LigaPrivadaFanboy
Unrepentant Hoarder
One of the simple little differences from American food I picked up in Nica on the BOTL Safari was how freaking awesome the ketchup was there. On everything - eggs, meat, and especially french fries! The color/smell/texture is the same as Heinz ketchup in the US, but it's sweeter, and there's a certain twang to it...not spicy but definitely something else there.
Yesterday I picked up a 3/4lb burger w/ bacon and a ton of fries - convinced I had enough materials to experiment with, I headed home to give it a shot. Luckily my wife was watching some travel channel show about Nica food (Nick Menillo from Drew Estate even had a 3s cameo, lol) and it turns out there's some dishes in Managua that use a honey+simple syrup reduction as a sauce. "EUREKA!" I thought.
So here's where I started:
1 cup ketchup
1 TBSP honey
1 TBSP simple syrup
NO! That was way too much honey. Too thick, too sweet, no twang.
Next up:
1 cup ketchup
1 tsp honey
1 TBSP simple syrup
Better, but still no love here. Needs something else. I know! PAIN!
1 tsp of Ghost Chili Sauce turned everything into
Holy shit! This made the burger and fries taste 100x better than with regular ketchup. There was a sweetness, a pop, and a twang, followed by a tiny bit of spice.
Close enough for me, for now. I did find a honey syrup recipe online today which has a lot of lemon zest in it. This is probably the next test, but the ghost chili sauce is gonna stay!
Yesterday I picked up a 3/4lb burger w/ bacon and a ton of fries - convinced I had enough materials to experiment with, I headed home to give it a shot. Luckily my wife was watching some travel channel show about Nica food (Nick Menillo from Drew Estate even had a 3s cameo, lol) and it turns out there's some dishes in Managua that use a honey+simple syrup reduction as a sauce. "EUREKA!" I thought.
So here's where I started:
1 cup ketchup
1 TBSP honey
1 TBSP simple syrup
NO! That was way too much honey. Too thick, too sweet, no twang.
Next up:
1 cup ketchup
1 tsp honey
1 TBSP simple syrup
Better, but still no love here. Needs something else. I know! PAIN!
1 tsp of Ghost Chili Sauce turned everything into
Holy shit! This made the burger and fries taste 100x better than with regular ketchup. There was a sweetness, a pop, and a twang, followed by a tiny bit of spice.
Close enough for me, for now. I did find a honey syrup recipe online today which has a lot of lemon zest in it. This is probably the next test, but the ghost chili sauce is gonna stay!
