You had me googling this yesterday and I was disappointed to not find anything. Hope someone had ideas.

I tried it also on google and came up with nothing! I even tried it with Portuguese tartar sauce but was unable to find anything. I might just end up making some sort of concoction on my own that has little to do with what I actually had.

Do you think there are shrimp shells somewhere in making the base?

Have you tried seeing if the restaurant has a listing online. If so, you might get your Portuguese speaking friend to e-mail or call them.

The restaurant does have a web site, and here is its menu on TripAdvisor. They also have a facebook page, and that might be useful for getting info. I can try to get Dean to contact them through that - I think it might work better than their web site.

After perusing their facebook page, I found a reference to molho tártaro, which I believe is the sauce that I had. Then doing a google search for molho tártaro receita, I found this Youtube video:

I think this might be it! But she adds 1 colher de café de sal, which I think is too much.

Here is another variation:

I had thought that perhaps it has pimento in it, and I believe that this recipe does have that ingredient. Now I just need to get Dean to translate the recipes for me! Or if I can write down the ingredients, I can probably translate them on my own. This does look like what I had at the restaurant.

This one might be close, as it uses pickled carrots, and I do have some of those.

I may have to fiddle around with adding green olive, capers, carrots, etc, until I find something I like. At first I thought I heard "pimento" as one of the ingredients, but I found out that "cenoura" means carrot.

Lars - hope you figure it out. Please let us know the result.

Evidently there are a lot of different ways to make tartar sauce in Brazil - I had no idea! A lot of them use capers, which I think is a good idea, and some of them use ketchup, which I will not use. I also got the idea that I could make an Italian tartar sauce using giardiniera plus mayo, but this might not work, due to the cauliflower. I use giardiniera mainly on muffuletta sandwiches, and I add olives, capers, olive oil, and oregano to it for that.

I'm going to start out with a simple recipe for the Brazilian tartar sauce and will let you know when I get something that I think is close to what I had. A lot of recipes in Brazil were simple, and I made Brazilian beans (served with plain white rice) the other night, and Kevin said he liked the simplicity of it. I made the beans with bay leaves, smoked Italian sausage (which we had smoked ourselves), onion, and garlic, and that was pretty much it. I did add a minced jalapeño because the sausages were mild, although I do not remember that being in the beans we had in Brazil. Most of the flavor comes from the smoked sausage. Next time I will try it with leftover smoked chicken.

I think that because there is so much seafood in Brazil (and Portugal) that there are so many variations on their tartar sauce.

Here is what I came up with on my first try:

Molho Tártaro [edited 7/18/2017]

1/3 cup minced pickled carrot (can substitute grated fresh carrot)
3-6 pimento stuffed olives, chopped
1 tbsp capers, chopped (optional)
1/3 cup minced onion
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
juice of one lime
1 cup mayonnaise

Mix all ingredients together and store in the refrigerator to chill.
Adjust flavors to taste.

I used carrots that I had pickled with cucumbers to make fresh pickles, and they were pretty spicy, since I use Habanero chilies when I make these pickles. I did not have any pickles left, and so I did not include cucumber pickles, but I do not remember that being in the sauce that I had, and so I used capers instead, which seem to have the right flavor.

This makes a very good (and different) tartar sauce, and I am having fried fish for dinner to have with it.

Thanks for that, Lars. I don't use anything on my fish, neither lemon/lime nor tartar sauce, but Elery does. That sounds like something I might like though, so you might convert me to a tartar sauce user after all!

Annie

I just edited the ingredients on the recipe above because I found it had too many olives. I think you could leave the olives out and just use capers or maybe even substitute cucumber pickles for the olives, although I will not be doing that since I think the olives do give it a distinctive flavor, but they can be overwhelming if too many are used.

I cooked the fish last night, and the tartar sauce had had time to sit in the fridge overnight, and so the flavor was different from when I first made it. For some reason, the olive flavor became stronger after sitting for one day.

Lars, I generally don't like Tatar sauce either. Yes, usually too sweet. The one you found sounds good, though!

I am using the leftover tartar sauce to make potato salad today - at least it is a good start, since I use all of those ingredients anyway. I cooked the potatoes in the pressure cooker (whole) for 8 minutes, and I'm afraid I may have overcooked them, but I think they'll be okay. I also steamed the eggs, and this time they were difficult to peel - the steaming method sometimes works and sometimes doesn't, even if I do everything exactly the same.

Well Lars I found this interesting.....this morning I made a batch by your ingredients....... Had no fish on menu but made it for the heck of it. DH and I both liked the results....probably be even better yet after a short frig stay. Found good on crackers! No kidding! I will try on a sandwich.

i did not have pickel carrot...chopped one carrot, zap in wave for 20 sec....chilled and added......used 4 pimento olives. ......only had Dijon Country sytle mustard. You mentioned you pickle you own carrots....tell me about that....you slice or chop? What kind of brine do you use?

you mentioned you were going to make a potatoe salad with this sauce, how did it turn out.

I pickle carrots when I make fresh cucumber pickles, and I cut the carrots into sticks, or wedges or some sort. The recipe is a bit involved, but it makes very good cucumber pickles. I don't have the recipe on this computer - I've only made notes on paper, and so I'll have to post it later.

For the potato salad, I added more olives plus hard boiled egg, celery, and more onion and carrot. I used it just to use up the sauce, but it is a good start for a potato salad - it just isn't enough by itself. I do make tuna salad with just leftover tuna steak plus tartar sauce and then use that as a spread for crackers or for a wrap. I often add hummus to the wrap, which might seem odd, but it is traditional to use garbanzo beans with tuna to make a special tuna/garbanzo salad.

I did find this recipe that I used as a start, but I have modified it slightly:

Refrigerator Pickles

For the brine:
10 cloves garlic, peeled
2 cups white vinegar
6 teaspoons kosher salt
Several sprigs of fresh dill
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon coriander seed
1 teaspoon mustard seed
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon pink peppercorns (if you have them)

For the vegetables:
6 Kirby cucumbers, quartered lengthwise and ends removed
6 young spring carrots, peeled and cut in half lengthwise (I cut them in quarters or eighths)
1 handful large scallion pieces
4 small hot red chiles or 2 jalapenos (I used 1-1/2 Habanero)
4-6 Bay leaves (2-3 per jar)

In a medium saucepan, bring 4 cups water to a boil, reduce the heat so the water simmers and add the garlic. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the vinegar and salt, raise the heat and bring to a boil, stirring until the salt dissolves. Remove from the heat.

In 2 clear 1-quart jars, place a few sprigs of dill. Divide the seeds and peppercorns between the jars. Using tongs, remove the garlic from the brine and place 5 cloves in each jar. Then pack the jars full of cucumbers, carrots, scallions, chilies, and bay leaves. You want them to be tightly stuffed.

Bring the brine back to a boil, pour it over the vegetables to cover completely, let cool, then cover and refrigerate. The pickles will taste good in just a few hours, better after a couple of days. And they'll keep for about 3 months.

Thanks Lars for your direction...I will do this week and report.