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condiment Ketchup taste testers needed- limited supply

My Wife, Sister & I, tired all 3 ketchups on Fresh fried French fries & Buffalo burgers less buns.

We all found the color to be just right & the smell of all three was fresh with spice to the nose.
All 3 clung nicely to the fries without dripping. Stayed put on the plate without separating.

Tasting results:
1st was #4.

2nd was #5

3rd was #6

#4 was perfectly flavored with just the right amount of Vinegar. We couldn't get enough & the
heat level was perfect even for my sister who is not a pepper head at all.

#5 was a good tasting ketchup however it was missing something. We felt it needs some more vinegar
to balance it out. A good tasting flavor with the right spice, just needs a bit more kick.

#6 Was too sweet for us, I don't know why, it could be we only use natural sweeteners & very little at that.
The sweet sort of washed out the spice much like a sweet salad dressing.

Each sample was perfect for color, thickness, smell, a nice fresh smell with many interesting notes.
The heat was pleasant with that nice slow throat burn that makes you feel good & does not interfere with
the food you have it on.

More results coming as I make a Cocktail sauce with all three for a test later on.
 
Thank you for your comments, Skullbiker. Any other comments about usage on other stuff, please share.

I think all of the recipes need about 7-8% more heat.
 
Thank you for your comments Marturo. And thanks for the girls helping out.


But....to my previous comment about needing more heat....Marturo and a DM say that for non-chileheads, tge current heat is just right.


Thank you, everyone for the comments. Keep 'em coming. Very helpful.
 
Ratatouille said:
I'd like to call dibs in this chipotle ketchup recipe. Care to share?
Click to expand...
It's not too exciting. My "base" is La Morena Chipotle Sauce, which is like buying their chipotles in adobo sauce but already pureed for you, no blender needed. Next I add one of those small cans of tomato paste, and the rice vinegar. The sugar is turbinado, and the spices are garlic powder, a very small dash of clove, and a slightly larger dash of allspice, and sea salt. I would have added onion powder but the La Morena already has onion. I don't add water since I am using rice vinegar which is a little weaker. No blending is needed, I just arrange this all in my Instant Pot, I pressure cook it for like 30 minutes, and then I slow cook it a couple hours. On slow cook you can remove the lid so you can stir and taste and take it out when you like. You don't want it too dark, that's overcooking it. If you like a fresher taste you can take it out after the pressure cook, or use slow cook only. It's up to you! I know @salsalady is making a fresher variety with fresh veg, this is a quickie though, in case you are interested. It tastes awesome.

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Burgers and fries last night, with spicy ketchup!

General notes: They all had a good what I would describe as a dark aromatic earthy flavor, something like clove or allspice. That was much more prominent than in commercial ketchups, which IMO is good. Overall I liked the flavors of all three.

#4: Nice low-level heat, not overpowering. Good overall flavor balance. Sweet and bright.

#5: Hotter than #4, more muted flavors in general, not as bright.

#6: More intense and deeper flavors. Not as sweet but certainly sweet enough. Not as bright as #4 but more so than #5. Similar to #5 in heat level.

Heat levels I think were just fine. Hot enough for chileheads to at least notice, but not overwhelmingly hot for lesser beings.

They're all good, but my favorite was #6, followed by #4 and #5.

If you don't want to use worchestershire, I would try adding some acid to #5. Maybe a little more vinegar? Probably not white, either rice or cider.
 
Yeah they changed the recipe slightly a few years ago, but still great. They used to be made with sesame oil not soybean, and they had a bay leaf in the can. Basically still the same but the "sauce" is like that can put into a blender so it's a great smooth base for BBQ and ketchup. Try it!

Yes, it's also my base for my chipotle BBQ sauce lol!
 
Thanks Boss for keeping an eye on the thread and sharing the chipotle recipe. I have been gone since Wednesday on a very important mission. Helping the Kid and SO moving back to the Methow! :woohoo:



Back to the ketchup... i reached out to 2 PA about a N.I.P. and was quotes $1600 per product. :eek: yowza! Guess these new labels will not have that info.

Thanks for the comments.

Keep Refrigerated! I had one test bottle sitting out for a couple weeks and it got fuzzy.
 
salsalady said:
Batch #4 will not be considered for production as it contains Worcestershire sauce and I do not want that in the ingredients list.
Click to expand...
What if you used tamarind pulp as a sub? This way you get the worcestershire root taste without all the other stuff while also avoiding allergens and fish.
 
That is a great idea! Thanks, Boss. I do have tamarind for other sauces.
 
Yeah and a dash of soy sauce maybe, then with all the other ingredients and spices you have in there, it's like a worcestershire but without using a pre-made product.
 
I use wheat-free tamari in a couple other sauces. That and tamarind might work. I do have my own licensed spicy worcestershire but I'd rather not rely on that as I don't always have it available.
 
The Hot Pepper said:
I'll let others do it. And you know you can buy fish-free worcestershire. In fact a lot of brands of BBQ sauce have moved to it. Another weird coincidence, I also bought and returned a BBQ sauce today because it had Splenda in it (sucralose). So that's not the one I would like lol. PS. I think you mean zero sugar, not calorie.
Click to expand...
Fish free worcestershire sauce is like fish free fish sauce... it is just not going to be the same. I'm down to do a video review of any sauce you have. If you wanted to make it interesting, I could even do it blindfolded.
If you are still doing this taste testing, my address is:
Eric Knight
6000 Watkins Road
Wendell, NC 27591
 
PollenNut said:
I'm down to do a video review of any sauce you have. If you wanted to make it interesting, I could even do it blindfolded.
If you are still doing this taste testing, my address is:
Click to expand...
Thanks for the offer, all the samples are gone.
SL
 
First of all, it should be known that Heinz is the ONLY ketchup worthy of the name, and all others are imposters, fakers or wannabes. That said, let's do this!

The Mrs joined me in the tastings. Since we were in agreement with each other (for the most part), the following is a blend of our thoughts/opinions.

We also decided that the initial tests should be conducted with the default standard – fries. NOBODY eats fries without ketchup. And, of course, everybody knows McDonald's fries are unparalleled.

It should also be noted that I have not read any further in the post, so as not to be influenced by others' reviews, should there be any.

IMG_20230417_174311318.jpg

Generally:

The color and consistency of all three was fine. They all smelled like ketchup, with #5 the most tomatoey (if that's a word). They all poured fine – not too thick, not too thin.

Specifically:

#4 - The initial flavor was worchestershire, followed by tomato. Too heavy on the spice – cloves/allspice/nutmeg? I thought there was a low heat that lingered a bit, but oddly, Mrs didn't think so. She got no heat.

#5 - The initial flavor observed was tomato. There was a very nice, complimentary spice level. I thought there was a low heat with a tingle. Mrs thought this one had the highest heat.

#6 - The initial flavor was AC vinegar, followed quickly by tomato. We found this one to be too sweet. Also less spice. I thought this one had a sneaky heat. The more you ate, the more prominent it became until you had a low level warmth in the mouth and down the throat. But, overall, we found it to be “flat” tasting. Mrs simply said No.

In Summary:

Our overall winner is #4, but it has been disqualified – bummer.

Our next choice is #5. We thought the balance of flavors was very good, and the “heat” level would be ok, even for kids.

That leaves #6. I like the heat in this one, but that's about all we liked. Like the Mrs said, this one is a NO for us.


Thanks for letting us participate. We enjoyed it. Best of luck with this endeavor!

EDIT: I have now gone back and read the other reviews. Interesting!
 
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