I have a friend who insists that sour cream is the perfect condiment. He challenges me to come up with a food that won’t taste good with sour cream on it, and I am hard pressed to come up with an example.
Now I don’t think any condiment can be considered perfect, but at the moment I am partial to salsa. It goes great on so many things, and is pretty good for you.
What about you? Do you have a favorite condiment? Do you have a nominee for The Perfect Condiment award?
Heemb…Oh!
Sour cream is absolutely disgusting. How anyone can keep that stuff down is beyond me.
The only condiment I regularly use is ketchup, and that only sparingly. I figure that if the food I’m eating needs some condiment, it’s not something I should be eating and I should find something better.
But then, I’m an odd little bastard. 
Boy, heembo, I can think of a lot of things I would not like with sour cream, such as tuna fish, lima beans and pecan pie. But, if your friend really likes sour cream that much, he probably would like it on those foods.
I have a friend who says there is no food which can’t be improved by use of either garlic or chocolate. He might be closer to the truth. But still – garlic with lima beans?
I’m just not big on condiments, period. Chocolate syrup and whipped cream are about it and they only go on certain things.
Is butter a condiment? I put butter and salt on almost everything.
I am a condiment connoisseur. I like to think so, anyway. Sauces and dressings are often what makes a meal for me, and I often pay particular attention to them.
The Universal Condiment I’ve found so far is Ranch dressing. There’s nothing I’ve found that won’t go well with Ranch. I try to keep it as a standby, though, when there’s nothing better available.
My favorite condiment at the moment has to be “Polynesian Sauce” from Chik-Fil-A. It’s a very sweet sauce that’s absolutely perfect with their waffle fries.
And I love sour cream on potatos and tacos. The only things I ever eat from Taco Bell are Supreme tacos/Gorditas. Of course, I also like it with real food, too. 
I actually just had this discussion recently.
My analysis:
1)Chocolate. Nothing I don’t eat chocolate with.
2)Olive oil, balsamic vinegar and garlic dressing. Disgustingly enough to some people, sometimes I just sip it straight.
I’m a mustard and horseradish person, both taste pretty darn good on anything (even eggs and chicken). Can’t stand either sour cream or castup, and even ranch dressing is getting tired. What about mayo and/or miracle whip? Doesn’t that stuff go with just about anything?
Ketchup and Barbecue sauce. Nothing better.
example, I’ve use barbecue sauce as a topping for precooked frozen pizza MANY times.
Does your condiment go with:
[ul]
Ice Cream?
Pizza?
Spinach?
Eggs?
Sandwich meat?
[/ul]
Sour cream can hold it’s own with all of these. I’d like to see how many smiles you’d get with old Ketchup or ranch dressing slathered on an ice cream cone.
This is a challenge! Sour cream challenges all condiments in a dual to the death!
Charge!!!
Brainstorm!
Does sour cream go good on…
Bread?
Toast?
Apple pie?
Cherry pie?
Froot Loops, Cheerios, etc.?
Rice?
Black forest cake?
Chicken soup?
Canned chicken soup?
Strawberries?
Each of these foods, all of which are delicious on some level, has an appropriate condiment. Sour cream, however, probably wouldn’t go good on any of these (unless you have the munchies, but that doesn’t count). I must concede two things, though. First, I can’t think of a more universal condiment than sour cream (even is sour cream isn’t truly universal). Second, coming up with that measly little list I made was harder than you’d think.
I think mustard is perfect, I could eat it on anything. Whipped cream makes me want to vomit. I’ve had bad experiences involving whipped cream and tequila.
Actually, here in SoCal, fresh picked strawberries are often served au natural, with bowls of chocolate sauce, powdered sugar, and sour cream as dips. There’s no single customary way to dip, either. Use only one, or mix and match. No one looks funny at ya.
And yes, strawberries dipped in sour cream are indeed delicious.
In fact, Max, I wouldn’t personally choose sour cream to go with most of the things on your list, but nor would I look funny at ya if you chose to put sour cream on any of them.
In fact, I’ve been scouring my brain, and I can’t think of anything that shoots down heembo’s claim. At least nothing that isn’t disgusting on its own.
How about coffee? Tea? Does a beverage count? The thought of putting fermented cream in my coffee sort of turns my stomach.
What about sour cream and another condiment? Sour cream and ketchup? Ick.
[long pause]
Aha - I think I got it…
Sushi.
Sour cream goes well with ice cream? How much crack do you have to smoke to want to test that one out?
I’m not a big fan of sour cream; I can take it or leave it. I prefer mustard, myself, though I’ll concede it doesn’t have the universal potential of sour cream. But all that says to me is that sour cream is bland enough to mix with anything, which doesn’t necessarily make it great, just utilitarian.
And I’m surprised nobody’s spoken up for mayonnaise yet, vile though it may be.
Hey, who hasn’t?
I did speak up for mayo woodstockbirdybird.
heembo, is your friend’s name Adam by chance? Or Danny? Lemme know.
Anyway, we’re going about this completely wrong. Its not a matter of sour cream going with absolutely anything, its a matter of sour cream outshining every other condiment. (However, I could certainly see myself putting a dollop of SC in chicken noodle soup just as I would put some in chili.)
Lets take the 10 things that Sour Cream most improves (i.e. your dining experience with said menu item is much much better with sour cream than without), and compare these 10 items with the top 10 items for other condiments. If there is a similar item on each list, then the condiment that improves it the most gets to keep it, while the other condiment’s list is reduced by 1 (i.e. if burritos is on SC’s list, and its also on salsa’s list, then whichever condiment is determined to be better gets to keep it, and the other condiment loses that place holder - Top 9 instead of Top 10).
A head-to-head competition has shown Sour Cream to win out. The closest competitor ended up being butter, as the improvement butter gives bread is one of the biggest in culinary history. Bread is good, but bread with butter is a million times better.