Green sauce is the name of several different sauces containing mainly herbs, namely the Italian salsa verde, the French sauce verte, and the German Grüne Soße or Frankfurter Grie Soß (Frankfurt dialect).
History
The basic recipe is probably from the
Near East and, as such, is probably at least 2,000 years old. Roman
legionaries brought it to
Italy, from where it was exported to
France and
Germany. Evidence suggests that it was introduced in
Frankfurt am Main by the Italian trading families
Bolongaro and
Crevenna around
1700. The German variant uses a different mix of herbs, since
Mediterranean herbs were not available in Germany at the time.
Italian salsa verde
The Italian
salsa verde is a cold rustic sauce, and includes
parsley,
vinegar,
capers,
garlic,
onion,
anchovies,
olive oil, and possibly
mustard. Traditionally, ingredients were coarsely chopped by hand but now it is frequently blended into a coarse sauce using a
food processor. In some regions, cubed bread is soaked in vinegar and blended with the other ingredients, which creates an emulsion somewhat similar to a
vinaigrette. In other regions, there is no bread. Salsa verde is used as a condiment or dipping sauce for meats, fish, poultry, or vegetables.
One well-known salsa verde is gremolata, the usual accompaniment to ossobuco alla milanese.
French sauce verte
The French
sauce verte au pain was already known in the
Renaissance, and was originally a bread sauce very similar to the Italian. Today, however, the term frequently refers to a kind of
mayonnaise flavoured with
tarragon, and sometimes
parsley and
sage. Lemon juice is often used instead of vinegar.
German Grüne Soße
There are two traditional types of
Hessian Green Sauce which are popular in the
Frankfurt am Main and
Kassel area. The Frankfurt-style is made from hard-boiled eggs, oil (but not olive oil), vinegar, salt, and generous amount of seven fresh herbs, namely
borage,
sorrel,
cress,
chervil,
chives,
parsley, and
salad burnet. Variants, often due to seasonal availability include
dill,
lovage,
lemon balm and even
spinach or
basil. In more frugal times,
daisy leaves, broad
plantain leaves, and
dandelion leaves were also used. Since the sauce is mainly an emulsion of fat and egg yolk, it may be classified as a kind of
mayonnaise (although common mayonnaise uses raw yolks). Today,
buttermilk,
sour cream ("Saure Sahne" with 10 per cent fat, or "Schmand" with 24 per cent fat),
quark, or
yogurt is often added in order to reduce the oil content of the sauce. The green sauce typical of the city of Kassel is made with a sour cream base.
The sauce is served with peeled boiled potatoes, accompanying either hard-boiled eggs or roasted beef brisket. Hard apple cider is a typical accompanying drink. This was supposedly Goethe's favourite meal; a legend that his mother invented it is likely apocryphal.
Mexican and Mexican-American salsa verde
Green sauces are common in Mexican and Mexican-American cuisines. The basis of the green sauce (known as salsa verde) is typically pureed cooked or raw tomatillos, with chiles or jalapenos, white onion, cilantro, and sometimes lime added to taste. Salsa verde can range in spiciness from mild to mouth-searing. It may be warm, as in a chile verde, or cold, as a condiment. In Mexican-American cuisine, a green sauce is frequently used as a dip for tortilla chips and served with tacos, grilled pork, grilled meats and even fish.
It is also a sauce at the Taco Bell and Del Taco restaurants.
Notes and references
Footnotes
