Tartar sauce (French: ''sauce tartare''; spelled tartare sauce in the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, South Africa) is a condiment made of
mayonnaise, chopped
pickles
Pickles may refer to:
Dogs
* Pickles (dog) (died 1967), a dog that found the stolen World Cup trophy in 1966
* Pickles (pickleball), a dog often cited as the name origin for the sport of pickleball
* Mr. Pickles, the titular demonic dog in ...
and/or
relish
A relish is a cooked and pickled product made of chopped vegetables, fruits or herbs and is a food item typically used as a condiment to enhance a staple. Examples are chutneys and the North American relish, a pickled cucumber jam eaten with ho ...
,
capers, and
herbs
In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...
such as
tarragon
Tarragon (''Artemisia dracunculus''), also known as estragon, is a species of perennial herb in the family Asteraceae. It is widespread in the wild across much of Eurasia and North America and is cultivated for culinary and medicinal purposes.
...
and
dill
Dill (''Anethum graveolens'') is an annual herb in the celery family Apiaceae. It is the only species in the genus ''Anethum''. Dill is grown widely in Eurasia, where its leaves and seeds are used as a herb or spice for flavouring food.
Growth ...
. Tartar sauce can also be enhanced with the addition of other varieties of herbs,
lemon
The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China.
The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culin ...
juice, or
olives
The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' 'M ...
. It is most often served with
seafood
Seafood is any form of sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs (e.g. bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters and mussels, and cephalopods such as octopus an ...
dishes such as fish and chips, fish sandwiches, fish fingers, fried
oysters, and calamari.
Composition
Tartar sauce is based on either mayonnaise (egg yolk, mustard or vinegar,
bitartrate
, Section2 = {{Chembox Properties
, C=4 , H=5 , O=6
, Formula_Charge = −
, ConjugateAcid = Tartaric acid
, ConjugateBase = Tartrate
Bitartrate is an anion which is the conjugate base of tartaric acid. It may also refer to any salt or ...
, oil) or
aioli (olive oil, garlic), with certain other ingredients added. In the
UK, recipes typically add to the base capers,
gherkin
A pickled cucumber (commonly known as a pickle in the United States and Canada and a gherkin in Britain, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand) is a usually small or miniature cucumber that has been pickled in a brine, vinegar, or ...
s, lemon juice, and dill.
US recipes may include chopped
dill pickles
A pickled cucumber (commonly known as a pickle in the United States and Canada and a gherkin in Britain, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand) is a usually small or miniature cucumber that has been pickled in a brine, vinegar, or ...
,
onion
An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion ...
s (or
chives
Chives, scientific name ''Allium schoenoprasum'', is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaryllidaceae that produces edible leaves and flowers. Their close relatives include the common onions, garlic, shallot, leek, scallion, and ...
), and fresh
parsley.
[ Chopped hard-boiled eggs or olives are sometimes added, as may be ]Dijon mustard
Dijon mustard (french: Moutarde de Dijon) is a traditional mustard of France, named after the town of Dijon in Burgundy, France, which was the center of mustard making in the late Middle Ages and was granted exclusive rights in France in the 17 ...
and cocktail onion
A cocktail onion is usually a pearl onion pickled in a brine with small amounts of turmeric and paprika. Pearl onions are naturally sweet, which makes them an excellent pairing with many cocktails. Other sweet onions such as the crystal wax, ...
s.
See also
* List of common dips
* Remoulade
Rémoulade (; ) is a cold sauce. Although similar to tartar sauce, it is often more yellowish, sometimes flavored with curry, and sometimes contains chopped pickles or piccalilli. It can also contain horseradish, paprika, anchovies, capers ...
* Steak tartare
Steak tartare or tartar steak is a dish of raw ground (minced) beef. It is usually served with onions, capers, mushrooms, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and other seasonings, often presented separately, to be added to taste. It is often ser ...
* Tarator
Tzatziki ( el, τζατζίκι), also known as tarator or cacık (), is a dip, soup, or sauce found in the cuisines of Southeast Europe and the Middle East. It is made of salted strained yogurt or diluted yogurt mixed with cucumbers, gar ...
* Sauce gribiche
' is a cold egg sauce in French cuisine, made by emulsifying hard-boiled egg yolks and mustard with a neutral oil like canola or grapeseed. The sauce is finished with chopped pickled cucumbers, capers, parsley, chervil and tarragon. It also i ...
References
External links
An explanation of the name's origin
from The Straight Dope
"The Straight Dope" was a question-and-answer newspaper column written under the pseudonym Cecil Adams. Contributions were made by multiple authors, and it was illustrated (also pseudonymously) by Slug Signorino. It was first published in 1973 in ...
A definition
at Allrecipes.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tartar Sauce
Sauces
Mayonnaise
Tatar cuisine
French cuisine