Category Archives: Great Finds

Spunky Barbecue Sauces and Rubs & A Food Gal Giveaway

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Sauces you won't forget. Made in San Francisco.

Chef Sarah Burchard knows her meat — and what goes well on top of it.

After all, for three years, she worked at Perbacco, then Barbacco, both in San Francisco, where she regularly broke down whole animals to make the fabulous house-made salumi. She left her position as chef de cuisine at that latter restaurant earlier this year to start her own San Francisco company, S&S Brand, with boyfriend and fellow chef, Spencer O’Meara, who’s no stranger to grilling and smoking meats.

They’re now selling their three specialty barbecue sauces (St. Louis Style, Tennessee Style, and Carolina Style), as well as six rubs (BBQ Spice, 4 Peppercorn, Fish Rub, Jerk Rub, Poultry Rub, and Ranch Rub).

Pork loin with BBQ rub and Tennessee Style sauce.

Recently, I had a chance to try some samples. The BBQ Spice and the 4 Peppercorn both livened up grilled pork loins. I especially liked the Szechuan peppercorns in the latter rub, which added a subtle palate tingle.

The barbecue sauces are what really steal the show, though. Not that barbecue sauces are ever wimpy, but these are major attention-getters. With their powerhouse of tang and spice, these sauces are assertive and sassy. In fact, if you drizzle these on meat that you’ve smeared the rubs on, you probably won’t even taste the rubs. The Tennessee Style sauce, full of mustard and onions, is sharp and piquant. The St. Louis Style, redolent of molasses, cumin and coriander, is smokier and sweeter.

The sauces contain high fructose corn syrup because of the addition of Heinz Ketchup. But Burchard and O’Meara are in the process of switching to organic ketchup, so the sauces will be made with sugar in the near future.

The sauces are $8 each for a 12-ounce jar; the rubs are $7 each for a 2-ounce tin.

Six varieites of gourmet rubs.

Contest: One lucky Food Gal reader will get a chance to try an S&S Brand Combo Pack, which includes all three barbecue sauces and all six rubs. It’s a $57 value. Contest, open only to those in the continental United States, will run through midnight PST Dec. 10. The winner will be announced Dec. 12.

How to win?

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Changing the World One Mushroom at a Time

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Nikil Arora proudly shows off the oyster mushroom kit he helped develop

If you’ve ever doubted the power of education to inspire, just consider University of California at Berkeley grads, Nikhil Arora and Alejandro Velez.

Classmates at the Hass School of Business, Arora, 24 and Velez, 23, were on their way to lucrative careers in investment banking and business consulting after graduating two years ago. But they turned their backs on that after listening to a visiting lecturer talk about how poor, malnourished women in Columbia and East Africa were growing mushrooms in coffee grounds to supplement their diet.

Instead, they maxed out their credit cards to start their own business. Their Oakland-based Back to the Roots turns mountains of discarded Peet’s coffee grounds that would have ended up in the landfill into gourmet oyster mushroom kits now sold at Whole Foods and on the Back to the Roots Web site for $19.95 each.

Mushroom kits in their special display case can be found in all Whole Foods.

In the process, Arora and Velez have created an innovative enterprise that even prompted Business Week to name them among the most promising social entrepreneurs in the United States.

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A Dip That’s Wicked Good

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Caramel meets mustard in this great dip/spread.

Two words: Caramel. Mustard.

You might wonder how those two things go together. But in the hands of three chefs, who created this addicting dip/spread, caramel and mustard go together so well that you wonder why nobody thought of doing this before.

Their Rhode Island company, Wicked Natural, makes Caramel Mustard, which tastes like it sounds — as if someone stirred sharp mustard into sweet, gooey caramel to create a whole new taste sensation.

Recently, I had a chance to try a sample jar, courtesy of the folks at King Arthur Flour, who also sell the condiment on their Web site.

This rich, creamy, candy-like spread with a noticeable piquant backbone would be fabulous as a dip for pretzels, stirred into a vinaigrette, spread inside a grilled cheese sandwich, or used to coat chicken before dredging in breadcrumbs.

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FigCello is Fig-A-Licious

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A new brandy made from black Mission figs. It's heaven in a glass.

Fig fans are sure to go wild for FigCello di Sonoma.

I know I sure did.

FigCello is one smooth liqueur made from black Mission figs blended with a hint of citrus, various botanicals, and distilled Wine Country grapes.

It’s the newest product from Sonoma’s HelloCello, a small artisanal distilled spirits maker. You may know its debut product, Limoncello di Sonoma.

The fig brandy, with 30 percent alcohol by volume, came about when Sondra Bernstein, owner of the Girl & the Fig in Sonoma was on the hunt for a fig liqueur for her restaurant. She approached Fred and Amy Groth of HelloCello, who were eager to take on the challenge.

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Downtown Bakery — A Must-Stop in Sonoma County

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Dig into the tomato-Asiago focaccia at the Downtown Bakery & Creamery in Healdsburg.

If you ever happen to find yourself in the vicinity of Healdsburg, make a beeline pronto to the Downtown Bakery & Creamery.

You will not regret it.

And your stomach will thank you profusely.

Started in 1987 by three Chez Panisse alums, this bakery makes everything from scratch — breads, ice cream, cookies, and pastries. There’s even a cafe menu if you want to sit for a spell to enjoy breakfast pizza, cheesy scrambled eggs or a Croque Madame that’s a croissant topped with herbed ricotta cheese and ham.

The famous sticky buns.

My husband and I can never resist the sticky buns ($2.25 each). This version is simply sublime — a flaky, buttery croissant-like dough formed into a muffin shape that has a crunchy topping of sugar. You also can buy them frozen to bake up fresh at home.

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