# So what's your favorite condiment or spice that you are adding to your food? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 15, 2010, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-your-favorite-condiment-or-spice-that-you-are-adding-to-your-food/553864 "2010-09-15T16:41:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![evilbeth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/evilbeth/32/2268_2.png) [@evilbeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilbeth)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-your-favorite-condiment-or-spice-that-you-are-adding-to-your-food/553864/41 "2010-09-16T08:21:35Z")
A couple of summers ago I ate at a seafood joint that served a special dipping sauce for their popcorn shrimp that was delicious. Turns out it was just homemade ranch dressing with Sriracha mixed in. I know that sounds gross and honestly, I would never have tried it myself knowing what was in it but it was really good. I have been adding Worcestershire sauce to so many foods recently as just a final topping. I have also been adding black rice vinegar to a lot of my cooking. It is awesome in homemade barbecue sauce. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-your-favorite-condiment-or-spice-that-you-are-adding-to-your-food/553864/42 "2010-09-16T08:36:35Z")
Salt and hickory smoke salt. When cooking meat, I don’t consider it complete unless I cook some onion and/or garlic in with it. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-your-favorite-condiment-or-spice-that-you-are-adding-to-your-food/553864/43 "2010-09-16T10:04:25Z")
Powdered black pepper. Garlic salt. ---
**Author:** ![Jormungandr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@Jormungandr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jormungandr)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-your-favorite-condiment-or-spice-that-you-are-adding-to-your-food/553864/44 "2010-09-16T10:32:22Z")
[Tapatio](http://www.tapatiohotsauce.com/) Hot Sauce. It’s not really spicy to me, but just enough for taste. All I taste in Tabasco is the vinegar and the sugar in Sriracha. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-your-favorite-condiment-or-spice-that-you-are-adding-to-your-food/553864/45 "2010-09-16T13:09:26Z")
Smoked or Honeyed Balsamic reduction. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-your-favorite-condiment-or-spice-that-you-are-adding-to-your-food/553864/46 "2010-09-16T14:23:52Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > > [@MeanOldLady](#): > > > > Or as I like to call it, sock sauce. > > Did you mean “cock sauce” (for the rooster on it–it’s also known as “rooster sauce”) or am I missing something else blindingly obvious? No, you got it. The word “rooster” isn’t as titillating. I’ve gotten so used to calling it cock sauce, I have to watch myself around people I don’t know. Imagine being in a grocery store, not being able to find Sriracha and blurting out to someone who works there, “Hey, do you guys have co-- err, I mean, do you guys have Sriracha?” ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-your-favorite-condiment-or-spice-that-you-are-adding-to-your-food/553864/47 "2010-09-16T16:31:41Z")
For sprinkling, garlic or fresh-ground black pepper. For spreading, minced horseradish. For cooking (in non-sweet dishes), summer savory. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-your-favorite-condiment-or-spice-that-you-are-adding-to-your-food/553864/48 "2010-09-16T16:48:47Z")
I thought y’all would like to know that I was in this thread an hour before hitting the grocery store, and came home with our household’s first bottle of sriracha, inspired by all of you. Judging from Mr. Horseshoe’s reaction, it won’t be the last. 🙂 ---
**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:** [September 16, 2010, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-your-favorite-condiment-or-spice-that-you-are-adding-to-your-food/553864/49 "2010-09-16T16:51:09Z")
Try sriracha drizzled over cream cheese as a dip. Or use Pickapeppa Sauce. Endless possibilities. ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-your-favorite-condiment-or-spice-that-you-are-adding-to-your-food/553864/50 "2010-09-16T18:49:19Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Smoked or Honeyed Balsamic reduction. Go on. Is it bottled or how do you make it? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-your-favorite-condiment-or-spice-that-you-are-adding-to-your-food/553864/51 "2010-09-16T19:40:10Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > But, yes, Sriracha is probably the more versatile of the two. > > But my most usual-go-to-condiment is a bottle of El Yucateco [red or] green habanero sauce. Good lord you and I think alike in scary ways…good drumming, the importance of the song and rhythm/groove and hot sauce… El Yucateco Green and Sriracha are my two must-haves. One or the other goes on pretty much every entree, veg or starch… ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-your-favorite-condiment-or-spice-that-you-are-adding-to-your-food/553864/52 "2010-09-16T20:32:51Z")
