Remoulade

Grilling the fish and making a sauce with fat-free fromage blanc (a fresh, spoonable cheese) keeps the calorie count down in this variation on the classic fried fish-shack sandwich. While any white fish will work well here, catfish is a sustainable choice and a great source of vitamin B12.

Jason McCullar reinvents shrimp remoulade, the classic New Orleans cocktail-party dish. Instead of tossing his vermouth-poached shrimp with a mayonnaise dressing, he makes a ginger-spiked dipping sauce.

These "BLT" hot dogs are topped with crispy bacon, fresh tomatoes and crunchy lettuce dressed with a creamy caraway-pickle mayonnaise.

At Portland, Oregon's Little Bird, Gabriel Rucker (an F&W Best New Chef 2007) tweaks French dishes like celeri remoulade, the mayo-dressed celery-root salad.

The lamb in this juicy burger adds a complex flavor, but the tangy remoulade created a pairing conundrum for wine educator Marnie Old.

F&W's Emily Kaiser created these crispy hush puppies--cornmeal dumplings--by adapting a recipe from chef Susan McCreight Lindeborg. (Lindeborg ran the kitchen at Washington, DC's Morrison-Clark Inn when Emily worked there as a line cook.) Emily serves them with a version of the creamy French sauce remoulade, which she spikes with Tabasco and a little ketchup.

Bruce Sherman places crabs and pancetta on small rounds of brioche slathered with homemade remoulade (mayonnaise mixed with mustard, capers, cornichons and herbs). He then sprinkles them with bits of hard-boiled egg and dresses the plate with a caper-brown butter sauce.

This easy, do-it-yourself Cajun seasoning uses spice cabinet staples like garlic powder and paprika. Save any extra in an air-tight container for later use.

Jay Foster of San Francisco's Farmerbrown's Little Skillet does brisk business in these fried-fish sandwiches at Outside Lands music festival.

The only part of this simple supper that requires any effort is the remoulade sauce--and that just calls for a little chopping and stirring. Dried tarragon works surprisingly well here, but use fresh, of course, if you have it on hand.

Smoky onion remoulade is a terrific accompaniment to these crab-studded cakes from Marc Forgione at American Cut in Manhattan. At the restaurant, he smokes onions, but the sauce is also great made with charred onions and seasoned with smoked salt.

A classic French remoulade is usually prepared with homemade mayonnaise. The recipe here calls for the store-bought kind, combining it with capers, apples and celery.