The sauce vs vinegar debate has drizzled over the Central Belt for decades, though it might surprise you to know that it's a South Lanarkshire factory that's been fuelling these fires for over a century.
Gold Star sauce, the most popular choice for Edinburgh chip shops, has been produced in the outskirts of Glasgow since the company's founder officially launched the creation in 1920.
Today, the operations manager at Gold Star is continuing his great-great-grandfather's legacy - of dividing the people of Scotland on how they dress their chips.
Edinburgh’s fascination with the brown sauce is inexplicable, but the delicacy has become as synonymous with the capital city as the castle or Greyfriars Bobby.
This is why it may shock some readers that the Edinburgh delicacy is a product of Cambuslang.
Director at Walter Black Foods, Stuart Black, has commented on the phenomenon.
Speaking to the Daily Record in 2012 he said: “Nobody has ever figured out why brown sauce is so popular in Edinburgh and not Glasgow.
“We do sell brown sauce in the west, but nowhere near as much as on the east coast.
“There is not as much difference in the sales figures when it comes to sales in shops, but we have never worked out why vinegar is more popular elsewhere.”
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Walter Black Foods currently supply their sauce to 95% of chip shops in Edinburgh,
Despite its brown colour, the sauce actually has a tomato base - blended with vinegar, sugar, dates, cornflour, salt, spices and tamarind.
While this is the typical method of making the chip sauce, Walter Black’s formula is as closely guarded as KFC’s secret recipe.
An impressive 60,000 litres of the sauce leave the Cambuslang factory every single week, serving supermarkets like Asda and Sainsbury’s as well as the capital’s takeaways.
The firm produces more than 500 products including other sauces, pickles, and condiments - though their brown sauce remains their flagship product.
Current Managing Director Walter Black, along with son Stuart, have kept the formula created for Gold Star sauce launched in the 1920s, with only a few changes to the manufacturing process.
Huge measurements of spices and wheats are poured into giant cooking pots, with the 1000 litre batches left to bubble for hours.
A team of laboratory workers check acidity, salt, and pH levels, before the most important job of all - a taste test.
Technical Manager Diane Campbell, who had been tasting Gold Star sauce for 15 years in 2012, told the Daily Record about the pride in her role.
She stated; “The quality and safety of the product is paramount and this is a very important part of the process.
“It’s a great product, and I am always delighted to see it on the shelves and being in demand.”
The demand for Gold Star sauce is of course highest in the east, with two-fifths of Edinburgh and the Borders residents opting for sault and sauce - unlike all other areas of Scotland who preferred a vinegar topping.
