I stumbled across your site in an attempt to figure out whether or not ketchup was a sauce or something else. I was wondering whether or not you could shed any light on this long running debate. No where has this question failed to raise a huge debate. Even in a church we managed to get at least 20 people arguing about the classification of ketchup. So what is ketchup? A sauce or merely a condiment?
Matt
Dear Matt,
I heard this was a big debate going on in frat houses and locker rooms, but now its spilling over into churches. Wow. Unfortunately Jesus discussed the mustard seed not ketchup. So we can’t draw any conclusions there. But what we can do is check definitions. The dictionary defines a sauce as a relish or "fluid" dressing or topping or condiment for food to add zest or piquancy. A condiment, on the other hand, is something used to enhance the flavor of food, often a pungent seasoning. So we see not all condiments are sauces, and not all sauces are condiments.
For example, we have Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, bbq sauce, and spaghetti sauce. (leaving ketchup aside for a moment), all fluid. Then we have salt & pepper, mayonnaise, and hot dog relish as condiment examples. Here’s where the cross over begins and confusion takes over. Worcestershire, soy and bbq sauce can be used as a condiment or even an ingredient in cooking. Spaghetti sauce is more of a necessary topping than an optional condiment in conjunction with spaghetti. Salt & pepper are dry and can’t possibly be classified as sauces (even accidentally after a nip of the cooking sherry). Hot dog relish is merely chopped up pickles, so you actually have a nearly functional vegetable. Mayonnaise may be slipped into the salad dressing category. Mustard would be the only legitimate condiment even though in a stretch we could try to deem it a sauce. Whew!
So where does ketchup fit into all
this? I would say it’s a free spirit. It's smooth anyway you want to look
at it, whether its making the squeeze with the mustard at the table, or
having a saucy time pouring it on with the seafood cocktail. It just seems
to know its way around food. So Matt, I guess this is one of those things
that we really won’t understand in this lifetime. We just have to accept
it as a saucy condiment and be thankful its there to use in our times of
need. (especially our French fry needs).