Lael in Heartland, Iowa, wonders how tartar sauce got its name. The answer is a complicated etymological story that combines cream of tartar, which derives from the Latin tartarum, or a residue left on the inside of wine casks, and the story of the fierce 13th-century warriors known as the Tartars, also known as the Tatars, led by Genghis Khan. These rough-and-ready fighters were known for softening and marinating meat for eating by placing it under their saddles during a long ride, the result of which eventually inspired the German dish steak tartare, which in turn inspired the modern meat patty we call a hamburger. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “All the Things Called “Tartar””
Hi there, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, this is Lael Taylor from Harlan, Iowa.
Well, hello, Lael. How are you?
Welcome to the show.
One day my family and I were baking, and we were using cream of tartar. And this, for some reason, reminded me of tartar sauce. And so we looked up the definition of tartar, like your teeth, and tartar sauce, like leftovers of wine. And then we looked up the definition of tartar sauce, and it had nothing to do with either of those things. So I was wondering how tartar sauce got its name.
Oh, wow, yes. This is a great question. It’s a great question, and you sound like you have a fun family.
Yeah, we do. And you did a lot of your own research, so bravo for that. We appreciate that.
Mm—
All right, you’re right. There are two different words that sound a lot alike here, that each of them gave a word that looks like tartar to different parts of the English language. So you mentioned something about wine, and that’s the one I want to start with.
When we use cream of tartar to cook with, it’s actually a white residue left over from winemaking that comes from the inside of the casks. And somehow somebody figured that you could use it for baking. That word tartar, T-A-R-T-A-R, comes from a Latin word tartarum. And it is unrelated to some of the other tartars that we’re talking about. It is also, however, the one for tartar on your teeth because it looks a lot like that white substance you get when you haven’t brushed in a while, right?
Yeah.
Yeah, so the cream of tartar and the tartar on your teeth are related, and they go back to a Latin word, tartarum, and it means the white crust that forms during the winemaking process inside the cask.
All right, and then we have other tartars happening here, and we have to start with the people known as the tartars, T-A-R-T-A-R, and sometimes called the tatters without the first R, and they were a huge 13th century army of Mongols and Turkic people who were led most famously by Genghis Khan, if you know who he is.
Not really.
He was the warrior to end all warriors. He was one of the most savage leaders of military that has ever existed on this earth, according to legend anyway.
Yeah.
So a really big deal. And so this army, get this, they would take meat and put it under their saddles while riding their horses all day. And the meat would be cooked through friction and the saltiness of the horse’s sweat.
Really?
Kind of cured and cooked at the same time.
Yeah.
And they would eat it. So it was still technically raw, but it was somehow, I don’t know. This is what they did. All of the resources they have say that this happened. I would like to know how they know that the Tartars put raw meat under the saddle of their horses and then ate it after a while.
In any case, so that became a dish known as steak tartare. Have you ever heard of this?
Kind of.
Well, the Germans in Hamburg, Germany, in the medieval times, later created a raw meat dish that we call steak tartare. And they mimicked this dish from the Tartars, the Mongols and the Turkic people. And they added some seasoning to it. So they took the raw meat and they added mayonnaise and pickles and onions and olives and capers and some herbs. And this kind of spice that they added to it is what we now call tartar sauce. So it’s kind of like what you add to steak tartare without the steak. Does that make sense?
Yeah.
So the tartar sauce mimics the spices and flavors that were added to steak tartare originally in the medieval times. How about that?
That’s a really, really long history. And can I give you one more thing, Leo?
Yeah.
Ultimately, the same raw meat dish made in Hamburg, Germany, became what we know as hamburgers today. Later, of course, shaped into patties and cooked, but still, ultimately, its origins go back to medieval times with these Germans mimicking this tartar dish.
Whoa.
That’s a lot, I know. You know what? When we get a chance, we’re going to put this up on the website. We’ll have links in the full story, and you’ll be able to listen to it in detail, all right?
Yeah.
Thank you for having me.
Hey, you know what? It was a real delight. Thank you for taking some time out of your day to talk with us.
Yeah, it’s a great question. Call us again sometime, all right?
Okay.
Bye-bye.
Bye.
Bye.
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