To sauce or not to sauce?

thefanciestbeckler · September 2016

The longer I am married to DH, the more I am seeing a certain habit he has... He puts sauce on almost everything. Ranch. Ketchup. Horseradish. Honey mustard. The real kicker to me is, he often puts sauce on his food before he even tastes it.

I was raised to think it is rude to put sauce on food before tasting it, unless you're eating something that typically is served with dipping sauce. Growing up, nobody in my family really put sauces on any food unless it was chicken nuggets, fries, burgers/hotdogs, etc. DH, on the other hand, was raised putting ketchup on everything. It's so foreign to me! I really enjoy cooking and consider myself to be pretty good at it. Sometimes it really irks me when I've spent hours cooking dinner and he squirts ketchup all over it.

This leads me to my poll question... do you sauce your food?

debbeau · September 2016

My DH does the same thing. It drives me crazy. The doctor wants him to loose weight (60 lbs). So I make sure to season everything so it is tasty and he melts a hunk of butter to our on top. Or uses mayonnaise.

kimmiinthemitten · September 2016

Here in Michigan, we put ranch on everything. It was a hard habit to break but eating better quality food certainly helps. I still can't/won't eat pizza without it (unless it's Chicago style deep dish).

missJeanLouise · September 2016

I said I'd taste it first but I still rarely put sauce on anything. I dont even usually put salt on anything, but I think that is because I like to eat things with lots of flavor and spices.

Though I eat a substantial amount of carrots and ranch.

thefanciestbeckler · September 2016

Don't get me wrong, I can definitely throw down some broccoli and ranch. Or chicken nuggets and ranch. Hell, I even eat fries with ranch. Ranch, in all of its deliciousness, has a special place in my heart. But when I cook, I use lots of spices and season my dishes well. It's not like I'm serving DH a plain baked chicken breast or anything. So it just surprises me when I see him put ketchup (or ranch) on what I cooked.

The other day I made a chicken casserole. The amazing kind with stuffing mix and tons of butter. DH squirted ketchup all over it before he even tried it. I was honestly really taken aback! I can't even fathom how that could taste good. It's funny how being raised different ways effects things as silly as that.

*Barbie* · September 2016

I'm from Pittsburgh, where french fries are a condiment - what else would you put on your Heinz ketchup?

I put ketchup on a lot of stuff that DK (as a Philadelphian) finds odd (like mac n cheese, stuffing, fresh cut cheese fries) - but I actually caught him using ketchup on his mac n cheese after giving me crap about it for years. I called him on it and he admitted that it was pretty good.

I've done the ranch on pizza before, and will use dipping sauces a lot - but I'm also a pretty good cook, so i make a lot of my own sauces and marinades.

*Barbie* · September 2016

also re sauces - I'm really particular with what sauces I use on which dishes - and ketchup MUST be Heinz.

lyndausvi · September 2016

I know this guy in the islands who puts ketchup on EVERY THING! He carries his own bottle around with him

For me it depends on the food, but for the most part I do not sauce things. I'm not a big fan of things my food being smothered with sauces. For the most part I ask for sauces/dressings/gravies on the side (except for Italian dishes). Typically dip my fork in the sauce, then grab the food.

OurWildKingdom · September 2016

In our house, it's not so much sauces as seasonings. FW will put Goya Adobo on *anything*, and I've given up on asking her to taste whatever it is first.

missJeanLouise · September 2016

Ketchup is probably my least favorite condiment. It grosses me out when I see it all over anything. Except meatloaf, oddly. I only use ranch with carrots or other veggies, not on salads or anything else.

levioosa · September 2016

Sauce is great, but I use it sparingly unless it comes along with a recipe. I can't get enough ketchup for fries, but that's about it. I also don't add salt unless I've tasted the food. My dad reaches right for the salt shaker before he takes a single bite. It honestly does offend me sometimes, on days I go over and cook a meal for my parents. I made a fucking delicious meal, and you're ruining it. Plus your hypertension doesn't thank you for taking my great dish and coating it in 3x your daily sodium requirement for the day.

