Tartare sauce

Overview

Tartare sauce is mayonnaise with chopped pickles, capers and herbs. Its sharp, briny character comes from the gherkins and capers, and it is served with fish, especially fried or grilled fish. It is a composite cold sauce built on an egg emulsion, not a fermented or preserved product, although its pickles are preserved.

The sauce is one of the most widely known mayonnaise derivatives. The site's mayonnaise record covers the base; this record covers the sauce made from it.

Name and history

The cited entry lists France as the place of origin and says the sauce is known as sauce tartare there. Its name comes from steak tartare, with which it was commonly served in nineteenth-century France. The entry says the name is ultimately linked to the Tatars, but that is a name association. It does not show that the Tatars made the sauce.

English recipes appear in the mid-nineteenth century, and Eliza Acton's Modern Cookery for Private Families of 1860 is named as one. The sauce was also popular in late nineteenth-century Hungary, where a 1892 cookbook is cited. Today it is widely used across Central and Eastern Europe.

Ingredients and their roles

Mayonnaise or aioli is the base. Gherkins or other pickles give the sharp, salty note, and capers add a second briny element. Lemon juice brightens the sauce. Soft herbs such as dill, parsley and chives are common, and tarragon appears in some versions. Chopped hard-boiled egg and olives are added in some US versions, along with Dijon mustard and cocktail onions.

The British version is typically made with capers, gherkins, lemon juice and dill. Hungarian variants may include sour cream or cream, a little sugar, white pepper and white wine.

Method

The mayonnaise is made first or bought, then the pickles, capers and herbs are chopped fine and folded in with lemon juice. The sauce is adjusted for acid and salt before service. The cited entry gives no quantities or steps, so proportions are a matter for the cook and the local recipe.

Serving

Tartare sauce is typically served with breaded and fried seafood. In Europe it is also served with meats such as Wiener schnitzel, and with cold meat and seafood dishes, according to the cited entry.

Storage and safety

The cited entry gives no storage or food-safety guidance. An egg-based sauce is a food-safety concern if it is kept warm or left at room temperature, and the pickles, though preserved, do not make the finished sauce shelf-stable. Refrigeration is the control recorded here. Published accounts set no keeping time for a homemade sauce.

Commercial tartare sauces are acidified and have their own pH and shelf life, which do not transfer to a sauce made at home.

Unknowns

The exact date of the first tartare recipe, the pickle and herb proportions, and the keeping time of the homemade sauce are not established by the entry read. A French culinary history source and a tested storage study would be the next research steps.