8 Fun Food Ideas: Creative Condiment Mash-Ups to Liven Up Any Dish
Are you stuck in a food rut? Open your fridge and get creative with these fun food ideas for some creative condiment mash-ups.
The food that we eat nourishes our bodies and spirits – and it should also be fun. Food fuels and sustains us, and eating is something we literally need to do every single day. It’s important to do the little things we can to keep it fun, healthy, and exciting.
Condiments and sauces can have a big impact on the taste of our foods, turning plain sandwiches into gourmet experiences. We’ve got the old standbys, like ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise. Different geographic regions and cultures will be sure to have variations and indisputably original concoctions. Some of the more interesting condiments can be found only in ages of cuisines gone by. Have you ever tried garum, an ancient fish sauce prepared by fermenting fish intestines?
Sometimes, you need to spice something up and give it that certain zing, using only what you can find at that moment. For times like this, you need food ideas that incorporate a condiment-mash-up!
Creativity and your own imagination are the only limits as to what can be achieved when it comes to mixing things up, but here are quick few to start you out with the going gets… too bland. These condiment-mash-ups are created with the idea of using what you have, to make something different, bolder and better. There’s nothing too crazy or exotic here – no fish intestines – but it might save you a trip to the market.
1. Special Sauce: There are tons of variations on this bad boy, but the basic recipe is mayo, French salad dressing, pickle relish if desired, and a bit of ketchup. You can also try adding horseradish or ranch dressing for a twist.
2. Spicy Ranch: It’s super easy: simply add absolutely any hot sauce of your choosing to your favorite ranch dressing and voila: you now have spicy ranch! Try plain hot wing red sauce, Sriracha, Cholula, Tapatio or even Tabasco. Mix it together and it makes the perfect dip for almost anything.
3. Spicy Mayonnaise: You can add also in any kind of hot sauce you wish to mayo to spice it up, but a roasted chipotle hot sauce (not salsa) will give you an awesome zest that will make your sandwiches taste phenomenal.
4. BBQ Mayonnaise: This is another sandwich maker extraordinaire. Just add your favorite BBQ sauce to mayo.
5. Honey Ketchup: Pretty self explanatory – just mix a little honey into your ketchup. It’s sweet and very tasty on French fries and other fried foods.
6. Homemade Tartar Sauce: Try mayo mixed with pickle relish (sweet or dill) and a squeeze of lemon juice. That’s it!
7. Must-ayo-up (or Ketchardaise or Mayoetchard?): Ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise. I think most kids make this at some point in their lives. It might be time for you to try it again.
8. Peanut Butter: While technically not a condiment-mash-up, if you enjoy the taste of peanuts, start putting peanut butter on everything you think it might be good with. Seriously. The peanut flavor and hint of sweetness mixes really well with savory foods that you might not expect. Try it in soups, or substitute it in for the mayo the next time you make a sandwich.
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Image: victoria peckham
