I use it very seldom (on scrambled egg sandwich maybe once a month and in a bbq sauce recipe that I use on salmon), but have changed my preference to Muir Glen organic. It is really good, not too sweet, no corn syrup, etc.

Heinz on a burger. Home-made mayo all the time. In England, the Hellman's is white. Mayo can't possibly be white!!! Perhaps the American version is better.

Depends on what you mean by "white"? You must mean abnormally white? Because every mayonnaise I've ever seen is white. When I make it from scratch it's white. Not bleached white, but white. What color is yours?

I like the Simply Heinz because it tastes like ketchup used to before they Harvard Business Schooled the heck out of the recipe. :)

Serious Eats had a ketchup off. I wonder about the results, though. I mean, Heinz is sort of the incumbent, isn't it? The ketchup everybody knows? Since 1876? Even non-fans of ketchup must have tasted enough of it for it to be an iconic flavor. Were the test subjects really choosing the ones they liked best, or the most Heinzian ones?

At present, my favorite condiment is Kikkoman's Thai Style Sweet Chili Sauce. I discovered it when a small packet was served with the pork tenderloin sandwich that I ordered at a local fast food restuarant (now out of business). Think Mae Ploy sweet chili sauce with added Sriracha for heat. I used my last single serve pack of the Kikkoman's sauce with homemade spring rolls last week, so I started looking for it in the stores here. The Kikkiman's web site said the Harris-Teeter stores stocked it, but I couldn't find it at my local H-T. So I asked them to get it in stock.

Speaking of sriracha: The NC based company that makes Texas Pete hot sauce is now making their own version of sriracha called "Cha!" and it is quite good, with less preservatives and additives than the rooster sriracha.

Teresa

I've been making my own ketchup for almost 50 years. I use a recipe from a Farm Journal Cookbook from the 60s. Not very sweet, a little hot and really good. And I'm not a real ketchup fan and don't use it much except burgers and fried potatoes.

I use the ketchup brand, and it might be Simply Heinz, that uses sugar and not corn syrup. Same with bbq sauce, prefer Weber for that reason.
Either way, it's still ketchup, not something I care much about except with french fries and a traditionally styled hamburger.

I am into fancy vinegars though, if I had to pick a condiment that calls me. Oh and mustard. Mayo is only Hellmans.

I like Thai sweet chili sauce too. Had it at McDonalds and really enjoyed it.

I found a good selection at my local grocery stores, in the international foods section.

I actually don't like any condiments. My burgers just have cheese. No salad dressing either.

I'm not a fan of most condiments.

But I'm definitely a ketchup snob. I've never understood why anyone would slather ketchup all over something that had been cooked and seasoned to taste one way and then totally destroy it by adding ketchup.

I only kept ketchup in the house when Matthew was young and he used it occasionally on french fries.

The only time now that I buy ketchup is if I'm making a batch of the only bbq sauce that I like. It is more savory than sweet, heavy on the mustard, and even then I reduce the amount of ketchup.

I don't use a lot of mayo, but I do keep a bottle of Hellmans in the fridge. And when I make homemade mayo from farm fresh eggs, it tends to be more yellow than white.

~Ann

My homemade mayo also tends to be a creamy color, rather than white, and I nearly always make my own. Except for tomato season, when I have a tomato sandwich on squishy white bread with Miracle Whip. I have about two of those and I'm over it, and I give the jar of MW to my grandson, who uses it on ham sandwiches. The MW IS white, like it's been bleached or something.

Catsup/ketchup? My Son in law only likes Heinz, not the organic stuff, the original. I make my own Chipotle Catsup, using KatieC's recipe. I don't use it on many things, but Elery likes fried potatoes for breakfast and those get a liberal dose, while he covers his with Sriracha.

My baked beans take catsup if I start from canned beans, much like Sharon's "Cheater Baked Beans" and the sauce I put on my meatloaf is from Cook's Illustrated, via Nancy/wizardnm. It has catsup, vinegar, brown sugar. My daughters love it, although I think I've made meatloaf maybe twice in the past five years, LOL.

I like mayo and horseradish on beef sandwiches, mustard on ham sandwiches, mayo and tomato marmalade with chicken. Other than a burger or hot dog, I don't think I put catsup on anything except French fries and fried or roasted potatoes.

If something is so dry or poorly flavored that I need sauce to cover it up, it'll have to stay on my plate. Foods that are actually complimented by a good sauce, that's different. I like wasabi and soy with my sushi, although it would be fine without it, and I like sweet chili sauce with eggrolls.

