Condiments

Revealing the secret history of our condiments.

Condiment: from L. condimentum “spice, seasoning, sauce,” from condire “to preserve, pickle, season” (variant of condere “to put away, store”). As its etymology suggests, a condiment must have a shelf life — which, until recently, means it was vinegar-, salt-, or sugar-based. Also, it must be at least slightly more complicated, and moister, than a seasoning.

However, though preserved, pickles aren’t condiments: pickled beets can be lovely with falafel, but they’re still a vegetable. As for the “usage” folks, who define anything added to prepared food as a condiment, they’re quite mad: even if you dip fish sticks into it, hollandaise is a sauce, not a condiment.

Guess that settles the question over relish on hot dogs. Not a condiment. Or is it a mix?

Ok, this is weird. For the past week I have been meaning to put up a 'what is your favorite condiment' thread. For various reasons, I never got around to it. BTW, I intended to stretch condiment to include any free food item given with a meal, such as sauces, crackers, etc.

For the record, my favorites, in no particular order are:

Arby's Horsey Sauce

McDonald's Hot Picante Sauce - Not authentic, but I loooove this stuff on breakfast sandwiches.

In 'N Out Burger chiles - When I visited them in Vegas for the first time, they had these little clear packets with two small peppers in them. Genius

Taco Bell Fiery Sauce

McDonald's Honey Mustard - Also a breakfast favorite

Gulden's Spicy Brown Mustard - Available from numerous fast food places.

Heinz Ketchup - Available from numerous fast food places.

ugh. I used to call my ex "condiment man" because he'd douse EVERYTHING in ketchup.

is mayonnaise a condiment? or a sauce?

Brianna's Zesty French dressing. I put this stuff on everything, it is beyond fantastic.

soy sauce rucks !!

Chipotle mayo is coming on strong.

Ketchup.

Plain.

Simple.

Technically a vegetable.

And I put it on hot dogs.

Because I can't stand mustard. I eat Philly Pretzels dry.

yay! for ketchup on hot dogs! yum.

Dirty Harry says no.

[youtube]UDi4hiiozeI[/youtube]

Lennys Pepper relish is Soo Good on black eyed Peas , in Soups and Killer on Drunk mid nite Special Ramen noodles !!!!

http://www.lennys.com/section.cfm?section=menu&page=relish


And Yeah You Cheese steak heads They Make a Decent Cheese Steak , Never asked if they had any Wizz Though .

Don't, the wizz the steak joints put on chesse-steaks, tastes like my wizz.:yelsick:

richlevy;681898 wrote:

For the record, my favorites, in no particular order are:

McDonald's Hot Picante Sauce - Not authentic, but I loooove this stuff on breakfast sandwiches.
McDonald's Honey Mustard - Also a breakfast favorite

We're being gypped.
All you get here is ketchup, mustard, sweet & sour and BBQ.

Heinz Ketchup - Available from numerous fast food places.

Although admittedly the ketchup in McD's is Heinz.

Sundae Girl;681977 wrote:

We're being gypped.
All you get here is ketchup, mustard, sweet & sour and BBQ.

Although admittedly the ketchup in McD's is Heinz.

That reminds me. I wanted to ask how popular Heinz Malt Vinegar is over in the UK versus local brands. I enjoy it on fries, but when I shopped in some nicer stores, I noticed other brands.

So, how do the Yanks stack up in the Olde English foods department?

I've never even seen Heinz Malt Vinegar.
Our staple is Sarsons.

Am logging off now, but will return with detailed condiment discussions tomorrow ;)

I don't think I'd seen Heinz Malt Vinegar until I came here. Sarsons all the way.

bonus of Arby's Horsey Sauce: clears my sinuses right up.

bleach would do that too, though....

Ever get heartburn? Out of heartburn medicine? Dr. Gravdigr prescribes plain ol' yellow mustard, by the tablespoon, as needed.

Relief almost on contact.

The Merkin condiments do pretty well.

