The Hirshon TRUE Algerian Sauce – Sauce Algérienne

My glorious Citizens – your beloved Leader, the Sultan of Spice, the Khan of Condiments – has been burning the candle at both ends these last several weeks, most recently jumping 4 time zones in 7 days throughout the United States, Iceland and Norway! “Burning the candle” is a metaphor in My mind for spicy, and today’s recipe for the insanely-popular Sauce Algérienne (Algerian Sauce) is very much today’s answer to that capsaicin clarion call!

This sauce is quite literally ubiquitous throughout European halal street food establishments. Ironically, this sauce is NOT Algerian at all – but is in fact Belgian!

Sauce Algérienne or “Algerian sauce” is standard at fast-food businesses serving French tacos or kebabs, as well as friteries and other similar fast-food businesses. It is now very popular in Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Belgium, France, and Switzerland, but it is truly a European institution that sadly has yet to grace American shores! There are literally dozens of commercial versions and innumerable mom & pop variants of sauce Algérienne.

The earliest documentation for Algerian sauce can be pinpointed to the year 1876, from the book ‘Le livre des menus’ authored by Fin-Bec.

Numerous sauce particularly in Belgium have industrialized the production Algerian sauce with a primary focus on its use in French tacos or as a dip for fries. Similar to other industrialized sauces, the recipes for Algerian sauce have diversified, with each sauce company incorporating its own distinctive blend and resulting in variations in spiciness, sweetness, and texture.

What is a so-called “French taco”, you might rightfully ask? I’m glad you did, because this is one of the primary use-cases for sauce Algérienne, beyond frites (French fries) and other condiment classics! 😉

A French taco, aka Lyonese tacos (French: tacos lyonnais) or matelas (French for “mattress”), is a fast food dish which usually consists of a flour tortilla grilled and folded around a filling of French fries, cheese, and meat, among other deli ingredients.

Despite the name, the French tacos has little to do with the taco and is far more similar to a burrito or quesadilla. French tacos has also been compared to the panini and the döner kebab sandwich, and is similar to the California burrito.

The tacos consists of a flour tortilla wrapped or folded in a rectangular shape around a filling which usually includes:

• various types of meat, such as chicken, turkey or beef, in the form of mince, escalopes, chicken nuggets, döner kebab, cordon bleu, turkey lardons, etc.;
• French fries;
• cheese, be it any type of French cheese, usually French Emmental, cheddar or processed cheese (like The Laughing Cow’s Toastinette, or meltable American cheese), or a cheese sauce may be used instead;
• an additional sauce or relish, which is generally any of white döner kebab sauce, Algérienne sauce, ketchup, mayonnaise, harissa, BBQ sauce, or other sauces usually available in kebab shops;
• vegetables, generally in the form of salad mix, but also in other forms such as shakshouka.
• It is then served warmed by grilling (with the use of a panini grill) or toasting.

Many different recipes exist and it is common for French tacos restaurants to deliver made to order products by letting customers choose à la carte from the aforementioned ingredients. Meat-free variants also exist. Most French tacos made in France are marketed as halal-certified and as such do not contain pork, in order to accommodate Muslim customers.

A newsletter of Vaulx-en-Velin described it as “In short, a rather successful marriage between panini, kebab, and burrito”. There are conflicting accounts about the exact origin of the French tacos. Some accounts say it was invented in the mid-2000s by Moroccan born brothers Abdelhadi and Mohammed Moubarek as they were running a kebab shop in Savoy.

The French documentary series 66 minutes, on the other hand, credits Mohamed Soualhi, founder of the chain Tacos Avenue (formerly Tacos King) with inventing the sandwich in Lyon in the late 2000s. However, Soualhi himself, as well as other sources, have affirmed that “French tacos” were first sighted in fast food restaurants in the city of Vaulx-en-Velin near Lyon in the early 2000s.

By the late 2000s, French tacos had become popular among teenagers and young adults in Rhône-Alpes. Years later, their popularity spread to the rest of France as dedicated chains ran massive ad campaigns, with the help of social media and celebrity endorsements.

In 2013, the Moubarek brothers launched “Tacos de Lyon,” the first French tacos restaurant, in Casablanca, Morocco. The sandwich quickly gained popularity among young adults in Morocco’s major cities and was hailed by TelQuel in 2017 as “the new star of fast food in Morocco.”

By then, 50 restaurants, including 35 Tacos de Lyon locations, were serving the dish nationwide. French tacos establishments have also expanded to other countries, including Algeria, Senegal, Canada, Switzerland, and Vietnam. As of August 2023, the French chain O’Tacos operates 260 locations in France and has expanded to The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and Spain.

The origin of the name “French tacos” is subject to as much speculation as the sandwich itself. Daniel Shkolnik of Vice describes the naming as tacos as “a kind of marketing bait-and-switch, drawing people with the promise of a Mexican culinary icon and then selling them something completely different.”

As its popularity grew, the sandwich was gradually branded as tacos français to tell it apart from the original taco. In turn, the taco is sometimes referred to in France as “Mexican taco” (French: taco mexicain) to emphasize the difference between the two dishes.

