Throughout the islands you will find various pepper sauces. Like this creole sauce chien, which is a French Caribbean pepper sauce.
Recipe video:
I recently posted a Crispy Steak and Potatoes recipe, which is a must try by the way. Along with that recipe, I topped the steak with a homemade creole sauce chien. And I thought, I had to go more in depth about this magnificent sauce for those who are just now hearing about it.
If you’ve never heard about sauce chien then you are probably wondering: what the heck is it? Well sauce chien is the French for dog sauce, that is if you have to translate it literally. However, it’s a French West Indian sauce/vinaigrette that is usually spicy. This sauce comes from the islands of Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guyana.
The sauce is usually made from water, lime juice, scotch bonnet pepper, fresh herbs, salt and pepper. Although many people enjoy the traditional version, you can also find various variations of the sauce. Some are made from tomatoes and you even find it with mangos.
In order to enjoy this sauce to its full capacity, it must go on top of any grilled meat or fish, at least in my opinion. But you can also enjoy the sauce on top of vegetables or on a salad, if that is your vibe.
Before I dive into the recipe, I would like to share some tips & tricks with you guys.
TIPS & TRICKS:
- Preparation: It’s a fairly easy, quick and simple sauce to put together. But the key to success is to prep all of your ingredients before you start mixing everything together. So I suggest cutting all the herbs, vegetables and what not before you begin mixing everything.
- Marinating: In order to have a delicious sauce chien recipe, you need to allow all the herbs and vegetables to marinate. This is a make ahead type of sauce, so if you are going to use this sauce for a specific purpose I suggest making it the day before. When you are about to eat, take this bad boy out of the fridge and enjoy.
- Herbs: You cannot expect to have a delicious sauce if you don’t use fresh herbs. The herbs are simple, I typically use thyme and parsley or sometimes just parsley. I highly suggest using fresh herbs only, but in other cases dried herbs will work. Just note that dried herbs will not give you a strong sauce chien.
- Pepper: Scotch bonnet is the way to go, but if you are not the spicy type then you can definitely use a pepper that is milder, like jalapeños for instance.
The sauce can last between 4-7 days in the fridge.
I hope you enjoy the recipe.
Now, let’s get into it.
Creole Sauce Chien
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup Warm water
- 1/4 cup Olive oil
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/4 tsp Black pepper
- 2 Garlic cloves minced
- 1 Onion or shallot finely diced
- 1 Scotch bonnet finely diced
- 5-6 Fresh parsley branches finely chopped
- 4-5 Scallions branches finely diced
- 3-4 Fresh thyme branches roughly chopped
- Juice of 1 lime
Instructions
- Place all the herbs in a bowl, garlic, onion and scallions into a small mixing bowl.
- Add the salt and black pepper.
- Slowly mixing in the oil and lime juice. Then gradually stir in the warm water(you may need more, the goal is to have the water covering the herbs).
- Once everything is mixed well together, cover the bowl or pour the sauce into a jar and refrigerate for an hour or overnight before using.
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