Dijon Ketchup

Background

It has long been claimed that "there is no such thing as Dijon ketchup". While there has been no commercial product that would qualify as such, it may be possible in theory to create such a condiment. In honour of the upcoming 25th anniversary of "Gordon" (and 150th anniversary of Canada), I would like to propose a recipe that attempts to do so.

I have tried variants of this recipe a few times, and so far, this is the version I've been happiest with. Further variations are possible, but at the core is the idea of red wine ketchup. My derivative (and possibly blasphemous) interpretation of the term "dijon ketchup" is to apply an analogue to the difference between mustard and Dijon mustard, to ketchup. As Dijon mustard uses verjus and/or white wine in place of the vinegar used in mustard, so too does this recipe augment the vinegar in ketchup with balsamic vinegar and red wine.

Thanks to Chef John (who has a slightly easier ketchup recipe) for inspiring this ridiculous experiment.

Disclaimer

I am not from France, let alone from Dijon. It may be argued that this alone disqualifies this recipe from being "Dijon ketchup". However, there are products in North America which are not manufactured in the Dijon region and/or do not satisfy the relevant AOC, which are nonetheless labeled and sold as "Dijon mustard". Not only that, but the unholy fusion known as "Dijonnaise" certainly exists, whether or not it needs to. Since the original AOC would not apply to ketchup products anyways, it might be more pedantically correct to define "dijon ketchup" not as "ketchup in the style of Dijon", but as "ketchup in the style of mustard in the style of Dijon".

Warning

This is a long-ish and potentially messy process. Before attempting this, read the entire recipe and plan ahead - this is either an all-day task or an evening-and-the-next-morning task. Fortunately, most of the time is taken up by a slow simmer in a crock-pot, so that part can run on its own overnight at very low heat. As Chef John said, "you'd have to be crazy to make your own ketchup". While that may be true, I still believe that it's worth a little patience to make something yourself that is distinct from, and possibly better than, anything commercially available. If you want Heinz, then skip this recipe and buy some Heinz. This isn't Heinz.

Recommended Equipment

• Crock-pot or slow-cooker (at least 8-10 cups)
• Medium-to-large cooking pot
• Medium-to-fine mesh strainer
• Immersion blender
• Funnel and empty ketchup bottle

Ingredients

• 1500g paste tomatoes (e.g. Roma), coarsely chopped
• 700ml / 3 cups water
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 300g red onion, chopped small (about one medium-large)
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil (approx.)
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 75g brown sugar (about 1/2 cup)
• 120ml / 1/2 cup red wine
• 60ml / 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 60ml / 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp mustard powder
• 1/8 tsp ground clove
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp coarsely cracked peppercorns
• 1/4 tsp coarsely cracked allspice berries
• 1 1/2 tsp celery seed

Directions

1. Place the chopped tomatoes into a large pot. Bring to a boil, then cover and let simmer over medium heat for 15-20 minutes, stirring and gently mashing occasionally, until tomato chunks have mostly fallen apart.
2. Using the back of a large spoon, pass the cooked tomatoes through a mesh sieve, separating as much pulp as possible from the skins and seeds. Transfer the pulp to a crock-pot or slow-cooker. Do not discard the skins and seeds - instead, return them to the cooking pot.
3. To the tomato pulp in the slow-cooker, add the brown sugar, wine, vinegars, salt, mustard powder, ground clove, and bay leaf. Stir well to combine, then set temperature to low. Cover with lid, but prop up one side of the lid to allow steam to escape.
4. To the skins and seeds in the cooking pot, add the water, 1/4 tsp baking soda, peppercorns, allspice, and celery seed. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Strain the cooked skins and seeds through a mesh strainer or a cheesecloth bag, squeezing out as much juice as you can while retaining the solids. Add the extracted juice to the slow-cooker, and (finally) discard the skins and seeds.
6. Add the onion, garlic, vegetable oil, and 1/8 tsp baking soda to the cooking pot. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, for about 10-15 minutes until the onion is fully caramelized into an almost-homogeneous glob of browned paste - the baking soda will cause the onions to disintegrate. The aim is to caramelize the onion, not to burn it - if you notice any scorching, add a little water, reduce the heat and stir more frequently. Finally, add the caramelized onion to the slow-cooker, deglaze the pot with a little water to loosen the remaining caramelized layer, then add that to the slow-cooker as well.
7. Continue cooking in the slow-cooker, occasionally scraping down and re-incorporating any paste that has dried onto the sides, until reduced to about 750-825 ml (3 to 3.5 cups). Depending on your slow-cooker, this will take between 6 and 10 hours, so you might want to leave it cooking at the lowest setting overnight. Use a chilled small plate to cool down a sample of ketchup to check thickness and seasoning, and make final adjustments to cooking time/water/sugar/salt/spices as needed.
8. When the ketchup has cooked down sufficiently, remove the bay leaf and use an immersion blender to puree the still-hot ketchup until smooth. Transfer to a bottle or other container with a funnel (also while still fairly warm) and refrigerate. (An empty ketchup squeeze-bottle, thoroughly cleaned and re-labeled, works well.)

Notes

• The use of baking soda with the tomato skins and onions might seem a little weird, but it has a purpose. Baking soda helps to break down pectins in plant cell walls, and can accelerate Maillard reactions. By using small amounts of baking soda at specific stages, more flavour can be extracted from the tomato skins and seed gel, without coarsening the ketchup's texture, and the onions can be caramelized faster and more completely. (The onions will lose their texture during cooking, but everything gets blended together in the end, so this is fine for this purpose.)
• I'm not certain how long this will keep in the refrigerator, but I've had a bottle last at least three months without signs of spoilage. I suspect this has more than enough acidity (plus residual sulphites from the wine) to be fairly spoilage-resistant for several months under refrigerator conditions.
• This recipe does not contain enough emulsifiers to entirely prevent separation. A thin layer of runny liquid may separate out in storage - shake well before pouring.
• Many types of red wine should work with this recipe, and contribute their own character - but extremely tannic reds might adversely affect the flavour once cooked down. Something like a Pinot Noir might be more suitable than a Cabernet Sauvignon.

bon appetit