Edit: Oh, and hell no to A1/steaksauces. They ruin a great steak. I used to work at a steakhouse, and I judged the hell out of people who would get a filet, cook it well done, and then slather it in A1. No. Just, no.

kimmiinthemitten · September 2016

*Barbie* said:

I put ketchup on a lot of stuff that DK (as a Philadelphian) finds odd (like mac n cheese, stuffing, fresh cut cheese fries) - but I actually caught him using ketchup on his mac n cheese after giving me crap about it for years. I called him on it and he admitted that it was pretty good.

Unless it's homemade, baked mac n cheese- hand me the ketchup! Same for cheese fries!

Speaking of fries as a condiment, we are getting 2 Primanti Bros here. FI is so excited!

CMGragain · September 2016

DH is a picky eater. If something has sauce on it, he often refuses to eat it. The exception is a MacDonald's Big Mac, where he adds ketchup.

Let's face it, I cook to please him. My meat will be overcooked (because he insists); the green beans must be cooked with bacon or he won't eat them; his salad must be loaded up with thick 1000 Island dressing; he will eat fried shrimp with loads of cocktail sauce (so he can't taste the shrimp). No eggs, fish (He will eat tuna if it is mixed with pickle relish.), no sour cream (unless it's onion chip dip), no skin on chicken.

He was unhappy in France, where they serve sauce on everything. This is why cruises work well for us. He gets his familiar foods.

I seldom use condiments, myself. If I am ever widowed, my cooking style will completely change.

crowsgirl15 · September 2016

I'm a saucer. My fridge is basically a collection of different sauces that I use for different meals, haha.

That being said...I've also usually cooked the meal. So I know what it tastes like, and what would be good on it, so I don't really feel like I have to wait on the sauce until I've tasted the food. The sauce is usually part of the plan from the beginning! (Never on steak, but pretty much anything else...)

ETA: Oh, and it definitely wouldn't occur to me that I'm being rude to add sauce or condiments to food that someone else has cooked. Just because something is delicious doesn't mean I don't want a sauce on it...since other people don't like sauce as much as me, I'd really just see it as personalizing it for my taste buds.

bleve0821 · September 2016

I love spicy foods. DH hates spicy foods. I miss my spicy foods, and it's my own fault because I'd rather not dirty two pans to make a spicy meal for me and and the same meal sans spice for him. Most of the time I will just add some crushed red pepper flakes or cayenne at the table, but I prefer my food cooked in the spice. I prefer herbs and spices to sauces (Old Bay helloooo).

I don't hit the sauce much. I'm just not a huge fan. I'll add mustard to my french fries and olive oil with lemon to my salad. I'll add Tabasco or Frank's to things that NEED some heat, like eggs or home fries, but outside of that, I really won't use it much.

Now, I do TASTE the food before I add anything to it, because I'm not (that) saucy.

ILoveBeachMusic · September 2016

I usually only put sauce on food if it is meant to be served with it. I don't even always use ketchup with fries. I totally don't get putting ketchup on freaking everything! My Godson (and now his son) put it one everything without tasting the food first. I give him a tremendous amount of grief for that.

TrixieJess · September 2016

levioosa said:

Sauce is great, but I use it sparingly unless it comes along with a recipe. I can't get enough ketchup for fries, but that's about it. I also don't add salt unless I've tasted the food. My dad reaches right for the salt shaker before he takes a single bite. It honestly does offend me sometimes, on days I go over and cook a meal for my parents. I made a fucking delicious meal, and you're ruining it. Plus your hypertension doesn't thank you for taking my great dish and coating it in 3x your daily sodium requirement for the day.

Edit: Oh, and hell no to A1/steaksauces. They ruin a great steak. I used to work at a steakhouse, and I judged the hell out of people who would get a filet, cook it well done, and then slather it in A1. No. Just, no.

