Today, a salute to a few of the things that take what we’re eating from “oh hum” to “oh! Yum.” Condiment offerings have exploded into a $24 billion market with an annual growth rate of 2.3%, according to the marketing group Food Processing. If the salsas, mustards, pestos, jams and tapenades in your refrigerator are crowding out the real stuff, you are not alone. Alluring condiments add unmistakable flavor in the kitchen, and a stroll down your grocery store’s condiment aisle will show you some amazing new things.
So what is a condiment? According to Taste Editors at the Huffington Post, what defines a condiment is simply that it imparts flavor onto another food — it could be a dip, sauce or in some cases even a spread. It’s all kind of subjective, however. We count jam, but we do not count peanut butter, which is definitely more of a spread. We count salsa, but we don’t count guacamole, which we think of more as a stand-alone dish. There’s a fine and elusive line — so subjective that even the dictionary won’t commit to calling a condiment anything more than just “something that is added to food to give it more flavor.”
Mayonnaise for example, the best-selling condiment in the United States has suffered some corporate tinkering that’s developed three questionable off-spring by Heinz; Mayomust — a blend of mayonnaise and mustard, Mayochup, a blend of mayonnaise and ketchup, Mayocue, a saucy blend of mayo and barbecue sauce, and Kranch, Heinz Kktchup plus Heinz ranch dressing with a special blend of spices. There goes that extra space on the door of your refrigerator.
Mayonnaise, as a branch on the condiment bush has other offspring as well — aiolis, which are not mayonnaise, but are loosely defined as an emulsion of neutral-flavored oil like canola, egg yolk, vinegar and/or lemon juice. Aiolis come from the southern region of Provence, France and begin not in a blender but with a mortar and pestle and several cloves of garlic. When the garlic is pounded to a paste, it’s whisked into the traditional preparation of egg yolk, lemon juice, mustard and olive oil instead of canola which adds olive oil’s fruity aroma into the mix.
Aioli now comes in many flavors like roasted garlic, lemon herb, horseradish, and habanero and is typically served as a dip for vegetables, boiled eggs and shellfish, while mayonnaise is more widely employed in a variety of ways. Aioli, used as a replacement for mayonnaise when you’re building a sandwich, a deviled egg, or a hamburger adds great depth of flavor.
One way to fight back the invasion of condiment jars in the refrigerator is to make your own. Good cooks rave about homemade mayonnaise; it’s simple to make and fun to watch as it suddenly emulsifies. You can create your own little jar of Mayochup and forego the big squeezy one.
Martha Stewart’s Classic Mayonnaise
Ingredients
1 egg
1 teaspoon prepared Dijon mustard
Pinch salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 cup vegetable or safflower oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Pinch ground black pepper
Directions: In a blender, mix egg, mustard, salt, and sugar. Slowly drizzle in oil while blender is running. Add lemon juice. Season with black pepper. Refrigerate in a jar.
You can add some Sriracha for a spicy mayo, some lemon juice, a dab of mustard and sweet pickle relish for tartar sauce, some ketchup, sweet pickle relish, lemon juice and minced onion for Thousand Island dressing – you get the idea. With a little ingenuity you could come up with an iconic sauce like Burger Hut’s Special sauce or La Hacienda’s House Dressing.
If you are a mayonnaise aficionado and want to ascend to the next level try Japan’s Kewpie Mayo — a blend of egg yolks only, (U.S. mayo uses the whole egg), apple cider or rice vinegar, (we use distilled vinegar which is more acetic), and a special emulsification process. “The unique blend of eggs, vinegar, and oil are whipped intensely until they form the beautiful consistency that is second-to-none — creamy, luscious, and smooth,” according to the Kewpie Mayo website. Look for the baby on the label.
Not even ketchup, ranked No. 20 out of the world’s best condiments by Huffington Post is immune to tinkering. There’s a new ketchup getting a lot of hype — Hunt’s Best Ever Ketchup, Thicker and Richer — and harder to find. My research shows you have to drive to Walmart in Oroville to get a bottle. The Taste Editors at Huffington Post describe ketchup in general as the “most basic condiment of all, the overrated tomato-sugar paste that goes on everything from scrambled eggs (gross) to well-done ribeyes (the worst). Use it if there’s nothing else available.” Does this apply to Mayochup as well?
No. 11 on the Huffington Post’s list is fish sauce — Red Boat in particular is “is the secret ingredient to making the best burgers in the world. No kidding. It also makes everything else taste better, too. It can bring layers of depth to your food and once you start cooking with it, you won’t look back.”
No. 6 is Sriracha — “Certain food trends are inexplicable. Sriracha is not one of them. In bloody marys or on chicken wings, Sriracha tastes good on basically everything.” It better be versatile because sriracha comes in ginormous bottles! Watch for Sriracha ketchup — a new bottle on the condiment shelf.
No. 3 Vinegar — “Vinegar might seem like an unlikely candidate, but it works magic — on fries, potato chips, fish, meats and even vegetables. Like mustard, it’s the base of many other condiments and sauces, and eaten alone, it will sharpen your food to a new level. With so many kinds of vinegar, you can pretty much use it on anything, and you should. It’s the skeleton key of condiments!”
No. 2 Salsa — “Salsa goes on everything that ketchup goes on, but it’s way better than ketchup. And healthier, usually. Plus, people like to say ‘salsa.'”
No. 1 Salt – “Salt is the king of the condiments. If, by definition, a condiment is what ‘enhances your food,’ nothing does it better than salt. Sure, you may argue that it’s a ‘seasoning’ and not a condiment, but to each his own. Just pass the salt.” For tomato season, indulge in a box of Maldon Sea salt; sprinkle some of the magic crystals on your garden-fresh sliced tomatoes — it’s life-changing.
But why dither in condiments past when there are such delightful new international trends to experiment with? For spicy heat, David Chang’s Momofoku Ssam Spicy Sauce from Heinz centers around gochujang, a Korean chili pasta potent in umami flavors. Some have called it “the next sriracha. Delicious on top of fried chicken sandwiches at lunch or egg sandwiches any time of day, according to Better Homes and Gardens’ Karla Walsh in “7 Condiments That Will Upgrade Your Sandwiches in 2019.” Walsh also likes a Venezuelan avocado-cilantro sauce called Kumana Avocado Sauce Be Original, and Trader Joe’s Zhoug Sauce, a refrigerated Middle Eastern pesto with cilantro, jalapenos, chile flakes and cumin.
Younger consumers are driving the shift towards new and exciting flavors they’ve discovered while dining at trendy food carts or shopping at ethnic grocers, according to Gerald Oksanen in his food and travel piece, “Ketchup with the Latest Condiment Trends.” A senior analyst for Dataessential, a supplier of trends analysis for the food industry, Oksanen takes the case of Sriracha: In recent years, sriracha has entered the everyday vernacular becoming a nearly ubiquitous condiment, paving the way to more consumer acceptance and interest of global flavors. Now on the horizon are other global favorites such as Tunisian harissa, South Korean gochujang and Argentinian chimichurri. According to Datassential’s machine learning tool haiku, these sauces are poised to breakout, experiencing solid growth in the years ahead. Gochujang, for example, is projected to nearly double in menu penetration by 2022. Best we learn how to pronounce it straight away.
Harissa, a North African chile blend, gets its earthiness from spices like coriander, cumin and caraway — it’s spicy but rounded. Use it to liven up leftovers, add some zing to an omelet, or tune up a simple pasta sauce.
If all this discussion of sauces has set up a hankering for some delicious home fries to dip into the new concoctions, here’s a recipe from What’s Gaby Cooking:
Everything Home Fries
Note: the Gaby’s This is Everything Seasoning is a spice blend available at Williams Sonoma. There is a similar spice blend at Trader Joe’s, Everything But the Bagel Sesame Seasoning Blend or you can make your own using dried garlic and onion, poppy seeds and toasted white and black sesame seeds.
Ingredients
5-6 large Yukon gold potatoes, cut into wedges
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons Gaby’s This is Everything Seasoning
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
Instructions: Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place the potato wedges, 3 tablespoons of olive oil and salt and pepper in a zip top bag and shake to combine. Transfer the potatoes to a parchment lined baking sheet and evenly spread out the wedges. Transfer to the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, flipping once, until evenly baked and golden brown. About 10 minutes before they are done, sprinkle with the This Is Everything seasoning, and toss to coat. Rearrange the fries on the baking sheet and finish roasting.
Taste and season with extra salt and pepper as needed. Dip in your favorite new condiment!
We live in interesting times with dazzling food choices — spice up your culinary IQ by experimenting with a new sauce or two, and just for fun take a slow meander down the ketchup aisle and see what’s new.
