No, this is not a joke.
I’m making this tonight:
It’s a Mark Bittman recipe and has good reviews. This is not a joke.
What’s your suggested pairing? With the cayenne pepper and acidic ketchup this is a tough one. Could do beer but don’t want to. Can I get away an Abrente Albarino?
If it was me I would go with a very good Lambrusco!
Rose Champagne or rose from the South of France or similar
something you’d drink with pasta marinara…
since ketchup is probably on the sweet side… amarone?
The Joyce Chen Chinese Cookbook from the 1970s, which I still have, uses ketchup as the principal ingredient in sweet and sour chicken. I haven’t made it for 40 years, but it was a good cheap meal at the time and we thought we were gourmet cooks.
Several Cantonese recipes use ketchup.
Apparently the Cantonese invented it when presented tomatoes as a gift. They didn’t know at to do with them, and since they do not eat vegetables raw, boiled the #&$^ out of them.
True story? My Chinese cooking teacher, who grew up in Canton, insists it’s true !