Regarding Condiments

[Cheryl J]

Steve....thank you SO much for your detailed step-by-step reply. I appreciate that more than you can imagine, and I will definitely be trying it.

Sounds like a fun project - I do love sour cream and looking forward to seeing the difference between home made and store bought.
Thanks again.

 

[GotGarlic]

When it comes to yellow mustard, ketchup and mayonnaise, whatever is on sale and/or we have a coupon for is what we buy. We don't do Miracle Whip-type salad dressing. Currently, it's Duke's mayo, Hunt's ketchup and Heinz mustard. DH does much of the shopping and he is, shall we say, more price-conscious than I am

We have a bunch of other mustards: Food Lion Spicy Brown, Kroger Dijon, Inglehoffer stone-ground, and homemade coarse-ground Dijon-style mustard (with Virginia-made white wine and white wine vinegar) and beer mustard (with locally brewed beer), both made with Penzeys brown and yellow mustard seeds.

I like Mt. Olive dill pickles; DH likes the bread & butter (I do not care for sweet pickles). I also have homemade Szechuan pickled green beans, Mexican pickled red onions, and spicy pickled homegrown julienned zucchini, yellow squash and onion.

We currently have French's Worcestershire sauce (50% more! lol), a local NC and Great Value brands of cocktail sauce, and Heinz chili sauce. Lots of Asian condiments and sauces: sesame oil, Kikkoman's soy sauce, hoisin, Thai sweet chile, Huy Fong Sriracha, Lee Kum Kee chili-garlic, oyster sauce, etc. Several hot sauces: Tabasco, Texas Pete and Dave's Gourmet Temporary Insanity.

I have been making salad dressing with Good Seasons Italian Dressing mix since I was a kid; these days, I make it with red wine vinegar. DH likes Bleu cheese and ranch dressing store-brand or Kraft), and lately Taco Bell Southwest Ranch for Tex-Mex salads for lunch.

We also like Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce, although sometimes I make my own. Last year for Christmas, my brother and SIL gave us a set of four flavors of barbecue sauces from a small producer in Michigan (where my brother and I grew up), and we're still working on that, so I haven't made any this year yet.

Oils and vinegars, oh my! I believe I have seven oils and about 15 types and flavors of vinegars. I found many years ago that my Chinese stir-fry tasted much more authentic once I started using peanut oil for it, so I use oils appropriate for the cuisine I'm making. And I kind of collect flavored balsamic vinegars from a wonderful local boutique olive oil and balsamic vinegar shop.

I do love condiments ?

 

[Uncle Bob]

Mayonnaise ~~ Dukes
Mustard ~~ French’s Yellow ~~ Zatarain’s Creole.
Ketchup ~~ Del Monte (Not a big fan of any Ketchup)
Worcestershire ~~ Lee & Perrins.
BBQ Sauce ~~ Meh. I’m a “dry” man, however the wife likes SBR. I will eat Stubbs or Bone Suckin at times, as well as Honey, Hoisin or homemade vinegar based concoctions.
Soy Sauce ~~ Kikkoman or Yamasa
Fish Sauce ~~ Red Boat
Hot Sauce ~~ Louisiana, Crystal, Tabasco.

 

[dragnlaw]

I like a lot of Lee Kum Kee products. Their Peanut Sauce rocks!

 

[Zagut]

I'm not a brand name buyer of condiments except for a few cases.
I'll try anything once and price is usually the reason. Many generic or off brands are as good of if not better then the big names.

My prejudices are.

Lea & Perrins for Worcestershire as it's the gold standard.

Heinz for Ketchup.

Hellman's for Mayo. Dukes if it's available. Forget Miracle Whip.

Grey Poupon for Dijon Mustard. Others are good but GP is also the gold standard. I love all mustards so I'll try anything new.

I'll also try any hot sauce I find. So many tastes. flavors, and heat intensities out there to experience. But if I had to pick one I'd take Crystal Louisiana Hot Sauce as my basic hot sauce over Tabasco.