What is tartar sauce?
Tartar sauce is a thick, creamy sauce which is traditionally used to accompany seafood, especially fried seafood. It can also be served with other fried foods, and some people like to use a version of tartar sauce as a salad dressing. Many markets carry commercially-prepared tartar sauce; it can also be easily made at home. Home cooks can manipulate the ingredients to taste, developing a sauce which meets their precise needs. The history of tartar sauce is a bit tangled. It appears to have been developed by the French as a sauce for steak tartare, a famous French dish with thinly chopped raw steak, and at some point, the name was changed to “tartar.” In some regions of the world, people continue to use the French spelling. In any case, tartar sauce appears to date to the 1800s, although similar sauces have been made as far back as the 1600s. The key ingredient in tartar sauce is mayonnaise. Classically, the mayonnaise is mixed with a pickle relish. Other ingredients such as capers, lem
Tartar sauce or tartare sauce is a thick white sauce made from mayonnaise and finely chopped pickled cucumber, capers, onions (or chives), and fresh parsley. Chopped hard-boiled eggs, olives, and horseradish are sometimes added, and dijon mustard is often used as an emulsifier. It is frequently used to season fried seafood dishes. It can also be made by mixing commercially produced relish and mayonnaise. Vinegar can be added for a sharper flavor. The sauce is typically of a rough consistency. Other typical variants contain Worcestershire sauce, red pepper sauce, lemon juice, or black pepper. The name derives from the Tatars, a Turkic people who live primarily in Russia. The sauce was not, however, invented or ever even used by the Tatars but the French[citation needed], who served it as a condiment for steak tartare. Tartar sauce is very commonly spelled “tartare” in many European countries as well as Australia and New Zealand. This is based on the original French phrase sauce tartare.
