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.

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

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.

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.

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’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