Homemade umami condiment suggestion

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Jul 1, 2013
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Ottumwa, Iowa
I am trying to figure out if the condiment I am craving exits or there is a recipe for it. I was taxing the fires I made for my children yesterday and got to thinking that ketchup is just to sweet. What I am thinking of is tomato based, salty and a little spicy. Kinda like in between ketchup, bbq sauce and steak sauce with some Worcestershire sauce in the mix also. A few of the homemade condiment recipes I looked at just didn't look like what I am wanting. The wife is doing keto and I am trying to eat healthy with her but just don't feel like going into the full keto. I am wanting this for burgers, Brauts, hot dog or whatever else you use ketchup on.

Here is what I am thinking for ingredients,
Crushed tomatoes
Tomato paste
Small amount of sorghum
Seasoning salt
Anchovie paste
worcestershire sauce
Dried onion
Chili powdered
Vinegar
Maybe a bit of garlic powder

I am not sure what else would go good in this.

I almost forgot that I think the taste I am going for is umami.
 
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I keep it simple. I keep a big jar of Mt Olive sweet banana peppers on hand.and a smaller jar of jalapeno slices.
grin2.gif
 
Originally Posted by AZjeff
Quote
I was taxing the fires I made for my children yesterday


Sorry for O/T question but what the heck does this mean?


Stealing a bite of food off the kids plates instead of getting my own. We always tell the kids that is the mommy or daddy tax. Keeps them on their toes.

I am finding a few recipes for what I am thinking when I look for savory ketchup.

I also keep jars of peppers to throw on food also.
 
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Originally Posted by Imp4
What you are describing is Heinz 57 sauce.


I do like 57 sauce and that is part of what I am going for only more tomato flavor if that makes sense?

I threw some stuff in a pot and have it simmering. It reminds me of something like a cross between chili sauce and cocktail sauce. I haven't added anything sweet to it as the tomatoes made it sweet enough. It has all the ingredients I listed before except garlic powder and sorghum and I added cayenne powder.
 
anchovy paste adds lots of umami or you can use what I use a lot which is fish sauce. It's very salty so you won't need as much salt elsewhere in the recipe. I agree overall ketchup is just too sweet.
 
Now that it has simmered I got it a little too salty. Not bad. I added more anchovies paste after I mixed it all up and I think it was a bit to much. It is in the flavor area I was wanting so not bad for a first try. I will see what it is like once chilled. It will defiantly be good on eggs or burgers.
 
Originally Posted by Imp4
What you are describing is Heinz 57 sauce.



My first thought was this is just lea and perrins spiced and boosted up with more anchovies and tomatoes.

Which made me think spicy Heinz 57 too, though the anchovy isn't really there.

I'm thinking some mix of those two with fish sauce from an Asian market would do it. 57 is too thick, the others too thin. Together they would make a good combo, I think.
 
If you leave out the Worcestershire sauce you would have.........Worcestershire sauce.

In a lot of Japanese dishes they use dashi which is a broth made from dried bonito flakes. That creates umami. Another ingredient is miso paste.
 
Typically the natural umami ingredients are:
  • Tomatoes
  • Soy Sauce
  • Miso
  • Gochujang (Korean soy/chile paste)
  • Oyster Sauce
  • Mushrooms
  • Anchovies/Anchovy Paste
  • Vietnamese/Thai Fish Sauce
  • Worcestershire sauce
  • Japanese dashi broth/kombu seaweed
  • Parmesan-type cheese (Parmesan, Grana Padano, Romano)
All of these have very high umami, due to some combination of glutamates, inosinate and guanylate.

Personally, if I was aiming for a high umami tomato type condiment (umami ketchup?), I'd probably use some combination of gochujang, miso and anchovy paste to add extra umami to the tomato part of it. They're strongly flavored, but in a way that when used in appropriate quantities, tends to enhance the flavor of food without being quite recognizable. This is in contrast with ingredients like mushrooms and parmesan, which aren't the sort of things you can really hide in something like a ketchup.

Or you could just cut to the chase and add straight MSG to whatever condiment you find that you like, in order to make it have more umami.
 
Typically the natural umami ingredients are:
  • Tomatoes
  • Soy Sauce
  • Miso
  • Gochujang (Korean soy/chile paste)
  • Oyster Sauce
  • Mushrooms
  • Anchovies/Anchovy Paste
  • Vietnamese/Thai Fish Sauce
  • Worcestershire sauce
  • Japanese dashi broth/kombu seaweed
  • Parmesan-type cheese (Parmigiano-Reggiano, Grana Padano, Romano)
All of these have very high umami, due to some combination of glutamates, inosinate and guanylate.

Personally, if I was aiming for a high umami tomato type condiment (umami ketchup?), I'd probably use some combination of gochujang, miso and anchovy paste to add extra umami to the tomato part of it. They're strongly flavored, but in a way that when used in appropriate quantities, tends to enhance the flavor of food without being quite recognizable. This is in contrast with ingredients like mushrooms and parmesan, which aren't the sort of things you can really hide in something like a ketchup.

Or you could just cut to the chase and add straight MSG to whatever condiment you find that you like, in order to make it have more umami.
Fixed it for you! (y)
 
Tonkatsu sauce can also be made from scratch without much effort. The base is generally ketchup, Worcester sauce, and mirin wine, with plums, ginger, and garlic. Lots of umami flavor!
 
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