Every Estonian family has its own rosolje and believes, quietly, that the others are close but not quite right. The constants are cooked beets and potatoes, pickled cucumbers, apple, onion and salted herring, all cut into small cubes and folded into a dressing of sour cream and mayonnaise sharpened with mustard and a little pickle brine. The beets do the rest, dyeing everything a vivid magenta that no photograph quite believes. The name is usually traced to rassol, the Russian word for pickle brine; in everyday Estonian it has also come to mean a colorful jumble, which is a fair description.

Rosolje is the centerpiece of the Estonian cold table at Christmas, Easter, birthdays and Independence Day, and it is built for gatherings: made the day before, it only gets better. Set a bowl out at the start of a long race and it will see you through to the podium.

The vegetables and eggs

Ingredients

• 1 lb (450 g) beets
• 12 oz (340 g) waxy potatoes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs

The salad

Ingredients

• 4 oz (115 g) salted herring fillets
• 3 pickled cucumbers
• 1 tart apple
• 1 small onion
• 1/2 cup (70 g) frozen peas
• 1 cup (240 g) full fat sour cream
• 1/2 cup (115 g) mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon mustard
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) pickled cucumber brine
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• to taste salt and black pepper
• 2 tablespoons fresh dill or parsley

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