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	brennalarose 2008-04-03 05:34 pm UTC (link)
	Wikipedia disagrees on the history of ketchup. I'm still trying to figure out who the hell would honestly care enough to make their own ketchup. But then, I'm a bad, lazy cook. I make my rice and my tea in a microwave and use broth from a carton. Betty Crocker would have fits. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	smashingstars 2008-04-03 06:26 pm UTC (link)
	Ketchup was apparently mostly homemade up until the 1940s or so. I was shocked when I found that out a few years ago, because honestly, if I was going to slave over a hot stove all day and spend all night canning, it wouldn't be for a condiment. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	papervolcano 2008-04-03 06:46 pm UTC (link)
	Despite having seen a microwaved tea wank, complete with rampaging herds of teel deer, I still cannot conceive of microwaved tea. Just, why? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	doomsday 2008-04-03 06:50 pm UTC (link)
	Pure, unadulterated laziness! (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	papervolcano 2008-04-03 07:09 pm UTC (link)
	But it's more complicated! I mean, normal tea - put water in kettle, boil kettle, pour water over the tea, drink. Even if you just boil the water in the microwave, you have to remember how to work the microwave, and that's not something I can manage until after the tea. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	doomsday 2008-04-03 07:12 pm UTC (link)
	I know, it's really not any easier or quicker. I only do it when I don't feel like rummaging around for a saucepan to boil the water. I need an actual kettle, woe. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	chibikaijuu 2008-04-04 03:57 am UTC (link)
	But it is - boiling a cupful of water in the microwave is quicker and easier than filling the kettle and waiting for it to boil. (But I don't put the teabag in the microwave, ew.) (Reply to this)(Parent)

	brennalarose 2008-04-03 09:10 pm UTC (link)
	I just toss the teabag in the cup of water, which gets shoved in the microwave. Hit 1:00, remove cup, sugar and milk/lemon to taste. It only doesn't work on loose leaf with the tea egg, because apparently the staples in a tea bag don't arc, but a tea egg will. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	black_spot 2008-04-03 08:36 pm UTC (link)
	When you have run out and the shops are shut – had to do it last month. I’m a bad mother to run out of Heinz ketchup – please to be reporting me. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	brennalarose 2008-04-03 09:12 pm UTC (link)
	The fact that you would rather make ketchup from scratch than go without? You kick my ass, at least. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	queencallipygos 2008-04-03 09:07 pm UTC (link)
	I actually like making my own condiments -- yeah, I could buy it, but it's fun in a weird way, they last a while, they usually taste better, and it gives you a vaguely impressive air (people who are marvelling that you made ketchup yourself don't always necessarily stop and ask themselves, "wait, is this really that interesting?") (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	brennalarose 2008-04-03 09:16 pm UTC (link)
	Oh yeah, I get that. My brother-in-law makes his own filo dough. I can't even be arsed to make my own baklava. Now, Blue's Clues Chocolate Mousse (so called, because it takes roughly the run time of an episode of Blue's Clues to make)? Tasty, impressive, quick, AND gives me an excuse to keep brandy in the house. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	mistressrenet 2008-04-04 01:55 am UTC (link)
	I have a friend who's allergic to refined sugar (yeah, sucks to be him). I can see in a case like that, where there's an allergy question, it makes a lot of sense. I make my tea in the microwave sometimes. Depends on how much I'm having and how much I actually care about the taste. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	brennalarose 2008-04-04 02:52 am UTC (link)
	Good point. Is there a difference in taste? I hadn't noticed! (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	mistressrenet 2008-04-04 03:16 pm UTC (link)
	There is between a brewed cup and a brewed pot, IMO. I dunno whether it exists or it's in my head, though. Plus if you throw the teabag in first then microwave the tea isn't as good. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	eleutheria 2008-04-04 08:59 am UTC (link)
	I'm all kinds of curious now... why would there be any difference in the taste of tea if you boil the water by sticking the mug full o'water in the microwave vs. boil water in a kettle and pour it in the mug? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	mistressrenet 2008-04-04 03:16 pm UTC (link)
	If I go to the trouble of boiling the water, I make a pot, and a pot of tea tastes different from a single cup. At least to me. (Reply to this)(Parent)

dhole
2008-04-04 07:30 am UTC (link)

Well, it does seem that garum (or liquamen, or allec -- those might have been different things for some people, but they're often used to mean the same thing) was pretty similar to the Southeast Asian fish sauces. So while ketchup probably isn't a lineal descendant of garum, it does seem to originate in a fermented fish paste of some sort.

The bit on the origin of garum is a bit, er, speculative.

Yes, I think that everyone is interested in ancient fish sauces. Everyone, I say.

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	mistressrenet 2008-04-04 03:17 pm UTC (link)
	I like fish sauce. I think I like it more than ketchup. (Reply to this)(Parent)

msmanna
2008-04-04 08:11 pm UTC (link)

Yes, I think that everyone is interested in ancient fish sauces. Everyone, I say.

I heard a fascinating talk from a woman who recreates Roman recipes, about how much difficulty she had persuading a Thai company which makes fish sauce to tell her how they did it. Apparently they didn't feel that sensitive Westerners were ready to hear 'we dump fish guts in a big, big vat, leave them to rot, and then strain the juices out'. In which they were quite wrong, because that was exactly what she did want to hear.

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	blackjackrocket 2008-04-05 09:26 am UTC (link)
	Clearly that company has never heard of Good Eats. Brown spent a great deal of the pad thai episode talking about how they make fish sauce. Although it wasn't fish guts, it was whole fish. But the rest was there. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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