Adding mustard gives you better health and more flavor when dipping French fries.
Yesterday was Opening Day of the baseball season, a time when we think about spring, and eating baseball related food. Sure, there are hot dogs and apple pie, but nachos, bratwurst, popcorn, and what seems like America's favorite food, French fries.
Despite the temporary banner of "freedom fries," we accept the deep fried slivers of potato as our own dish. And if you're true blue American, you eat your fries with ketchup.
For we love our ketchup and French fries together — almost as if we can't eat one without the other. But we are starting to see a trend in restaurants. Served alongside that classic red bottle is a comparable yellow bottle. Mustard.
Some may consider it less than patriotic to eat French fries with mustard. The browning of the fries goes along with the red of the ketchup. A match made in heaven.
As a rebuttal, let's look at ketchup and mustard side-by-side:
ketchup — red color, traditional accompaniment, right kind of tangy with the blandness of fries
mustard — less appealing yellow color, not traditional, overpowers fries rather then underwhelms fries
Now for the health components:
ketchup — high-fructose corn syrup or sugar (more likely to be HFCS); 4g carbohydrates, 4g sugars
mustard — nope; 0g carbohydrates, 0g sugars
What about the calories?
ketchup — 1 tbsp. = 15 calories
mustard — 1 tbsp.= 0-9 calories, depending on the source
Condiments for French fries aren't limited to ketchup and mustard. Malt vinegar, regular vinegar, mayonnaise, aioli, even cheese curds and brown gravy.
French fries aren't terribly healthy, of course. And mentally, we account for French fries from a calorie standpoint. But we often forget about the accompaniment.
The measurements above are for a tablespoon, but we rarely use that little in a serving. And sadly, the worse the fries, the more likely you are to drown them in whatever your condiment of choice.
Vinegar is a nice option with no calories and lots of taste. And you can definitely serve vinegar at home. But when you're in a restaurant, especially in the United States, ketchup and now lately mustard are your only choices.
You could go the All-American route and use ketchup. You could go with the alternative choice: mustard.
Or you could do the mustard-ketchup (or ketchup-mustard) pool. On your side plate or on a napkin, you squirt a wider pool of mustard and then a smaller pool of ketchup on top. You still have ketchup, so you're still cool. You have mustard, which is healthier. And you have two colors, which is one more than one.
Having tried this firsthand, and I want credit if it takes off, you get a rather distinct taste. Just enough sweetness from the ketchup and the tartness of mustard is reduced.
If you can enjoy a healthier condiment, and still enjoy your food, every little bit helps in the calorie game. You would be better off eating better-made French fries where you don't need to smother them in a condiment. But if you are going to do a condiment, add mustard into the mix.
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