Sunday, 05 September 2010 10:57 Ryan Sloane

Any grillmaster will tell you that a burger is only as good as what you put on it.

Hard roll or soft bun? Fresh cut onion or caramelized? Lettuce and tomato? Or should you skip the formality entirely? Then comes the issue of condiments, and that’s enough to turn any barbecue into an all out brawl. Somewhere along the line, ketchup became more of a reflex than a conscious decision. You may not even necessarily like taste of the neon red goop in the plastic bottle. At some point, you enjoy the rude sounds the bottle makes more than what is inside it.

And speaking of goop, there’s the issue of the growing prevalence of one major ingredient in many commercial brands of ketchup: high fructose corn syrup. No matter which side you come out on in this debate, corn and ketchup do not mix. Those reasons, along with many others, drove the people behind Sir Kensington’s Gourmet Scooping Ketchup to develop a better tasting, natural condiment.

Halfway between a sauce and a ketchup, Sir Kensington’s is a vibrant, tasty alternative to your traditional bottle on the refrigerator door. The label and mascot, Sir Kensington himself, conjures up images of a more regal time, when more care and consideration went into every meal consumed by those wealthy enough to afford mustache wax and regular monocle cleanings.

It tastes unlike any ketchup on the market. You open the jar and immediately notice it’s thicker, making scooping a necessity. Its ingredient list reads almost like a recipe, with ingredients like tomatoes, cider vinegar, bell peppers and brown sugar. It tastes immediately familiar and somehow completely alien. Sir Kensington’s tastes almost like the base of a homemade chili before you add the meat and beans. It’s incredibly smooth and powerfully flavorful. A little goes a long way.

Sir Kensington’s comes in two varieties, not 57 like its more well-known competition. The classic style is subtle and clean tasting, making it the perfect condiment for anything that comes off the grill. Its spiced counterpart is thankfully not overpowering. The immediate sensation of the spiced ketchup dissipates halfway through each bite. It gives an immediate burst of flavor while not forgetting that it is not the star of the meal. The smokiness of the chipotle peppers, coriander and tanginess of the lime are sublime on crunchy, salty rosemary potatoes or dolloped over a Sunday meatloaf.

As with waistcoats and spats, Sir Kensington’s is only for those who admire the finer things in life and aren’t afraid to pay a premium for it. At nine dollars for an 11 oz jar (or $27 for four jars though the company’s website), it may not be the best choice to scoop on your eggs at breakfast, but for the home chef that prides him or herself on only using the finest ingredients for the main course, there’s no reason to skimp on the cost of a condiment that can step up the flavor, quality and distinctiveness of the dish.

On the web: http://www.sirkensingtons.com