Fry sauce is a condiment often served with French fries or tostones (twice-fried plantain slices) in many places in the world. It is usually a combination of one part tomato ketchup and two parts mayonnaise, with many variations which add additional ingredients to the basic recipe.[1]

In the United States [ edit ]

Fry sauce in sealed plastic cups with fries on a tray in Utah

Although sauce composed of a mixture of equal parts ketchup and mayonnaise appears in a New Orleans cookbook published in 1900,[2] fry sauce was originally popularized in the United States by a chef named Don Carlos Edwards, who served it in his first restaurant, Don Carlos’ Barbecue in Salt Lake City, which eventually became the Utah-based restaurant chain Arctic Circle in the 1950s.[3] The chain still serves fry sauce in its western United States restaurants.[4]

In Puerto Rico, mayoketchup is widely used with tostones and fried foods. It is made of two parts ketchup and one part mayonnaise with the addition of garlic.[5]

In April 2018, Heinz announced plans to release "mayochup", a pre-made mixture of mayonnaise and ketchup, if 500,000 users voted "yes" in a Twitter poll asking Americans if they wanted to see it in stores. A number of Twitter users responded that such a mixture already existed as "fry sauce" and "fancy sauce".[6][7] The sauce arrived at U.S. retailers' shelves in September 2018.[8][9]

In May 2018, Fancy Sauce announced plans to release its "fancy sauce" condiment, a take on the traditional ketchup, mayo blend without actually combining ketchup and mayo.[10]

Outside the United States [ edit ]

In Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile, a similar condiment known as salsa golf (golf sauce) is a popular dressing for fries, burgers, steak sandwiches, and seafood salads. According to tradition, the sauce was invented by Luis Federico Leloir, a Nobel laureate and restaurant patron, at a golf club in Mar del Plata, Argentina during the mid-1920s.[3][11][12]

In France, many Turkish restaurants and fast food establishments serve fry sauce and call it sauce cocktail; it is also common for customers to request ketchup-mayo (a dab of mayonnaise and a dab of ketchup) alongside their French fries at such places. Both sauce cocktail and the thousand island-like sauce cocktail can often be found in supermarkets.[13][14]

In Germany, a popular product called Rot Weiss (red white) is sold in toothpaste-style tubes; it consists of unmixed ketchup and mayonnaise, which form a red-and-white striped string when squeezed out. Fries at restaurants are sometimes served with an equal mixture of ketchup and mayonnaise.[15] Pommes-Soße or Frittensoße (fry sauce) is a lightly spiced mayonnaise similar to the Dutch Fritessaus. A condiment similar to the American fry sauce is known as Cocktailsoße, but it's more often used for döner kebab than for French fries.

In Iceland, a condiment similar to fry sauce called Kokteilsósa (cocktail sauce) is popular.[16]

See also [ edit ]

References [ edit ]