# Did the Tartars invent Tartar Sauce?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-tartars-invent-tartar-sauce/135464>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 6, 2002, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-tartars-invent-tartar-sauce/135464 "2002-11-06T00:38:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![red\_dragon60](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@red\_dragon60](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/red_dragon60)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-tartars-invent-tartar-sauce/135464/1 "2002-11-06T00:38:38Z")

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I know of their exploits in the creation of steak Tartare, but what about Tartar sauce? Cream of Tartar? Were The barbarians really skilled chefs who cooked Rome into the dark ages?

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**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-tartars-invent-tartar-sauce/135464/2 "2002-11-06T00:43:44Z")

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[http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtartar.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtartar.html)

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**Author:** ![King\_Nifty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f9ae1b/32.png) [@King\_Nifty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_Nifty)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-tartars-invent-tartar-sauce/135464/3 "2002-11-06T00:44:49Z")

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Cecil answered this here: [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtartar.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtartar.html)

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**Author:** ![red\_dragon60](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@red\_dragon60](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/red_dragon60)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-tartars-invent-tartar-sauce/135464/4 "2002-11-06T03:01:24Z")

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Ah, haha, thanks guys!

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**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-tartars-invent-tartar-sauce/135464/5 "2002-11-06T03:57:47Z")

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Just wanted to point out that _Tartar_ is a deliberate misspelling of the name of the **Tatar** people. There’s properly no r in the middle of Tatar. Medieval Europeans made a pun using the name of Hell in Greek, _Tartaros_, as if to imply that Tatars are people from Hell. The good citizens of the [Tatarstan Republic](http://www.tatar.ru/?DNSID=a01835d906f4f0d281fcaea4cb50a937&lang=ENG) in Russia would, I think, take exception to this ethnic slur.

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-tartars-invent-tartar-sauce/135464/6 "2002-11-06T13:37:35Z")

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No, but they did invent _Steak Tartare_, which gave them taratr on their teeth.

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**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2002, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-tartars-invent-tartar-sauce/135464/7 "2002-11-06T16:21:38Z")

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Sorry, but Dogster’s mailbag piece begs the question: whence the name “tartaric acid” (and hence tooth tartar, cream of tartar, etc.)? He never says, and my Webster’s has no derivation.