Salade Niçoise

Salade niçoise is a composed salad from Nice, built around tomato, hard-boiled egg, tuna or anchovy, black olives and a simple olive oil dressing. Almost no dish in French cooking has a more strictly policed list of ingredients, and the arguments over what belongs in it are part of the dish's identity.

What it actually is

The purist version — the one defended by Nice's own culinary society — is raw vegetables only: tomato, spring onion, small artichoke or fava beans depending on season, black niçoise olives, and anchovy fillets, dressed in olive oil. No lettuce, no potato, no cooked green beans, and definitely no rice.

The version served almost everywhere else, including in most of France, adds hard-boiled egg, cooked green beans, boiled potato and swaps or adds canned tuna for the anchovies. This is the dish most guests actually mean when they order it, and it is not wrong — it is simply a different, and much more common, tradition.

Either way, the vegetables are kept separate and composed on the plate, not tossed together like a green salad.

How it's served

• Composed, not tossed — ingredients arranged in sections so each one stays distinct.
• Cold or at room temperature, never warm.
• As a full plate on its own, though a smaller version works as a starter.

Writing it on a menu

• Say whether it's the egg-and-potato version or the purist anchovy-only version — regulars from Nice will ask, and it avoids a returned plate.
• Flag fish (tuna and/or anchovy), egg, and mustard if your vinaigrette uses it.
• If you use fresh seared tuna rather than canned, say so — it is a meaningfully different (and pricier) dish worth naming on the menu.
• Note it travels and holds well, which makes it a genuinely good make-ahead lunch item, not just a garnish for one.