When you’re barely allowed out of your home, let alone your neighbourhood, you have to mix things up whenever you can. From Chinese XO to Romanian mujdei and Filipino banana ketchup, these spicy sauces will bring the whole world into your kitchen
Britain is splashing out on condiments like never before. To alleviate the grind of lockdown cooking, we are raiding the global larder way beyond ketchup and brown sauce, to unlock a world of hot, concentrated, punchy flavours with the ability to transform a meal in seconds.
Specialist retailers report booming sales, with the importer MexGrocer shifting double its usual amount of Valentina hot sauce last year. At one stage, sales of Lao Gan Ma chilli oils were up a staggering 1,900% at the online shop Sous Chef, a repository of revelatory sauces. But what should you try next?
