Chef Joost
Appelcompote
Appelcompote is the apple left with its dignity: soft enough to spoon beside pork or potatoes, still chunky enough to remind you autumn did the real work.
Culinary Explorer
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Ravigottesaus
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The herb-flecked green spoonful beside kibbeling carries a French name, a Dutch fish-cart life, and enough vinegar to wake a fried cod bite properly.
Sauces & Condiments
Dutch
Weeknight
Dinner Party
15 min
Active Time
0 min cook•25 min total
YieldAbout 300ml, enough for 4 to 6 servings
At the fish stall, the sauce is never the main thing. That is how you know it matters. You order kibbeling, those crisp little pieces of battered white fish, and beside them comes a pale green ravigottesaus in a plastic cup, sharp with vinegar, busy with parsley and capers, doing the work no lemon wedge can quite manage.
The name already tells you its first passport is French. Ravigote belongs to ravigoter, to revive or put strength back into someone, and the old French sauce was exactly that: herbs, acid, mustard, and bite, made to wake tired meats and fish. But let me tell you a secret. The Dutch took the idea and made it behave at the quay. Less ceremony, more spoon. Mayonnaise or oil as the base, pickles and capers for salt, parsley and chives for green freshness, vinegar enough to cut through fried fish.
Hou het altijd simpel, always keep it simple. Chop finer than you think, because this sauce is not a salad wearing mayonnaise. Let it rest ten minutes so the capers, pickles, mustard, and herbs stop shouting separately and become one bright voice. Then put it next to fried fish, boiled potatoes, cold herring, or even a hard-boiled egg, and watch the small green sauce do its old work: reviving the plate.
Ravigote sauce entered Dutch kitchens through French culinary influence in the nineteenth century, when French terms filled restaurant menus and household cookbooks across the Low Countries. The French original could be a warm herb-and-vinegar sauce or a cold vinaigrette, but the Dutch everyday version became a cold, mayonnaise-bound sauce with parsley, capers, pickles, mustard, and vinegar. Its strongest modern home is beside fried fish, especially kibbeling, where its acid and herbs balance the richness of the batter.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
good mayonnaise
Quantity
200g
flat-leaf parsley
Quantity
2 tablespoons
finely chopped
chives
Quantity
1 tablespoon
finely chopped
tarragon or chervil (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
finely chopped
pickles (augurken)
Quantity
2 tablespoons
finely chopped
capers
Quantity
1 tablespoon
rinsed and finely chopped
small shallot
Quantity
1
very finely minced
Dijon mustard
Quantity
1 teaspoon
white wine vinegar
Quantity
2 teaspoons
pickle brine
Quantity
1 teaspoon
sugar
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
freshly ground white pepper
Quantity
to taste
salt
Quantity
only if needed
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| good mayonnaise | 200g |
| flat-leaf parsleyfinely chopped | 2 tablespoons |
| chivesfinely chopped | 1 tablespoon |
| tarragon or chervil (optional)finely chopped | 1 tablespoon |
| pickles (augurken)finely chopped | 2 tablespoons |
| capersrinsed and finely chopped | 1 tablespoon |
| small shallotvery finely minced | 1 |
| Dijon mustard | 1 teaspoon |
| white wine vinegar | 2 teaspoons |
| pickle brine | 1 teaspoon |
| sugar | 1/2 teaspoon |
| freshly ground white pepper | to taste |
| salt | only if needed |
Equipment Needed
- •Small mixing bowl
- •Sharp knife
- •Fine chopping board
- •Small whisk or spoon
Instructions
- 1
Chop the green things
Chop the parsley, chives, and tarragon or chervil very finely. Do the same with the pickles, capers, and shallot. This is the only real labour in the sauce, and it matters: large pieces make it clumsy, while fine chopping lets every spoonful taste green, sharp, and even.
- 2
Build the base
Stir the mayonnaise, mustard, white wine vinegar, pickle brine, sugar, and a little white pepper together in a bowl until smooth. Taste before adding salt. Capers, pickles, and mayonnaise already bring plenty, and a sauce for fish should wake the mouth, not salt it shut.
- 3
Fold in herbs
Fold in the chopped herbs, pickles, capers, and shallot. Stir gently until the sauce is flecked evenly with green and pale pickle. If it seems too thick for dipping, loosen it with another teaspoon of vinegar or pickle brine, not water; water makes it dull.
For kibbeling, keep the sauce just loose enough to cling to a piece of fish without sliding off. That little grip is the difference between dipping and chasing. - 4
Rest and serve
Cover and refrigerate for at least ten minutes, thirty if you have it. The shallot softens, the herbs scent the mayonnaise, and the vinegar settles into the sauce. Serve cold beside kibbeling, fried white fish, boiled potatoes, herring, or eggs.
Chef Tips
- •Use fresh parsley and chives. Dried herbs have their place in a winter stew, but here they taste like the cupboard trying to impersonate the garden.
- •If serving with very salty fish, rinse the capers well and skip extra salt. The sauce should brighten the fish, not compete with it.
- •For a lighter, older-fashioned version, replace half the mayonnaise with neutral oil whisked with an extra teaspoon of vinegar. It will be sharper and looser, closer to the French cold ravigote.
Advance Preparation
- •Make up to one day ahead and keep covered in the refrigerator; stir before serving as the herbs may settle.
- •Best used within two days. After that the herbs darken and the shallot takes over, which is not the story we came for.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 60g)
Calories
145 calories
Total Fat
15 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
13 g
Cholesterol
10 mg
Sodium
220 mg
Total Carbohydrates
3 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
0 g
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