WineLovers Discussion Group

Before I went to Christina's restaurant on Orcas Island in Washington's San Juans, more than one person told me to order something that would be served with ketchup because chef/owner Christina Orchid made her own and it was life changing. When I got there, I ignored the instruction and simply requested a taste on the side because the food I wanted to eat wasn't ketchup food. It was indeed the best thing called ketchup I had ever tasted--tangy, spicy, wonderful--with only one other rival in my experience, that which came with some bison ribs ordered at the Rain City Grill in Vancouver. Both were the kind of thing that would build a french fry craving in the worst way.

Anyway, the current thread on ketchup nudged me to googled around, and I found that Google books has her recipe book (the restaurant has since been sold) on line, and it includes the ketchup recipe. Thought I'd post, as I would be interested in making this myself some time.

It's this, and quite simple (obviously, can easily be halved):

2 cans tomato paste (16 ounces each)
2 c water
1 3/4 c aged red wine vinegar
1 Tblsp dry mustard
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp ground mace
1 3/4 c brown sugar

Put the dry stuff in a pot with the tomato paste; whisk to remove any clumps. Add the liquids slowly, still whisking. Bring up to heat and simmer away on medium for about 20 minutes or until the flavors taste married. Allow to cool, pour into jars and refrigerate or use conventional canning methods for pantry storage.

Wow - nothing tough about making that. I'll have to give it a try.

Thanks!

I made Ketchup a few years ago. http://www.wineloverspage.com/forum/village/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=10321&p=84341

Fun to go back to that thread, Howie. Sounds like the catsup was just OK.

There was nothing special about it. I'll stick with Heinz.

Howie Hart wrote:There was nothing special about it. I'll stick with Heinz.

Yes, and you started with fresh tomatoes on that one. This recipe, starting from concentrated tomato paste, has more potential unless you're just completely opposed to using canned product as your base. Having tasted this, I can assure you, it IS special.

Oh by the way to anyone considering this recipe. Remembering the two house-made ketchups I mentioned, I recall that the one at the Rainbow City Grill had a nice caramelized note to it. I'll use Christina's recipe but might just cook it longer than she prescribes in order to get that extra flavor.

Okay, so I made a batch of Christina's catsup.

Things to know: half a recipe made a quart. Longer cooking on my lowest heat setting, facilitated by several additions of water to offset the reducing inclination, produced a more complex result. Worried about darkening from the process of longer cooking I used white wine vinegar instead of red to avoid ending up with black sauce, and that was a good choice. If I made it again I'd start with less sugar--you can always add more to taste which brings up salt, which the recipe doesn't call for but which I needed to counteract the sweetness, which I'd have preferred slightly less of. I probably ended up adding about 2 tsps. And lastly, on the spices, though I started with half the prescribed amounts I ended up adding more of everything except the cloves during the process. Probably ended up with about 1/4 tsp mace, 1 tsp cinnamon and 2 tsps cumin. I also added some ground black pepper during cooking and a dash of cayenne at the last.

The result? Great, glad I did it. Dinner tonight is going to be a pile of oven fries and a big green salad.