Tartar sauce

Tartar sauce (in the UK, New Zealand and Australia, tartare sauce) is a mayonnaise or aioli-based sauce, typically of a rough consistency. It is often used as a condiment with seafood dishes.

Composition

Tartar sauce is based on either mayonnaise (egg yolk, mustard or vinegar, oil) or aioli (egg yolk, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice), with certain other ingredients added. In the UK, recipes typically add to the base capers, gherkins, lemon juice, and tarragon. US recipes may include chopped pickles or prepared green sweet relish, capers, onions (or chives), and fresh parsley. Chopped hard-boiled eggs or olives are sometimes added, as may be Dijon mustard and cocktail onions.Paul Bocuse describes sauce tartare explicitly as a sauce remoulade, in which the characterising anchovy purée is to be substituted by some hot Dijon mustard.

History and etymology

The sauce and its name have been found in cookbooks since the 19th century. The name derives from the French sauce tartare, named after the Tatars (Ancient spelling in French of the ethnic group: Tartare) from the Eurasian Steppe, who once occupied Ukraine and parts of Russia. In fact, the Tatars have nothing directly to do with either the sauce or steak tartare (raw beef steaks often served with components of the sauce). "Tartar" was the Persian name for the Mongols of Genghis Khan, whom Europeans of their time viewed as uncivilized, particularly for their practice of eating meat raw. In French cuisine, the phrase á la tartare thus became used to refer to a "variety of highly seasoned dishes" and forms of undercooked meat, so the sauce may have received its name for the pungency of its original version. Especially in the Haute cuisine era, dish names were frequently selected from contemporary, fashionable, public issues to gain attention.