I always thought you couldn’t beat Heinz tomato ketchup, but this weekend I proved myself wrong. It’s a little time consuming but it’s so worth making your own, even just to prove you can do it. This recipe will make one classic Heinz sized bottle of ketchup:
1 kilo tomatoes
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic, minced
50g brown sugar
60ml cider vinegar
35ml balsamic vinegar
1-2 teaspoons of salt
A pinch of English mustard powder
4 cloves
A pinch of ground all spice
A pinch of ground ginger
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 teaspoon of celery salt
1/2 teaspoon of white ground pepper
Chop the tomatoes and onions into a saucepan. Then, while the pan is on a medium heat, add the the rest of the ingredients. Simmer the sauce for an hour or so. Blend it with a stick blender or in a blender.
Then, now this is a bit of a pain in the butt but it’s the only way to get the consistency of ketchup…press the blended ketchup through a strong sieve. It takes a while. There should be nothing left in your sieve but skin and seeds plus the cloves and cinnamon stick. Chuck that.
Meanwhile you have sterilised your old ketchup bottle by putting it through the dishwasher or putting it in a low oven for ten minutes.
With a funnel, poke the ketchup into the bottle.
I made home-made muffins from Dan Lepard’s recipe. The eggs I baked (after whisking) in a muffin mould. When you slice open the muffin, add a slice of processed cheese for authenticity, then your yellow puck of egg, then dowse with ketchup.
Liz Woods
March 5, 2012 at 7:08 pmGosh it was good to read this. My dear Dad had a limited repertoire in the kitchen but every year he made gallons of tomato ketchup – we loved it. So thanks – definitely one to try.
fudgeit
March 6, 2012 at 10:24 ama lot of pinners (yes, on Pinterest) seem to suggest baking eggs like this in batches to make the egg mcmuffins whenever you want. do you think this is ideal?
theundergroundrestaurant
March 6, 2012 at 12:28 pmI have to say, it's really hard to achieve the same Mcdonalds effect on eggs at home. I tried in egg rings first, but they overcooked and the muffin technique worked better. But actually I prefer a fried egg to the yellow puck.
Direct me to the pinners discussion please…I'm interested.
The Curious Cat
March 6, 2012 at 9:30 pmoh my goodness I am salivating much….
Shu Han
March 6, 2012 at 11:34 pmyou're mad! you made EVERYTHING from scratch, ketchup and muffins included, I'm impressed!
theundergroundrestaurant
March 7, 2012 at 10:16 amthanks Shu. My shrink would agree with you!
Kate
March 9, 2012 at 7:37 pmWhen you blend it, do the cloves and cinnamon stick stay big enough to not go through the sieve and get sharp bits in the finished product?