HP sauce is the best but I'm not sure if you can get it in the States. I use it on my eggs since I don't like ketchup.

I love condiments but I always taste everything first.

Heffalump · September 2016

ILoveBeachMusic said:

I usually only put sauce on food if it is meant to be served with it. I don't even always use ketchup with fries. I totally don't get putting ketchup on freaking everything! My Godson (and now his son) put it one everything without tasting the food first. I give him a tremendous amount of grief for that.

This is me, definitely. Neither of the kids are that into sauces of any kind. Even if it's something like chicken satay, they want it without sauce. DD does occasionally want ketchup for something specific, like fries, but that's it. DH, OTOH, is this guy:

levioosa said:

Edit: Oh, and hell no to A1/steaksauces. They ruin a great steak. I used to work at a steakhouse, and I judged the hell out of people who would get a filet, cook it well done, and then slather it in A1. No. Just, no.

Over the years, I've talked him down to medium well, but that's all. I'm a medium rare girl, myself, so his taste in meat offends me.

On the plus side, when we run out of A1 at home, he can't blame any of the rest of us.

littlemushroom · September 2016

I love cooking and I also love sauces (but not ketchup). There are seriously times a meal is chosen specifically because I want a particular sauce and I can use it with a certain meal. Just because something already tastes great is not a reason not to use a sauce I also happen to love.

charlotte989875 · September 2016

I like sauces that are prepared with the meal. I do all of the cooking (H cleans up and does most of the shopping) and I think about what pairs well together. He will put ranch or Franks on EVERYTHING. Some times it drives me crazy, like when I make something new and he won't try the new sauce, but will pour Franks all over it.

But then again, he never complains about what I make, so I try not to let it bug me.

ShesSoCold · September 2016

H and I are reasonable condiment users. We use condiments for stuff like chicken fingers and fries and stuff that needs it. We're big mustard people and probably have 10 different kinds of mustard in the fridge, but we don't put it on things that aren't normally served with mustard.

If anything, I put giardiniera on too much. Eggs, pizza, beefs, burgers...

But when I make a meal with a sauce, we typically load up. I make this Asian noodle thing that I double the sauce. Basically anything I intend to serve with pasta or rice, the sauce recipe gets doubled so there's enough.

6fsn · September 2016

I used to care what other people did to the food I cooked. I tried to please picky eaters (ils and kids). Now I don't give a shit. I cooked it. Eat it. Don't eat it. I don't care just don't whine about it. I'll probably still judge though.

DrillSergeantCat · September 2016

My FI puts ketchup on a lot of stuff. He doesn't even taste it first and that really bothers me. I was taught that it's rude to season or sauce anything someone else has made for you because you're basically saying it's not good enough.

mrsconn23 · September 2016

It really depends on the food for me. Overall, I'm not a huge condiment person unless it's like salad, burgers, fries, nuggets...stuff you normally put something on or dip in something.

kvruns · September 2016

growing up it was sauce on most things, mostly because my mom didn't really use seasonings in cooking so everything was bland and not that good. Now I taste things before using sauces.

Similarly, I grew up putting salt and seasoned salt on everything. I mean we're talking putting salt on pizza - which just blows my mind now. I rarely put salt/pepper on anything unless it just needs the extra spice

TrixieJess · September 2016

ShesSoCold said:

H and I are reasonable condiment users. We use condiments for stuff like chicken fingers and fries and stuff that needs it. We're big mustard people and probably have 10 different kinds of mustard in the fridge, but we don't put it on things that aren't normally served with mustard.
If anything, I put giardiniera on too much. Eggs, pizza, beefs, burgers...
But when I make a meal with a sauce, we typically load up. I make this Asian noodle thing that I double the sauce. Basically anything I intend to serve with pasta or rice, the sauce recipe gets doubled so there's enough.

I'm not ashamed to admit this is us too.

