Ali-oli: sauce with a past

Press, 3 February 1987, Page 11

Ali-oli: sauce with a past

Food & Fable I by

David Burton

As much as the French would love the rest of the world to believe they have the monopoly on fine cuisine, they themselves prove otherwise through their habit of stealing dishes from other countries and then passing them off as their own. No foreign dish, it will be noted, is allowed to remain in the French language with its original name intact Thus an old English dish such as Burnt Cream becomes Creme Brulee and in time, is thought to be a French invention. The same applies to aioli, that unctuous garlicky version of mayonnaise which is usually thought of as a Provencal sauce, but which almost certainly originated in Spain, probably around Valencia, as ali-oli. Indeed, it may well be that the French pinched

mayonnaise itself from the Spanish. After the Due de Richelieu defeated the British at the port of Mahon in Minorca in 1756, he is said to have tasted mayonnaise there and liked it so much he took it back to France where the sauce, then called Mahon-aise, was renamed mayonnaise. Naturally the French dispute this violently. They claim the word is derived either from the ■ French manier, to stir, or from the old French moyeu, an egg yolk. Another less plausible explanation is that it was invented by the chef to Napolean’s Irish General McMahon. Even more improbably, it is claimed the sauce was originally called bayonnaise, after the town of Bayenne in the Basses-Pyrenees. Be that as it may, it seems much more likely

that mayonnaise originated south of the Pyrenees around the Mediterranean where the olive tree grows, and that it .. was being made by peas-. ants well before the eight- .; eenth or nineteenth centuries. Certainly, the prototype of ali-oli, which means garlic-oil, was being written about 2000 years ago by Virgil, who called it moretum. . In ancient Spain it was called ajolio and consisted of garlic crushed in a mortar with olive oil, salt and perhaps a little lemon juice. ... ’• t ‘. Often it was made with breadcrumbs and/or mashed potato, as indeed

the Greek version of alioli, known as skordalia, is still made today. The Spanish have traditional, glazed, earthenware or china mortars especially for making alioli. Of course, there are still those Luddites of the kitchen who insist that real ali-oli cannot be made in a blender or food 1 processor, which is absolute nonsense. I’ve tried it, and you can. Crush 4 to 8 cloves garlic with a knife or garlic press. (You can also do this by dropping them into a running food processor with the metal blade attached, but the result is rather coarse.) Place garlic in a food processor and add % t salt, 3 t lemon juice and either 2 egg yolks, OR,

for a lighter version, 1 whole egg. Set the motor going and dribble in 258 ml olive oil, slowly at first Add up to 1 T water or stock to thin the mixture, if desired. Failing a food processor, beat the oil into the egg mixture with a whisk or an egg beater, only very slowly or the mixture will separate. In Spain, a very popular way of serving ali-oli is as an accompaniment to grilled rabbit. At a very famous Barcelona restaurant called the' Agut d’Avignon, I have had warmed ali-oli served over grilled prawns. It is also delicious with fish. The recipe for the French aioli is virtually identical, and is so popular it is often referred to as-the butter of Provence. It is traditionally served on Christmas Eve and on. Fridays, spread like a shining golden ointment over a variety of plainly boiled vegetables, or eaten with the meat left over from a pot au feu. Aoili is also incorporated into a version of bouillabaisse known as bourride, which can easily be made outside the Mediterranean since it does not require a special variety of rockfish.

Bourride Buy Ikg of fish, preferably a mixture of two or more species, 5Hg squid and some extra fish bones and/or heads. Prepare a fish stock: place the bones and/or heads with 1 carrot, roughly chopped, the green tops of 2 leeks, 2 bay leaves, 2 branches of fennel (wild fennel will do fine), a strip of orange peel, 2T wine vinegar, a sprig of parsley, and ' cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. Strain and set aside. Meanwhile, prepare the squid. Scrub off the outer spotty skin with a pot scourer, turn the hood inside out, remove the transparent backbone and cut out the gut, the head and the beak. Remove the

suckers from the tentacles

and cut the tentacles into manageable lengths. Slice the hood into rings. Slice the white parts of the 2 leeks into rings. Place in a pot with 4 T olive oil and fry a few minutes. Add 3 cloves crushed garlic, the fish (cut up into large pieces) and pour in the stock. Simmer gently for about 10 minutes. Five minutes before the end of cooking, .add the squid. Remove the squid, fish and leeks and keep warm on a covered plate in a low oven. Boil the fish stock over a high heat to reduce to about 750m15. Have ali-oli ready, made as described above, only use the 2 egg yolks rather than the whole egg as the white will curdle when heated. Mix two-thirds of this with 3 extra egg yolks, then slowly stir in the stock until it is amalgamated. Heat the stock gently over a medium heat, stirring continuously, until it thickens (do not boil) then pour over the fish. Offer the rest of the ali-oli at the table, along with French bread.