Ketchup is a category, not a sauce

When most of us think of ketchup, we envision the tomato-vinegar-sugar sauce that is often served alongside burgers and fries. However, as explained at Gastro Obscura, ketchup is actually a catch-all category rather than a single sauce. It has a long and interesting history that spans the globe and includes all manner of ingredients including fruits, vegetables, fungi. What most people do not realize, however, is that most sauces called “ketchup” were trying to replicate a fish sauce that originated in Asia.

The word ketchup likely derives from the southern Chinese word Kê-chiap (膎汁), or possibly the Malay word kecap. European sailors were introduced to the sauce on their long voyages circumnavigating the globe and when they returned home they set out to recreate the flavors. The first recorded Western version of ketchup comes from a 1727 cookbook penned by Eliza Smith and is spelled “katchup”. The sauce includes anchovies, shallots, wine, and spices, and is to be aged for at least a week.

Enterprising cooks soon started tinkering with the sauce, adding different ingredients until a panoply of ketchups existed. Today, although tomato ketchup reigns supreme, it’s fairly easy to find other kinds such as mushroom ketchup, banana ketchup, Irish country ketchup, and curry ketchup. You can also make your own, with over 1,400 recipes listed in the EYB Library, with 303 available online. These include recipes for tamarind ketchup, Beetroot ketchup, Blackberry ketchup, Spicy banana ketchup, Curried ketchup with star anise, Rhubarb ketchup, and Peach-curry ketchup (shown above).