Slathering a sauce (or even a couple) on your sausages instantly turns a humble ingredient into a meal. All the better if it's a condiment you've made yourself. There's nothing quite like the flavour, texture and boast-factor of homestyle sauce, pickle or jam.
One of the best things about finding a good recipe for homemade condiments is you get to mix them up a little. Add more spice, sub out a herb that's not to your taste, or put more oomph into your chilli sauce.
However you choose to make them, you'll feel like a bonafide chef when you rock out your own home brand at your next gathering. Remember to pause gallantly for the guaranteed oohs and aahs when you tell 'em you made it from scratch.
The creamy
Hummus makes this
There's a secret to getting your hummus extra creamy - iced water and lots of tahini.
Mayo dream away
Is there anyone or anything that doesn't love mayonnaise? We've not come across them. The secret to success is room temperature ingredients and start mixing slower than you're probably comfortable with. Nope, even slower than that!
Blend your hollandaise
A 'true' hollandaise can be rather fussy on the stove, requiring endless stirring and watching. This hollandaise recipe uses a blender to whizz the whole thing together in moments.
Goddess on hand
A creamy green goddess dressing is a muse indeed. It will inspire you to create all kinds of salads, bowls and roasts. It's one of the easiest dressing to change up, too. Try adding some anchovies or chilli for an extra kick.
The spicy
Love and kisses, XOXOXOXO
A little of this Hong Kong staple goes a long way - especially when it's the Liaw family XO sauce recipe you're making. It's an intense spicy, sweet, smoky, salty sauce that's also packed full of umami flavours. Basically, it's the bee's knees.
Gochujangling
Korea's peppery answer to... pretty much any question. This stuff gets slathered onto bibimbap and dakgangjeong by the truckload. Making your own is a labour of love, but one worth bottling.
Bite-size chilli
Anything you're not drizzling with XO will benefit from a slather of this chilli sauce. This is exactly when making your own condiments from scratch comes into its own - feel free to add more or fewer chillies to your dish to get just the right amount of bite for you.
Pineapple heats up
Cornersmith's hot sauce ought to be on everyone's scratch list. This version uses pineapples, but you can swap in the equivalent fruit from peaches, plums, or green tomatoes.
The hotties
In a chilli jam
You won't find a more versatile condiment than chilli jam. Works in soups, stir-fries and blended with coconut milk to make a quick curry. It's even good over vanilla ice cream (we kid you not).
Mustard make this one
There's the sharp hit of chilli heat, and then there's the slow burn of mustard seed and horseradish. Make your mustard and leave it for a few days before you use it. That's how the burn rises.
Hot, hot, hot
Habanero chillies ensure that the sweetness of the fruit never gets out of hand in this mango habanero hot sauce. Slather it on your tacos, burritos and quesadillas, but save some to add some kick to your Bloody Mary chaser.
Burn it down
When you want to up the fire, you need Judy Cole's extra-hot Liberian chilli sauce. Judy says this volcanic sauce will "take you to Africa and back again!"
The chutneys
Coriander loves mint
Fair enough, the poor unfortunates who think coriander tastes like soap probably aren't going to go for this one. But for those of us who love the fresh, zingy flavour of the world's most commonly used herb, get onto this coriander and mint chutney, pronto.
Date your chutney
Give your sandwich a sweet kiss of tamarind and date chutney and reap the rewards of a saucy condiment. A chutney like this works particularly well with roasted ham, bacon, and other pork dishes.
Salsa special
While salsa isn't technically a chutney, it is kind of like a fresh version. The freshest chopped veggies, lemon juice instead of vinegar and plenty of spice from onions, garlic and cumin. Spoon this over your breakfast eggs for a bright start to the day.
“This fresh, beautifully balanced salsa is one of those all-purpose additions to a barbecue that you’ll make again and again. I love that you use the stalks as well as the leaves of coriander, but it still feels strange adding boiling water to a salad mix. But you know what? It works! Serve with Chilean marinated pork belly.” Maeve O'Meara, Food Safari Fire
The sweets
Apple of your aye
A good apple sauce recipe comes in handier than you might think. You can switch out cane sugar for a few spoons of apple puree, like swirling it through plain yoghurt to cut through the tartness.
Tomato the line
Tomato sauce has eye-watering amounts of sugar involved, but it's all worth it for the big flavour hit. Surely tommy sauce must be the most used condiment in Australia?
Barbecue good taste
This barbecue sauce could just as easily go into the 'spicy' category, because it's got a decent kick to it. However, in the end we couldn't separate the tomato and barbecue sauces with good conscience.
Jammin' on
Every fruit, every jam - they all taste better when you make them yourself. Start with this blackberry jam recipe and work your way through the list.
Carrots make an excellent jam and with the addition of lemon, cardamom and rosewater this is perfect for spooning over pancakes and toast or in pies and tarts.
Bacon jam is a sticky, sweet and salty side you can serve on toasted bread, hamburgers or hotdogs. This recipe adds Sriracha for heat and bourbon for a boozy twist.
I have wonderful memories of the strawberry season when my mum would make jam and the whole house would be taken over by the aroma.
This fantastic jam is used in the coconut raspberry jam slice and the jam duffins, but it is just as delicious simply spread on a slice of fresh bread. Make it with fresh berries when they are in season and plentiful, or use frozen berries any time of the year.
My dislike of breakfast has been well documented, but when I lived in Sydney I would go to this one place religiously to eat this dish, yes, at breakfast. I don’t remember the name of the place, and sadly it has since closed, but the memory of their delicious Middle Eastern dish lives on in this cracking recipe.
Golden, super crunchy crumbed eggs are perfect when the centre is still a little soft.
Fresh wasabi brings a herbal zing to the mayonnaise dip for these crunchy golden lotus root chips. A definite party pleaser or satisfying solo snack.
Samosas are very popular in Indian. They are often served with some kind of chilli sauce mixed up with sambal, or simply with a variety of chutneys such as mint, coriander, tamarind or eggplant. The Chefs' Line
These ribs are bathed in smoke before being mopped with gochujanga spicy, fermented, funky and sweet Korean sauce.
This Singaporean classic is given an Aussie makeoever and an umami hit at the same time with the addition of Vegemite.
