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I remember seeing my mom add small quantities of ketchup in certain stews and other sauce-based dishes. To me, ketchup has the perfect balance of flavors and helps create umami. Even well-known chefs use it sparingly to improve their creations [1].

- [1] https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/aug/20/why-is-...

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As someone who avoids 'prefab' products in cooking. Using a little tomato extract/paste and rounding the sauce/stew up later with some milk (for the sugars) pretty much creates the same result why people swear on ketchup.

I adapted this from Italian Cousine. A traditional bolognese works like that too.

Most of the ketchup I use at home ends up in my salad dressings...

The recipe I used is equal part olive oil and balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, Ketchup, pepper and some Herbes de Provence. The end result is a thick, strongly tasting vinaigrette, it doesn't go with every salad, but I like it a lot.

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