Secret Stadium Sauce

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Secret Stadium Sauce is a condiment popular at Milwaukee Brewers baseball games in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Originally developed for use at Milwaukee County Stadium, it is still served on hot dogs and brats at its replacement, Miller Park. Customers may either add it themselves or request that their sausages be dipped in warm Secret Stadium Sauce before being served.

It is a product of Delaware North Companies Sportservice and is sold in 18-ounce bottles at grocery stores throughout Wisconsin.

[edit] Origins

It was created in the early 1970s by current Delaware North Companies Sportservice President Rick Abramson, then a vendor at County Stadium, during a game when he ran short of other condiments.

“	"We were sort of running out of ketchup and mustard, and we needed a condiment. I took barbecue sauce, a little ketchup and mustard and smoked syrup and other ingredients and came up with secret stadium sauce. We said, 'We don't have [ketchup and mustard], but we have secret stadium sauce.'"	”
	— Rick Abramson

The unique flavor has inspired a wide variety of comparisons, from "a combination of barbecue sauce and sauerkraut juice" to "a mix of clam juice and sweetened tomato sauce".

The secret is how much of each ingredient is put in, as well as other spices which are not specifically mentioned. The ingredients listed on the bottle for Secret Stadium Sauce are: Water, tomato paste, corn syrup, vinegar, high fructose corn syrup, salt, modified food starch, spice blend (salt, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, spices and spices extractives), BHA and BHT (preservatives, less than 2 percent triacaicium phosphate added to prevent caking, sodium benzoate (preservatives), capsicum.

[edit] Notoriety

Secret Stadium Sauce is widely identified with Milwaukee and the Brewers in particular. In 2001, the Secret Stadium Sauce was featured in a "Ball Park Frank Tasting" in Cooperstown, New York, in an event co-sponsored by the Baseball Hall of Fame.[1]

Brats with Secret Stadium Sauce are the favorite ballpark food of sportscaster Bob Costas.[2]