Condiments

It's our favorite spicy new condiment!

Mark your calendars for the week of August 21.

There's no vodka in it, but we liked it anyway!

We held an official taste test of seven popular brands and here's how it went.

It’s the go-to condiment for French fries; a must-have for kids; and a regular accompaniment to hamburgers, hot dogs, and veggie burgers. Yes, we’re talking about ketchup! We tried seven well-known brands of ketchup (with French fries for dipping, of course!) and picked our three favorites. Keep reading to see which ones won.

Now that you know all about how fish sauce is traditionally made, how do you pick a bottle from all of the many options at your local Asian market? I talked to Mr. Hai, an expert fish sauce maker in Sa Chau, Vietnam to get his take. As it turns out, fish sauce is a very personal thing. It can be salty, sweet, fishy, nutty, and stinky, and it’s all about what you prefer. So next time you’re at the Asian market, keep these tips in mind to choose the bottle you take home.

Branston Pickle might look strange, but it's actually delicious.

Before I get into how good this new TJ’s salad dressing is, can we please take a minute to discuss how impossible it is to spell “vinaigrette” right on the first try? (Close your eyes and try it, middle school spelling bee-style, and let me know if you have better luck than I did.) Okay, okay, now for that review of this Organic Rosé V-I-N-A-I-G-R-E-T-T-E as promised. Yes, you read that right.

This colorful Trader Joe’s vinegar first caught our eye a few months ago, but we kept passing it by in favor of practical pantry staples. Every so often, we’d pick it up and almost put it in our basket, only to place it back on the shelf with a sigh.Then we were hungry for a citrusy, vinegary salad to go with the breezy warm weather this past weekend, and we decided enough was enough!This vinegar hits the balance of sweet and tart exactly right.

When Vogue food writer Jeffrey Steingarten conducted his landmark ketchup taste test in 1992, he categorized the condiments as Heinz, Worse Than Heinz, Better Than Heinz, and Not Really Ketchup. Nearly twenty years later, with home canning making a comeback and housemade condiments popping up on restaurant tables, The Washington Post‘s Jane Black wonders, Could homemade ketchup beat Heinz?Normally we would say, yes, of course! Homemade is always preferable to industrially processed.

I am a die hard make-it-from-scratch cook for dinner parties. I’ll take the extra step to make even the most basic foods myself — hand-rolled tortillas, homemade caramel, pie crusts, and everything in between. Although these details make a difference to me, I’ve learned that cutting a few corners never breaks a party. Tip number one: Trader Joe’s red pepper spread.

Ketchup is the required condiment for cookouts large and small, near and far. A hot dog just wouldn’t be the same without it! Have you ever tried making your own?For purposes of comparison, we’ll use classic Heinz Tomato Ketchup and a recipe for ketchup from Saveur Magazine:• Homemade Ketchup from SaveurAll costs were taken from Peapod Online Grocery. In the homemade cost, we don’t account for the cost of salt or other typical pantry staples.

A jar of Hellman’s, or similar squat blue-topped jar, is requisite for all summer picnic tables. Mayonnaise gets slathered on hamburger buns, stirred into potato salad, or made into a quick dip right there on the spot. Do you ever think about setting the jar aside and making mayo yourself?For purposes of comparison, we’ll use a 30 oz jar of Hellman’s Real Mayonnaise. And for the homemade recipe, we’ll use The Kitchn’s own method.

Ever have one of those dinners that you were sure was going to be a real winner in the taste department, but instead turned out boring and bland? Let me introduce you to my new favorite helper in the kitchen. It’s called Garlic Gold, and it absolutely deserves that name.This may look like an average grocery-store bottle of minced garlic in olive oil, but it’s so very much better.

‘Tis the season for mayonnaise. The trusty jar finds its way onto kitchen counters to help with potato salad pursuits, chicken and egg salad sandwiches, and run-of-the-mill condiment needs. And while we all likely have our favorite brand of mayonnaise, the field has changed a great deal: meet zesty, complex chipotle mayonnaise. I first got to know Sir Kensington products through their line of awesome ketchup, so I was pleased to hear that they were branching out.