“Comeback sauce is a culture, not just a sauce,” says chef Hunter Evans. The Mississippi chef is known for his Jackson restaurant Elvie’s, but his latest project is taking over the city’s historic Mayflower Cafe, where bottles of the iconic Mississippi condiment have long been stocked on every tabletop.
While Evans has been busy revamping the space, bringing back its iconic seafood bins for displaying fresh catch, he’s also focused on preserving what has long made the place special, and that includes its legendary comeback sauce.
What Is Comeback Sauce?
Depending on the proprietor, comeback sauce ranges from a pale coral to a vibrant burnt orange. But the ingredients remain fairly consistent no matter who’s making it: mayonnaise, ketchup, chili sauce, and Worcestershire are among its key pillars.
To the uninitiated, one might mistake it for thousand island dressing or remoulade. It shares some DNA with both, but neither has the same tangy, spicy bite as comeback sauce. And although you’ll see it slathered on burgers or used as a dip for shrimp, one of the best (and most classic) ways to enjoy it is simply on saltines.
“Jacksonians and visitors alike are fond of pouring the dressing over saltine crackers as a first course while waiting for the salad to arrive. Locals enjoy this ‘redneck hors d’oeuvre’ so much that many restaurants will not put large bottles of sauce on the table for fear that the entire bottle will be consumed before the salad arrives,” wrote Malcolm White, former Director of the Mississippi Arts Commission, in the Mississippi Encyclopedia.
The Origins Of Comeback Sauce
Of the many renditions in Jackson, some say Mayflower’s comeback sauce has a notable tang. And while Evans has updated many things about the cafe, including its infamous bathroom once only accessible by a precarious staircase, the comeback sauce stays true to the original recipe: A 70-year-old Hobart mixer is used to churn up big batches, and a 32-year veteran of the Mayflower named Frank is the one entrusted to prepare it, having taken over the duty from the former owner years prior.
The sauce is synonymous with the Mayflower Cafe, not just because people love their rendition but because the creation of the sauce is often attributed to the original restaurant owners, George Kountouris and John Gouras, who immigrated to the state from Greece and opened the establishment in 1935.
“Comeback sauce is a culture, not just a sauce”
The origins of comeback sauce are closely tied to the history of Greek immigration in Mississippi—many Greek immigrants struggling with language barriers found work in Jackson restaurants. However, Jerry Kountouris (George’s grandson) has said in an interview with the Clarion-Ledger that the sauce actually started with another historic Greek-owned Jackson restaurant, The Rotisserie.
The Rotisserie And Kum-Bak Sauce
Opened in the 1920s by Greek restaurateur Alex Dennery, The Rotisserie is where the sauce was developed, initially as a house dressing for salads that could help the restaurant stand out and become its selling point.
The sauce, spelled “Kum-Bak” according to the Oxford Eagle, was a play on the phrase ‘come back,’ as the hope was that if customers liked the sauce enough, they would come back to the restaurant to enjoy it again. Dennery had such a specific vision for this condiment that he got into the kitchen himself to ensure it was just right.
“According to Roy Milner, a longtime employee of the Dennery family, after staff tried and failed several times to concoct what Dennery wanted, Alex took to the kitchen and began experimenting. He first made mayonnaise by combining raw egg yolks with oil and then added chili sauce, garlic, and other ingredients,” White wrote in the Mississippi Encyclopedia.
Although the Mayflower recipe might differ, Evans makes the mayonnaise from scratch just like Dennery. But that’s just about all Evans is willing to share about the legendary recipe. You can always try our recipe, but it’s worth a visit to Jackson to sample the real deal.
Because while you can find the stuff bottled or on menus all across the United States these days (Duke’s even makes a bottled version), there’s nothing quite like dipping into a fresh batch from the source. With saltines, of course.