I am not sure if anybody have noticed but, I have the odd tendency of taking pictures of the condiments at the table. For example, in Friday’s post of Red Robin, I took this picture:

Likewise, I took this picture from FatBurger:

Of course, that is not limited to burger places. The couple of times I have been in Vietnamese ones, I have taken pictures of the one on the tables, like this from Pho Thai Hoa:

The obvious reason, of course, is to show what type of condiments are left on the table. Ah, condiments, condiments… You can’t live without some of them; sometimes you can’t help wonder why there has to be some at all. I would rather not go through that debate; rather, I would like to check with you, what is your favourite condiment?

Since I am asking, I guess I should start this. Me, being Chinese, I have to say soy sauce. C’mon, that’s your quintessential Chinese condiment/ingredient! However, that does not work with all dishes. For example, soy sauce and fries? And, since I mentioned fries, once in a blue moon, I go for catsup (OK, ketchup, which ever spelling works for you!); however, I would try with malt vinegar (just like Brits), white vinegar (here in Canada) or mayo. But, in the end, I will go for yellow mustard. In fact, mustard, is the second condiment in my list but, depending on the application, it might be a different one. For example, for dim sum, Chinese mustard; for burgers or hot dogs, yellow mustard; for other sandwiches and for salad dressing, Dijon mustard, and so on. The only one that I don’t really “like” that much would be honey mustard. After that, the following condiment would be hot sauce – more on the lines of Chinese style chili sauce. You need something spicy once in a while, you know!

Some condiments are dependant on the application but some of them I find them a bit too narrow. For example, I can’t think of using plum sauce for things other than roasted/BBQ poultry (Peking duck anybody?).

In the end, there is on cardinal rule: I always taste my food before adding any condiment (unless the dish already comes with it, like BBQ sauce or soy sauce in a lot of dishes). Needless to say, I find it a bit nerve wracking when people just start adding salt even before tasting their food…