Tartar Sauce
for fried fish
Roots of the Recipe
POISSON · THE FISH COURSESauce à la Tartare
Tartar sauce began as a way of serving food, not a recipe. In the 1700s, French, English and Polish cookbooks called breaded, grilled meat or fish “à la tartare” and served it with a sharp, cold sauce. The sauce kept the name.
“Tartare” was the old French name for the Tatars of the Eurasian steppe, borrowed by French cooks for sharp, spicy dishes. The Tatars never made the sauce.
In 1849 Alexis Soyer, a French chef in London, built his tartar sauce from egg yolks and oil with gherkins, capers, shallot, parsley, French mustard, cayenne and a little sugar. In 1903 Auguste Escoffier served it with fried fish, and alongside steak tartare.
In the 1920s Hellmann’s put tartar sauce in jars. Until then it had always been made from scratch; the jar put it on grocery shelves, where it has stayed.
Ours keeps Soyer’s capers and his pinch of sugar.
SOURCES
- Eliza Acton, Modern Cookery for Private Families (London, 1845).
- Alexis Soyer, The Modern Housewife (London, 1849), no. 626.
- Auguste Escoffier, Le Guide Culinaire (Paris, 1903).
- Cooksinfo, “Tartar Sauce.”
Ingredients
Method
- Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine.
- Taste for more lemon juice.
- Chill for 30 minutes to bring out the flavors.
- Serve cold or room temperature.