Homemade Ketchup, Mayonnaise, and Mustard from Haute Dogs

May 8, 2014(updated on December 6, 2021)

condiments on Haute Dogs

Some months back, I got an email from my friend Eric. Ages ago, Eric and I were co-workers and our desks were right next to each other. This was in the days when I was just starting this website and would often go off on a tear about my latest batch of jam or pickles. Now Eric is successful writer who also happens to do all kinds of fancy marketing and social media stuff for Quirk Books.

cover of Haute Dogs

Thanks to those days spent as co-workers, Eric was well aware of my deep obsession with homemade spreads and toppings and so, was writing to invite me to participate in a blog tour for a book called Haute Dogs: Recipes for Delicious Hot Dogs, Buns, and Condiments.

The idea behind the tour was that each participating blogger would make one or two components necessary to assemble the Ecuadorian Street Dog, so that at the end of the tour, a reader could hop from site to site in order to prep and build the entire dog on their own. If I chose to accept it, my assignment was condiments. Mustard. Mayo. And Ketchup. I was in.

condiments overhead

While I was all excited to try my hand at someone else’s condiment recipes (when you spend a goodly chunk of your life inventing recipes, it’s always nice to take a break and let someone else do the heavy lifting), I’ll confess right now that I wasn’t particularly jazzed by the idea of a hot dog book.

However, when this one arrived, I could immediately see that Haute Dogs wasn’t just a book about hot dogs. It is a love letter to the humble dog in its many forms. And that’s something I can get behind.

condiments together

So, let’s talk recipes. My assignment was to make three of the most classic summertime condiments around. Yellow mustard. Mayonnaise. And ketchup. No summer cookout is complete without this triad and for the diehard DIY-er, it just makes sense to make your own.

These are easy recipes that are meant to be made and used within a few days or a week. Though you’ll see them pictured in jars throughout this blog post, do know that those are simply the vessels I chose to stash them in. I don’t have canning instructions to offer for these recipes. With that, let’s get on to the condiments!

mustard

This is nice yellow mustard recipe (it makes about 1/2 cup). The addition of cornstarch means that it thickens up nicely. The turmeric gives it the familiar color and the tiny bit of cayenne pepper adds a welcome kick. I’d make it at least one or two days before you plan on using it, because mustard tends to be a bit flat in flavor initially, but tightens up over time.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup ground mustard
1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
3 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Pinch garlic powder

Instructions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a small heavy-bottomed pot.
2. Stirring constantly, bring mixture to a boil and then remove from heat.
3. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

mayonnaise
I have a hit or miss record with homemade mayonnaise. Sometimes I get it exactly right, while other times, the emulsion breaks and I end up with some greasy and running. Happily, this batch turned out gorgeously (and made about a cup) and I plan on using the recipe again. Russell offers several different options for making the mayonnaise (bowl & whisk, stand mixer, food processor, or stick blender). I went with the stick blender and found that it worked beautifully.

Ingredients:

1 large egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground mustard
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
3/4 cup soybean oil (I used grapeseed oil, because that’s what I had in my kitchen)

Instructions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolk, salt, ground mustard, onion powder, garlic powder, and sugar. Add vinegar and whisk until thoroughly combined.
2. While whisking (or blending with the stick blender fully submerged in the egg mixture), slowly add the oil. Whisk (or blend) until all the oil has been added and the mayonnaise is thick.

pint of ketchup

Now, to the ketchup. I thought this recipe was pretty darn good for a quick condiment. It doesn’t have the depth of the longer cooked version, but is a nice option if you’re trying to ween your family off of their beloved bottle of Heinz.

I will say that even after an hour of cooking, I felt like it was still a little runnier than I like in a ketchup. However, I needed to move on to another project and so called it done even in its runny state. If I were to make this one again, I might pour it into a small roasting pan and reduce it in the oven for a thicker, less fussy-to-tend version.

Ingredients:

1 (16 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1 whole clove
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon powdered garlic
1/4 teaspoon powdered onion

Instructions:

1. In a heavy-bottomed pot, stir to combine all ingredients. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat, reduce heat to low, and cook for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
2. Remove and discard clove (Note: I was never able to find mine again to pluck it out). Transfer mixture to the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth. Store in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

For the rest of the recipes from the Haute Dog blog tour, check out these blogs:

May 1st – Endless Simmer has the recipe for Salsa Verde.
May 6th – Over at Boulder Locavore shares the Spicy Aji Sauce.
May 13th – Love and Olive Oil will have the homemade french fries and potato wedges recipes.
May 15th – For the final day of the tour, Haute Dogs author Russell van Kraayenburg, will put the whole dog together!

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16 thoughts on "Homemade Ketchup, Mayonnaise, and Mustard from Haute Dogs"

  • I had the same breaking problem as you for a while, until I discovered a solution. The trick to never fail mayonnaise is to have all ingredients at the same temperature. Try it next time and leave your eggs outside the fridge for a while before doing it, you will see it will never break again.

  • Love! I think the idea for the book is great, and I’m stoked to see some basic condiment recipes. Thank you!

  • To make the perfect hot dog, it’s not complete without my home-made chow-chow! It’s better than pickle relish or sour krout!

    1. Good question. I’m assuming the taste would be jeopardized without the sugar. I’m curious if anyone knows of a recipe without the sugar that maintains the taste.

