Condiment-ation
The door of my fridge is filled with various condiments that never get used! And I love condiments so I'm feeling guilty. Plus they say you should toss anything that's been open for longer than 6 months.
What I'm looking for is new and interesting ways you use condiments. For example, what's a good way to showcase...sweet pickle relish? Besides the classic hot dog.
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28 Comments:
When I make chicken salad I like to put little bits of random things into it. Not enough salad dressing left for a real salad? In it goes with the mayo. Also, I'll use bits of things in marinades for chicken. In general I try to buy the smallest containers of condiments available though.
agk685 at 11:20AM on 08/25/08
I like to put sweet pickle relish in my sloppy joes....and to spice up a tuna salad with goldens brown mustard..just a touch
Markbb at 11:36AM on 08/25/08
I'm a fan of adding horseradish to my ham salad along with some regular dill relish.
Adding sweet dill relish to an egg salad might be good tho? Maybe with some spicy brown mustard to offset it? (As I write that I see Markbb has beat me to the Golden's suggestion--perhaps I'm not so crazy!)
gastronomeg at 1:02PM on 08/25/08
add sweet pickle relish to deviled eggs.
ceforrester at 1:06PM on 08/25/08
I'm the condiment queen and have the same problem as you. There's no room for milk in my fridge. Last week, I did a clean sweep and pulled out all of the jars and jugs. 3/4 of them had passed the expiration date, so they got tossed. Now that I was down to a reasonable assortment, I put the cart before the horse. What could I make to go with my condiments? I grilled a pork tenderloin with a mixture of duck and mustard sauces that came out great. Lump crabmeat was on sale, so I made a salad featuring my remoulade sauce, Boston lettuce and colossal black olives. I am still pondering what to do with Blair's After Death Sauce and Crocodile Soup Chipotle Hot Sauce (Christmas gifts from my son). Maybe wings of fire?
I love sweet pickle and pepper relish mixed with mayo and shredded chicken for a great chicken salad. Jars of roasted red peppers can go in anything from scrambled eggs to quesadillas.
Try experimenting. You might just come up with your family's new favorite dish. (Just remember to write it down.) LOL!
Josdean at 1:29PM on 08/25/08
I have to concur with the well-represented salad contingent. Try it in potato salad, tuna salad, egg salad, chicken salad...
You can stir it together with some mustard and mayo for a burger condiment. Also works with ketchup and mayo, which resembles the thousand island dressingesque McDonald's special sauce.
holdthemayo at 2:17PM on 08/25/08
As a condiment collector and vegetarian, I have to be creative! Most condiments are easy to pair with meats. I love all the meaty sauces: mustard, barbecue sauce, horseradish, teriaki sauce etc... Most are great with cheeses, potatoes, or veggieburgers. I invented a great shepherd's pie with lentils and wild rice as the base, just to go with my aunt's green tomato ketchup. My favourite is still sweet potato over fried wedges with barbecue sauce.
PeanutButter at 2:23PM on 08/25/08
Who are "they" who say this. I keep condiments until they're gone, until I get tired of them and know they'll never be used, or until they look too tired to be eaten. Except for a fridge malfunction, I've never had a condiment go bad.
That said, whatever it is can usually go into a salad (for the chunkier stuff like relishes) or into a marinade, rub, sauce, or glaze.
dbcurrie at 2:43PM on 08/25/08
Horseradish is GREAT in a spicy Bloody Mary or Bloody Bull - Just in time for football Sunday I might add. And speaking of, every condiment always tastes good in various appetizers, i.e. cheese dips, crab tarts, ham rolls, smokies and jelly, etc.
bodaciousgirl at 3:10PM on 08/25/08
does flying fish roe count as a condiment? I have a TON and I can't figure out what to do with it aside from sushi.
sweet pickle relish is perfect for tuna salad, with lots of black pepper and mayo :) Also might be good with cheese and crackers!
csbrown at 3:43PM on 08/25/08
We put sweet pickle relish in our tuna salad. It provides a good background flavor.
Also, you might find this helpful: The Table of Condiments That Periodically Go Bad
Chew on That at 5:32PM on 08/25/08
I would suggest roasted new or fingerling potato halves topped with creme fraiche or sour cream and then topped with the flying fish roe. The roe also is nice as a topping on asian deviled eggs (devil with mayo, soy, roasted crushed pink or szechuan peppercorns and a dab of wasabi) or can top a lovely cream cheese and dill omelette (salty goes great with creamy!)
For other condiments, we like horseradish in creamy sauce with beef dishes. Mustard is nice to crust the round sides of a pork or beef filet mignon or to add to mashed potatoes (especially if you have whole grain mustard). Vinegars brighten lots of dishes and can be combined for tasty salad dressings. In my house, ketchup gets added to chili. And of course, the sweet pickle relish is part of the tartar sauce that accompanies either fried fish or hush puppies!
The worst on condiments are, for example, the items you need to have on hand for a lot of Asian cooking. For example, drunken noodles require black soy, golden mountain sauce, fish sauce, and a bit of rice wine vinegar. Because of my recent Asian cooking phase, the entire door of my backup fridge (the one in the garage) is filled with condiments!
Mizbee at 6:44PM on 08/25/08
Sweet pickle relish is the ingredient in my tuna salad that takes away ANY fishy taste.
I love Sriracha on boiled shrimp and a squirt of it into a wimpy salsa will give it some zing. (Same for Sambal Olek.)
Mustards go into all my vinaigrettes.
Ketchup (try the organic ketchup - it tastes really tomatoey) gets used if I need a shot of tomato in something. Not only on burgers and dogs.
