks.

Calories and macros

1195 kcal

Serving ≈ 570 g

Protein24 g8% of kcal
Fat104 g80% of kcal
Carbs35 g12% of kcal

100 g210 kcalProtein 4.3 gFat 18.3 gCarbs 6.2 g

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.

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To Get It Right

How much liver to use

For this salad, the main rule is a third of a can of cod liver per serving, half at most. More than that and the salad gets heavy, with the liver overpowering everything else. Go by a regular 200–230 g can: it’s just enough for three bowls. With a small can (about 120 g) the liver layer will be thinner, but the salad will still work.

Proportions

2–3 servings of salad: 1 can of cod liver, 2–3 potatoes, 1–2 carrots, 3 eggs, 3–4 pickled cucumbers, 50 g cheese.
4–6 servings: 2 cans of cod liver, 4–6 potatoes, 2–3 carrots, 6 eggs, 6–8 pickled cucumbers, 100 g cheese.

Mayonnaise to taste; homemade is tastier and lighter.

Variations

Salad with egg, no potato. Skip the potato layer and add one or two more eggs. The salad comes out lighter and more delicate.
Restaurant style. Served in individual glasses or small bowls, topped with grated yolk like a Mimosa salad — which is essentially the recipe above.
With cheese and garlic. Add a clove or two of pressed garlic to the cheese layer for a sharper taste.

Storage

Once dressed with mayonnaise, the salad is best eaten within a day; keep it in the fridge. To prepare ahead, boil and grate the vegetables and eggs the night before and assemble the salad on the day you serve it.

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Questions and answers

What is the best cod liver salad?

The classic layered one — with potato, egg, carrot, pickle and cheese, as in this recipe. The liver is rich, the pickle adds sourness, and egg and potato make it soft.

Do cod liver and eggs go together?

Yes, it’s a classic pairing: in this salad both the white and the yolk go in as separate layers.

How to make a quick cod liver salad?

No layers: chop the liver, eggs, pickle and green onion and mix with a spoon of mayonnaise. Great on fresh bread.

Can you make cod liver salad without mayonnaise?

Yes. Spread the layers with thick sour cream mixed with a spoon of mustard, or with plain yogurt. Cod liver is rich on its own, so the salad won’t be dry.

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