Making Your Own Ketchup and Mustard

Every week, a DIY expert spares us a trip to the grocery store and shows us how to make small batches of great foods at home.

Today, former Top Chef contestant Camille Becerra shows us the secret to making ketchup and mustard at home. Camille is currently one of the chefs at Reynards, in Williamsburg, and more of her work can be found on her blog, My Personal Feast.

'Tis the season for hot dogs and barbecues, and with these things come condiments. As a mother of a ketchup fanatic, I used to constantly have to deny my daughter's requests for bread with ketchup when she was younger. I do cringe slightly every time we lather on the Heinz 57, but what dog is complete without sauerkraut, sweet relish, and most importantly mustard and ketchup?

I like to stir up a batch of the summer’s dynamic duo forgoing some of the not-so-natural ingredients. I like my mustard to be sweet to contrast with the spice but not nearly the overkill sweetness of honey mustards we are used to.

Both of these recipes yield enough to share, so gather up the empty jam and pickle jars you saved, fill them up, and hand them off to those special people who will invite you over to their homes for a summer gathering.

Ketchup
Makes 1 quart

2 14-16 ounce cans of tomato puree or 2 pounds peeled and seeded fresh tomato
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 onion, diced
3 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons molasses
1 cup white balsamic or wine vinegar
sachet: one small bunch thyme and one healthy pinch each of whole black pepper, coriander seed, fennel seed and mace.

Sweat onion and garlic through without gaining any color.
Add remaining ingredients including your sachet.
Bring to a boil and simmer on low for 2 hours.
Remove sachet.
Whiz in a blender or with an immersion blender and strain.

Brown Beer Mustard
Makes 1 quart

1 1/4 cups brown mustard seeds
2 cups white wine vinegar or white balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups dark or amber beer
1/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon allspice
2 teaspoons salt

Soak seeds overnight in vinegar, beer and sugar.
Add remaining ingredients and whiz in a blender.
Add additional honey to preferred sweetness.

Save and print the ketchup recipe here.

Save and print the brown beer mustard here.

Camille will be answering questions about ketchup and mustard on the Hotline for those of you who want to take on this project at home. For the quickest response, go to her recipe and ask a question from there -- we'll email her your question right away!

Stay tuned for next week's Small Batch, in which Ashley Rodriguez will share her best tricks for pickles.