Ask any foodie and you will get the identical reply: All dipping sauces are usually not created equal. Even within the quick meals drive-thru lane, one of many essential questions surrounding your order is “What sort of sauce would you like with that?”. From honey mustard to barbecue and past, the matter of the sauce is not any small recreation, right this moment, we’re deep-diving into two  savory, crave-able, and visually near-identical condiments within the oeuvre: Yum yum sauce and spicy mayo.

Each sauces are pinkish-orange, thick and plush, they usually’re served alongside a whole lot of the identical dishes. Yum yum sauce and spicy mayonnaise additionally share a mayo base. However, their foundational ingredient and aesthetic hue are about so far as the similarities prolong between these two creamy condiments. 

Yum yum sauce is a tad extra adaptable than spicy mayo. Many North American-based hibachi eating places have their very own distinctive proprietary yum yum recipes. In contrast, a spicy mayo “recipe” entails little greater than how a lot sriracha chili sauce you add to the mayo. With these sauces, it is all concerning the ingredient lineups and spiciness ranges — which could not be extra totally different.

Yum yum sauce (to not be confused with aioli or remoulade) is usually some mixture of ketchup or tomato paste, rice vinegar, garlic, sugar, paprika, soy sauce, mirin, and sizzling sauce or sriracha. To make it, all of the substances are merely whisked collectively and typically thinned with water to the specified consistency. This candy, barely tangy, ultra-creamy orange-pink sauce is not dissimilar from the favored “fry sauce” condiment of the American South, which mixes mayo and ketchup. 

Yum yum sauce (or as it is also perplexingly known as, “white sauce”) may need began off when two cultures’ timeless love for eggy emulsions met and blossomed. Although yum yum is a staple of hibachi, aka Japanese teppanyaki-style cooking, it does not appear to be Japanese in origin. Steakhouses in Japan do not serve their meats with the sauce. Polly Adema, culinary anthropologist and director of meals research at California’s Faculty of the Pacific, theorizes that yum yum started with the intersection of American and fashionable Japanese palettes, which share a love for mayonnaise. Adema advised NPR, “Which got here first: an affection for mayo or a mayo-enriched dish? [It’s] a type of questions we might by no means be capable of reply.” 

Certainly, yum yum sauce tastes as becoming on hibachi-style grilled peppers because it does on tater tots. The Yum Yum Sauce model by Hibachi Specific restaurant proprietor Terry Ho lauds itself as “the ‘unique’ Japanese shrimp/steak sauce” and provides a myriad of variations, from basic to spicy and “yum yum ranch.”

In contrast to yum yum sauce’s extra concerned lineup of substances, spicy mayo is a straightforward two-parter: mayonnaise and sriracha. It is a condiment as unpretentious as it’s versatile and iconic. The wealthy umami taste of the mayo meets the sweet-garlicky warmth of the sriracha for a duo that is higher than the sum of its components. Spicy mayo does not share the cultural ties that yum yum sauce enjoys in Japanese-American hibachi eating places. With a look additional again into historical past, it may be known as a product of an unlikely French-Thai culinary fusion (mayo is French in origin, and sriracha hails from Thailand).

It is depraved straightforward to make basic spicy mayo, or perhaps a vegan model by utilizing an egg-free mayonnaise. To assemble, begin with one half sriracha per 4 components mayonnaise (e.g. ¼ cup of sriracha per cup of mayo). From there, you’ll be able to regulate the proportions to fit your spiciness desire. Further customization is yours to determine; for a Japanese-inspired, umami-rich spicy mayo, mix Japanese Kewpie mayo, sriracha, and a squeeze of recent lime juice. You could possibly even name this condiment variation “the very best of each worlds” between yum yum and spicy mayo. However usually talking, once you see the phrases “spicy mayo” on a menu or store-bought bottle, anticipate simply common mayonnaise and sriracha.

Probably the most rapid distinction between these two mayo-based sauces is their taste. Yum yum sauce is delicate whereas spicy mayo is (shock) spicy. Yum yum can also be extra about bringing sweet-savory taste than packing the warmth, whereas the reverse is true of spicy mayo. As such, this distinction in taste and depth colours the dishes with which these condiments are generally used.

Tangy, umami-heavy yum yum sauce is usually served as a dip or drizzled from a squeeze bottle. Pour it over a salmon poke bowl, use it as a flavorful dip for fries or uncooked veggies, or combine it with tinned fish for a knockout tuna salad. It is an easily-digestible match for the breakfast desk alongside steak and eggs, huevos rancheros, or eggs Benedict. For dinner, pair it with quinoa, tacos, shrimp, sushi, stir fry, grilled zucchini, crab desserts, steak fried rice, or crispy tofu lettuce wraps. We adore it as a moisture aspect and pop of shade on these Yum Yum hen sliders with pink cabbage slaw. 

In the meantime, punchy, daring spicy mayo makes a terrific unfold for burgers and sandwiches, like a basic grilled cheese sandwich to lend a bit fiery liveliness. It is also nice atop milder dishes like grain bowls, candy potato fries, charred shishito peppers, avocado toast or MSG tomato toast, hen nuggets, fried pickle spears, banh mi, and grilled corn on the cob.