  • How long will the mayonnaise stay ‘good’ in the fridge. How will I know when it’s gone ‘bad’, will it be obvious? I don’t want to forget about it and have someone in the family eating it unknowingly. Thank you for sharing the inspiration…

    1. Homemade mayo will keep longer than you imagine, far longer than most recipes suggest. The acidic vinegar(or lemon juice) preserves as well as flavors.

      I haven’t bought mayo for use at home in many years and my family goes through a LOT of mayo. I can’t tell you how many times we have consumed mayo that is a month-6 weeks old and still delicious (and without food poisoning).

      I make small batches with my handheld blender, but usually make a quart at at time with 3-4 eggs in my Vitamix blender. I store the finished mayo in very clean canning jars in my fridge, dividing larger batches into smaller jars.

      I do take some precautions when making raw egg food – I usually use eggs from local “backyard” flocks so that very fresh and minimally handled. But when I can’t get backyard eggs I use Vital Farms pastured eggs from Whole Foods or another local “natural foods” store. They are humanely produced eggs from chickens pastured outside, with a min of 108 sq ft per hen – which is WAAAAY better for the hen and the egg than cage-free (which is less meaningful than most people realize) or even an organic label. I careful check every egg for micro cracks before using in raw egg foods like mayo – any eggs with micro cracks go into a cooked dish.

      For the past couple years I’ve been making mayo that’s cultured and probiotic. Beneficial bacterial cultures outcompete pathogenic bacteria so they can’t flourish (the same way yogurt culture extends the edible life of milk). Often I use fresh lemon juice from my lemon tree mixed with Bragg’s raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar for the acid ingredient. Lately I’ll include a little pickle juice from raw, naturally probiotic and traditionally lacto-fermented pickles, such as Bubbies brand (often available in the chilled pickle section of supermarkets and specialty food stores). These aren’t pickled the industrial way – they are pickled traditionally with a salt brine and contain lactobacillus bacteria that produce lactic acid, a tart tasting natural food preservative. I cut back on the salt when I use pickle juice.

      My preferred oils for making mayo are neutral flavored oils that aren’t high in PUFA like most seed oils: avocado oil (Costco sells a large bottle at a reasonable price); macadamia nut oil, and refined pure olive oil (most varieties of EVOO are too strongly flavored for American style mayo, esp when blended with a machine, which for some reason makes EVOO mayo taste very bitter compared to mayo whisked by hand). I often blend the more expensive oils with some pure OO to keep the cost down.

      After the oil is drizzled into a running blender with the other ingredients, I add a tablespoon or two of yellow-clear whey liquid strained from plain yogurt (whey is also naturally probiotic) and pulse-blend it very briefly, just long enough to mix it throughout the yogurt. I transfer the mayo to very clean pint jars (straight from the DW or sanitized in a steam pan) and tightly close with a lid. I leave the jars out on the counter at room temperature for several before refrigerating, to allow the mayonnaise to culture (the probiotic cultures reproduce). If the room temperature is very hot, I still leave the jars of mayo out for about 30-60 minutes before I chill it.

      Our house has a policy of avoiding cross-contamination with mayo and other condiments – we don’t dip a utensil into the mayo if it’s been in contact with other foods like tuna, eggs, pickle relish, and other condiments, etc. That’s another reason I divide the larger batch into smaller jars – we use one jar at a time to minimize contamination while the rest of the mayo supply remains untouched in the back of the fridge until needed. We also promptly return the covered mayo jar to the refrigerator after using and avoid letting it sit out longer than necessary. Sometimes I will dish out a smaller supply for a make-your-own sandwich buffet, and return the jar to the fridge. I don’t put leftovers back in the jar.

      Raw egg and mayo-phobes might run screaming from the room at my suggestion that homemade mayo with raw eggs can be safe to eat a month or more after making, but with reasonable common-sense kitchen hygiene and precautions, I think it can be safer to make mayo at home than to buy factory produced mayo with the nasty oils and questionable ingredients.

  • I am crazy for a perfectly grilled hotdog. And based on the comments, I am looking forward to making my own condiments! That mayo looks stupendous!

  • All of the recipes look really god but I am confused about the “ground mustard”. Are you taking about “dry mustard”?

  • I started making my own ketchup (not from this book) last year, and I haven’t looked back since. I make it in gallon-sized or so batches, and freeze it. I cannot believe I hadn’t done it sooner. The next step is finding a recipe I like that I can water-bath can. Mustard, too.

  • My recipe for homemade mayonnaise has you place the egg yolk through vinegar in the immersion blender cup (I use a mason jar), pour the oil on top, wait 15 seconds for everything to settle, place the head of the blender at the bottom and blend. Tilt the head until all the oil is emulsified. It’s like creating a white cloud in a jar.

  • Whereas I *am* totally jazzed by a hot dog book! This is such an exciting premise for my summer experimentation. (Plus, hot dogs w/ rhubarb mostarda on them? DIVINE.)

  • Thanks for these wonderful recipes. I have always wanted to make my own mayo but just wasn’t satisfied with many recipes that are out there so thank you, thank you, thank you.

    Ketchup…..Oh, I remember my mother making homemade ketchup many, many years ago. I don’t recall my parents ever buying store bought ketchup. We pretty much lived what was raised and grown on the farm.

    Hot dogs; give me a dog with Everything on it; relish, chili, onion, cheese,………. the whole works. Make that a foot long :} Speaking of foot long hot dogs, I remember many, many years ago that you could by foot long dogs in the grocery store but just don’t see them any more :{
    Once again, thanks for the recipes and wishing you a wonderful weekend and Happy Mother’s Day to all the mother’s out there.