# Relish on hamburgers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 6, 2015, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relish-on-hamburgers/733728 "2015-10-06T16:12:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relish-on-hamburgers/733728/41 "2015-10-07T21:08:40Z")
OP, do you have Red Robin burger restaurants where you are? Their standard burger includes a sweet relish. Good burgers, too. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relish-on-hamburgers/733728/42 "2015-10-07T21:29:52Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > See, the problem with that is it means you’re at The Hat and not getting Pastrami. Which, okay, but WHY??? Oh, I’ll on occasion have the pastrami. But I usually just snipe the wife’s sandwich droppings, or snake some off her chili-cheese fries with pastrami, pickles and tomatoes. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relish-on-hamburgers/733728/43 "2015-10-07T21:38:11Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Oh, I’ll on occasion have the pastrami. But I usually just snipe the wife’s sandwich droppings, or snake some off her chili-cheese fries with pastrami, pickles and tomatoes. 😛 Ahhhh okay. As long as Pastrami is involved. And gods know they put two or more sandwiches’ worth of meat on each sandwich… ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relish-on-hamburgers/733728/44 "2015-10-07T22:41:17Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > The pickle relish itself is still green. It’s just that “hot dog relish” mixes it with mustard. “Hamburger relish” mixes it with ketchup. Ah, so hamburger relish is made with pickled cucumbers–not pickled tomatoes, then. It’s just the “sauce” it comes with is ketchup-based. Got it. Where is this popular? Around here, I do see hot dog relish from time to time, which was called “piccalilli” in my neighborhood way back when. (And that term is sometimes used to refer to the neon green hot dog relish in Chicago, too, but the stuff I remember the old folks talking about around here was not that stuff, but a mustard-based cucumber pickle relish sort of thing used for hot dogs. I know that “piccallili” has a wide range of regional meanings.) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relish-on-hamburgers/733728/45 "2015-10-07T23:04:59Z")
Yes, hamburger relish is pickled cukes. For a real taste treat, try pepper relish on your burger. Tony Packo’s makes a great one. As for popularity…I don’t know. I can find major brands at any grocery store around here, but that is inconclusive. It doesn’t seem to fly off the shelves, but there is obviously a demand for it or Vons wouldn’t give it shelf space. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relish-on-hamburgers/733728/46 "2015-10-07T23:10:58Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Sweet relish rocks! Any place that lets me add it to my burger gets my business. Just take those slimy dill slices off it first. > > Favorite burger (other than In-N-Out) is the burger at The Hat. It comes with lettuce, tomato, onions and 1000 Island, but they have a whole counter of add-ons, so I grab a handful of relish packets and make the burger _perfect_. 😕 You have the Hat where you are, and you order _any_ sandwich other than the pastrami dip? Does not compute. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relish-on-hamburgers/733728/47 "2015-10-07T23:13:05Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Yes, hamburger relish is pickled cukes. For a real taste treat, try pepper relish on your burger. Tony Packo’s makes a great one. > > As for popularity…I don’t know. I can find major brands at any grocery store around here, but that is inconclusive. It doesn’t seem to fly off the shelves, but there is obviously a demand for it or Vons wouldn’t give it shelf space. Is it found at hamburger stands, or is it pretty much just a domestic product? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relish-on-hamburgers/733728/48 "2015-10-07T23:14:07Z")
I’m actually more likely to order the beef dip than the pastrami, but that’s so the wife and I can swap halves. But the thread is about pickle relish, and no other person I know is so deviant as to put pickle relish on pastrami. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relish-on-hamburgers/733728/49 "2015-10-07T23:14:11Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > It’s not very important to me, which is one reason I didn’t put this in the Pit. You’re right about the packets, although their presence is more common in places where the burgers aren’t too great. (And I do understand the sentiment that putting relish on a burger is like putting ketchup on a steak.) Hey, don’t let people get to you. The only person who eats your burger is (usually) you and what you like is what you like. Not everyone has the same tastes and wouldn’t menus be bland if they did? Remember, you can always just keep a jar in your refrigerator at home. PS- Don’t be surprised if your tastes in burger condiments change in a year. That can happen too. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relish-on-hamburgers/733728/50 "2015-10-07T23:15:38Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Is it found at hamburger stands, or is it pretty much just a domestic product? Fuddrucker’s used to have a great red relish, but it was a pepper relish, not pickle. But [Bob’s Big Boy](http://www.bigboy.com/) puts red relish on their signature burger. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relish-on-hamburgers/733728/51 "2015-10-07T23:21:43Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > So _you’re_ the person that buys that shit. When I am elected God-Emperor Mt. Olive brand anything will be banned and the company wiped from the histories. Horrible stuff! Didn’t mean to say that Mt. Olive is good or bad, just that here, the options are pretty limited for dill relish. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2015, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relish-on-hamburgers/733728/52 "2015-10-07T23:26:25Z")
Whew! I would have hated to put your name on The List. I **would** have, but I would have hated it. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relish-on-hamburgers/733728/53 "2015-10-08T00:01:18Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Whew! I would have hated to put your name on The List. > > I **would** have, but I would have hated it. I would have hated _being_ on that list! ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relish-on-hamburgers/733728/54 "2015-10-08T02:12:17Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Green relish on hot dogs, red (tomato-based) relish on hamburgers. :o Correct, although I’d never heard that flouro green sweet gherkin spread called relish until recently. That stuff belongs in a white bread sandwich with processed cheese slices, with a side plate of little Hors d’oeuvres consisting of sliced kabana, cheese cubes and cocktail pickled onions all held together with a tooth pick while drinking Fosters from a can and listening to 70’s pop songs. A good chunky tomato and onion relish is great on a burger or with cold roast lamb/beef in a sandwich. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relish-on-hamburgers/733728/55 "2015-10-08T05:21:50Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > Ahhhh okay. As long as Pastrami is involved. And gods know they put two or more sandwiches’ worth of meat on each sandwich… 😕 That’s the way any decent pastrami sandwich should be made. And by decent I mean pastrami on rye with deli mustard and none of this tref cheese stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relish-on-hamburgers/733728/56 "2015-10-08T05:23:01Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Interesting. Never seen such a thing. I’ll keep an eye out for it–I wonder if it might be regional. I think it is. In the East it is everywhere, in the Bay Area only a few supermarkets have it, and only Del Monte, no Heinz. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relish-on-hamburgers/733728/57 "2015-10-08T19:02:09Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > OP, do you have Red Robin burger restaurants where you are? Their standard burger includes a sweet relish. Good burgers, too. There are some around here, but for some reason, none of them are on the way to anyplace I typically go to, so I never notice their existence. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relish-on-hamburgers/733728/58 "2015-10-08T19:13:42Z")
It’s called Red’s Relish. It’s a red relish, obviously, and you can get it added to any burger. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relish-on-hamburgers/733728.md?page=2)