The Homemade Sauce That Gives Fried Fish Sandwiches A Restaurant-Style Upgrade

Fried fish sandwiches are obviously great (there's a fantastic one in every state, by the way), but they do suffer from one thing; without a proper sauce of some sort, even the best fish sandwich can come off as being a bit dry. Many people lean on tartar sauce for their homemade fried fish sandwiches, which is a great standard, but sometimes your fish just begs for a little more flavor. To that end, consider adding remoulade (the popular Cajun sauce based off of French cooking) to your vocabulary for a livelier option.

Remoulade is easy to make and has similarities to tartar sauce since it's mayo-based and uses chopped pickles, but it uses additional ingredients to add to its flavor. Those would include paprika, horseradish, capers, and more. Since it's popular in Cajun cuisine, you bet many people add a dash of hot sauce, and mustard is always a flavorful booster. If you're into acidic flavors, you can always add the secret weapon of pickle juice as well. Think of it as the boisterous sibling of tartar sauce, one that's not shy on flavor.

If you're worried about taking the time to make remoulade at home since you don't plan on eating fish sandwiches for a week, don't worry there are plenty of other uses. Because remoulade's acidic flavors have a good way of cutting through fried food it's a good dressing not only for fried green tomato sandwiches, it's just a perfect accompaniment for fried green tomatoes in general. You can also use remoulade as a dipping sauce for things like fried shrimp, oysters, or crab cakes. 

As you can see, it's basically a jack-of-all-trades — it even fits on conventional deli sandwiches. One interesting fact is that remoulade is part of the standard topping set for Iceland's beloved hot dogs, though their recipe is different than the Cajun version. The Icelandic version is more of a mayo and Dijon mustard mix with a few supplemental additions. When you're in the mood for a fried fish sandwich but just want something other than tartar sauce, try remoulade; it's the more flavorful option that you can use for almost anything.