A chup is a category of sauce that was featured prominently in Diet Coke & Lilith's House of Snax Episode #15.
Chup Classification[]
What you need in a sauce to achieve chup status is a creamy base (most commonly mayo, sometimes alfredo sauce, etc.) with some extra spices or another mix of sauces that add some color to it. The color is one of the most important components of a chup. They are usually orange or pinkish, but they can be any color, although they shouldn't just be off-white or brownish. The balance of the sweet and the tart and spicy is important to a well-balanced chup, as is making sure none of the particular ingredients stand out.
That being said, the exact definition of a chup is up to interpretation. There are chup scholars that attempt to pinpoint exactly what qualifies as a chup through chup discourse, and these conversations can get very heated. There is a certain "you know it when you see it" element to identifying a chup. When creating a homemade chup, an important part of the experience is making it based on colors. As a result, many written homemade chup recipes are not exact.
Categories of Chups[]
Thousand island sauce and chipotle mayo are two inarguable types of chup. A sub category of chup is what burger restaurants often call a secret sauce. More chaotic sauces whose chup statuses are often debated include vodka sauce and Whataburger's jalapeno ranch, which check off the chup ingredient boxes but don't necessarily feel like a chup. According to Diet Coke, if element of heat is necessary, it is straying away from chups, which is why she does not consider vodka sauce to be a chup.
Chup Royalty[]
Aki, who was a special guest on Episode #15 of Diet Coke & Lilith's House of Snax, is the Chupqueen, also known as the Queen of Chup. During her appearance on the podcast, she shared some of her chup knowledge with Diet Coke & Lilith. Her roommate, James, is the Sage of Chup. Aki will sometimes message him for his opinion of if something should be classified as a chup. He believes that chup is a state of mind.
Chup-Offs[]
A chup off is an event where two (or possibly more) chups are judged against each other in order to determine which chup is better. There are two chup-offs that have occurred during or been mentioned on Diet Coke & Lilith's House of Snax.
1983 Brooklyn Chup Off[]
The participants of the 1983 Brooklyn Chup Off did not abide by a strict set of rules, resulting in the deaths of 19 people. No other information about this chup off was revealed during the podcast.
2021 House of Snax Chup Off[]
Left: Aki's chup. Right: Diet Coke Sauce
This chup off took place in the House of Snax during Episode #15 of the podcast. The two contenders were Aki with a traditional chipotle mayo chup vs Diet Coke with Diet Coke Sauce.
Recipes[]
Recipes to both chups were posted to the House of Snax Twitter[1] and copied here. These recipes may not be completely accurate, because they were written down from eyeballing the ingredients.
Aki's Chup[]
- Okay so kinda spitballing bc i kind of just do to taste but:
- 1/2 cup mayo (i use vegan mayo)
- A couple spoonfuls adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers (mix in until sauce is light pink, or desired spicyness)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp maple syrup or agave syrup
- Pinch of salt
- Add more salt/lemon juice/maple syrup to desired taste.
- When you are happy with the chup and it is mixed, garnish with paprika
Upon tasting a chup made by Lilith using this recipe during the podcast, it was determined that the listed amount of lemon juice may be too high compared to what Aki usually uses.
Diet Coke Sauce[]
Diet Coke Sauce is a version of Cane's Sauce, modified to Diet Coke's liking. As a result, it is her favorite sauce.
- 1/4 cup mayo (kewpie if possible, but reg is good too)
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1/2 tablespoon hot brown mustard (or however close to hot brown you can get)
- Here's the hard to translate part. I always eyeball the spices. I'll try to give you the basic proportions, but for the most part here, season as much as you think you would like
- A rigorous shaking of lawry's seasoning salt
- A lot of black pepper
- A good couple shakes of cayenne
- Just the tiniest whisper of garlic powder
- One or two shakes of MSG (only if you used regular mayo, if you used kewpie, that already has MSG so you don't need it here)
- You gotta mix it real well, if you have a tiny whisk, now is the time to use it. If you're using a jar mayo, it's gonna clump, you gotta whisk it smooth. A fork will work if you don't have a tiny whisk. If you're using squeeze mayo, you likely will not get clumps, those tend to have additional emulsifiers in them.
Results[]
There was not a winner of the 2021 House of Snax Chup Off. All three podcast hosts were winners because they got to eat two great chups. Everybody's a winner when there's chup. However, this chup off replaced Diet Coke & Lilith's usual weekly snack ratings for Episode #15, and because chups are not a processed foods, the episode broke the Law of Snacks and angered the Snack Giver, causing them to transform back into the Snack Keeper.