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Ketchup packets. Photo by Scott Suchman.
Food for Thought: Ketchup Confessions
September 29, 2023 @ 10:00am
Every month, we ask three D.C. chefs and hospitality pros for their tips and tricks on essential ingredients and unsung tools of the trade.
Whether it’s on the table or not, ketchup is something you can find in pretty much every restaurant’s kitchen — from fine-dining to corner takeouts.
It is, after all, a go-to sauce. The salty, acidic and tomato-based condiment is perhaps most at home on a juicy burger or pile of French fries. But there are plenty of other ways D.C. chefs and restaurateurs go about using it.
From homemade ketchup brined with pickle juice to using ketchup as the base ingredient in a classic Chinese dish, it’s a red sauce with a wide reputation for being basic and ubiquitous, but it may be more complex than what meets the palate.
We ask a few chefs to explain their love for ketchup and to elaborate on their loyalty to the classic ketchup brand Heinz, introduced in 1876 and still as popular as ever.
We also answer the question: Is ketchup the mother sauce of America?
Andrew Markert
Chef + Owner of Beuchert’s Saloon + Fight Club DC
Are there specific ways you think about ketchup in your cooking?
Ketchup for me has always been a nice starter when building a fun sauce for sandwiches. At Fight Club, we use ketchup in a number of sauces, including our fancy sauce for our burger. I also love ketchup as a base for making barbecue sauces.
What is your preferred dish to use ketchup as an ingredient?
Meatloaf with a ketchup glaze is my go-to. I use ketchup and some brown sugar, then cover the meatloaf in the glaze before cooking it.
Do you think ketchup is the mother sauce of America?
I think that is pretty accurate. You can, much like the French mother sauces, make many things from ketchup, including mother sauce derivatives. Ketchup gives you barbecue sauces, remoulades, perhaps mumbo sauce. Making these sauces from a mother sauce is a very strong case for ketchup.
Beuchert’s Saloon: 623 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, DC; beuchertssaloon.com // @beuchertssaloon
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Fight Club: 633 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, DC; fightclubdc.com // @fightclubdc
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Gerald Chin
Head of Culinary at Mina Group, including Bourbon Steak
Why does Bourbon Steak make their ketchup in-house? How does it differ from bottled ketchups?
At Bourbon Steak, we elevate the ketchup in our fry trio, creating a slightly acidic twist on the classic by adding our special blend of pickle juice, black pepper and salt. The resulting pickled ketchup complements our herbed fries so well and offers a familiar yet elevated ketchup and French fry pairing.
What is your preferred dish to use ketchup as an ingredient?
I like to use ketchup as an ingredient in cocktail sauce for sure, and also as a secret ingredient in steak tartare.
Do you think ketchup is the mother sauce of America?
The mother sauces are the unbeatable champions of tradition — iconic and untouchable. But, in America, ketchup does reign supreme over all condiments.
Bourbon Steak: 2800 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, DC; bourbonsteakdc.com // @bourbonsteakdc
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Will Fung
Jose Andres Group Operations Manager + Former Head Chef at China Chilcano
Can you put your love for Heinz ketchup into words?
Heinz is simply an American institution, and their ketchup is the iconic product. Heinz ketchup has the best balance of sweet, tangy and savory and has a viscosity that can be used in many different recipes. Also, I have a lot of family in Pittsburgh, so I am fairly certain they would disown me if I speak ill of Heinz.
What are some unique ways you have used ketchup as an ingredient?
Ketchup is used in a lot of Chinese dishes, since its history can be traced to Hokkien cuisine. One of my favorite things to make is flying squirrel fish, a classic Chinese dish where a whole fried fish is coated in a sticky sweet and sour sauce. I use Heinz ketchup as the base.
Recently, I’ve been exploring Sai Chaan, a staple in classic Hong Kong diners that is basically our interpretation of Western cuisine back in the 1950s. A lot of the sauces in Sai Chaan also use ketchup as a base.
Do you think ketchup can be considered the mother sauce of America?
Ketchup is ubiquitous because it is such a great vessel of umami, so it acts as a flavor multiplier for whatever sauce you are making with it. This will be a hot take probably, but after consulting with my friend and colleague Sam Chapple-Sokol, who worked on “The World Central Kitchen Cookbook,” we’ve identified the following as America’s mother sauces: Heinz ketchup, Duke’s mayo, Worcestershire, French’s yellow mustard and Texas Pete’s hot sauce.
China Chilcano: 418 7th St. NW, DC; chinachilcano.com // @chinachilcano
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