Heinz is an established name.
Therefore Heinz sauces sell well. As well as Ketchup, a Brit staple is their Salad Cream (bleurgh! bane of my childhood!) I understand it's pretty much non-existent in America, but the iconic bottle graces many an afternoon tea over here.
I like the Heinz BBQ sauce, but Lea & Perrins (Worcester Sauce people) do a great range of shake-on sauces - for cooking - and squeeze-on sauces as well.

Hellman's Mayonnaise is also a standard.
Like many brands I actually assumed it was British (see below *) for a long time.

Tabasco.
There are now a lot of hot pepper sauces - Reggae Reggae Sauce is climbing the charts - but this is considered original and best. Especially as there are four different flavours. Yeah - I bet you have 20...

Mustard, I'm afraid you don't figure.
There may be some people who buy "American Style Mustard" and that's probably what's dispensed in cinemas when you buy a hot dog. But in general in this country we eat Colman's. It comes from Norfolk and the distinctive colour and shape of the packaging means MUSTARD with a capital OW. What's the good of it if it doesn't sing in your sinuses?

We also eat French mustard, especially Dijon.

Colman's also sell quintissential accompaniments for all Sunday roasts; apple sauce for pork, bread sauce for turkey (that's a packet mix - we never have that) mint for lamb. When possible we buy local jars from the local butcher. We do buy Ocean Spray cranberry for turkey though, cranberry not really being a viable crop here. Or at least not a cheap one.

Oh and horseradish for beef. My favourite.
I add it to mackerel as well, and like the strong stuff.
No particular maker - I buy supermarket own. But in its absence I have a tube of wasabi.

You would recognise many condiments if you came here (please do! I'm always asking y'all!) but perhaps used in different ways.

We're not as foreign as Continental Europe, with their beers in vending machines, and mayo on fries. But we might appear exotic with our brown sauce on bacon and our mint on peas.

* Our first morning in New York. We went into a diner for breakfast. It was a little off the beaten track, but of course I can't claim it was completely authentic (although the waitress did exclaim that we were English). I was amazed for a second that there was Heinz Ketchup and Tabasco on the table. I then laughed at myself to the Evil Ex. He didn't get it, and still didn't when I explained it. Then again, he also thought Kelloggs Cornflakes were British. Blame the English cafes on the Spanish Costas, which reassure people everying they serve is the same as at home - you've guessed it, Heinz, Kelloggs etc.

I went to a restaurant in Bar Harbor, Maine and ordered the fish and chips. There was ketchup on the table, so I turned to the waiter and as I was saying "I need ..." he whipped a bottle of malt vinegar out of his apron.

Cool that I didn't even have to finish asking.

It was Heinz, which was okay, but I prefer the maltier flavor of some of the British malt vinegars.

In Rehoboth Beach, De, there's a place called Thrasher's that sells awsome fries. The only thing they have for dipping is vinegar - there's a sign that says "don't even ask for ketchup".

There are Thrashers in OCMD also - Been there for like 100 years. The Rehoboth one is much newer. I agree their fries are AWESOME.

My wife made her first visit to the Boardwalk in OC the other summer. She had her first Boardwalk fries. She pigged out madly and even now demands that I make my homemade version (complete with malt vinegar) every once in a while.

Rich, I would like to add Quiznos Batch 81 sauce to your list. Nice and spicy but still sweet enough to NOT burn my mouth. I wish it still came in bottles!

Brian

Yummy!

[YOUTUBE]oWqVJvm-fnI[/YOUTUBE]

oh look, it's a youtube link....

I think you're missing the artistic quality: the extra space is a metaphor for the emptiness in the minds of so many mindless posters. I don't know what the youtubes are a metaphor for, I don't watch them.

I'm all for condiments though. I believe we should pass them out at schools, to our young people. You can't keep kidding yourself that kids will abstain from eating, and condiments are the best known protection against mastically transmitted diseases. [/soapbox]

Yeah, I made up a word. So what? ;)