The Texas BBQ Forum

The most famous tartar sauce recipe in Texas

King's Inn Tartar Sauce Recipe
In the November issue of Texas Highways, writer Helen Bryant takes readers to the Famous! Kings Inn in Riviera, whose recipe for tartar-sauce remains a closely guarded secret. We can’t claim to have the official recipe, but these—adapted from versions we found online—comes pretty close. The first one makes enough for Coxey’s army; adapt and adjust as you (and your hungry crowd) wish.

1 quart mayonnaise
1 quart Miracle Whip
10 eggs, hard-boiled, peeled
saltine crackers (3 tubes or 3/4 box)
5 stalks celery
jalapeño pepper, seeded (to taste)
2 1/2 ounces Worcestershire sauce
salt (to taste)
2 small bell peppers, seeded
1 (4 ounce) jar pimientos
1 (2 ounce) can anchovy fillets
1 large onion
fresh garlic (to taste)

Finely chop celery, jalapeños, bell peppers, anchovies, garlic, and onion. Add salt and Worcestershire sauce. Mash the hard-boiled eggs together with the crackers, then mix all ingredients together with the mayonnaise and Miracle Whip.
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Here’s a recipe that has been adapted for home use. Note that this one doesn’t contain anchovies or onion
1.5 cups salad dressing (Miracle Whip)
.5 cup mayonnaise
Jalapeño peppers to taste
4 boiled eggs
10 saltine crackers, crushed
2 ounces bell pepper, shredded
2 stalks celery, shredded
2 ounces garlic, minced
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Combine ingredients and serve!

Two quarts of mayonnaise and mayonnaise substitute. I can hear my arteries hardening already. Which means it must be gooooood.

I have a friend at work who grew up in Kingsville, TX. And a friend of hers worked at the King's Inn. This is 'supposed' to be the recipe... Claims the chile piquin is the key to the flavor.

Mike "Dodis"
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KING'S INN TARTAR SAUCE

5 BOILED EGGS
5 CLOVES GARLIC
1 ONION FINELY CHOPPED
1 BELL PEPPER
3 TABLESPOONS WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE
1 STACK SALTINES OR RITZ CRACKERS (CRUSHED) (Not entire box)
5 STALKS CELERY FINELY CHOPPED
1 CUP MAYO
1-1/4 CUP MIRACLE WHIP
HANDFUL OF CHILE PIQUIN (+/- 1 TBS TO START) *

PUT EGGS, CHILI PEPPERS, WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE AND GARLIC IN BLENDER AND BLEND. IN SEPARATE BOWL, ADD ALL REMAINING INGREDIENTS EXCEPT CRACKERS. POUR INGREDIENTS FROM BLENDER INTO BOWL AND ADD CRUSHED CRACKERS AND MIX.

* Closest you can find in the grocery store is Chile Piquin, dried or bottled. It is a tiny oval pepper, the ones at the store are about 1/4" to 3/8" long. They also grow wild in South Texas and Mexico, and wild versions are commonly called 'Chile del monte' ~~~ rough translation 'wild chile', the wild version is a bit smaller. And known to be fairly "warm".

all this talk about pequin cherry peppers got me out searchin'

i went by Fiesta looking for Pequin chili peppers
they had them fresh - but green - not red = ripe
they had them dried like raisins
and they had them dried and powdered
this isn't the container they came it...
but WOW!!! are they good in a tartar sauce

THANKS! Next time I get up to Houston (from TxCity), I'll have to run in to Fiesta and get some of the powder!

I need to find a couple of plants on my next trip south too. My last one finally froze 2 years ago. Have some similar small peppers that pop up around the back yard now and then from the previous homeowners (not as hot), but they are even less freeze tolerant, and everyone I have tried to transplant has not made it either...

Not that long of a run, but with all the construction on the Gulf Freeway right now....

Mike "Dodis"

Bit further for me,lol. I will show my wife this and see what we come up with, she grows about 30 chilly plants in the summer.

I'm not big on hot but my kids are.

Russ

Dodis wrote: but with all the construction on the Gulf Freeway right now....
Mike "Dodis"

Yo Mike, when has the Gulf Freeway NOT BEEN UNDER CONSTRUCTION?

Them chile pequins are on the list of banned nuclear devices I hear. Always recall my old Daddy, the Original Boots, talk about those things from when he was a young flight instructor out at old Hondo Army Air Base west of San Antone in the 1950's. Seems when they had any free time from trying to keep NATO trainees from killing them (he said flying with the French was the same as signing yer own death warrant), the instructor pilots would load up a Super Cub or Stearman with muskets and go deer and turkey hunting. Now this was during the Great Drought of 1951-1955 mind you, wherein West Texas basically dried up and blew away, and the only way the ranchers could stay alive was to use weed burners to singe off the spines of prickly pears so the cows would have something to eat. Seems the local wildlife also suffered, and the wild turkeys took to eating lots of wild chile pequins to stay alive. One of the pilots bagged an especially big old gobbler right before Thanksgiving, and brought it home to the barracks where the bachelor instructors lived and shoved it in the oven to roast it, with all the pilots happily hanging out, playing cards and laying odds on which Frenchman was gonna auger in next, and waiting for the big holiday dinner. About 2 hours in however, Dad said the fumes from the peppered turkey meat got so bad in the barracks, everybody in the place was crying like a baby and had to beat a retreat to the outdoors. Finally, one intrepid and particularly bright individual got the smart idea to put on his flight helmet and hook up his oxygen mask to a spare oxygen cylinder from a T-6, and armed with thick gloves and a pair of welder's tongs from the machine shop, slipped into the barracks and fished the turkey outta the stove.

Dad said outta respect for his toughness in being able to live on eating those peppers, they buried the bird with full military honors somewhere far from the barracks, and ended up eating ham and eggs for Thanksgiving supper after the fumes finally cleared out.

One of my Dad's favorite memories was a sign out on the outskirts of town, which I think may still be there in some form or another, that was likely directed to the attention of the young and daring pilots and ground crew of the Hondo Army Air Base, who undoubtedly viewed speed limits as more of a suggestion than a lawful order. The Original Boots sure drove like that; for some reason he conceived that a GMC pickup could do about the same cruising speed as his old P-51 Mustang. Photo illustrates what it probably looked like back in the days of penny loafers and nickel Dr. Pepper.

Boots, have seen that sign many times back in the day. Yeah, long time ago. Thanks for the post. CF

Tartare sauce down here contains chopped gherkins. I'm gunna have to try the Texas way next time I make some.

Russ