Now – back to the recipe of the day!

Algérienne sauce has traditionally been prepared with mayonnaise ingredients (oil, egg yolk), to which are added mustard, shallot, black pepper, vinegar, and chili pepper or harissa, and sometimes also tomato or tomato sauce, anchovies, capers, etc. Algérienne sauce is associated with French tacos.

As noted in this lightly-edited excerpt from heypelo.com:

Kebabs and French Tacos are a huge success in France. About 360 millions of kebabs are sold every year in France.

The döner kebab’s French version has a lot in common with the French Tacos composition. If the classic one is made with what we call “white sauce” (a kind of tzatziki sauce), most kebab shops also made their success with their big variety of sauces. Without it, the story would be very different. But where come from those sauces with their atypical names like Andalouse, Brazilian, Samurai or Algerian?

To know, we need to cross the border, not too far from France, because we’re going to Belgium! Those sauces were created from the 70’s by companies such as La William, Colona or Devos Lemmens, who at first were sauce suppliers for restaurants, before growing internationally.

But where do those sauce names come from? It’s pure creativity! Let’s take the Algerian sauce example: Algerian people didn’t know the Algerian sauce before it became a thing in France and Belgium. Its invention comes from the halal sauce brand Nawhal’s, who was inspired by the Mahjouba, an Algerian stuffed crepe recipe with an onion and spice base. Sweet and spicy, the Algerian sauce is, with the Samurai, one of the most favored street sauces in France.

Indeed, Hassan El Jallab, the founder of the sauce brand known as Nawhal’s and whose greatest success was undoubtedly the Algerian sauce, is not in fact Algerian by origin. Many might think so – however, this brilliant inventor is in fact Moroccan.

He currently resides in Belgium and his Algerian Sauce is by far the best-selling product of this Moroccan creator. The sauce is among the most widely-used in the fast food sector in Europe and is now de rigeur in kebab shops and chip shops throughout Europe and Northern Africa.

In many restaurants, it has already dethroned the usual Ketchup and Mayonnaise. However, Algerian Sauce is only one of the 50 sauce recipes offered by Nawhal’s. Algerian sauce is both spicy and sweet at the same time and is a mayonnaise enhanced with a mixture of peppers (possibly harissa), spices, tomatoes and onions. The sauce is orange in color.

There is no definitive version of sauce Algérienne beyond that sold by Nawhal’s and they aren’t disclosing their recipe (although this is an interesting anecdote from the company on Facebook about its true Algerian origin!)

I have decided – in My infinite wisdom – to create My own version of sauce Algérienne that is much more authentically Algerian, yet still very much true to the sauce’s original flavor profile. As the undisputed Leader of TFD Nation, such is My will and pleasure this very day!

To start, this is a mayonnaise-based sauce and I go full-bore with the finest in savory mayo for this condiment of condiments – and that is GENUINE Kewpie brand from Japan! The umami factor of Kewpie is off-the-charts and you can easily buy it on Amazon here.

Some versions of sauce Algérienne include anchovy, but I have instead decided to use a touch of My favorite fish sauce for added savor – there is no substitute for Red Boat Fish Sauce, Phamily Reserve | Premium 50°N fish sauce, which is sustainably made with just two ingredients in Vietnam. It has a higher protein content for exceptional flavor, buy it here.

For added creaminess even beyond that brought by the Kewpie, I also call for a surprising ingredient – the famous Laughing Cow brand of wedged cheese found in most supermarkets! If you can’t find it at your local market, grab some from here.

Harissa is the true flavor backbone of sauce Algérienne, and there is only ONE brand that has ever met My exacting standards – Zwita, made by two Tunisian brothers to an exacting recipe approved by their own grand-mére in Tunis! You can buy this superlative condiment on Amazon here.

Cumin is also a traditional flavor in this recipe, but I prefer to go WILD – as in using wild cumin for truer authenticity to the Maghreb region (these are actually from Afghanistan) as opposed to the tamer cultivar we have grown to know and love – you can grab genuine wild cumin seeds of quality from here.

Although not traditional, I enjoy a hit of herbaceousness in My sauce Algérienne, and genuine wild za’atar leaves (NOT the spice blend of the same name, this is actually wild thyme aka hyssop!) meets all My criteria – grab some of the right stuff from here.

So – I did call this recipe a TRUE version, and what brings the veracity is My decision to add a classic genuine Algerian spice mixture to the condiment as blessed by the benison of the Bey of Blends Himself – Me! The Algerian hror spice blend is basically a cinq épices (5-spice) blend used throughout Algeria – one spice is a bit unusual, known as cubeb pepper – it’s easily purchased from here.

Citizens, sauce Algérienne is a genuine masterpiece, whether it is originally from Belgium, Morocco or Algeria, whether a century+ classic sauce or a modern-day marvel – try some slathered on fries, tacos, sandwiches or on your favorite meal without further delay! 😀

Battle on – the Generalissimo

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