Comeback Sauce : Good for what ails ya!
Today I am bringing you a darn good recipe for an all purpose sauce that will make you slap your mama! Comeback sauce goes with everything from chicken to burgers to fries to chips, you can even dip your bread in it if you don’t have anything else! I think I got this recipe from my cousin, Cindy, when she lived in Birmingham and had it at a restaurant there. I’m pretty sure that’s where it came from but I hated to call her this morning and ask because she has a wee one now and we all know the offense for calling and waking up the baby is punishable by death (or at least it should be!).
Either way, I’ve been whipping it up for many years now, since right after we got married. The versatility of it comes in that you can just as easily whip up just enough for one person as you can for one hundred.
You might be wondering what is pictured up above. Well that, my friends, is a darn good hamburger and ….um….~takes a steadying breath and hangs her head~ green bean fries. Yes, I said green bean fries. If that doesn’t sound natural to you the reason is because it isn’t. Those things, god love ’em, are just plain wrong. I have seen them cropping up on menus and across the internet and was obviously intrigued so I decided to make them for myself and give ’em a try. I mean, they look good, don’t they?
Now the initial appeal of green bean fries is that they are a healthier alternative to french fries. Having a background in nutrition, I am fully capable of seeing the benefits of a green bean over a french fry. However, when you take a green bean and batter it before deep frying it in oil, you’re kinda muddying the waters here. I decided to adapt the recipe and bake mine in the oven to actually keep some semblance of them being a healthier option. They turned out brown and crispy and the coating was well seasoned and had a pleasant flavor. Having said all of that, please read my next paragraph before trying this at home.
If you ever find yourself wanting to make green bean fries. Honey, baby, darlin, sweetheart, precious little angel of mine – just go get some french fries. Trust me on this. I mean, they were okay but certainly nothing to write home about. If you’re that desperate for a non fried dish, have an apple, eat some saltines, have a piece of cheese. If, after considering all of this you still feel compelled to have green bean fries, make plenty of comeback sauce :).
Ingredients are easy (as they usually are with my recipes): Ketchup, black pepper, mayo.
Now I don’t know if y’all realize this or not but I’m not a big mayonnaise person. I don’t have an aversion to it I just don’t sit around thinking “MMMM Gots ta have me some Mayo!”. I do see it as a weee bit on the gross side. My point in telling you this is so that you know when I use mayonnaise in a recipe, its gonna be good!
Just like this sauce :).
Here is the beauty of this, there is no specific amount of ingredients you have to have, its all done in proportions. You can just as easily whip up two tablespoons of sauce as you can two cups!
Place equal parts ketchup and mayonnaise in a bowl.
If you use 1/2 cup mayo, use 1/2 cup ketchup. If you use 2 tablespoons mayo, use 2 tablespoons ketchup, etc.
I’m doing 1/2 cups here because I just need enough to disguise the flavor to enhance the flavor of green bean fries for a few people.
Stir that together…
Until it is well blended like this.
Now cover the top in pepper like this.
And stir…
And cover in pepper again….
Now listen, that photo is not “covered” in pepper. It needs about a tablespoon or so more to be considered “covered”. I always get skittish and wimp out on covering my sauce. Don’t do like I do because I end up covering it in pepper three times instead of two due to lack of peppery goodness. Don’t worry, this is not a “hot” sauce at all. Think of the pepper as a spice because that is all it does in here but it is sooooo dang good.
This is my final comeback sauce after I covered it in pepper three times instead of two because I was a wimp with the pepper. Don’t be a pepper wimp, learn from my wimpiness!
Ohmygosh this stuff is so good!!
Comeback Sauce
Equal Parts Mayonnaise and Ketchup
Black Pepper
Combine mayo and ketchup in a bowl. Completely cover the top with black pepper by sprinkling it on. Stir. Repeat once more. Serve!
This sauce is excellent with burgers, chicken, fries, and pretty much any other dippable or spreadable food :).
@southernplate
in order to be a truly southern plate Dukes mayonaise is a must, in fact it may be sinful for a southerner to use any other…
I am originally from Holland and your recipes remind me a lot of my mother’s and grandmother’s cooking (god bless their souls). My mother would make a sauce like this with a little Tabasco or hot pepper sauce instead of pepper. She would serve this as a dip sauce with shrimps or with salty snacks such as chips. Delicious! Thank you for this wonderful site!
Back in the 80’s I had a friend that worked at LJS all the people who worked there used to use a sauce like this BUT we also added VINEGAR and HOT SAUCE.. Talk about good.. We used it on fryed breaded chicken from Long John Slivers. You really have to try it sometime.. Talk about good!!!
I forget what they called it but I had it every single time I went up to visit them.
Dora Renee’ Wilkerson
YUM! Christy, this is GOOD! Can I bill you for my ‘up’ size in clothes? I’m already addicted to the Mini Boston Creme Pies… add this to the list, too!
This is so funny! I have always put pepper on my Ketchup and mix in Mayo when eating fries!!! It is GOOD!!!
Is this the same sauce that they serve at Guthries (chicken fingers)? My roommate at Auburn used to call it “polka-dot sauce”.
I so make the same thing! I just never put black pepper.
You know what else is really good? Mayo + salsa. Or sourcream + salsa: give it a try.
Here’s another one to try. Mayo and chipotle mustard. I always make this for my chicken burgers. Good on salmon burgers, too, and probably a host of other things.