Rémoulade

Mayonnaise built stiffer than usual because every single thing added to it afterwards is wet.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg. Vegetarian only if you leave out the optional fish.

Ingredients

• 1 batch mayonnaise, as on its own page, made stiff
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 4 tablespoons cornichons, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons capers, chopped
• 2 tablespoons flat parsley, chopped
• 1 tablespoon tarragon, chopped
• 1 tablespoon chervil, chopped, if you can get it
• 2 anchovy fillets, mashed, optional
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• black pepper

Method

1. THE MAYONNAISE IS MADE STIFFER THAN USUAL BECAUSE EVERYTHING ADDED TO IT IS WET. Cornichons, capers, mustard, lemon and three lots of herbs all carry water, and a mayonnaise at normal consistency ends up a thin dressing sliding off whatever it was meant to coat. Take it to the point where a spoon stands up in it; it slackens to exactly right once the rest goes in.
2. THE CORNICHONS AND CAPERS ARE SQUEEZED DRY FIRST, in the corner of a cloth. They sit in vinegar and most of what makes the sauce split is in that vinegar rather than in the pickles themselves.
3. AND THEY ARE CHOPPED, NOT BLITZED. This is a sauce you can see the pieces in; run through a processor it goes a uniform grey-green and tastes of mustard and nothing else.
4. THE HERBS GO IN LAST AND AS LATE AS POSSIBLE. Tarragon in particular takes over everything it sits in for more than an hour, and chopped herbs in an acidic sauce go olive within two.
5. Mayonnaise made as on its own page, taken a little stiffer than usual -- a spoonful should hold its shape.
6. Cornichons and capers chopped fine, then squeezed dry in a cloth.
7. The mustard whisked into the mayonnaise first, on its own, so it disperses evenly.
8. The anchovy mashed to a paste and whisked in if using. It adds depth and nobody tastes fish.
9. Cornichons and capers folded through.
10. Lemon juice and plenty of pepper.
11. TASTED BEFORE ANY SALT GOES IN. Capers, cornichons, mustard and anchovy are all salted, and it almost never needs more.
12. The herbs folded in just before serving.
13. Keeps two days in the fridge, though the herbs dull after a few hours. For celeriac remoulade, the celeriac is cut in fine matchsticks, salted 20 minutes and squeezed dry before it meets the sauce, for the same reason as the cornichons.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under France · All recipes