So I was browsing BienManger for our next shopping, and I saw this. Then I registered its subtitle.
“Sauce Chien” means “Dog Sauce” and I go “No, surely not!” And surely not indeed, I’m pleased to say.
Dog is not an ingredient - only limes, onions, vinegar, water, salt, chilli peppers, garlic, chives, tarragon and thyme - and the sauce isn’t meant to accompany dog as an entrée, not even when part of a “Blade Runner” Voight-Kampff empathy test question...
According to the Sauce chien - Wikipédia entry, and this website, the name derives from “Chien”- brand knives, very popular in Guadeloupe and the Antilles, which were used to chop onions, garlic etc. These knives still exist, but since the story seems to originate at the knifemaker website, and the other source is a paraphrase of that, I’ll add an extra pinch of salt to the whole thing.
Here’s another pair of “dog knives”, made by Kuhne Rikon of Switzerland for the use of very junior chefs. :->
There’s another reason for calling something like this “Dog Sauce” - because one of the ingredients is a Scotch Bonnet (think Habanero) chilli...
...which is fiery enough to give you a wet nose.
There’s a similar Yucatan salsa (this one uses actual Habaneros) called Xni-pec, which is Mayan for “dog’s nose”. What’s the real story? I have no idea. But I may buy a jar of Sauce Chien to find out. That’s if I don’t source some Bonnets or Habs and roll my own... :->
