What Catalan sauce is made from garlic and olive oil?

What Catalan sauce is made from garlic and olive oil? Allioli is the answer. The name comes from Catalan all, meaning garlic, and oli, meaning oil. In its traditional form, garlic is crushed with salt in a mortar and olive oil is worked in gradually until the mixture becomes a thick emulsion. The result is intensely garlicky, creamy and richer than a simple oil-based dressing.

Allioli belongs to the wider family of Mediterranean garlic-and-oil sauces and is closely related to Provençal aioli. Traditional Catalan and Valencian versions are often made without egg, which can make the emulsion harder to stabilize. Many modern recipes add egg yolk, lemon juice or other ingredients, producing something closer to garlic mayonnaise.

In Catalan cooking, allioli is served with dishes such as fideuà, arròs negre, grilled meats, vegetables and fish. It is often confused with romesco, a nut-and-pepper sauce from Catalonia, or mojo, a Canary Islands condiment with different ingredients and flavour profiles. The defining base of allioli remains garlic emulsified with olive oil.