The New York Times checks in with esteemed D.C. chef José Andrés this week for a story about ketchup. Andrés is on a mission to bring back the wide variety that once characterized America’s best known condiment. His barely one-month-old pop-up restaurant, America Eats Tavern, offers as many as eight different types of the dipping sauce, ranging from anchovy to mushroom, with recipes culled from archival cookbooks.
In the article, Andrés rails against the current “hegemony of the red, corn-syrup-sweetened product”:
“Why, as a society, have we let this diversity go away?” Mr. Andrés lamented via cellphone from Spain — where, he said, it would be unthinkable to find just one version of a classic sauce like romesco. “Why would we go from a rainbow to black and white?”
Maybe that’s because the watery ketchups of old simply aren’t as tasty as Heinz 57.
Young & Hungry has sampled at least five of the sauces at America Eats, including a tart blueberry and a Jack Daniels-titled variety that lacked any discernible hint of bourbon. The best of the bunch: the tomato flavor. Just like Heinz, only with slightly more kick.
Read the full Y&H review of Andrés’ America Eats Tavern here.
Photo by Chris Shott