Algérienne sauce or "Algerian sauce", is a sweet and spicy sauce with a yellowish-orange color. It is often available at fast-food businesses serving French tacos or kebabs, as well as friteries and other similar fast-food businesses, in Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Belgium, France, and Switzerland.
The earliest documentation for Algerian sauce can be pinpointed to the year 1876, from the book 'Le livre des menus' authored by Fin-Bec.[1] Over time, recipes have evolved. Ernest Loewer describes the Algerian sauce in 1962 as comprising half-sautéed tomatoes, stuffed with a julienne of peppers, and served alongside croquette potatoes.[2]
Subsequently, numerous sauce companies, particularly in Algeria, Belgium and France, have industrialized the production of the Algerian sauce, with a primary focus on its application in French tacos or as a dip for fries. Similar to other industrialized sauces, the recipes for Algerian sauce have diversified, with each sauce company incorporating its own distinctive blend and resulting in variations in spiciness, sweetness, and texture.[3]
Algérienne sauce has traditionally been prepared with mayonnaise ingredients (oil, egg yolk), to which are added mustard, shallot, black pepper, vinegar, and chili pepper or harissa, and sometimes also tomato or tomato sauce, anchovies, capers, etc.
[4] Algérienne sauce is associated with French tacos.[5]is a French Spotify podcast hosted by Paul-Max Morin about the legacies of French colonialism in Algeria and the Algerian War as understood through family histories.[6]