Skip to main content
Main

Tartare Sauce

A mayonnaise-like sauce made with egg yolks, vinegar, mustard, olive oil, sugar, salt, pepper, onion juice, capers, and cucumber pickle.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Capers and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,088 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Tartare Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Separate the raw yolks of two eggs.

  2. Whisk the yolks with half a teacupful of pure olive oil, three tablespoonfuls of vinegar, one teaspoonful of mustard, one teaspoonful of sugar, a quarter teaspoonful of pepper, one teaspoonful of salt, and one teaspoonful of onion juice until thickened.

  3. Add one tablespoonful of chopped capers and one teaspoonful of chopped cucumber pickle, whisking until incorporated.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

138Calories
7 gProtein
6 gFat
15 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Capers1 tbsp (9g) drained2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Capers + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,088 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Vinegar + caperstop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,453 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Emulsify the oil and vinegar into a thick, creamy sauce.
Olive oil (in the method)
Provides richness and body as it emulsifies into the yolks.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the sauce and balances the richness of the oil.
Capers
Add a briny, sharp flavour that cuts through the richness.

The step that matters

Whisking the yolks with the oil. Oil must be added slowly while whisking so it emulsifies into the yolks. Adding it too fast can break the sauce, leaving it oily and thin instead of thick.

Swap the capers

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar, pepper, egg):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Cinnamonfits better
  4. Capersthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, pepper, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

More tartar sauce recipes

Hot 3 See all 158 →

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipesYorkshire PuddingYorkshire Pudding264 recipes