My wife’s dad makes this garlic chili oil where he tosses a bunch of red Asian chili peppers (that he grows himself each summer) and a ton of minced garlic and blends it with a neutral oil.

I normally mix it with some mayo to give it a thicker texture so it’s more dippable but it’s good by itself too. It goes great with essentially everything, but my favourites to use it with are eggs, pizza, and meats.

I don’t know if this counts, but in terms of “proper” condiments I generally just stick to mayo and strong mustard, so here’s a good all rounder dressing/dip/marinade I’ve been using a lot recently:

• 2 parts dark soya sauce
• 1 part rice vinegar
• 1 part sesame oil
• fresh chopped chilli or chilli sauce to taste (I like Encona Original Hot Pepper Sauce and add 1/2 to 1 part)
• garlic powder or paste (or a couple of roasted and mushed up cloves)
• ginger is optional (personally not a fan)

EDIT, though probably far too late for anyone to notice, but I’ve just realised I forgot to mention an important ingredient: 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of sugar (or honey, or maple, or anything sweet).

All in a jar you can close, shake well before each use, will last in the fridge for ages.

Can easily be upgraded or adjusted to taste, goes with anything you want to make taste vaguely Asian - salads or roasted/stir fried veg, noodles, rice, meat/substitute… I love it with melted butter on sweetcorn, or on a cold rice noodle salad.

Mix ketchup, mayo and throw in some diced onion. It’s very popular with fries in Germany “Pommes Spezial”.

Chili crisp and peanut butter. Good on rice and vegetables. Sometimes I add some teriyaki sauce or hoisin sauce for sweetness.

I really enjoy mixing “Spicy burger sauce” from a shop in my area with aioli. Chuck that in a chip butty…

Chimichurri! Parsley, garlic, Fresno peppers, oregano, salt, pepper, olive oil, and vinegar. Just chop finely and mix. Good on everything from meat to seafood, potatoes, brussel sprouts, and dry toast. Can’t go wrong with it.

I’m a low maintenance kind of guy and I’m very happy to dip my Tostitos in a mix of mayo and ketchup.

Mustard with garlic and herbs

I started a new hot sauce last night. A week or two of fermenting, then finish and bottling, and I expect this one to be on the very spicy end because my fingertips are still burning from handling the peppers yesterday; I really need to get more nitrile gloves.

I like making hot sauces because I can customize each batch. This one will be straightforward and spicy, so it will be a utility player. I have a specific blend I like to make a hot sauce for eggs.

Haven’t had this in a while, but Sal’s Sassy Sauce (NY chicken chain) is like a mustard based sweet and sour sauce. With the love mustard has been getting on these condiment threads, some of you may be interested.

Here’s the closest recipe I can find to the one I’ve used, though my recipe has yellow mustard instead of Dijon. I feel yellow mustard is most like the original. I don’t think it would get the right color with Dijon.

This recipe is fairly large, but the amounts look like they should 1/4 easily. I made the whole thing and put it in a squeeze ketchup bottle.

Try it on anything you’d like a sweet or honey mustard on.

Right now, it’s red chili sauce and brown sugar in a 1-to-1 ratio and an optional pinch of instant coffee. I use it as an all-around dipping sauce but it can work as a sandwich spread and cracker dip as well. The chili sauce is quite hot and spicy and the sugar sorts of mellows it out. That bit instant coffee adds a bit of complexity that I can’t really pinpoint.

Prior to that, my usual go-to is a 1-to-1-to-1 ratio of soy sauce, vinegar and brown sugar in a poor imitation of kecap manis and vinegar. I usually use it for fried fish but it also goes well with other fried meats (chicken, porkchops, etc). The brown sugar goes well with soy sauce and the vinegar (especially spiced vinegar that are commonly available where I live) gives it a kick that counteracts the richness and grease of fried meats.

My meatloaf topping.

It’s just modified ketchup, but it works so well.

There’s no recipe, you just add a pinch or two of brown sugar to deepen the color, some worcestershire sauce to taste for the flavor bump, and then any spices desired. Spice wise, it’s usually a touch of garlic powder, onion powder, blackpepper, and that’s that. Sometimes, I’ll get frisky and see what works and what doesn’t, but truth is that most spices take over too much, so it’s just about the three core spices that do well at upping the taste of the meat.

Generally, it’ll thicken enough during cooking, but if I go heavy on the worcestershire, it can need a bit of time simmering to get to the right range. But since my household prefers it fairly lightly added, that isn’t done often.

The only other thing I’ve found that improves is mushroom powder, but that stuff tends to be hard to find locally, so it isn’t a regular thing. Tbh, none of it is regular, meatloaf can be expensive, and we tend towards a more veggie based diet overall, using meats I’m smaller amounts. It’s a special occasion meal.

I can’t go back to store bought chilli mayo now that I know how easy it is to make.

Add to mayo, hot sauce (to taste) and Cajun seasoning (to taste) and stir until homogeneous. So much cheaper than store bought and better tasting too.

ketchup, mustard and relish, mixed in a 3:2:1 ratio is a fair faximilie of the sauce on an A&W’s Mama burger.

It’s my go to now for every burger!

For dips:

• Ketchup + worcestershire sauce. Best for fried chicken.
• Kewpie mayo + buldak hot sauce. Any fried food.
• Vinegar + soy sauce + crushed garlic. Best for fried food and great with fish.

For general seasoning when cooking:

Garlic powder + lemon pepper + paprika + gochukaru