
Pasty Sauce is an Exceeding Rare Michigan Condiment Gives Yoopers Deep Nostalgia
There are levels to the Pasty game in Michigan. Most natives to the state and many visitors are likely familiar with the meat and root vegetable turnovers that were brought to the Upper Peninsula by miners of European heritage.
Dive a little deeper into pasty lore and you may know there's a deep debate over what condiment to use when eating a pasty. But it's generally considered just those two condiments. Don't even consider mayonnaise.
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There is a third rail option for pasty adornment. It's obscure and not without controversy. It's called Pasty Sauce. And, if you can find it, is described by those who like it as basically hot ketchup.
One variety is made in St Ignace. That is Ray Ray's Yooper Sauce which bills itself as being "great on pasties and just about anything else."
There's another brand, that appears to be out of production called Toivo and Eino's Really Secret Pasty Sauce. That product was shared by the Yooper Pasty Facebook page and the nostalgia rolled in with many expressing how much they missed the sauce or even that they had bottles that have been expired for years and is no longer safe to consume buy they can't bring themselves to get rid of it.
Some Pasty Sauce connoisseurs have advice for replicating Toivo and Eino's - which was made as a private label by the tomato conglomerate Red Gold.
One or two drops of hot sauce in my ketchup is close to what this sauce tasted like.
I mix ketchup and Sriracha and it comes close.
READ MORE: This Yooper Just Freaked Out an Entire Peninsula by Putting Mayo on a Pasty
There are others who find the idea of this specialty sauce to be wrong, with UP native stating, "this is a crime against pasties." Others say that if you need any condiment for a pasty, it's not a good pasty.

There are still a few scattered locations to find an actual pasty sauce. Krupp's Mini Mart in Twin Lakes is mentioned as one.
The A to Z of Michigan's U.P.
Gallery Credit: Wendy Reed