I remember learning to make an emulsion sauce for called Rouille at Le Cirque. It's one of my favorites! Rouille is a delicious, classic French garlic mayonnaise served with bouillabaisse, a famous, French fish soup. I was taught to use EVOO, saffron, garlic etc... and cooked potato in the recipe.

Other famous emulsion sauces include aioli, vinaigrettes, dressings, etc...


Tartar Sauce

Tartar Sauce is a condiment, most often served with fried seafood. It's great with fried flounder, oysters, clam strips and shrimp! It is one of many, global emulsion sauces made with egg yolks, oil, acid (lemon/vinegar), seasonings and garnish.


I prefer to use delicious mayonnaise such as Dukes, Hellman's or Kewpie as the base but you can prepare (homemade) mayonnaise with pasteurized egg yolks if you prefer.


Mayonnaise is commonly used as a binder for crab cakes, salad dressings and works great to coat the bread for paninis!


Basically, I prepare tartar sauce by adding relish or chopped cornichons, capers, hard boiled eggs, Worcestershire sauce, fresh herbs, lemon juice, mustard and a touch of hot sauce or cayenne to mayonnaise and seasoning to taste.




Tartar Sauce

Prep Time: 30 min

Yield:  1 Pint


Ingredients                                          

3 Cups     Mayonnaise

2 Tbsp    Relish or Cornichons, chopped

1 Tbsp.    Capers

1 ea.          Hard boiled Eggs, chopped

1 tsp         Dijon Mustard

1 tsp        Lemon juice

2 Tbsp    Fresh Herbs, chopped (I like dill, tarragon, basil, Italian parsley)

1 tsp        Worcestershire sauce

t.t.            Hot sauce (optional)


How to Prepare Tartar Sauce


Step 1

Assemble all of the ingredients;

begin by adding the mayonnaise to a bowl.

Add all of the remaining ingredients into the mayonnaise and blend together with a rubber spatula, being careful not to crush the hard boiled eggs.










Season to taste.



For the fresh herbs, rinse the herbs in cold water, spin dry and chop. Add to taste.



Emulsion sauces are fantastic on sandwiches also!



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