I remember learning to make an emulsion sauce called Rouille at Le Cirque. It's one of my favorites! Rouille is a delicious, French emulsion sauce with garlic, egg yolks, olive oil, tomato and herbs traditionally served with Bouillabaisse, the 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!
