Tartar Sauce

Method

1. mince6 min
   pickle, capers and shallot cut fine and even
   pickle + capers + shallot chopped small enough that no single spoonful is dominated by one of them. Cut fine rather than chunky: this is a sauce for coating, and large pieces separate out and sit at the bottom of the bowl
2. season4 min
   chopped pickle pressed between paper towels
   the pickle dried before it goes in. Pickle carries a surprising amount of brine, and it keeps leaching for an hour — a sauce that was right when mixed and watery by dinner was not drained. The brine is worth tasting first, since it can go back in a teaspoon at a time if the sauce needs sharpening
3. fold4 min
   large bowl, mayonnaise first, everything folded in gently
   mayonnaise + drained pickle + capers + shallot + lemon juice + mustard + parsley + pepper (+ dill, + hot sauce, + salt), turned through until evenly distributed. Fold rather than beat — mayonnaise is already an emulsion, and vigorous stirring thins it as the droplets are knocked together
4. rest30 min
   covered, refrigerated, at least 30 minutes
   before serving. This is not a formality: raw shallot is harsh on contact and mellows as its sulphur compounds disperse into the fat, and the pickle and caper flavours need time to move out of the solids and through the sauce. Tasted immediately it reads as mayonnaise with things in it; after half an hour it reads as one sauce
5. season2 min
   cold, tasted on something fried if possible
   to taste. Judge it against what it will be eaten with — alone it will seem too sharp, which is exactly what a rich fried thing needs. Add salt last, since capers, pickle and mustard all bring their own