What is Ketchup?
Nowadays, ketchup is generally referred to as tomato ketchup; however, traditionally, it was known to be made of egg whites, mushrooms, oysters, walnuts and other foods. According to the Chef Akshay Nayyar from Kopper Kadai, "Ketchup is a processed and preserved sauce made using tomatoes, sugar and vinegar with or without preservatives. It's mainly used as a relish and is served cold. Most commonly used as condiments, they are widely loved because of their texture and taste."
What is Sauce?
So, how is Ketchup different from Sauce? Chef Akshay shares, "Sauce is a generic term referring to a semi-liquid substance used for cooking food to give it the required amount of moisture. It may also be served separately but is always cooked fresh. The texture and viscosities of the sauces depend on their usage. Usually, a sauce that is used as a cooking medium will have lesser viscosity than the one used as a dressing."
First things first, ketchup may be a sauce but not all sauces are ketchups. Ketchup is cold and is never heated as a rule. Sauces, on the other hand are used in cooking and generally served hot. Sauce is a universal word; it can be spaghetti sauce, barbeque sauce or a steak sauce.
Sauce is derived from Latin word salsas meaning "salted." According to food historians, sauce was invented for the following reasons;
1. Served the purpose of a cooking medium
2. It did well as a meat tenderiser
3. It would help enhancing the flavours of any dish it was added to.
Next time, enjoy your pastas with a delicious sauce and your pakoras with a little ketchup on the side!