Freddy's Fry Sauce
Home reconstruction
Fry sauce is mayonnaise and ketchup, and the entire recipe is the ratio. Get it wrong and you have not made a slightly worse fry sauce — you have made ketchup with mayonnaise in it, which is a different and worse condiment.
Four parts mayonnaise to one part ketchup. Not half and half.
The mayonnaise is the base and the ketchup is a seasoning within it. At 50/50 the tomato takes over, the sauce goes thin and orange, and the sweetness dominates.
Freddy's Fry Sauce
about 250 ml · Sauce
- Prep
- 5 min
- Cook
- 0 min
- Total
- 5 min + 1 hr chilling
Ingredients
- 200 ml mayonnaise
- 50 ml tomato ketchup
- 1 tsp pickle brine
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- a pinch of cayenne (optional)
Method
- Whisk everything until evenly pale pink.
- Refrigerate at least 1 hour.1 hour
- Taste and adjust.
The colour test
Pale salmon pink. If it is orange, there is too much ketchup.
This is a reliable check that takes no tasting, and it is worth using because people consistently over-pour the ketchup.
What lifts it above the ratio
Two ingredients that are not obvious and both make a real difference:
Pickle brine. A teaspoon straight from the jar. It brings acid and salt in a form that tastes right for this — sharper than vinegar alone, and it is where a lot of American burger-shop sauces get their edge.
Smoked paprika. A quarter teaspoon. Below the level where you taste paprika, enough to add a savoury depth that the two base ingredients do not have.
The hour in the fridge
Whisked and served immediately, it tastes like mayonnaise then ketchup. Rested, the garlic and onion powder hydrate and the sauce becomes a single flavour.
An hour minimum. It keeps a week, so make it the day before.
What you need
- 200 ml mayonnaise
- 50 ml tomato ketchup
- 1 tsp pickle brine
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- a pinch of cayenne (optional)
Method
- 1. Whisk everything together until evenly pale pink.
- 2. Refrigerate at least 1 hour.
- 3. Taste and adjust — usually a little salt.
Full-fat mayonnaise
Light mayonnaise is thickened with gums instead of fat, and once thinned with ketchup it turns slippery. There is no way around this in a sauce with two ingredients.
Getting it thicker or thinner
Thicker, for dipping: less ketchup, or a tablespoon of sour cream.
Thinner, as a burger sauce: a teaspoon of pickle brine at a time, not water.
Storing
A week in the fridge in a sealed jar. It thickens slightly on the first day as the powders take up moisture.
Do not freeze. Mayonnaise splits.
Questions people ask
What is the ratio of mayo to ketchup?
About four to one. Half and half gives you thin, orange, sweet ketchup rather than fry sauce.
How do I know if I have it right?
It should be pale salmon pink. Orange means too much ketchup.
What is the pickle brine for?
Acid and salt in a form that tastes right for this — sharper than vinegar and where a lot of American burger sauces get their edge.
Does it need to rest?
An hour minimum. Fresh, it tastes like its two ingredients one after the other.
Can I use light mayonnaise?
The gums that thicken it turn slippery once you add ketchup. Full-fat only.
How long does it keep?
A week refrigerated. It does not freeze.
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This is a home reconstruction, not Freddy's recipe. Their formula is proprietary.