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by michaelt 2481 days ago
Ketchup is a sauce with tomatoes in, but it generally includes vinegar, salt and quite a lot of sugar; tends to have a consistent, lump-free texture; it's applied to greasy food like fries and hamburgers; and only about one tablespoon would be used per meal.

On the other hand, a pasta sauce would generally retain chunks of tomato, use less (or even no) vinegar, salt or sugar per unit volume; and it would be applied to non-greasy pasta in much larger volumes :)
2 comments
henrikschroder 2481 days ago
> Ketchup is a sauce with tomatoes in

Historically, ketchup was a class of condiments that all had a lot of umami like fish sauces and oyster sauces. Over time, different ketchups were invented, one of which was tomato ketchup. Its popularity grew, and the other ketchups were forgotten, so these days ketchup is synonymous with tomato ketchup.

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markdown 2481 days ago
> Ketchup is a sauce with tomatoes in, but it generally includes vinegar, salt and quite a lot of sugar; tends to have a consistent, lump-free texture; it's applied to greasy food like fries and hamburgers; and only about one tablespoon would be used per meal.

What you've described is just called tomato sauce in my part of the world (Pacific Islands, Australia, New Zealand). So what we call tomato sauce, you call ketchup.

EDIT: I found this https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/heinz-ketchup-australi...

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dagw 2481 days ago
So what we call tomato sauce, you call ketchup.

Interesting. Do you have a different word for the tomato based sauce made from fresh or canned tomatoes often used on pizzas and pasta?

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EdwardDiego 2481 days ago
We do tomato paste and tomato puree. Typically use the paste for a pizza base, and if you're making your own pasta sauce, tomato puree with a dollop of paste to up the tomatoeness.
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NickNameNick 2481 days ago
Pizza sauce (or possibly tomato paste), and pasta sauce, respectively.

Tomato Sauce and Ketchup aren't quite the same thing here - ketchup is probably stronger and thicker, but they are used the same way.

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EdwardDiego 2481 days ago
Ketchup tastes like it has more vinegar in it than tomato sauce, but that's a highly subjective Kiwi opinion.

Incidentally, the best tomato sauce is whatever magical sauce they use on the hot-dogs at A&P shows.

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