The Nearly Series — Cupboard Classics from a Spanish Kitchen

Some recipes exist because you're hungry. These exist because you're stubborn. The Nearly Series is a collection of homemade condiment recipes inspired by the jars and bottles that have sat in British kitchens for generations – recreated from a Spanish kitchen with better ingredients and no apology.

Living in rural Andalucía means the British cupboard staples I grew up with are either unavailable, eye-wateringly expensive, or just not the same. The nearest decent supermarket is a forty-minute drive. A British one is considerably further. So I started making my own — and somewhere along the way, a series was born.

The Nearly Series is a collection of homemade condiment recipes inspired by the jars and bottles that have sat in British kitchens for generations. Not exact copies. Not pretending to be. Just honest, from-scratch versions made with good local ingredients — and, in most cases, genuinely better than the originals.

The Nearly Philosophy

Nearly, but not exactly. That's the point.

These recipes aren't attempts to reverse-engineer a factory process or match a label ingredient for ingredient. They're something more interesting than that – they're what happens when you take a flavour you've known your whole life, strip it back to its essentials, and rebuild it with whatever's good and local and available.

Living in rural Andalucía, a trip to a British supermarket isn't an option. But that turns out to be a feature, not a bug. It means the mayonnaise gets made with eggs from the town and olive oil from the estate down the road. It means the Henderson's gets a Spanish patio rather than a Sheffield kitchen. It means every jar in the Nearly Series tastes of somewhere, which is more than you can say for the original.

The name matters too. Nearly Hellmann's. Nearly Branston. Nearly Hendo's. The "nearly" is honest — an acknowledgement that these are inspired by, not identical to, the originals. But in most cases, if you make them yourself and taste them side by side, you'll find the gap isn't where you expected it to be.

Homemade Condiment Recipes — The Nearly Series

Nearly Hellmann's — Homemade Mayonnaise Recipe The jar that sits in more fridges than any other condiment in the world. Made in five minutes with organic eggs and local olive oil from Cortijo Noalejo, just down the road from Casa Adora.

Nearly Henderson's Relish — The Sheffield Affair Sheffield's favourite condiment, recreated in a Spanish kitchen. Entirely plant-based, surprisingly easy, and better after a few days in the jar.

Nearly Heinz Tomato Soup Copycat Recipe Because Heinz makes a lot of products, but nothing beats the original cream of tomato. This version is made with ripe tomatoes and a handful of pantry staples — and it tastes exactly like a rainy Tuesday should.

The Nearly Branston Affair A deep dive into recreating that chunky, tangy pickle we all know and love. Takes a little patience but rewards it generously.

Nearly Coleman's Mint Sauce The sharp, sweet, vivid green sauce that belongs on a Sunday roast. Fresher than the jar and ready in minutes.

Nearly Huy Fong – Homemade Sriracha Sauce The rooster bottle is an icon. This version uses red jalapeños fermented for 14 days in a 2% brine, finished with white wine vinegar and honey. Deeper, more complex, and no green cap required.

Nearly Sharwood's – Homemade Hoisin Sauce Sharwood's lives at the back of every British cupboard. This version is made from tinned black beans, dark soy, honey, tahini, and a splash of Nearly Sriracha. Ready in 15 minutes and considerably better than the jar.

Nearly Schwartz – Homemade Garam Masala Schwartz sells it in every supermarket. This version is made from whole spices, slow-dried in the oven, and inspired by the Dishoom cookbook. Fifty grams of something considerably more aromatic than the jar.

Nearly Biber Salçası – Homemade Turkish Red Pepper Paste It started with kisir. This is the hot version of Turkey's essential red pepper paste — roasted, reduced, and considerably better than anything you'll find on a supermarket shelf.

Nearly Wilkin & Sons – Homemade Tomato Ketchup When the village market fills with late-summer tomatoes — three kilos for €1.50 — this is what to do with them. Slow-simmered, spiced, passed through a food mill, and bottled to mature for three months. Patient, complex, and nothing like the squeezy bottle.

Nearly Patak's – Homemade Mango Chutney Patak's is a British cupboard staple, but the supermarket versions are too sweet and short on chunks. This one leans towards the hot variety — firm mango pieces, whole spices toasted from scratch, and malt vinegar doing the heavy lifting. Made whenever mangoes are on offer at the market.

Nearly Lea & Perrins – Homemade Worcestershire Sauce One of the most complex condiments in the British store cupboard, recreated in a Casa Adora kitchen. Anchovy, tamarind, and a month's maturing in a cool, dark place do the heavy lifting. Not quite Lea & Perrins, but good enough to earn a permanent place on the shelf.

