Peter Luger Steak Sauce, 12.6 fl oz

The house sauce from Peter Luger, the Williamsburg, Brooklyn steakhouse that has been serving porterhouse since 1887. For years it existed only on the restaurant's tables; the bottling came about because diners kept asking to take some home with them.

It sits somewhere between a cocktail sauce and an old-fashioned steak sauce, which is what makes it interesting. The base is dark, thick and tomato-driven, sweet at the front of the palate, with horseradish arriving late to sharpen it. That balance is why it reads as a steakhouse sauce rather than a table ketchup.

A porterhouse or a rib eye is the obvious pairing, but the bottle earns its keep in other places. Work a spoonful into ground beef for burgers or meatloaf, brush it on lamb chops or a firm fish before it goes under the broiler, spread it on a cold roast beef sandwich, or do as the Brooklyn regulars do and pour it over thick slices of ripe summer tomato.