Annie

Heinz ketchup
Best Foods mayo
Grey Poupon mustard

I'm a ketchup rube. Heinz/Heinz Organic for fries and traditional burgers -- I have yet to find an interesting (and non one-note) "house-made chef's ketchup). My favorite fries are duck fat fries -- Elizabeth Faulkner used to do a fantastic version at her old restaurant. And plain -- just duck fatty goodness.

Fav condiment is whole grain mustard -- Maille is a good one in the Dijon style. Rooster Siracha and A-1 are also heavily used....

This post was edited by gooster on Tue, Oct 7, 14 at 12:11

I may be hypercritical. I grant that. But if there were no ketchup, or in the Southwest, hot sauce (more flavor than Tabasco), to make it better, I'd go hungry while traveling. I'd rather camp/RV, but that's not always possible.

Besides the whole hotdog/hamburger thing (not often in my house) where ketchup gets to have its meat juicy glory, and the condiments are meant to be the flavor, I only have a couple of things I use ketchup on at home: Cold leftover chicken--not because it needs it but because I like the way they taste together--and my childhood nostalgia favorite, double cut rib lamb chops with salt and ketchup at the table. I know that's heresy, and I buy the very best lamb that doesn't need anything on it at all--not even any salt (they're broiled unseasoned)--but it was my favorite food as a child and I still love it.

Yes, both Simply Heinz and Heinz Organic are made with real sugar. I like the Simply better. It tastes like what ketchup used to taste like. The organic is a little too tomato-y, not enough bite.

In fine dining restaurants, they often serve condiments. It'll be a smear (ugly), dot or line on the plate. They're made as part of the dish to go with whatever's sitting on it, but an important part of the composition. The best I've had recently was a parsnip puree that was more than the standard parsnips and cream. It was nice on it's own, but a dab with the meat and microgreens that were served together was a revelation.

I'll use ketchup in the recipe when I make meatloaf, which is a once or twice a year thing. Other than that no ketchup ever. For mustard I prefer kosciusko brand mustard. Grey poupon is a close second. But as far as "yellow mustard" I fail to see why anyone would voluntarily put that on food that they intended to eat, or do anything with it than throw out the bottle unopened.

a tomato sandwich on squishy white bread with Miracle Whip

Oh my, my favorite sandwich. And I got my dear grandson loving it too.

I do not have ketchup in my house, as you surmised - I would make my own tomato sauce if I wanted a tomato based condiment, but more often, I use tomato paste or tomato powder when making that kind of sauce.

I make my own chili sauce, and I roast the chilies over Mesquite wood/charcoal first, giving them a smoky flavor. I have not found a bottled chili sauce to compare to what I make, but then I use a very flavorful white Balsamic vinegar, which adds to the flavor. I also include red bell peppers (which I roast with the chilies) to cut the heat a bit, especially when I make Habanero sauce. I also roast garlic with the chilies, and the sauce ends up with a nice smoky flavor. One large batch of chili sauce, if made with Habanero chilies, will last me six months or so, unless I give some of it away. Lately I've been stingy with it because others will eat too much of it.

When I make mayo, it comes out yellow also. I like Best Foods Mayo for some things, but I make my own for aioli sauce and when making Caesar salad.

Most of the condiments I have are either Thai or Japanese. I never developed a taste for mainstream American food, possibly because I grew up on Southwest and Tex-Mex food. I only like Dijon style mustard and have not made my own because the bottled mustard is good enough. I've made Thai curry paste - originally because I wanted it without cinnamon, but I have been able to find canned/bottled curry paste that does not have cinnamon, and so I have not made it recently, even though I have all the ingredients - lemongrass in my yard as well as Kafir lime leaves from my tree.

Lars

We use Heinz low-salt ketchup. DH adores it with hash browns or fries.

I can't find the article that appeared a couple years ago in our local paper. They interviewed a number of famed chefs, and found that to a man/woman, they all preferred the taste of Heinz, and said their restaurant housemade ketchup did not even come close. They only made it because people expect everything to be made from scratch these days!

One chef said he had been trying for 20 yrs to duplicate the flavor of Heinz ketchup, and his latest recipe was "really close. But still not quite the same!"

My own favorite condiment? Oyster sauce and garlic poached in EVOO. I just used both, along with lots of butter and some lemon pepper, to make an amazing lobster tails and shrimp in garlic butter for DH's birthday dinner.

The leftover seafood garlic butter went over a bowl of pasta for his lunch today and was he a happy camper!

Here is a link that might be useful: Why Heinz hits the umami jackpot

Don't use that much ketchup.