Nearly Colman's – Homemade Mustard Powder Colman's mustard powder is nowhere to be found in rural Andalucía. So it gets made from scratch — yellow and black mustard seeds ground in a spice grinder, with turmeric and salt. Pretty close. Nearly, even. The essential ingredient in The Wolstenholme Fold Sauce.

Nearly A.1. — A Homemade Steak Sauce with a Very British Past The British sauce that America claimed and Kraft Heinz industrialised — recreated from scratch with malt vinegar, tamarind, dark brown sugar and warm spices. Better than the bottle, and ready in under an hour.

Nearly Old Bay — Homemade Old Bay Seasoning Old Bay doesn't exist in rural Spain. This homemade version is built from scratch using what's actually available at Casa Adora — celery salt, smoked paprika, ground bay, mace and warm spices. Close enough to use wherever the tin is called for.

Nearly Nando's — Homemade Lemon Herb Peri Peri Sauce Nando's Lemon & Herb Peri Peri Sauce reverse-engineered from the label — fresh lemon juice and zest, garlic, cayenne, paprika and African Bird's Eye chilli, blended until smooth. Keeps in the fridge for a fortnight.

Nearly Deroni Lutenitsa — Homemade Bulgarian Pepper & Tomato Relish
Fire-roasted red pepper, aubergine, and tomato, charred on the barbecue at Casa Adora and blended to a rough, honest texture. My take on Bulgaria's best-loved relish — with olive oil, honey, and proper char. Nearly Deroni. Nearly.

Nearly Jongga — A Casa Adora Kimchi with Pimentón
Gochugaru is unavailable in rural Jaén. Pimentón Agridulce and Pimentón Picante are not. White cabbage, spring onions, garlic, ginger and fish sauce — this homemade kimchi recipe is nearly Jongga. Nearly.

Nearly Comptons — Homemade Gravy Salt Recipe
Comptons Gravy Salt has been in Scottish kitchens for over a century. It is unavailable in rural Andalucía. A photograph from my sister in Montrose and a single line — "This is why your stovies don't taste like Granny Morrison's" — and this was inevitable.

Nearly McCormick's — Homemade Umami Seasoning Recipe
McCormick's Umami Seasoning costs €22.87 for 100g. This homemade version is built around Trompette de la Mort — the wild black mushroom the French call the Trumpet of Death — ground in a spice grinder at Casa Adora. At €22.87, McCormick's can keep theirs.

Nearly K-Salat — A Homemade Danish Remoulade Recipe
A homemade Danish remoulade inspired by the famous yellow plastic bottle — wholegrain mustard, capers, cornichons, red onion and ACV, with a pinch of turmeric for the K-Salat yellow. Lynda thought it was moisturiser. Denis Hampson got his bottle.

Nearly Fortnum's Potted Mackerel — Tinned mackerel, bio ghee, lemon, parsley and smoked paprika. The potted fish tradition, twenty minutes, one small jar. Fortnum's would charge considerably more.

Nearly Lee Kum Kee — Homemade Black Bean Sauce — Diamond fermented salted black soybeans, rinsed and slow-cooked with garlic, ginger, Shaoxing rice wine and dark soy. The Nearly Series take on the jar that sat at the back of every British Chinese kitchen cupboard for thirty years.

Nearly Mapo Tofu — A Casa Adora Version Without Doubanjiang
Doubanjiang is unavailable in rural Andalucía. Gochujang, Nearly Sriracha and a spoonful of miso are not. Silken tofu, black bean sauce, Sichuan pepper and a sauce built from what's actually on the shelf — nearly Mapo Tofu. Nearly.

Why Make Your Own Homemade Condiment Recipes?

Because you know exactly what's in it. Because local olive oil makes better mayonnaise than anything in a plastic bottle. Because a jar of homemade Branston sitting on your kitchen shelf feels quietly satisfying in a way that a supermarket version never quite manages.

And because once you've made your own, it's very hard to go back.

These homemade condiment recipes aren't about recreating products — they're about understanding them. Taking something familiar apart, seeing what it's actually made of, and putting it back together with a little more care and a lot more flavour. That's the flexible chef approach, and it works every time.

But in most cases, if you make them yourself and taste them side by side, you'll find the gap isn't where you expected it to be. That's what these homemade condiment recipes are really about — closing that gap, one jar at a time.

Because you know exactly what's in it. Because local olive oil makes better mayonnaise than anything in a plastic bottle. Because a jar of homemade Branston sitting on your kitchen shelf feels quietly satisfying in a way that a supermarket version never quite manages.

MORE FROM THE FLEXIBLE CHEF

For homemade sauces, dressings and condiments beyond the Nearly Series, the Sauces, Salsas & Dressings Hub has the wider collection.

Browse all recipe collections at The Flexible Chef's Complete Hub Guide.

Find more recipes and food adventures here.

Wonky photos, proper condiments, genuine adventures — The Flexible Chef