Hint = unless you have a family the size of the Waltons, buy your condiments in small bottles and jars :D.
therealchiffonade at 6:44PM on 08/25/08
I say make up your own Remoulade sauce. You can use your sweet (or Dill) Relish,Mayo, Ketchup, Dijon mustard ,horseradish,cornichons,lemon juice and on and on. It's great on everything.
winebill at 6:54PM on 08/25/08
@csbrown:
Ever try caviar pie? You can use your mayonaise, sour cream and cream cheese too!
bodaciousgirl at 7:23PM on 08/25/08
I love to put grain mustard in my hummus sandwiches and in many of my vinaigrettes.
Sweet pickle relish on my Thousand Island dressing made with a MayoKetchup base. MayoKetchup is the best dipping sauce for anything fried. Even french fries.
I put Veggie Mayo on almost anything - salad dressings
I grill eggplants in an A1 steak sauce glaze
I make veggie kebabs or pinchos as we call them here in PR of veggie hotdogs, potatoes, sweet potatoes and veggies slathered with Bull's Eye BBQ sauce.
and Ketchup is king!!! - for Soy Picadillo and many other delights... I want to try Jamie Oliver's ketchup recipe soon...
Madelyn
KarmaFreeCooking
MadelynRodriguez at 7:34PM on 08/25/08
Aside from some adding pickled relish in ham, tuna, chicken or egg salads, some people put relish in potato or macaroni salads . I add relish when I make homemade tartar sauce. My mother would add relish when she made "Hunter's Bread".
pjracz10 at 8:13PM on 08/25/08
I put sweet pickle relish and dijon mustard in baked beans. YUM
GingerCM at 9:51PM on 08/25/08
i just used the remaining "chilly" sauce from georgia (not the state-but the country) in a turkey meatloaf .... zipped it up a little.... got to rinse out the bottle and throw it into the recycle bin! one down and about a dozen more to go....
pooch at 11:03PM on 08/25/08
We have been putting a dab of horseradish into the cole slaw when the cabbage is especially sweet.
I've also started using the dijon mustard more often in deviled eggs.
thewrighttaste at 12:51AM on 08/26/08
My spaghetti meat sauce starts normally, and then gets a little bit of everything not white or creamy. Soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, maybe some tonkatsu sauce, ketchup, a hit of mustard, grated ginger, miso, hey whatever I in my fridge door is likely there.
mikaque at 2:11AM on 08/26/08
my latest fav dinner is ramen noodles tossed with soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, and a little peanut butter. sounds strange i know but its actually pretty tasty, i also throw in some dried jalepeno powder for a little kick. I have no clue what to call it, but its tasty, quick, and uses up some of the stuff that sits in the pantry and fridge, and if you throw in some quick seared scallops its down right delicious ;-)
huneybumper at 7:47AM on 08/26/08
I try to keep chimichurri on hand. I use it on grilled meat of course, but also use a dab on rice to perk it up and especially like to marinate small oily fish like smelt and sardines in it before roasting or grilling. It is also great in smashed potatoes. Maybe I'll put some on my cornflakes this morning. On second thought, no.
Michael Z at 12:02PM on 08/26/08
I suppose you could use it in your pasta/egg/potato (mayo) type salads.
As far as other condiments, the same ones never get old...and the same bottles sit in my fridge for year or more. I really need to throw the oyster, duck, and unagi kabayaki sauces out -- they're stuck to the door. Some because they are so small that I overlook them. We also have minced garlic and minced ginger in tubes that my stepmother sends to me from Japan that's wonderful.
So what to do with condiments. I guess you can fry with most of them.
Fried rice with salsa and a touch of soy sauce and a lot of veggies/meat. No salsa? Use ketchup. Sriracha.
Dressings with oil in it -- I use to marinate or use as a flavor when I'm cooking stuff. My favorite salad dressing is NEVER use as a salad dressing because I like to cook with it - Pietro Sesame+Miso dressing (according to their site: soybean oil, canola oil, vinegar, onion, sesame oil, sesame seeds, monosodium glutamate (extracted from sugar beets and/or sugar cane), red chili pepper oil extract, red chili pepper, garlic, and spices).
Cassaendra at 2:03PM on 08/26/08
@bodaciousgirl - what is caviar pie? I like the idea of Asian deviled eggs. I am doing a bridal shower where I'm using regular caviar on dijon and crème fraiche stuffed eggs with dill. I should have made the leap!
csbrown at 2:14PM on 08/26/08
wow, I thought I was the only one that put relish in my mayo based salads! apparently not!
Anyways, I suggest making dips. The other day I noticed that the mayo, hot sauce, yogurt and ginger were all running low, so I mixed them all together with a little curry powder and dunked veggies in them.
blankplate at 2:48PM on 08/26/08
Sweet pickle relish and mayo are just plain wrong.
But since you have to get rid of it, why not toss some of that neon green stuff with plain yogurt, and serve on top of roasted root vegetables (parsnips, potatoes, swede, turnips). Usually I'd use mango chutney, but I guess sweet relish would work, especially if disguised in the yogurt.
I'm glad there are other condifreaks out there - I must have 10 types of mustards (new arrivals include spicy chocolate mustard (!), curry mustard, cranberry mustard and sesame mustard). The lucky chicken frank or soy dog gets embellished with the 'moutarde du jour', and further assaulted by German curry ketchup, or a double whammy of the ever dependable Cole's mustard.
Lingam's sweet chilli sauce, Sciracha, and artisan chutneys for cheese/smoked meats also linger in my fridge indefinitely.
Has anyone had a 'condi' party? :)
Pintchow at 12:59PM on 08/27/08
If we're counting pickle relish, I'll also throw my jar of capers into the ring. They're great in Mediteranian Tuna (a mayo-free tuna salad great in pitas), a must for piccatas, putanescas, and on pasta with butter.
beth1 at 9:56PM on 08/28/08