Two things I am never out of, though:

Huy Fong Sriracha and Penzey's mix 'Arizona Dreaming'

That sriracha has a pure hot-osity. I put it on beans, burgers, in soups, chili...love it.

The fridge has Heinz ketchup and also Brooks. The Brooks is not as sweet and has a nice tang. We only use ketchup for cocktail sauce and burgers, never on a Chicago dog.

Mayo is Hellmans or the Kirkland brand from Costco. And homemade comes out pale yellow for me.

Now if I could only remember why I have a bottle of Heinz chili sauce on the shelf......

There was a chance that Heinz was to become the USA National ketchup.

John Kerry ran for the presidency, his wife, Teresa Heinz, owns Heinz.

I use whatever ketchup is on sale. I don't think one is tastier than the other.

dcarch

Although I don't eat is as much as I used to, ketchup is a must for french fries. I rarely use it on burgers anymore and never, never on a hot dog! (Only mustard is allowed on a hot dog for me.) I like mustard better than ketchup. But I do use it in meatloaf and I don't see much difference in the brands. I buy what's on sale or store brand - I've also been getting it at a discount grocer - Kurtz brand.

Heinz chili sauce is used in a lot of old American kosher recipes because it was one of the earliest packaged products with a hecksher.

So I did some research. The thing that mostly makes homemade mayonnaise yellow (mustard doesn't really affect the color unless you go whole hog) is more yolks per volume of oil (though the color of the oil can also affect the color). The thing that makes homemade/chef made mayonnaise white is the drop of water. I guess not everyone does that...

Jkom, fascinating article. I always wondered why they served that house made, flavorless sweet tomato sauce at restaurants!

I just counted. There are five open mustards in my fridge. Yellow (very vinegary--not great by itself, but excellent on certain kinds of sandwiches), dill mustard sauce which is almost bad by itself but good in things, whole grain, honey habanero, and green peppercorn garlic--I don't care for dijon and this works well in its place, from the same family.

Much as I love bottles and jars of interesting flavors, I generally hate bottled salad dressing. The only exceptions are Feat From The East, which is close enough to homemade in flavor though sour, and Trader Joe's Champagne Pear Vinaigrette. I try to keep ranch around for the kids. The only mayo dressing I like is poppy seed, and I only like that on slaw.

The only salad dressings I buy bottled are the Japanese miso dressings. I could make them, but the bottled ones are good. I also buy Kewpie Japanese mayo for when I make Okonomiyaki, and I have also bought Okonomiyaki sauce for them, although originally I made my own. It just makes it faster and easier to make the Okonomiyaki, which is one of my favorite breakfast dishes. My BIL used to eat it for regular meals when he was young and poor in Tokyo.

The poppy seed dressing that I make has lemon juice, honey, seeds, and grape seed oil. I use it on fruit salad.

Lars

I don't care for green/lettuce salads, but always have a bottle of Ranch for the kids, they seem to eat it on everything from chicken nuggets to pizza. I find it odd....

I do make my own salad dressing from yogurt, mustard and honey, and that's OK. I don't like vinaigrettes in general although I have a cupboard full of different flavors of balsamic vinegar.

Mustard also seems to be the condiment of choice for me, I have Dijon, a honey mustard, a jalapeno mustard, cranberry mustard, neon yellow mustard, grainy brown mustard and horseradish mustard. Hot sauce takes front and center in the fridge, though, Elery has Sriracha, Texas Pete's, Tabasco, some ghost pepper sauce, plus some habanero peach hot sauce that I made, some habanero sauce that has a witch on the label, habanero gold jelly, ghost pepper raspberry jelly, sweet chili sauce and some unidentified stuff that he made that is 100% ground up peppers of various varieties. I'm afraid of it, and think I should just add a skull and crossbones. And, of course, we have salsa, about three kinds, and I lump that mostly in with hot sauce.

Annie

I guess I've grown away from ketchup. Not sure why. My favorite mustard is French's brown. On a hot dog mustard, chopped onion and sweet pickle relish for me. The hot dogs and corn dogs are Morningstar Farms and believe me, when you saute the hot dog in a bit of oil or butter with a dash of seasoning you can't tell the difference. I believe that boiling hot dogs is a heinous crime ! I do like to dip the tip of a fry in ranch dressing but could never douse a salad with it.

Okonomiyaki for breakfast? Will a full complement of shaved bonito flakes? I don't know if I could handle that for breakfast.

I forgot about hot sauce -- I alternate between Cholula and Tapatio. Those two probably get more use in our household than any other prepared condiment.

