Chipotle Ketchup

Background: A chef I used to work with showed me this back in the ’90s. It’s a very ’90s move. He didn’t use ketchup packets. That’s my own twist. I never buy ketchup but we always have a surplus of ketchup packets because everyone loves French fries. I don’t love chipotles in adobo sauce. I don’t love American ketchup. But I do love figuring out what to do with a surplus of something.

1. Keep a can of chipotles in adobo sauce in your pantry.
2. Collect ketchup packets from restaurants when you get fries togo.
3. When you have enough ketchup packets, open the can of adobo sauce and select the number of chipotles you would like to use. (See number 5 under Why it Works.)
4. Save the rest of the chipotles in adobo sauce in the freezer for another batch or another move.
5. Add the chipotles and the ketchup to a blender or food processor and blend.
6. Store some in the freezer and the rest in the fridge.

Why It Works.

1. This ingredient has several uses.
2. Even if you don’t like ketchup, it’s good to have a surplus in case you serve hot dogs to kids or something.
3. This is going to be determined by trial-and-error, heat tolerance, and preference. If this is the first time you are making this, taste a chipotle and guess.
4. Keep them in the sauce. It will prevent them from getting freezer burnt.
5. There’s a minimum amount of chipotle ketchup that you can make with this method, and that is determined by how much product your blender or food processor needs to do it’s job. If you don’t have enough ketchup and chipotles, you can hand-chop the chipotles and stir them into the ketchup.
6. This is the basis for several other sauces so, even if you don’t like it, you might like what it can do when added to other things.

Mods:

1. Add some squeezes of lime to cut the sweetness of the ketchup.
2. Add black pepper to interrupt the cloying texture of ketchup.
3. Add some Worcestershire sauce to nudge the flavor profile away from modern ketchup and toward more historical versions.
4. Add fish sauce to nudge American ketchup toward its origins as a Chinese sauce made from fermented fish, which is arguably the ur-condiment.