Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Homemade Jalapeno Ketchup

Music- Billy Bragg- Back to Basics

A very bare boned album with just a singer and an electric guitar. Fast paced, poppy, very simple and kinda like folk punk. Songs are very short, no longer than 3-4 minutes and a lot are around the 2-3 minute length.  Took me a bit to get use to this guy but i think his pretty cool. Billy Bragg. what a cool name too huh? its actually why i started listening to him. His singing is also very thickly English i think. i could be wrong but im sure his from somewhere around that part of Earth.

i looooove you! i am the milkman! of human kindness! i will leave an extra pint!

Baking- Homemade Jalapeno Ketchup

So this is a pretty straight forward easy recipe. Now why did i make ketchup? well ketchup isn't exactly a baked good but its pretty delicious. The fact of the matter is that not many people give ketchup appreciation or attention. Its taken for granted and its quality is ignored. If you go to a supermarket there is a high quality and low quality everything. except ketchup! There is expensive sea salt, quality pepper, and even super fancy mustard! but nobody bothers with ketchup! people use so much more ketchup than mustard and there are so many more brands of mustard than ketchup. All of which have different flavors and tastes. Ketchup from different companies all kinda taste the same.

Its always those brand names like Heinz that you would accompany on your fancy burger with your fancy mustard and your fancy meat and fancy buns. there is no fancy ketchup! and ketchup is one of the most commonly used condiments in America. So im going to make fancy ketchup. well i guess its not that fancy but at least its homemade.

So this is pretty easy. get 4 pounds of tomatoes (like 5 big tomatoes). chop them up and throw them into the pot and simmer em' down for about 15 minutes. Then drain off the excess liquid in the ketchup and throw in 1 celery stick, half an onion, half a pepper, and 4 jalapenos all chopped up and whatnot. simmer this until the mixture goes down to like half its volume (about 1- 1 1/2 hours) and then add in:

1. Half a cup of sugar
2. Half a cup of apple cider vinegar
3. 1 1/2 teaspoon of Cinnamon
4.  1 1/2 teaspoon of Dry Mustard
5. 1 teaspoon of Salt

and then boil for another hour or so. Puree in a blender or something. Then stick it in a container and chill it until you wanna eat it. This recipe creates a very very sweet ketchup which is a plus for some things and a negative for others. If you wanna make it taste more vinegary like regular ketchup then just add more vinegar. same for spiciness.
Just the Tomatoes.
Tomatoes boiled down and other veggies added
Boiled down even more. I think this is also with the spices and what not. this is like after an hour.
simmered down even more. about 2 hours?
This is the Ketchup.


See companies like Heinz have ketchup making competitions but those competitions require you to make the ketchup using Heinz ketchup. Then your not really making a ketchup your just kinda flavoring a ketchup that has already been made. And that sucks. people should make their own ketchup if they enter a competition for making ketchup.

So apparently Ketchup was invented by the Chinese and whats originally made with pickled fish and spices. Apparently ketchup doesn't have to be made from tomatoes! it can be made with blueberries, bananas, cherries and many other things! like pickled fish.