To make mayo for 4 people, I'd use 1 egg yolk, a teaspoon of dijon mustard, salt and pepper and a mix of sunflower and olive oil, continuing to add the olive oil untol it is thick and rich and the spoon stands up all by itself. A drop of water isn't going to turn that white! Sometimes we add garlic or lemon juice or herbs.... love the stuff.

You could try it and see if you wanted...

I do add a teaspoon of water to the mix when I make mayo and it doesn't seem to have any effect on colour. I find it is just the colour of the yolks that dictates the colour of the mayonnaise.

Commercial brands of Mayo are whiter I think because they use whole eggs in their mayonnaise, not just the yolks. Making for a whiter product.

~Ann

I love ketchup, and Heinz is the best over the counter stuff, IMHO. My grandfather was a pickle purveyor for Heinz, that's how he met my grandmother, her father was a pickle grower! I have a little plastic pickle pin from him. My friend has an alarm clock with the Heinz tomato on it that says, "Wake up, wake up right away, if you don't wake up, it will be KETCHUP all day!" Seriously.
I have had Annie's home made ketchup and it is really good. I got a food mill so that I could make it but so far I have not had the tomatoes and time together. I love salsa and this year was able to make a lot of it on my own.

Not much of a condiment person, but I love yellow mustard on cheeseburgers, sweet relish (specifically, Claussen) in chicken salad, and I like Tamari sauce much better than soy sauce as it's more mellow and smooth tasting.

This post was edited by Tibbrix on Wed, Oct 8, 14 at 10:15

Plllog you described how I feel about french fries and ketchup perfectly. So-so fries I sometimes dip them in ketchup just to give some oomph. But good fries, never. Just salt and vinegar.

We buy whatever ketchup is on sale. Hubby isn't particular about the taste and he likes it on burgers and hotdogs. I use ketchup in sloppy joes and homemade barbecue sauce.

My homemade mayo which is a staple here, is also a pale creamy colour.

Ann, thanks for the report. I never noticed one way or the other about the color viz a viz the oil, but my mayo does come out creamy white. Sometime when I need a lot of mayo I'll try it and see if I can make it go from yellowy to whitish on camera. :) It's not the eggwhites, per se, that make commercial mayonnaise whiter. It's the greater proportion of non-yolk to yolk that dissipates the yellowness. You only need one yolk to emulsify a whole tub of oil. The rest are for richness and texture.

So, last night we went to an old burger joint (sit down, not fast food) for dinner. California style burger with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle chips, mayo, mustard and ketchup. All gooped up. :) It was delicious. And I contemplated all the flavors. They were all there, nicely balanced--including the meat which was nicely seasoned. I got salad, but my companion had fries--they weren't bad. I had five. :) No ketchup. :)

Re salad dressings, I often make seasoned herbs and leftover wine or herbs and wine vinegar with a dash of EVOO. I'd rather a lot less oil than an actual vinaigrette. The acid and herbs are where the flavor is, anyway unless it's EVOO--of which a little goes a long way. Another favorite, also with a wine base, is ground ginger, ground mustard and ground white pepper, but that needs more oil (not EVOO).

A good friend put me onto mustards made in Maine. The company is called Raye's Mustard, and that company has spoiled me! They only make whole grain mustard. My favorites are WINTER GARDEN with dill, garlic, and celery and OLD WORLD GOURMET, a traditional European style Dijon. Both are excellent! Can't stand standard Dijon's or other offerings in good grocery stores. Love Raye's! And no, I have no financial interest in this company, except that I send them money.

Yes, I put bonito flakes on my Okonomiyaki at breakfast and never thought anything about it. People have kippers for breakfast, as well as bagels with lox, and so I don't think bonito flakes are at all out of place. I've also had crab legs for breakfast and crepes filled with crab meat. I like fish.

I make my own tartar sauce, however, and would never buy that. I also make Creole or Louis sauce for fish and use chili sauce instead of ketchup, but I do add horseradish and lemon juice to it.

From what I can tell, Heinz chili sauce is not chili sauce as I understand it.

Lars

True. Heinz Chili Sauce has been around for nearly a century at least, so the name "Chili Sauce" is part of the vernacular, but it is a ketchup derivative, not a chili pepper sauce.

We don't eat a lot of things that use ketchup. The kids love hamburgers and hot dogs with all the goodies on them, but we have those maybe once a month. I'll often bake fries to go with and we all like ketchup for those. One bottle of whatever was on sale + coupon is always in the fridge.

I've made a version of Heinz from a low carb recipe site. It's pretty good but makes much more than we'd use. I'd freeze it if my planning skills were better. I'd be nuking ketchup last minute every single time.

