Let the sauce begin …

What?! Tartare Sauce?! Yep – it's not exclusively served with fish.

First up an explanation. Tartare sauce is an emulsion sauce, that is to say it's made by mixing two ingredients that don't easily comply which is why they can split and spoil. There are hot and cold emulsion sauces. For those out there who have struggled with a Hollandaise Sauce you'll know what I mean about splitting and spoiling. It's fair to say therefore that emulsion sauces are by their nature tricky.

A smidge of culinary history. Back in the 1950s a classic tartare sauce was made with mayonnaise, adding capers and gherkins, followed by hard boiled egg yolks and the white of a boiled egg, shredded and herbs such as chives and parsley too.

You could of course resort to a shop bought jar. It's my experience that they are either too sloppy or too vinegary. Solution – make your own, here's my fast-ish recipe.

If you want to make your own mayo, use the Stick Blender recipe – here it is for ease of reference :

Stick blender mayonnaise

1 egg

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

pinch of salt

juice of half a lemon – 2 tbsp

350ml of grapeseed oil

Break an egg into the stick blender jug. It's important that the yolk doesn't break. Add the mustard, salt and lemon.

Add the grapeseed oil again being careful not to break the yolk. Insert the stick blender, be sure that the blades completely cover the yolk.

Blend – after a couple of seconds you'll see white ribbons rising through the oil. Slowly pull the blender up through the oil so it amalgamates and push down again to incorporate all the oil.

Use two heaped tablespoons of mayo, then add :

1 tsp of capers – finely chopped

1 tsp of cornichons – finely chopped

1 tsp of black olives – pitted, sliced and finely chopped

optional drizzle of double cream

celery salt and white pepper

Stick Blender Mayo is not as stiff as shop bought since it does not contain preservatives so the consistency should be spot on – if you think it's too stiff for your taste then add a drizzle of double cream.

The Stick Blender Mayo recipe includes lemon juice and Dijon mustard, an excellent “good to go” base. All that's needed is extra seasonings – celery salt and white pepper and finally incorporate the capers, cornichons and black olives - you're done!

An added bonus - you get 425g from a batch of mayonnaise and it will keep in the fridge for 3 days, so loads left over for other stuff!

A couple of photos …