Homemade Russian potato salad with hard-boiled egg

Method

1. 1

   Gather purchase quantities and incorporated weights

   Set out scales, a pot and saucepan, clean strainers, shallow containers, a knife, board and food thermometer. Begin with approximately 550 g whole unpeeled potatoes, 200 g carrots before peeling, three eggs and 150 g frozen peas. These are approximate purchase quantities. After cooking, incorporate only 400 g cooked potato flesh, 150 g cooked carrot, 100 g cooked peas and 100 g peeled hard-boiled egg. Have 120 g commercial mayonnaise, 2 g salt, 2900 ml potable water and 500 g potable ice ready. Check the mayonnaise label for egg, mustard and other allergens and its refrigeration instructions. Do not add tuna, olives, cured meat or garnishes.

   
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   Whole potatoes, carrots, three eggs, frozen peas, mayonnaise and process water prepared separately

2. 2

   Wash and prepare the vegetables

   Wash whole potatoes under potable water without soap and scrub off soil. Keep their skins for boiling and choose similar sizes; discard spoiled or damaged potatoes. Wash and peel carrots, remove the ends and cut into roughly 1 cm cubes. Keep clean utensils separate from egg shells and raw meat. Cook peas from frozen, without thawing. Check final weights after cooking and draining; purchase weights do not equal the peeled cooked flesh entering the salad.

   
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   Carrot diced beside washed whole unpeeled potatoes

3. 3

   Boil potatoes and carrots without salt

   Put whole skin-on potatoes in a pot with 1500 ml potable water without salt. Cover the potatoes; any additional process water needed is not served. Allow about 5 minutes to reach a gentle boil, then an estimated 35 minutes of cooking. Add carrot cubes for the final 12 minutes. Use a clean fork to check that the potato center is tender rather than raw and the carrots are tender but intact. Remove each vegetable when ready; count any extra cooking time. Drain fully and discard the water. Do not mash potatoes to speed cooling.

   
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   Whole skin-on potatoes boiling with carrot cubes

4. 4

   Hard-boil the eggs separately

   Place intact eggs in a saucepan with 800 ml potable water, enough to cover them. Do not use cracked eggs. Allow about 5 minutes to reach a gentle boil, then cook for about 12 minutes. Transfer with a clean utensil to a cold bath containing the 500 g ice and enough potable cooling water, recorded separately from cooking water and also discarded. Later open an egg and check that both white and yolk are fully set; cook the remaining eggs longer if needed and record the real time. Do not make raw-egg mayonnaise for this recipe. Wash hands and utensils after touching shells.

   
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   Three intact shell eggs boiling separately beside an ice bath

5. 5

   Cook and drain the peas

   In the clean saucepan, heat the remaining 600 ml potable water without salt, allowing about 5 minutes to boil. Add frozen peas and cook for about 5 minutes, or the longer time stated on their packaging, until tender. Keep a gentle boil and stir with a clean utensil. Drain well and discard the water. Use cooked frozen peas, not salted canned peas or dried peas. Nutrition uses the drained weight entering the bowl, not the entire purchase quantity or cooking liquid.

   
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   Cooked peas draining in a clean strainer

6. 6

   Cool promptly before adding mayonnaise

   Spread drained potatoes and vegetables in clean shallow containers and refrigerate promptly; do not leave them on the counter for an hour. Cool eggs in their bath and refrigerate them too. Use clean utensils; if potatoes are too hot to handle, wait only briefly until safe, then peel without contamination. Allow an estimated 60 minutes of refrigerated cooling, but verify with a clean probe that all food is at 4°C or below before mixing. Count extra time if needed; the clock alone does not establish cooling. Refrigerate perishables within 2 hours outside refrigeration, or 1 hour when the room exceeds 32°C. Do not use deep hot cooking pots as the sole cooling containers.

   
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   Cooked potatoes, carrots, peas and shell eggs cooling in separate shallow refrigerated containers

7. 7

   Weigh and dice the cold cooked base

   Once cold and well drained, weigh 400 g cooked peeled potato flesh, 150 g cooked carrot, 100 g cooked peas and 100 g shelled hard-boiled egg. Cut potato and egg into roughly 1 cm cubes, keeping carrot cubes intact, and place the four components in a clean bowl. Weigh food actually entering the formula, not raw food with skin or shell. If the first cooking batch is insufficient, cook and cool more, counting extra time; never make up the weight with raw ingredients. Keep clean surplus refrigerated separately for another dish, outside this salad's nutrition calculation.

   
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   Cold cooked potato being diced beside separate carrot, pea and firm egg bowls

8. 8

   Fold in the dressing gently

   With the entire base cold, add the 120 g commercial mayonnaise and 2 g salt. Fold gently with a clean spatula, keeping potato pieces intact. Incorporate all weighed mayonnaise in the mixture, without an extra topping or decorative sauce. Do not add cooking water, oil, vinegar or more salt without recording and recalculating. This formula contains egg and the mayonnaise allergens. Yogurt or egg-free sauce defines another variant with different nutrition.

   
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   Commercial mayonnaise gently folded into potato, carrot, pea and egg pieces

9. 9

   Serve cold and store leftovers

   Divide into 6 similar servings, each approximately one sixth of the batch. Serve cold without bread, tuna, olives or extra garnish. The full estimate includes 25 minutes of preparation, 52 minutes of sequential cooking, 15 minutes heating water and 60 minutes refrigerated cooling: 152 minutes total. Simultaneous cooking is not assumed; record extra heating, cooking or cooling. Store covered in a shallow container at 4°C or below and consume within 2 days, respecting any shorter mayonnaise-label limit. Serve small amounts and replenish from the refrigerator. Discard food held outside refrigeration for more than 2 hours, or 1 hour above 32°C; smell and appearance do not establish safety.

   
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   Cold Russian potato salad served without garnish

The step photos are illustrative.