# That's not what that recipe means! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 25, 2020, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-not-what-that-recipe-means/852558 "2020-04-25T15:51:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2020, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-not-what-that-recipe-means/852558/121 "2020-04-29T14:31:50Z")
> [@JoseB](#): > > Definitely bastardized, because for this born-and-bred Spaniard a “torta” is most definitely a slap in the face applied with full-force and an open hand or, by extension, any kind of big impact. Interesting. I’ve always though of a Spanish torta as the potato omlette but it appears it is better known as a tortilla. It sort of reminds me of punch. It could be referring to a beverage but more likely means a strike with a fist or similar mechanical device or operation. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2020, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-not-what-that-recipe-means/852558/122 "2020-04-29T15:05:35Z")
> [@GMANCANADA](#): > > For me it’s **pad thai** made with a sweet ketchup based sauce. > > I’ve been fortunate enough to travel extensively in Thailand on many occasions and I’ve never once come across pad thai made with ketchup. That seems to be a very North American thing. > > I can’t say it absolutely doesn’t exist, but if it does it’s pretty rare. Normally it’s fish sauce, lemon/lime juice and palm sugar or plain sugar. No ketchup or tomato based ingredients at all. I’ve eaten at a lot of Thai restaurants, and eaten a lot of Pad Thai at them, and I can’t say I’ve ever had a tomato/ketchup based sauce. Usually they’re made of lemon/lime juice or vinegar, soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar of some kind and tamarind concentrate, which is what gives it that brown color and along with the fish sauce, the distinctive taste. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Brother\_1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_brother_1/32/3513_2.png) [@Little\_Brother\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Brother_1)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2020, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-not-what-that-recipe-means/852558/123 "2020-04-29T20:26:10Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > You can’t use a fork? Then how to you avoid spilling the ketchup everywhere? Funny you should mention ketchup: I’m 65 now, but still cling to some of my supposedly “fussy” juvenile culinary aversions. So I’m the only member of my family who dislikes stinky mustard, and always puts ketchup on my hot dogs. If you can chew and slurp at the same time, you won’t need a fork to mitigate ketchup spills. FWIW, my baby of the family contrariness might also account for my contempt for would-be food authority control freaks, whether professional or amateurs-- including my two older siblings-- who lecture about the Proper or Approved way to consume foodstuffs. I admit I may be permanently warped by childhood food criticism. I live alone, and once a week or so buy a delicious cinnamon roll for breakfast. I add raisins and warm it up; when I perform the final step of loading it up with an obscene amount of butter (spread), I always savor the fact that there’s no one around to either say with genuine disapproving alarm, “Do you need _all_ that butter?” or snarkily ask if I like a little cinnamon roll with my butter. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-not-what-that-recipe-means/852558/124 "2020-04-30T02:22:31Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > All the examples given here for non-tomato ketchup here been historic, like a century or more old. Show me something labeled as ketchup _today_ that can’t be described as “tomato ketchup.” That’s what I’m asking for. > [@DCnDC](#): > > [Geo Watkins Mushroom Ketchup](https://www.britishcornershop.co.uk/img/large/TJ0971.jpg), still produced and sold today. Also, banana ketchup is popular in the Caribbean and the Philippines. Both products linked below have 4+ star reviews on Amazon: [https://www.amazon.com/Baron-Banana-Ketchup-14-Ounce/dp/B0019BCQ56?th=1](https://www.amazon.com/Baron-Banana-Ketchup-14-Ounce/dp/B0019BCQ56?th=1) [https://www.amazon.com/UFC-Banana-Catsup-Tamis-Anghang-1kg/dp/B00C3AVAIG/ref=sr\_1\_9?dchild=1&keywords=banana+ketchup&qid=1588212661&sr=8-9](https://www.amazon.com/UFC-Banana-Catsup-Tamis-Anghang-1kg/dp/B00C3AVAIG/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=banana+ketchup&qid=1588212661&sr=8-9) ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-not-what-that-recipe-means/852558/125 "2020-04-30T02:34:33Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Mushroom ketchup [used to be quite popular](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29u_FejNuks) in the US. Jesus, it [looks like](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushroom_ketchup) [meconium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meconium) :eek: ---
