JACKSON, Miss. — Comeback sauce, a spicy, versatile remnant of a bygone South, is making something of, well, a comeback. And it is reminding Southerners of an old connection to Hellenic culture.
Jackson was one of the many Southern towns where Greek immigrants found cafe jobs beginning in the 1920s. They learned the trade and English, eventually opening their own businesses. By midcentury, most of this city’s mainstay restaurants were owned by Greek families.
On the table was comeback dressing, usually poured on iceberg salads and saltines. Many people here say it originated at the Rotisserie restaurant in the mid-1930s, while others credit the Mayflower. Eventually, many of Jackson’s leading Greek-owned restaurants had versions. “It’s not a sauce, it’s a culture,” said Malcolm White, a former restaurateur who is now a state tourism official.
Boiled-shrimp orange, the sauce is a cousin of Louisiana rémoulade. Comeback’s essentials are garlic and mayonnaise. One theory about its name is that comeback’s perfection compels the diner to return for more. The more likely, less pleasant explanation is that its garlic scent has a way of sticking around.
These days the sauce is showing up increasingly in New South fare, drizzled on crab cakes and crudités. At Delta Bistro in Greenwood, Miss., comeback is on the Reuben and is the dipping sauce for fried alligator. At the Dallas-based group of Flying Fish restaurants, it accompanies the fish tacos.
Flying Fish buys its sauce from Callie Kountouris McDole, whose father owned the Mayflower before his death in 2005. “They go through 50 cases of dressing every six weeks,” said Ms. McDole, who lives in Dallas and markets her sauce as Papou’s Dressing, its label noting “From The Mayflower Cafe since 1935.”
The author Martha Hall Foose included a comeback sauce recipe in her 2008 book, “Screen Doors and Sweet Tea: Recipes and Tales from a Southern Cook.”
“To me, it’s an abiding thing,” she said. “It’s definitely a Mississippi house dressing now.”
The television chef Cat Cora grew up in Jackson’s Greek community. “Comeback sauce is one of those magical mixes that can go on anything,” she said in an email. “Growing up in Mississippi, we dipped crackers in it, put it on salads, fish, shrimp, fried green tomatoes.” Other good partners for the sauce include burgers, pressed sandwiches and grilled fish.
The descendants of the pioneer restaurateurs keep their family formulas secret. “There are some proprietary ingredients,” Ms. McDole said.
John Dennery, whose family owned the Rotisserie, said people sometimes say they have the recipe. “They show it to me, and I just smile and shake my head because it’s not it,” he said. “That would be the one recipe I would never let out.”
Still, the recipe here, which I developed after experimenting with several recipes in cookbooks and online, makes a respectable version.