The Wood Grouse Nest salad is one of the traditional but forgotten dishes of festive Russian cuisine.

A traditional Russian salad is the Capercaillie’s Nest salad, so named because hunting this bird, which was part of it, was traditional.

The salad was shaped like a wood grouse’s nest made from French fries. This bird was later replaced with chicken because the capercaillie was endangered, but the salad retains the same essence and is just as rich.

Ingredients: 1 chicken breast; 100 g ham; 200 g canned mushrooms; 3 boiled eggs; 3 potatoes, 1 carrot; 1 onion; mayonnaise; vinegar; vegetable oil; salt and pepper; boiled quail eggs.

How to make this Christmas salad. Peel and cut the potatoes into thin and short pieces. Fry and let the water drain on absorbent paper. In a frying pan with a little oil, fry the chicken breast, cut into fillets, add a little salt, chop and leave.

Chop the carrots and onions and fry them in the same frying pan with a little oil; when they start to soften, add a tablespoon of vinegar and let them sit.

Grind the ham and boiled eggs. Mix everything, including some of the fries, and season with salt, pepper and plenty of mayonnaise.

Place on a plate in the shape of a nest, with a hole in the center. Cover with remaining fries and garnish with green leaves (they can also be edible, such as lettuce).