Organic Catsup Doggies
Pretty soon, we’ll all be grilling away into the wee, it’s-light-until-ten! hours of the night. Part of that grilling repertoire is bound to include the classic American hot dogs and hamburgers…which in turn will probably entail catsup and mustard. And while you can find decent mustard on most grocery store shelves — although watch out for “alum” in the ingredient list if you’re not a fan of eating aluminum — most catsups list high-fructose corn syrup as the second or third ingredient. Even those that don’t are heavy on the sugar and taste too sweet to me.
With this easy recipe, you can make your own customizable catsup any time and keep it in the fridge for up to a week. (Seeing as tomatoes are such a good preservative, I’ve actually been able to keep my catsup in the fridge for several weeks before having it go moldy.) You could also freeze extra batches and then transfer them from the freezer to the fridge when Friday morning hits and you know you’ll be donning your grill chef’s apron over the weekend.
Historical note: whether you call it catsup or ketchup, it’s a weird-sounding name. As a kid, I thought it had something to do with cats, which was very confusing and rather horrifying. But the sauce came about back in colonial times, when England’s empire wrapped around the world. Kecap was a type of condiment popular in southeastern Asia — to this day, Indonesian cuisine features kecap manis, kecap ikan, and several other kecaps. (The word “kecap” simply means a sauce that’s been fermented, like modern-day soy sauce.) What began as a tangy, often fish- or soy-based sauce spread to England, where it was combined with things like mushrooms and various seafoods to become ketchup. (You can still get banana catsup in the Philippines.) The one ingredient the altered kecap did NOT contain was tomatoes — they became a crucial ingredient when yet another version of catsup became a household item in America. Nowadays, of course, American catsup has evolved to absolutely require tomatoes as the central ingredient.
Customizable Catsup
1 medium onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 15-oz. can or jar of tomato sauce, preferably organic
2 T. blackstrap molasses OR maple syrup (if you’d like an earthier, less-sweet flavor, choose the molasses; if you’d like a lighter, sweeter version, go with the maple)
1 T. cider vinegar
1 T. pomegranate molasses (optional, but provides a nice backdrop)
1 T. anchovy paste or finely-minced anchovies (paste is much easier) OR 1 T. Asian fish sauce (which will nudge you closer to the original kecap)
2 tsp. dry mustard
1 bay leaf
Combined 2 tsp. of any of the following spices (choose a mixture of your favorites or use 1/2 tsp. of each): ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and/or cloves
Freshly-cracked pepper & sea salt to taste
Cayenne pepper (optional)
In a medium-sized pot, sautée onions in a pat of butter or ghee over medium-low heat for about 3 minutes or until onions are soft and fragrant. Add garlic and continue to sautée for another minute or two until garlic is fragrant as well. (Do not scorch garlic! Scorched garlic is bitter and not a good base for any sauce.)
Turn down heat to low, whisk in tomato sauce — and stand back as you do so, because the sauce will bubble up immediately due to the heat — and then whisk in the remaining ingredients. Allow sauce to barely simmer over low heat for at least 20 minutes for the flavors to marry; letting it go for 30 is even better. Use immediately or let cool and then store in a glass container for up to a week in the fridge.
Enjoy!
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Tags: catsup, fish sauce, food history, grilling, kecap, ketchup, summer time, tomatoes
