Dip (food)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A dipping sauce or dip is a common condiment for many types of food. Dips are used to add flavour to a food, such as pita bread, dumplings, crackers, cut-up raw vegetables, seafood, cubed pieces of meat and cheese, potato chips, tortilla chips, or falafel. Unlike other sauces, instead of applying the sauce to the food, the food is typically put into, or dipped, into the dipping sauce (hence the name). Dips are commonly used for finger foods and other easily held foods.

Dip is a very widespread food; forms of it are eaten all over the world.

Some types of dip include:

• Aioli. the garlic version of mayonnaise.
• Barbecue sauce, a common sauce often used for grilled meat, and increasingly for non-grilled meat.
• Chili con queso, a dip of melted cheese and chili peppers used in Tex Mex cuisine with tortilla chips.
• Chutney, any of a wide variety of sauces with origins in the sub-continent of India, from freshly chopped herbs in yoghurt, to bottled, spiced fruit mixtures. Used with snacks like deep fried samosas and pakoras.
• Fish sauce, or nam pla, the fermented fish equivalent of soy sauce, used in southeastern Asian cuisines as a dip for snacks and other foods.
• Fondue, a melted cheese sauce, which rose in popularity in the U.S. and Europe during the 1970s.
• Guacamole, another dip associated with Mexico, of mashed avocadoes, onions and chili peppers, used with tortilla chips.
• Hummus, the Middle Eastern dip of ground chick peas and sesame tahini with spices and lemon juice.
• Ketchup, Often used with french fries, onion rings, and a wide variety of other foods.
• Marinara sauce, a tomato sauce served with breadsticks, pizza, etc.
• Mayonnaise, the European egg and oil emulsion that is not only the basis for many dips, but is on its own a dip for fried and grilled vegetables and seafood.
• Mustard, ground seeds of the mustard plant, variants used in Asian Cuisine.
• Onion dip, a combination of sour cream, minced onions and onion salt.
• Salsa, a fresh or bottled sauce based on tomato, with various chilis, onions, and herbs. Used most often with tortilla chips.
• Sour cream, on its own or combined with mayonnaise and/or other ingredients, a common dip for potato chips.
• Soy sauce, the fermented bean liquid often served in small saucers for dipping a variety of East Asian foods.
• Sweet and sour sauce, aka plum sauce or duck sauce, a semi-east-Asian chutney, used for dipping fried noodles, dumplings, and other snack foods.
• Taramasalata, a Middle Eastern dip of carp or codfish roe.
• Tartar sauce, commonly used with seafood, a mixture of mayonnaise, pickles, and spices.