Rosie Makes Meatballs.

What can I say?

I was in the mood for some simple comfort food.

I turned to meatballs with ketchup.

Speaking of ketchup,

are you a ketchup or a catsup person?

The word ketchup actually comes from the

Chinese ke-tsiap, which is a pickled fish sauce.

In Malaysia it became kechap

and in Indonesia it became ketjap.

Seventeenth century English sailors

discovered this Chinese condiment and brought it to the west.

In Charles Lockyer's 1711 book, An Account of the Trade in India,

he wrote:

Soy comes in Tubbs from Jappan,

and the best Ketchup from Tonquin,

yet good of both sorts are made and sold very cheap in China. 

The original Chinese version is more akin to a soy

 or Worcestershire sauce.

In 1727, the first ketchup recipe

 appeared in Elizabeth Smith's book.

The Compleat Housewife.

It included anchovies, shallots, vinegar, white wine, 

sweet spices (cloves, ginger, mace, nutmeg),

pepper, and lemon peel.

Tomatoes weren't added until later.

By the 1800s, with the addition of tomatoes,

ketchup was also known as tomato soy.

In 1876, the F. & J. Heinz Company

began selling tomato ketchup.

By the end of the 19th century,

the descriptor of tomato was gradually dropped.

A 1690 entry in the Dictionary of the Canting Crew

anglicizes the original Eastern term, spelling it catchup.

This spelling was still popular in the 19th century.

From a story in Scribner's Magazine in 1859:

I do not object to take a few slices of cold boiled ham ...

with a little mushroom catchup, 

some Worcester sauce, and a pickle or so.

Other spellings circulated,

of which catsup is the best known.

It was once fairly common in the US,

but much less so today.

This spelling was first used in 1730

by Jonathan Swift:

And, for our home-bred British cheer,

Botargo, catsup, and caveer.

Botargo is a fish-based relish made of mullet or tunny roe

and caveer is caviar.

Today, all the big US manufacturers call their product ketchup.

As for ketchup,
in order to qualify as U.S. No. 1 Grade,
it cannot exceed the following limits of contamination:
Ketchup -- 30 fruit fly eggs per 100 grams.

That's nice to know.

ETA:
My friend, South,
sent me this article on ketchup.
Interesting read.

That said, let's make meatballs.

My ingredients:

about 1 1/2 lbs ground beef

1 large egg, beaten

1 large garlic clove, minced

strip of red pepper, minced

strip of green pepper, minced

bit of red onion, minced

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 tsp each salt & pepper

2 tsp oregano

1/4 cup chopped parsley

crumbs of 1 piece of whole wheat bread

1/3 cup milk

I ground up the crumbs in my Magic bullet.

Add milk to the crumbs

and let sit while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Soaking the crumbs gives you a moister ball.

All my ingredients are minced

and ready to add to the meat.

Add in beaten egg.

Breadcrumb mixture.

Oregano.

Parsley.

Peppers.

More stuff.

Parmesan.

The only way to make meatballs

is to dig in and get your hands dirty.

Work it until well-mixed.

Roll into golf ball-sized balls.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

Give it a little ketchup hat.