OliveOilsMom · September 2016

Growing up, I pretty much put ketchup on anything. It made me eat the items my parents cooked, so they didn't care too much. However, if there was something I added ketchup too and didn't like, I still had to eat it. That's how I found out that mashed potatoes and ketchup don't go well together!

I have also become a ketchup snob. Heinz all the way! If I go to a BBQ or tailgate and whoever brought the condiments brought Hunts, it's sad OOM.

However, over the last 10 years or so, I have drastically cut back on my ketchup use. I still love it on a chicken or beef cheesesteak, unless its one with whiz. I love ketchup on my fries. I love ketchup with onion rings. I also put tons of ketchup in my meatloaf. When I bake it, it will caramelize on the outside and form a nice crispy crust. I will still put more ketchup on it when I cut out the slices for myself.

I keep a bottle of ketchup in my desk at work, just in case!

H, on the other hand, doesn't like ketchup or most other sauces. Although he LOVES BBQ sauce! If I had fries and get full, he won't eat the ones that accidentally touched the ketchup!

H also doesn't like or tolerate spicy foods, so I too have toned down the spice level of foods I cook. Less black pepper in everything to start with. I make my own tomato sauce and can it each year. I used to use an Italian long hot peppers and add lots of Old Bay prior to canning, but its too spicy for him. So no more long hots, I just use regular frying peppers. I also use a lot less Old Bay.

MissKittyDanger · September 2016

There are certain things I automatically put things on but typically it's on the side. I enjoy dipping lol

lyndausvi · September 2016

TrixieJess said:

ShesSoCold said:

H and I are reasonable condiment users. We use condiments for stuff like chicken fingers and fries and stuff that needs it. We're big mustard people and probably have 10 different kinds of mustard in the fridge, but we don't put it on things that aren't normally served with mustard.
If anything, I put giardiniera on too much. Eggs, pizza, beefs, burgers...
But when I make a meal with a sauce, we typically load up. I make this Asian noodle thing that I double the sauce. Basically anything I intend to serve with pasta or rice, the sauce recipe gets doubled so there's enough.

I'm not ashamed to admit this is us too.

We have entire shelf on the door devoted to mustard. Honestly, I rarely use mustard. It's all DH.

short+sassy · September 2016

Generally speaking, I don't think there is anything wrong with using a condiment and/or salt/pepper when it is a food a person is already familiar with and knows from experience they enjoy it best that way. For example, I always put a little salt on eggs and steak, even if the steak already has seasoning. Because, at not one instance in my entire life has adding a touch of salt made my steak taste worse.

My H and I are BIG on flavor!!! We like heavy seasoning and a lot of sauce, appropriate for the dish. But I am more talking about sauces that are prepared with/made for the dish.

Neither my H or I like ketchup. He won't touch the stuff at all. I only like it on hash browns and meatloaf type dishes.

I'm definitely a ranch person, but only use it as a dip for the typical stuff. Chicken strips, French fries, and veggies. I also really like ranch or bleu cheese as a condiment for a chicken sandwich. Sometimes a burger.

TrixieJess · September 2016

short+sassy said:

Generally speaking, I don't think there is anything wrong with using a condiment and/or salt/pepper when it is a food a person is already familiar with and knows from experience they enjoy it best that way. For example, I always put a little salt on eggs and steak, even if the steak already has seasoning. Because, at not one instance in my entire life has adding a touch of salt made my steak taste worse.
My H and I are BIG on flavor!!! We like heavy seasoning and a lot of sauce, appropriate for the dish. But I am more talking about sauces that are prepared with/made for the dish.
Neither my H or I like ketchup. He won't touch the stuff at all. I only like it on hash browns and meatloaf type dishes.
I'm definitely a ranch person, but only use it as a dip for the typical stuff. Chicken strips, French fries, and veggies. I also really like ranch or bleu cheese as a condiment for a chicken sandwich. Sometimes a burger.

This makes me laugh, is it an Americanism?

To sauce or not to sauce?

To sauce or not to sauce? 61 votes

Re: To sauce or not to sauce?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards