What says summer more than ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, and relish sitting on a table beside a couple of bags of hotdog and hamburger buns? Nothing at all. That is summer, and these are the quintessential summer condiments. Today, I’m going to show you how to make them for yourself. That’s right, by the end of this post, you might have to change your name to Heinze, Hellmann, or French because you are going to be a condiment master. Now let’s toast some buns, grill some burgers and fry some fries because you’re going to want something to put these delicious homemade condiments on. Let’s get to it!
How To Make Homemade Ketchup
What is ketchup?
When we think of ketchup, we think of tomato ketchup. It has dominated the ketchup scene for over a century. However, ketchup doesn’t have to be made with tomatoes. Say what? Yeah, I know. Crazy, eh? There are, in fact, lots of other types of ketchup, including mushroom ketchup, which is popular in the UK and banana ketchup, a classic Philippine condiment. What’s even crazier is that tomato ketchup didn’t come into existence until almost a full century after mushroom ketchup became popular in the UK. Ketchup has a long and interesting history that I encourage you to read about in this expansive article from History. For our purposes today, ketchup is tomato ketchup. And we are going to learn to make it at home. Let’s take a look.
Making Homemade Ketchup
Homemade ketchup really is just a slightly sweet and acidic sauce made using tomatoes as the base. Now, we could cook some tomatoes with vinegar and sugar, and I guess that would technically be ketchup, but it probably wouldn’t taste all that great. So, we need to add some extra flavour. To do that, we start by sautéing some onion and garlic. As usual, you can find the full measurements in the printable recipe below. Once the onions soften and the garlic starts to brown, brown sugar is added and left to cook for about a minute. Next up, cider vinegar and balsamic vinegar are added. The ketchup is seasoned with salt, pepper and cinnamon. Next, the tomatoes are added, and the whole thing gets puréed. The sauce cooks for a while, then ground clove and tomato paste are added. The ketchup is left to simmer before being passed through a fine-mesh sieve. That’s all there is to it.
Ingredients
- 2 tsp canola oil
- 1 cup diced onion
- 2 tbsp sliced garlic
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 796 ml can tomatoes whole, crushed, or puree
- 1/8 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- a pinch of ground cloves
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
Instructions
- Heat a medium pot over medium-high heat.
- Add the oil, onion, and garlic. Cook just until the onions start to soften and the garlic starts to brown.
- Add the brown sugar and cook, stirring for 1 minute.
- Pour the cider vinegar and balsamic vinegar into the pot and add in the cinnamon, pepper, and salt. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes and purée.
- Bring to a boil, add the cloves, turn the heat to medium-low and simmer for 30 minutes stirring every 5 minutes or so.
- Add the tomato paste and cook, until a spoon dragged across the bottom of the pot leaves a line for more than 5 seconds.
- Pass the ketchup through a fine-mesh sieve.
- Refrigerate for up to a month.
How To Make Homemade Mustard
Mustard is not only great on hotdogs and burgers but also for dipping sausages into, for glazing ham, and as an addition or base for other sauces. It is also, by far, the easiest condiment on this list to make. Like ketchup, mustard has a pretty interesting history that you should check out here. In the meantime, here is how to make your own homemade mustard.
Homemade Mustard
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together mustard powder, turmeric (for colour), salt, garlic powder, paprika, and cayenne (leave out if you don’t like hot mustard). Once the dried ingredients are combined, add vinegar and water. Whisk. You’ve just made mustard. You can eat it right away, but it is best if it sits in the fridge overnight.
Variations
You can use this homemade mustard recipe as is, or you can use it as a base to create your own mustards. You can add in a tablespoon or two of mustard seed to create grainy mustard. Use flavoured vinegar like raspberry or champagne to change the flavour. You can add honey to make honey mustard. You can use beer instead of water. I could go on all day becasue you really can make countless types of mustard with simple additions or alterations to this main recipe.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup mustard powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1/4 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/8 tsp cayenne optional
- 2 tbsp white vinegar
- 3 tbsp water
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the mustard powder, salt, turmeric, paprika, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper.