**Author:** ![GMANCANADA](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gmancanada/32/2837_2.png) [@GMANCANADA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GMANCANADA)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-not-what-that-recipe-means/852558/126 "2020-04-30T03:00:48Z")
**@bump** The first time I saw it I was out with a friend and we went to a “authentic” Thai restaurant he loved. Based on his reco I ordered the “authentic” pad thai. It was made with a ketchup. WTF?? Although he’d never been, he insisted it was how they made it in Thailand. The people working there looked Chinese so I said something to them in mandarin and they gave me a sly smile and responded back in Mandarin. They used to run a Chinese restaurant and just changed it to Thai to jump on the bandwagon by tweaking the recipes a little. From what I’ve read it’s a big city N.Anerican thing. If you google “does pad thai have ketchup” you will see some recipes and many comments. Here’s one: > [@](#): > > It’s not unusual to sit down in a new country, take the first bite of food and discover that it tastes completely different than we expected… > > And now I have discovered that Pad Thai is not made with ketchup and peanut butter. Somehow I always knew that 1,068 people that reviewed Osha Thai Noodle were as dumb as they look when they dine on a plate of neon orange, sugary sweet $15 pad thai… > **[There is no ketchup in Pad Thai! | Urban Hikers](http://www.urbanhikers.com/there-is-no-ketchup-in-pad-thai/)** > > It's not unusual to sit down in a new country, take the first bite of food and discover that it tastes completely different than we expected. It's shocking to taste just how badly we Westerners have butchered a recipe and created a less tasty, more... ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-not-what-that-recipe-means/852558/127 "2020-04-30T03:11:42Z")
Here in Panama is the only place I know where it it typical to put ketchup on Chinese food. The biggest Chinese chain, Don Lee, puts both packets of soy sauce (salsa china) and ketchup in with your take-out order. It’s especially odd since the first Chinese immigrants came in the 1850s, and a fairly large percentage of Panamanians have Chinese ancestry. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-not-what-that-recipe-means/852558/128 "2020-04-30T20:33:30Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Thanks. How is it? Should I try to get some? I’ve had it. It’s a thin, salty sauce with a bit of a tang. It’s good. But it’s close enough to Worcestershire sauce that I don’t feel the need to keep another bottle around. Worth trying though. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-not-what-that-recipe-means/852558/129 "2020-04-30T21:39:45Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > Jesus, it [looks like](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushroom_ketchup) [meconium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meconium) :eek: That was done in an unnecessarily graphic manner. ---
**Author:** ![Eclipse\_Chaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Eclipse\_Chaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eclipse_Chaser)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-not-what-that-recipe-means/852558/130 "2020-05-03T19:23:45Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > I’ve had it. It’s a thin, salty sauce with a bit of a tang. It’s good. But it’s close enough to Worcestershire sauce that I don’t feel the need to keep another bottle around. Worth trying though. We can certainly get it in the UK, I always have a bottle in the store cupboard. [https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/251225471](https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/251225471) ---
**Author:** ![HyacinthBucket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hyacinthbucket/32/3063_2.png) [@HyacinthBucket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HyacinthBucket)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-not-what-that-recipe-means/852558/131 "2020-05-03T20:39:27Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Whatever it was, it had “mayonnaise” on the label. > > … My Irish-American mother used to make chow mein at home. It was basically chicken or other meat, sauted with celery, onions, and canned bean sprouts, water chestnuts, and bamboo sprouts, served with white rice and crispy chow mein noodles from a can. That sounds like my Polish-American mother’s recipe for Chop Suey, minus the crispy noodles, and usually with beef instead of chicken. Back then, the canned bean sprouts was my favorite part. Now, I wouldn’t touch them with a ten-foot Pole. Which would be equivalent to two of my mother. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-not-what-that-recipe-means/852558/132 "2020-05-04T00:29:24Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Here in the US ‘corn flour’ is finely ground corn meal and ‘corn starch’ is corn starch. In the UK and other countries ‘corn flour’ is corn starch, and I have no idea if they can easily find corn meal that finely ground. > [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](#): > > I’ve certainly used polenta for cornbread, but whether it’s comparable to any given grind of cornmeal, I can’t be certain. Polenta is normally made with a medium-ground cornmeal. If you want a corn-starch made from maize, look for “gluten free” corn starch. Not that wheat starch has much gluten in it, but it’s a selling point. ---
**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:** [May 4, 2020, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-not-what-that-recipe-means/852558/133 "2020-05-04T16:18:45Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > Jesus, it [looks like](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushroom_ketchup) [meconium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meconium) :eek: I don’t know what’s in that tub, but no, when I’ve made it, and when I’ve had commercial versions, it looked like any other brown/black liquid sauce - L&P, HP, Henderson’s. Salty \*umami \*liquid. What’s in that tub looks like what’s left behind when you strain off the ketchup. Don’t ever watch someone make duxelles for Beef Wellington, if that’s your first association. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-not-what-that-recipe-means/852558.md?page=6)