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sauce américaine

lobster sauce

sauce americaine

Derived from the classic homard à l’Américaine, sauce américaine was originally made from the pounded shells and meat of a lobster, combined with fish velouté, onions, tomatoes, white wine, brandy, salt, cayenne pepper, and butter.

Today it seems to mean almost anything. The pricier brands of ready-made sauce américaine verge on the original, but the cheaper kind in the squeeze tube bottles seem more like mayonnaise with tomato sauce and paprika.

Which is similar to what Americans used to call ‘French dressing.’

Sauces and condiments

Text © Dana Facaros

Image by Open Food Facts