Tartar Sauce substitute

Substitutes for Tartar Sauce with ratios

1. 2Mayonnaise with lemon juice

   Taste and texture differ

   ½ cup mayo plus 2 tsp lemon juice and plenty of black pepper

   The ten-second version, covering the two things tartar sauce is really for: cool fat and bright acid against hot fried food.

   What changes

   Best for

   fried fish in a hurry, chips and fries, fish fingers, sandwiches

   This gets you roughly eighty percent of the way for almost no work, because the fat-plus-acid contrast is the actual mechanism by which tartar sauce makes fried fish taste good. What you lose is the crunch and the pickled savouriness, so the sauce reads smoother and blander and it stops being interesting after a few bites. Salt it, since lemon juice alone can make mayonnaise taste thin.

2. 3Remoulade, Danish or Nordic style

   Different taste

   Use the same amount by volume

   The mayonnaise-based condiment served across Scandinavia with fried fish, hot dogs and open sandwiches, thickened with finely chopped pickled vegetables.

   What changes

   Best for

   fried plaice and fish fillets, fishcakes, smorrebrod, hot dogs, fried shrimp

   The natural partner for exactly the same dishes, and in Denmark it is what actually arrives with your fried fish. The difference from tartar sauce is that it is distinctly sweeter, carries mustard and often a pinch of turmeric or curry powder, which gives it a pale yellow colour and a mild spiced warmth. On fried fish that sweetness is a feature. Cajun-style remoulade is a different animal again, tomato-tinted and spicy, and it will dominate delicate white fish.

3. 4Greek yogurt or sour cream base instead of mayonnaise

   Taste and texture differ

   ½ cup yogurt or sour cream plus the same pickle, caper and lemon additions

   The same recipe built on cultured dairy, for a lighter sauce or when there is no mayonnaise in the house.

   What changes

   Best for

   lighter fried fish, grilled or baked fish, fish tacos, salmon

   Tangier and much leaner, which sounds appealing and has one real drawback: mayonnaise is about eighty percent oil, and that fat is what coats the tongue and cools down hot fried food. A yogurt version tastes sharp and slightly watery by comparison. Fix it by whisking in a tablespoon of olive oil and cutting the lemon juice back to half a teaspoon, since the yogurt is already acidic. Sour cream fares better than yogurt because it is fattier.

4. 5Tzatziki

   Different taste

   Use the same amount by volume

   Greek yogurt with grated cucumber, garlic, dill and lemon, which happens to hit the same cool, acidic, herby, crunchy notes.

   What changes

   Best for

   fried fish, fish cakes, grilled fish, calamari, fish wraps

   Works considerably better on fried fish than people expect, because grated cucumber does the same job as chopped pickle and dill is already a classic fish herb. The dish now tastes Greek rather than Nordic or British, and the garlic is noticeable in a way tartar sauce's onion is not. Squeeze the cucumber out hard first, or the sauce will pool water on the plate under the fish.

5. 6Garlic aioli or garlic mayonnaise

   Taste and texture differ

   Use the same amount by volume, plus a squeeze of lemon

   Mayonnaise with crushed raw garlic beaten through it, the Mediterranean answer to fried seafood.

   What changes

   Best for

   fried fish and calamari, chips, prawns, fish sandwiches

   Richer and more assertive than tartar sauce, with garlic filling the flavour gap where the pickle should be. It is completely smooth, so the textural interest is gone, and it needs an extra squeeze of lemon because a plain aioli is less acidic than tartar sauce and can taste heavy against fried batter. Excellent with squid and prawns, slightly overpowering with delicate white fish like plaice or sole.

6. 7Cocktail sauce

   Taste and texture differ

   Use the same amount by volume

   Ketchup with horseradish, lemon and a dash of Worcestershire, which is a real alternative rather than a match.

   What changes

   Best for

   fried shrimp, fried fish, crab cakes, oysters

   Do not expect this to pass as tartar sauce, because it is sweet, tomato-red and pungent with horseradish where tartar sauce is creamy and pickly. What it shares is the important part: sweetness and sharp acidity cutting through fried batter. It contains no fat, so it refreshes rather than coating, and the plate ends up brighter and less rich. If you make it yourself, start at 1/4 cup ketchup to 1 teaspoon prepared horseradish and go up from there.