Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with ketchup

Please help me turn ketchup into something else

uandt — Tue, 05 May 2009 04:40:49 -0800

I don't really like ketchup but now I'm the owner of a couple of bottles. Can I please have your favorite recipes in which ketchup is a major ingredient? It can be food, drink or just about anything funnier than ketchup.

Ketchup monoculture

ryanrs — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:31:23 -0800

Why so few varieties of ketchup? Tomato-based condiments seem particularly prone to speciation. My grocer carries many varieties of salsa, pasta sauce, barbecue sauce, hot sauce, and steak sauce. Probably ten varieties of each. There are many brands, and each brand sells several variations.

But not ketchup. I rarely see more than three or four varieties. Usually it's just Heinz, Hunt's, and the generic store brand. Maybe a feeble low salt / low sugar variant. This makes no sense. Ketchup is one of the highest selling condiments in the US. Why doesn't the market support more variety?

My grocery store sells twelve types of salt. Why only a couple types of ketchup?

Shelf stable homemade condiments

sharksandwich — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 18:40:58 -0800

Homemade condiment preservation without canning. I've made ketchup, hot sauce, and worcestershire sauce in the past. All the recipes say to store the finished product in the refrigerator and use within a relatively short time. Worcestershire seems to be the longest lasting at about 8 months. I understand since there are no preservatives the condiments keep best refrigerated. My question is: Is there any simple way to make hot sauces or worcestershire shelf stable (not needing refrigeration) without adding a pharmacy of chemicals or without canning the condiments? I'd like to give them as gifts and not kill my few friends.

What music video features bikini-clad women putting condiments on themselves?

itsatrap — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 17:22:32 -0800

Some time in the past year I saw a strange, but well shot music video that shows attractive women in bikinis eating and rubbing food and condiments on themselves. Who is this video by, and where can I find it? This video may have been accompanied by techno music, but I'm not sure. It was particularly striking because of the dissonance between the women's appearances and their behavior.

Condimentary, my dear Watson!

snofoam — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:25:29 -0800

How long do condiment packets last? Recently I have opened duck sauce packets that had thickened to silly putty consistency and ketchup that had turned almost black. Also, are they dangerous to eat, or just gross?

Jai

porpoise — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 23:09:15 -0800

(old?) Vancouver Buddhist-style "ketchup gluten" recipe. How do they cook the gluten with the sauce-which-isn't-a-sauce? When I was young, my parents used to get "takeout Vegetarian" from Buddhist restaurants. Consisted of soysauce soybeans, dense sponge-like tofu (in a dark sauce), and wheat gluten ... pillows? chunks? wringled-masses. And other kinds of soy/gluten food products in a variety of flavours.

One of the flavours was/is "ketchup." The other flavours were curry (yellow) and low sui ("old[seasoned?]-water"/"not-quite-five-spice").

The local Asian-Megamart (T&T next to Tinseltown) used to have an (independent?) supplier that sold this stuff on weekends. They no longer do (although they have a self-serve bar for different vegetarian stuff).

I can get fried gluten in bulk. I can't imagine a suitable approach to try cooking it with a ketchup-like sauce to get the same effect. The end result is like industrial sweet&sour sauce that saturates the outer 1/3 of the gluten mass, then removes everything that hadn't been absorbed into the gluten mass except for a thin evenly spread hint embracing every surface area of the gluten mass.

Question 1: Recommend places with this kind of takeout (usually taken out in round aluminium pans with a foiled-cardboard top) in Vancouver*

Question2: How would I go about stewing chunks of wheat gluten (which I have several sources for) and in what mixture of seasoning to get the same kind of effect?

Thanks!

*the childhood place I remember - a hole-in-the-wall - was a block down from Pain&Wasting and the VPD; I checked recently, it's no longer there

"______ is the new ketchup"

hermitosis — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 14:56:00 -0800

Ketchup Alternatives? I love cooking French fries, and still love them with ketchup even though it pretty much contradicts my current food philosophy-- I try to eat as few heavily-processed foods as possible.

I'd love to buy (or make) an alternative condiment to eat with fries. Mustard is great, but I'd like to find a sweeter taste to compliment the saltiness of the fries. Spicy is okay. Preferably a substance of comparable consistency that is easy to dip into. I like foods and flavors from all cultures, and will try almost anything.

However, anything mayonnaise-based is out.

Anyone have any fun ideas or favorite recipes?

Pepper, is it going to kill me?

felix — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 09:35:47 -0800

Black pepper: delicious, delightful innocuous condiment or hideous lurking spicy gastronomic menace? Every time I enjoy a meal with ketchup, I pour out two tablespoons of ketchup, then pour on top of that about two teaspoons of table pepper. I then stir. At this point everyone at the table is looking at me like I'm crazy.

I know that if I did this with salt, I would be dead within the week; but I've never heard any health horror stories about pepper, and the ketchup/pepper mix is such a revolution in dining that I'm sure that, like the practice of putting down your sandwich upside down, anyone who tries it will be instantly hooked.

Are there any hidden weird problems with eating what normal people would consider a relatively large amount of table pepper?

Why is Heinz 57 sauce so goldanged expensive?

jonmc — Sun, 05 Dec 2004 17:22:00 -0800

CondimentFilter: Why is Heinz 57 sauce so goldanged expensive? I love the stuff, so I bought some last weekend. It was almost four bucks for a tiny bottle that barely got me through the weekend, much more than larger bottles of competing sauces. I checked the ingredients and din't see anything exotic to justify the price bump. Any clues?

Bush Drove Up the Cost of Oil; Will Kerry Drive Up the Cost of Ketchup?

Kwantsar — Sat, 22 May 2004 13:50:24 -0800

Bush and the Oil Cartel have driven the price of oil up. Will John Kerry do the same for Ketchup ?