Transcription
You see this? It's rain is over. A little bit dramatic. The point is a little bit of fermentation, minimal ingredients, and we can do better than that. It's Fermentation Friday. We're back, baby! Roll that info.
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I feel like ketchup is one of the most underrated, disrespected foods that is ironically widely used all over the place. It's always denoted as a, you know, it's a cheapo product. And I mean, well, it is, but an essential piece to a french fry, in my opinion. So anyway, I don't know that it necessarily needs to be improved. That I don't know that I would necessarily say that this is significantly better than any other ketchup I've ever had. But once it's fermented, the depth of flavor of the actual tomato is so much punchier. So before it keeps stalling, let's make this, shall we?
So the first thing you're gonna need is two six-ounce cans or 340 grams of tomato paste. You're gonna want to make sure that after you buy these, that you don't actually have a can opener. And then you're gonna have to go to the store and go get one. Now, once that's out of the way, combine five tablespoons or 73 milliliters of water with three tablespoons or 42 grams of granulated sugar in a small saucepan and just heat that over medium heat, stirring on occasion until dissolved. As soon as it's dissolved, immediately remove from the heat. You don't want to bring this stuff to a boil.
Now, in a medium-sized bowl, you're gonna add those two six-ounce or 340 grams of tomato paste, which we finally can open beautifully. To that, you're gonna add one and a half teaspoons or five grams of kosher salt, that sugar water make sure that you made earlier, aka a light syrup, and three tablespoons or 44 milliliters of whey or brine from a lacto-fermented something with cultures in it to help kick-start the fermentation. Here, I personally just use some liquid from a lacto-fermented veggie I had in the fridge. Then you're gonna add a quarter cup or 60 milliliters of raw apple cider vinegar. Mix all that until thoroughly combined and completely smooth.
Then place it into a one-pint mason jar or any other similarly sized glass jar. Do not put this in metal. It has to be in glass. Metal and acid don't really go too well together. Plastic is okay, but I usually use glass. Now, normally when I do ferments like this, I usually use the common two-piece lid that you get with a mason jar. You've got the seal and then you've got the screw-on piece that screws the seal down. Now, I found these really cool seals that have a plastic seal in the center of them. That way you can place an airlock on the actual mason jar. So you don't have to burp it, you don't have to seal it and then burp it every few hours or whatever. You can literally just close this super tight and then place your airlock on top. I thought it was pretty cool. I found it at a local brew shop, but I'll put something down on the in below that is either the same thing or something similar enough.
Now, for those of you who watch regularly, you already know I'm gonna say don't forget to label your ferments. Trust me, it becomes a nightmare if you don't. Then just let that bad boy sit out at room temperature for two to three days. And you'll notice it start to get a little bubbly. You might see your airlock bubble in here and there. It won't bubble a ton, but you'll see tiny little bubbles in your ketchup. And then by the second, third, or maybe even the fourth day, it should have changed flavors, should have a more deep flavor, a little more acidic, and just overall a little more umami to that whole thing. And if you want it to be a smoother consistency when it's done, you can always just pass it through a chinois. Tammy, which there will be only four in the description. And that's it. You've got lacto-fermented ketchup.
But you need something to use that ketchup for. Now, the first obvious answer would be french fries. I made some quickie ones, but you know, I would recommend doing it the right way. I just dropped these in some oil and fried them for about 15 minutes on high heat until they were crispy. They weren't perfect, but they were still pretty tasty, not gonna lie. This is not the right way to do that, though.
Now, the next obvious answer to me would be also to make a burger sauce. You know, like mayo, ketchup, but lacto-fermented ketchup. I mean, come on. So you're gonna take one cup or 236 milliliters of mayonnaise, which I made myself because, you know, I'm extra like that. And before anybody asks, it's super yellow because of the oil that I use. And then to that, you're gonna add half a cup or 118 milliliters of your lacto-fermented ketchup. Season that generously with salt. And then from here, you know, you can add things like finely diced pickles. I personally added some finely chopped black garlic, which if you don't know what that is, it's coming soon to YouTube near you. This is a really basic burger sauce. I mean, you can totally add more to this. I I sometimes add fresh grated garlic or finely minced shallot. You know, there's so many things you can add to this. And once you have it all in there, you're just gonna mix it all together until it's thoroughly incorporated and you've got burger sauce or sandwich sauce or really any sauce for that matter. This is great for fries too. But do you want to know what's better for fries? Beer.
Oh.
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Guys, and that is it. So it's ketchup and it's fermented. It sounds really boring. And to be honest, it wasn't exactly at the top of my list to do this recipe as the comeback Fermentation Friday video. But you know, you had to go up and I did not want to stall Fermentation Friday any longer because I'm leaving for VidCon today, literally today as I record this. Now, this video's gonna go up probably while I'm in the middle of VidCon. But hopefully, I will see plenty of you spinning. But hopefully, I'll see some of you there. And also, one more thing, I've been getting a lot of questions and DMs on Instagram and whatnot, which by the way, if you don't follow me, links are below in my description. You don't like the way these social media when you see me, I don't know why I said that. If you haven't heard, I left the restaurant that I've been at for the last, oh, two plus years. And I'm getting a lot of questions as to why, what snacks that it uh. And I'm thinking about putting out a video for that. So if you're interested in that, please leave a comment or whatever, DM me, let me know. But if you enjoyed this video or you learned something, leave a like, subscribe, and I will see you next time.
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