- Add the vinegar and water to the bowl and whisk.
- For best results, store the mustard in the fridge overnight before using it.
- Keep the fridge for up to a month.
Notes
How To Make Homemade Mayonnaise
If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time, you probably have a pretty good idea of how to make a vinaigrette. Well, mayonnaise is a vinaigrette but made using egg as the binder to hold the liquid and oil together. That’s it. As with the mustard above, you can use this base homemade mayonnaise recipe as it is, or you can add to it and make it your own. Some of my favourite additions are chipotle and lime. Sriracha with fish sauce and a bit of extra sugar. Roasted red pepper. Or even sundried tomato.
Make Homemade Mayonnaise
Break an egg into a bowl. Add sugar, salt, vinegar, and lemon juice, then whisk. While whisking, add a few drops of oil. Whisk in a few more drops of oil. Repeat this two to three more times. Then, while whisking, add the remaining oil in a slow, steady stream until it has all been incorporated. Whisk in a little bit of water. Adjust the seasoning with salt, sugar, and lemon juice as needed. That’s mayonnaise, baby!
The Oil
It is important to use a neutral oil like canola or grapeseed. By neutral, I mean, has little to no flavour. The reason is that there are very few ingredients in mayonnaise, so the bulk of the flavour will come from the oil. If that oil has an off or strong flavour, so will the mayonnaise.
Ingredients
- 1 whole egg
- 1 tbsp white vinegar
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup canola oil
- 1 tbsp water
Instructions
- Break the egg into a medium mixing bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer.
- To the egg, add the vinegar, lemon juice, sugar and salt. Whisk until fully combined.
- While whisking, slowly add the oil a few drops at a time. Wait to add any more oil until the first addition has been incorporated into the eggs.
- Repeat the process 2 to 3 more times, then you can begin to add the oil, in a slow steady stream until all of the oil has been incorporated into the egg mixture.
- Whisk in the water.
- Taste the mayonnaise and adjust the seasoning with sugar, salt, and lemon juice as needed.
- Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
How To Make Homemade Relish
The final homemade condiment that we are going to learn to make today is relish. Like with ketchup, relish isn’t one thing. You can make relish out of cucumber, which is the most popular, but also out of zucchini, corn, peppers, and any other vegetable you could probably imagine. Today, we are going to make the classic cucumber relish.
Homemade Relish
Mince some cucumber and green pepper. Put them in a pot with sugar, cold water, white vinegar, salt, cornstarch, and mustard seed. Stir until the cornstarch is incorporated. Bring the pot to a boil over high heat. Turn the heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes. Cool, and serve. Easy friggin’ peasey. To make other types of relish, follow the same process but substitute the cucumber and green pepper for other ingredients like corn and red pepper.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup diced English cucumber
- 1/2 cup minced green pepper
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup cold water
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp mustard seed
Instructions
- Put all of the ingredients in a medium pot.
- Stir to dissolve the cornstarch.
- Bring to a boil over high heat, turn the heat down to medium-low and cook for 10 minutes stirring every 2 minutes or so.
- Let the relish cool to room temperature then store the fridge for up to a month.
The Wrap Up
You might be thinking that this was an interesting post but that you’ll never actually make your own ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, or relish. To that, I say poppycock! Do it! Even if you only do it once, you’ll be able to say you did, and you’ll be happy you did. Now, I don’t expect you to throw away the store-bought versions of these condiments; god knows I’m not going to. But, knowing that you can make them if you want to is kind of empowering. Maybe you’ll never make ketchup, mayonnaise, or relish again, but maybe you fall in love with making mustard. I’ve been saying for years that we’re due for an artisanal mustard craze. Maybe you’ll be the one to start it. The point is, all four of these condiments are worth your effort and time at least once. Of course, there is only one way to know for sure.
Thanks for reading. Happy cooking. I’ll see you next week.
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