Wajos Burger & Sandwich Sauce. Rapeseed oil, 17 percent gherkins, mustard and a little chili, creamy and tangy – the sauce that turns ground meat and a bun into a burger.
Wajos Burger & Sandwich Sauce is a rapeseed oil-based sauce with 16.8 percent gherkins, mustard seeds, brandy vinegar, tomato powder, egg yolk, and 1.2 percent chili pepper, 245 ml from Dohr on the Moselle. Not ketchup, not mayonnaise, not a sweet barbecue sauce, but a creamy gherkin-mustard sauce with a warm finish. Contains egg, mustard, soy, and celery.
Burger & Sandwich Sauce by Wajos is on our table every Saturday when the pan is sizzling with patties and the buns are toasting in the oven. Everyone builds their own burger: lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese – and then the question of what to put on top. Ketchup is fine for the kids, mayonnaise is too fatty for the adults, and mustard alone isn't enough. This bottle ends the discussion. It is as creamy as mayo, has gherkin and mustard like a relish, and a touch of chili that you only notice on the second bite. We order it often – after the Balsamic Fried Onion Sauce, it is the second staple on our sauce shelf.
Gherkin and mustard upfront, tomato behind, chili only at the end
The sauce is light, slightly pink from the tomato powder, and thick enough to stay on the patty. First you taste gherkin – 16.8 percent, finely chopped, with its acidity and sweetness. Then mustard, which anchors the sauce, and brandy vinegar, which keeps it fresh. The tomato remains in the background, and right at the end comes the chili pepper: 1.2 percent, enough for warmth, too little for overpowering heat. Rapeseed oil and egg yolk make it creamy, like a mayonnaise, but with more acidity and less heaviness.
Two things to keep in mind: With 30 grams of fat and 19 grams of sugar per 100 milliliters, this is a burger sauce rather than a light dressing – one tablespoon per bun is the recommended dose. And it contains flavoring, including soy and celery, plus egg yolk and mustard as ingredients. It is not suitable for those expecting a smoky, sweet barbecue sauce – the Barbecue Sauce with Hickory Smoke Salt, which is dark and smoky where this one remains light and tangy, would be a better choice.
On burgers, in sandwiches, with fries, and in potato salad
The burger is its main job: a tablespoon on the bottom bun, the patty on top, lettuce and tomato, and another dollop on top. It works equally well with beef, chicken, or a halloumi or bean patty because gherkin and mustard go well with anything fried. In a sandwich, it replaces butter and mayo at the same time: two slices of toast, ham, cheese, a lettuce leaf, and a thin layer of sauce on both sides. The same applies to wraps, pita, and loaded baguettes.
As a dip for fries and potato wedges, it is what they call "special" at the chip shop, just with more gherkin. You can stir two tablespoons into potato salad instead of mayonnaise – the acidity of the gherkins replaces the vinegar, and the oil makes it creamy. For fish sticks, fried fish, and chicken nuggets, it is the remoulade for people who find regular remoulade too fatty. On a hot dog, it sits between the sausage and the crispy onions, and on a Sunday morning, it is a little luxury on a soft-boiled egg with chives.
The sauce is not suitable for heating or cooking: it is an emulsion of oil and egg yolk and will separate in a hot pan. Always add it cold to the finished meal. Once opened, it should be kept in the refrigerator – at room temperature, it becomes a shadow of its former self after a few days.
Our tip: Season patties with the One For All Rub, fry them in the pan, and put the sauce on both halves of the bun – our burger night routine for years.
Sauces from Dohr, from a house that started with liqueur
The Burger & Sandwich Sauce comes from Dohr near Cochem on the Moselle, where Wajos produces around 900 items – most of them on-site, with over 80 employees and an in-house laboratory that checks what goes into every bottle. The fact that a Moselle-based company makes burger sauces has a history: the Oster family in Ediger-Eller has been involved in viticulture for 15 generations, and Walter Josef Oster, whose initials form the name Wajos, founded a liqueur manufactory next to the winery in the 1980s.
His son Peter Oster and Ulf Schwichtenberg expanded this from the 2000s onwards into a brand that grew from liqueur to vinegars, oils, spices, and sauces. The first Wajos store opened in Trier in 2008, and today they are located all over Germany. The sauces in the 245-milliliter bottle are a newer part of the range – we carry a dozen varieties, from Café de Paris to Teriyaki. "Controlled smaller-scale production" is what Wajos calls its commitment to manufacturing its own products rather than purchasing them.
The sauce for burger nights, grill packages, and lunchboxes
It is the bottle for families where burgers are a regular ritual, and for anyone who wants more than just butter on their sandwiches. As a gift, it belongs in any grill package – with the Balsamic Fried Onion Sauce for sausages and the Café de Paris Sauce for steak, the sauce trio is complete; you can find all varieties on our Wajos brand page.
Store the unopened bottle in a dry place away from light; once opened, keep it in the refrigerator. 245 milliliters are enough for many burger nights, and a dollop in a lunchbox turns Monday's cheese sandwich into a treat that gets eaten down to the last crumb. The sauce is not suitable for a vegan diet or for anyone with an egg, mustard, or soy allergy – egg yolk and mustard are core ingredients here, not just traces.
Gherkin, mustard, a touch of chili, and the creaminess of mayo – the burger sauce from the Moselle that ends our arguments on Saturdays.
