Homemade Extras

This is the season for condiments. Bottles of ketchup and mustard are gracing picnic tables throughout the country. Dishes of pickles are vying for space between salads. These are the little things that make our burgers and dogs taste extra special. However you can take it up a notch and make these yourself.

This was Melissa Clark’s philosophy in her Wednesday’s A Good Appetite Column in the New York Times Dining section.. She found that making condiments are a relatively easy process and also much more healthier. With bespoke toppings , there’s no need for high fructose corn syrup and all those preservatives. Everything is made with garden fresh vegetables. Her ketchup has grape tomatoes for sweetness along with dark brown sugar and Worcester sauce along with red wine vinegar.

　

Ms. Clark also makes a good mustard that is nice and textured. It is a grainy kind similar to Grey Poupon, being made with both brown and yellow mustard seeds. Her bread and butter pickles are easy to make and have all that old fashioned pantry goodness. She creates a brine made from kosher salt and cider vinegar, ,fresh dill along with black pepper and coriander berries. Brown sugar is then added a to give it a certain amount of sweetness. Her cucumber of choice? Kirbys. Because they are a nice , plump cuke that makes for nice rounded slices.

There’s nothing like a homemade topping to add zest and zing to burgers and dogs. They make these ordinary barbecue and picnic staples extraordinary.. They also give them some old fashioned and old school taste that bring back many summer memories.