I don't buy mayo anymore. I like home made much better and the Top Secret guy has a great Hellman's clone. I can make a cup at a time for sandwiches, or for specific recipes, so there's minimal waste. Takes 5 minutes, including gathering the ingredients.
I love a cold curry sauce made with it, for chicken. I've switched to Italian style tuna in olive oil and it's the BOMB with that mayo for tuna salad.

I recently bought a stone ground mustard at Aldi that is delicious.

My favorite is probably salad dressings, especially creamy ones. I have a bad habit of collecting them. Ranch is my Achilles heel. I put in on all kinds of things when I have a bottle...which is why I don't have a bottle!

No, and no. Though every once in awhile I'll get hold of some kind of ketchup that tastes awful to me. I can never remember which one it is. Heinz, maybe. Maybe DelMonte.

I usually buy whatever is cheapest, and its fine with me.

This is a fun thread to read!

I will ever forget how surprised I was,
When I first came to Texas some 50+ years ago,
And discovered that mayo was considered the 'norm'
On hamburgers!
I'd never heard of such!
Where I came from, mustard and ketchup
Were what you got
if you ordered a burger "with everything'.

Then I married a person who would absolutely NOT eat any ketchup on anything, ever!
So I got to where I didn't (or very rarely) ate it, either.
As the kids grew, though, I did buy it for them.
Usually Heinz.

Personally, I find I LOVE Heinz Chili sauce
In place of cocktail sauce.

I also love Boars Head Pub style horseradish sauce.
I think I could eat it straight out of the jar with a spoon.
I use it on most any kind of beef,
Especially chopped steak type dishes.

I also love Wasabi.
I think the main reason I eat Sushi, is,
It's an excuse to eat Wasabi!

Rusty

When I first came to Texas some 50+ years ago,
And discovered that mayo was considered the 'norm'
On hamburgers!
I'd never heard of such!

Interesting. I first ran into that in Tallahassee many, many years ago--if you ordered a plain hamburger that meant nothing but mayo. I always thought it was a local oddity.

LOL! Writersblock, I think "plain" including mayonnaise must actually be a local oddity. California hamburgers normally come with mayonnaise or hamburger sauce (akin to 1000 Island dressing, but with different proportions, sometimes idiosyncratic to the chef), but plain means no condiments, and the vegetables on the side if you don't specify.

Rusty, I only heard about burgers not having mayo/sauce when I was lunching with a friend from Boston. I think mayonnaise is common throughout the West. Which drives her nuts. :) When I was a kid, the lack thereof--in kid lore--was a telling point as to why McDonald's weren't "real" hamburgers. :) (It was probably the moms who first said they weren't "real" meaning that they weren't good quality food, and the kids were just trying to figure out why.)

I ran out of ketchup, a few days back, in the middle of making Sloppy Joes. I compensated. The resulting mix was very tasty, and did have some ketchup, not to mention mustard, hot BBQ sauce, onions, parsley, S&P, bell peppers, jalapeños, and even some carrots and other odds and ends. That's what's so fun about Sloppy Joes. You can put anything in. It's like a salad. It was very tasty. Reaction? Needs ketchup!

Aside from the qualities of the various ketchups, I'd like to nominate the person who designed the new ketchup bottles that open from the bottom for a Nobel Prize.

We understand. All of it.

I've always made my own condiments at home...ketchup, mustards, dressings...for years now. Though certain dishes do need the 'classics'.
My crab cakes, a childhood favorite, just is not the same without a bit of Hellmans and worcestershire.
Had a ShakeShack burger/fries last week and the sickly sweet Heintz was perfect and expected.
At work we must have at least 30 bottled salad dressings on any given day and none of them are any good so I bring my own homemade...the Bragg's brand is good when they have it. Or the Annie brand Asian/sesame/soy/ginger is ok in a pinch.

I have absolutely no qualms with ketchup. Love it! Especially with French fries. Fortunately, for my pants, I rarely eat fries.

However, given a choice, my most favorite condiments are: Ajvar, Tomato Jam, Pesto Aioli and Chimichurri.

And let me add, I would swim to Cuba and back if the ocean was made of Cuban Mojo.

Sol

You are making me hungry Sol!

My husband loves ketchup (Heinz). One time, I accidently bought another H brand.
He asked, "What is this bottle of divorce doing in the refrigerator?"

That's hilarious ! Sounds like he's fun.

I only like Heinz. Don't eat very much of it, but have to have it on scrambled eggs, grilled cheese sandwich & macaroni. I must be weird as nobody else mentioned any of these.

Sharon

Sharon, my FIL does that but not with grilled cheese. I'd have to leave the room while the abomination was being eaten, hahaha!