COMPLETE: Ketchup by A.W. and K.G. Bitting - jo

Peter Why · Post by **Peter Why** » March 13th, 2018, 2:30 am

Section 3 uploaded.
Peter

Penumbra · Post by **Penumbra** » March 13th, 2018, 9:24 am

Section 01 PL OK!
Section 02 PL OK!
Section 03 PL OK!

Brilliant! Thank you.

Peter Why · Post by **Peter Why** » March 13th, 2018, 11:58 am

Thanks, Penumbra; section 4 uploaded.
Peter

Penumbra · Post by **Penumbra** » March 13th, 2018, 1:50 pm

Section 04 is PL OK!
Well done!

Peter Why · Post by **Peter Why** » March 14th, 2018, 6:08 am

Thanks, Penumbra; it's easy reading, and quite interesting, as tomato ketchup is a major ingredient of my diet. I've had a go at making my own, which was a little too sweet and definitely not spiced enough ... I'll play with the recipe when my current batch is finished.

Sections 5&6 have been uploaded.

Peter

Penumbra · Post by **Penumbra** » March 14th, 2018, 10:22 am

Section 05 is PL OK!
Section 06 is PL OK!

It has never occurred to me to make my own ketchup, but then it is a condiment I don't turn to very often. I find it interesting that you make your own. As you read the book, are you finding that the recommended process has changed much over the last 100 years? Of course your process is small scale and the book is talking mainly about large scale production, but I wonder if you are saying to yourself, "oh, that's not right."

-Tom

Peter Why · Post by **Peter Why** » March 15th, 2018, 8:05 am

Thanks, Tom,
Sections 7&8 uploaded.

I hadn't realised how complex the mix of spices used in commercial ketchups is, until I read this book. For mine, I used onion, garlic, mustard, cloves, celery, chilli powder and paprika. I used passata, rather than tinned or fresh tomatoes. The ketchup retained a good colour (I boiled the fried onion and garlic with the passata, vinegar and "sugar" ... I used xylitol, as I'm diabetic ... then added the ground spices as it was thickening. Salted it to taste when it cooled, bottled, then pressure cooked to sterilise.) After opening, I keep it in the fridge; with no sign of mould growth after some weeks.

For the next batch, there will be less sweetener, the vinegar will be added later, and I'll add cumin to the spice mix (and will probably double the quantity of spices).

Working towards perfection!

Peter

Penumbra · Post by **Penumbra** » March 15th, 2018, 10:45 am

Section 07 is PL OK!
Section 08 is PL OK!

I did notice one deviation from the text:
1:29 I heard "to start work" and expected "to start growth". I think the word "work" is fine here; I mention it only in case you care.

If you had asked me, I would have said ketchup is made up of tomato sauce, vinegar, sugar, salt, and a few spices. I had no idea of its complexity. Now I'm thinking I need to start sampling it to see if I can distinguish the differences from brand to brand.

Peter Why · Post by **Peter Why** » March 15th, 2018, 12:55 pm

Thanks, Tom, I've edited section 8 and re-uploaded it.

Peter

Penumbra · Post by **Penumbra** » March 15th, 2018, 2:53 pm

Section 08 is PL OK!
Perfection achieved!

Peter Why · Post by **Peter Why** » March 16th, 2018, 4:27 am

Ha! Thanks, Tom ... isn't it reassuring to know that the fibres of black mould seen in the sauce under the microscope have been sterilised.

Sections 9 & 10 uploaded

Total so far approx 46.30

Peter

Penumbra · Post by **Penumbra** » March 16th, 2018, 9:17 am

Peter Why wrote: ↑March 16th, 2018, 4:27 am isn't it reassuring to know that the fibres of black mould seen in the sauce under the microscopice have been sterilised.

Yeah, I feel a LOT better, knowing that.

Section 09 is PL OK!
Section 10 is PL OK!

I had a mental image of me in my kitchen slinging a glass flask of ketchup around to get out the air bubbles and smacking the whole thing into the counter, the table edge, the stove, whatever. "What did you do this weekend?" "Oh, you know, vacuumed, cleaned ketchup off the ceiling, the usual."

Peter Why · Post by **Peter Why** » March 17th, 2018, 4:34 am

Thanks, Tom.

That paints a colourful picture ... and you'd get a certain confusion with the tomato sauce and blood from the effects of the broken glass. I remember when I was at school long ago, one of my friends, who was acting in Coriolanus, having to stagger across the stage covered in tomato ketchup as a blood substitute ... and he absolutely hated tomato ketchup!

I rather like the idea of checking the specific gravity of the sauce before bottling, but I think that if I make it a couple more times I'll learn the right consistency by experience.

Sections 11 & 12 uploaded.
Total so far, approx 53.35

Peter

Penumbra · Post by **Penumbra** » March 17th, 2018, 10:41 am

Section 11 PL OK!
Section 12 PL OK!

Coriolanus is one of about 10 of Shakespeare's plays I have never seen. My wife and I have seeing all of them (except perhaps Titus Andronicus) as a life goal. Somehow we've ended up seeing Lear four or five times--and that's plenty for that play. We did see a version in which all the characters were played by four actors. And then there was the one man Henry V production.

How concerned are you about the color of your final product? This book seems to make a big deal about it. I assume the uniformly bright red of today's commercial products is faked with food coloring. Perhaps extensive use of red dyes came about after this book was published.

Tom

Peter Why · Post by **Peter Why** » March 18th, 2018, 11:23 am

Thanks, Tom.

I've never really taken to Shakespeare; I have to put too much effort into understanding what's being said.

My first batch of tomato sauce is definitely a reddish brown. But I think now that this is mainly due to caramelisation/oxidation during the initial boiling down to reach the right thickness (which, commercially, is done much faster and more efficiently by cooking under vacuum). It may be partially curable by adding half the vinegar at the very start (or perhaps some ascorbic acid or lemon juice, to help prevent the oxidation effect), allowing the sauce to get thick, then adding the remainder of the vinegar towards the end. Using whole ground spices probably makes it darker, too, but I'm happy to put up with that for the sake of the better flavour.

Artificial colouring's not needed, as paprika gives an excellent red. ...... thinking of which, it might be possible to get a good final red by using a yellow tomato for the sauce, with paprika to make it cosmetically red (and paprika adds a complexity to the flavour ... specially as I have some smoked paprika waiting to be used up).

Section 13 uploaded. My voice gave out part way through section 14, so that'll be along later.

Peter