Sauces · French cuisine
Rouille
Provence’s “rusty” sauce of garlic, saffron and hot pepper – essential with bouillabaisse.
At a glance
- Origin
- Provence, Marseille.
- Production
- Garlic with egg yolk and olive oil like aïoli, with saffron and hot pepper.
- Pairs with
- Bouillabaisse and fish soups, on croutons.
- Use
- A relative of aïoli and mayonnaise.
Rouille is a Provençal sauce of olive oil and garlic, coloured a rusty shade by saffron and hot pepper, hence its name (Provençal rolha, rust). According to Marseille Tourisme it is usually made from aïoli – garlic pounded with egg yolk and olive oil – with saffron and hot chilli added; another version is based on potato and pepper, and others thicken it with breadcrumbs.
It belongs with Marseille bouillabaisse, which local restaurateurs defined in a charter in 1980; it comes with rouille or aïoli and croutons rubbed with garlic.
It differs from mayonnaise in its strong garlic, saffron and heat, and from aïoli in its colour and spicing.