I can’t cook. However, the holy trinity of spices for me is black pepper, chili powder and tobasco sauce. Did I mention I can’t cook? ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-your-favorite-condiment-or-spice-that-you-are-adding-to-your-food/553864/53 "2010-09-16T20:39:41Z")
My refrigerator is full of bottles and my cupboard full of spices. Certainly different than the bland Midwestern food I was served when young. My MIL had three seasonings: garlic salt, nutmeg and chili powder. Now that it’s summer I’ve been using my own fresh herbs for cooking often. Dill, purple basil, oregano, chives, parsley and tarragon. Though more a garnish than a condiment or spice, I like to put something crunchy in a lot of my dishes such as walnuts, almonds or cashews, french fried onion rings, crusty gratinees, crispy croutons. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-your-favorite-condiment-or-spice-that-you-are-adding-to-your-food/553864/54 "2010-09-16T20:46:29Z")
Oh … I just remembered … not so much an ingredient, but a condement: (and Buddha help me, I have no idea how to spell it) roumalade(?) sauce. There’s a pub I go to every so often that serves these killer onion rings with roumalade sauce as a dip. I have no idea what’s in it … something like horseradish, mayonaise, tobasco, something else and another thing … but damn it’s good. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-your-favorite-condiment-or-spice-that-you-are-adding-to-your-food/553864/55 "2010-09-16T22:00:46Z")
Remoulade. Good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-your-favorite-condiment-or-spice-that-you-are-adding-to-your-food/553864/56 "2010-09-16T22:39:33Z")
We have a nearby restaurant with a long-standing reputation for tasty pork ribs. They sell their bottled sauce. It’s shrimp colored and I swear it’s a local version of remoulade. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-your-favorite-condiment-or-spice-that-you-are-adding-to-your-food/553864/57 "2010-09-16T23:59:29Z")
Jeez! Why didn’t anyone mention sriracha was hot?! Damn that’s tasty ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-your-favorite-condiment-or-spice-that-you-are-adding-to-your-food/553864/58 "2010-09-19T10:17:56Z")
> [@lindsaybluth](#): > > > [@MrDibble](#): > > > > Smoked or Honeyed Balsamic reduction. > > Go on. Is it bottled or how do you make it? I either dry-smoke some sugar (I put rooibos (“Red Tea” is how it’s known overseas) in a wok and put coarse sugar in a steamer over it to catch the smoke) , or else smoky fynbos honey, and reduce some balsamic vinegar by about a quarter until sticky. It’s usually about a cup of sugar/honey to 2 cups _aceto balsamica_ (the cheaper stuff, but still proper balsamic not vinegar flavoured with extracts). Reducing is just simmering over low-med heat, not fast boiling. It’s also how I make my second-favourite, which is homemade teri-yaki sauce. That’s good soy sauce, palm sugar, honey and _mirin_, all reduced to sticky goodness. I haven’t used store-bought teriyaki in ages. Be careful you don’t forget the pan, though, or you’ll end up with balsamic or soy toffee. Which I like, but let’s say it’s an acquired taste. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-your-favorite-condiment-or-spice-that-you-are-adding-to-your-food/553864/59 "2010-09-19T14:40:23Z")
Smoked paprika and chipotle chili powder. Used both in a pot of chili I entered in a chili cook off. I won 60% of the vote out of the 21 entries. Everyone wanted the recipe but I don’t have it written down yet. The smoked paprika is also excellent on eggs, pork, and chicken. I recently added some to a bleu cheese dip and it was excellent. The chipotle chili powder adds a nice kick to chicken fried steak. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-your-favorite-condiment-or-spice-that-you-are-adding-to-your-food/553864/60 "2010-09-19T15:04:43Z")
[Sambal Oelek](http://www.huyfong.com/no_frames/oelek.htm). On everything but Fruit Loops. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-your-favorite-condiment-or-spice-that-you-are-adding-to-your-food/553864.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-your-favorite-condiment-or-spice-that-you-are-adding-to-your-food/553864.md?page=4)