Category Archives: New Products

Empanada Mania

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They may not be the next cupcake — yet.

But empanadas, those tasty half-moon-shaped, filled hand-pies, sure are now turning up in a lot of places in the Bay Area.

Andres Franklin, 38, grew up eating empanadas in his native Puerto Rico. For years, he also made them at his Bay Area home for friends and family, using his Mom’s recipe.

In Puerto Rico, he could easily satisfy his empanada cravings anytime, anywhere. In the Bay Area? Not so much.

Whenever he’d go out for a quick lunch during work, he’d find plenty of sushi, sandwiches and burritos — but never empanadas. So, the Haas School of Business grad, who went on to be senior director of development for LeapFrog for five years, gave up the corporate life this past January to launch his own food company, Mas Empanadas.

For a month, he worked with San Francisco Chef Joey Altman to perfect dough and fillings for these baked empanadas, which are designed to be large  enough so that one makes for a satisfying meal on the go.

The first week, Franklin sold 24 empanadas to cafes and grocery stores. Two months later, he was up to nearly 800 sales a week.

Now, you can find his 11 different empanadas (savory ones such as roasted chicken and sweet ones such as a pineapple-mango-banana-coconut one) at Real Food Company locations in San Francisco and Sausalito; Blue Fog markets in San Francisco, Apollo Cafe in San Francisco, and Mill Valley Market in Mill Valley.

The empanadas are made fresh four days a week at a commercial kitchen in San Rafael. At 5 a.m., a cook starts making them all by hand. By 1 p.m., Franklin is loading up his car to personally deliver them to wholesale outlets, which sell them to the public for about $5 each.

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Ad Hoc Cake Mix and Prepared Frosting

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Leave it to uber-Chef Thomas Keller to create the world’s most expensive cake mix.

Just how pricey?

We’re talking $14 for either the Ad Hoc Red Velvet, Chocolate or Yellow cake mixes sold exclusively at Williams-Sonoma. Add another $19.95 for a jar of either the ready-to-spread Ad Hoc Milk Chocolate or Dark Chocolate frostings, also sold at Williams-Sonoma.

That’s $33.95 to make one cake right there. Not to mention the butter, plus 4 whole eggs AND 4 egg yolks that you mix into the yellow cake batter, which is the one I received a sample of recently to try.

Boy howdy, you could buy a quite decent bakery cake for that price and call it a day.

Ahh, but then, you wouldn’t have the Ad Hoc or Keller prestige attached to it.

The mixes and frostings are made from top-notch ingredients: Guittard cocoa and Nielsen Massey vanilla. I could smell the strong fragrance of the vanilla as the yellow cake batter came together in the bowl of my stand mixer. Unlike so many other cake recipes I’ve used, the directions on the back of this box call for using the whisk attachment for the mixer rather than the paddle. The result is a batter that is very fluffy and silky-creamy — almost as if there’s whipped cream folded into it.

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Mark Bittman’s 10-Minute Asian Salad and iPhone App Giveaway

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New York Times food writer Mark Bittman has a way of making cooking effortless.

Take his “Watercress and Sesame Salad,” for instance.

Many times before, I’ve made a similar dressing using soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil and sesame seeds, but never thought to pair it with delightful, peppery watercress like this.

It’s a light, bright little salad that comes together in 10 minutes for a quick first-course for any type of Asian meal. You could even make it more substantial by adding sliced cucumbers, carrot slivers, radishes, cherry tomatoes or even poached shrimp or seared tuna.

The recipe (reprinted at the end of this post) is from his classic book, “How to Cook Everything” (Wiley). This weighty, 944-page book is front and center on my bookcase. It’s a handy reference, because its plethora of recipes forms the basics of just about anything you’d want to make.

Now, there’s another handy way to enjoy this massive book — the “How to Cook Everything” iPhone app.

All 2,000 recipes from the book now are available with just a touch of your snazzy phone.  The app even helps you jot down a grocery list.

Five lucky Food Gal readers — located anywhere in the United States — will win a “How to Cook Everything” app, courtesy of John Wily and Sons, and Culinate. Here’s how:

Just tell me what you wish Mark Bittman could make easier in your life. Your answer can be food-related or not. The best five answers win the iPhone app. Deadline to enter is end of the day May 1. Winners will be announced May 3.

Here’s my own answer of what I wish he could make easier for me:

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Bacon Ecstacy and Winner of the “Toast of the Town” VIP Tickets

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Four words: Bacon. Jam. In one.

If that doesn’t make your lips smack, it should. When a pork-happy colleague of my husband’s happened to mention how much he loved a most unusual spread called Bacon Jam, well, I just had to spring for a jar to see what the fuss was about.

It’s made by Skillet Street Food of Seattle, which was founded by Joshua Henderson, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park. Turns out working in restaurants wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. So, Henderson took to the streets — refurbishing an old Airstream trailer with a full commercial kitchen to rev up to office parks and farmers markets to sell freshly made bistro-style food. Consider it a cooler, retro version of the taco truck.

Bacon Jam, a concoction that Henderson has been making for years, tops the burgers he creates. Thankfully, he started selling this magical stuff in jars for those like me who aren’t in Seattle.

It’s almost like a thick, ropey ragu in texture, with wonderful smokiness and the sweet-tangy flavor of a relish. Henderson renders bacon, then adds onions, brown sugar, and balsamic vinegar, before letting it all cook down for six hours until it’s concentrated and jammy.

My husband’s colleague, Bruce, enjoys Bacon Jam  slathered on Triscuits. It was a great addition to a spinach and cheese omelet I made one weekend. Now, I’m dreaming of it in a tart with crumbles of blue cheese.

An 8-ounce jar is $12. A 1-ounce serving has 140 calories, 120 of which are fat calories. But don’t think about that. I know I won’t as I reach for one more little spoonful.

And now for the winner of the pair of  VIP tickets to “Toast of the Town”:

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These Are A Few of My Favorite Things…

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If you saw my dining room table recently, you would have thought Willy Wonka had set up shop in my house.

Truffles, chocolate bars, nut brittle, bonbons, and more covered it from one end to the other. And yes,  I had to eat all of it. Well, at least try each and every piece.

It was all part of my judging duties for the fourth annual San Francisco Chocolate Salon, the sugaraholic’s dream event where chocolate makers show off their wares to media and members of the public, who get to sample and vote for their favorites.

Yours truly was on the team of expert panelists. For those, like myself, who couldn’t make it to the actual event this year at Fort Mason, the event organizers had the chocolate samples sent to our homes instead. Hence, the veritable candy shop in my dining room.

Here’s the list of winning chocolates from the event. And below, find my picks for my new favorite chocolate products.

What: Montana’s Posh Chocolat’s Artisan Sea Salt Caramels (photo above)

Why: Five different exotic, soft, sticky caramels enrobed in dark chocolate, each topped with a different sea salt. Think White Truffle Oil Caramel with Hawaiian Pink Sea Salt. It sounds weird, and it is different. But wow, is it elegant and memorable. And yes, you can really taste the pungent truffle oil. $15 for a box of 10.

What: Palo Alto’s  Gateau et Ganache’s Handmade Marshmallows

Why: OK, how cute are these? Shaped like pastel daisies, the spring assortment comes in flavors of lemon, passion fruit and strawberry. They’re light, springy and very fruity tasting. Nine marshmallows are $12.

What: Jade Chocolates of San Francisco for Chocolate-Covered Edamame and Dragon’s Breath, Kuro Genmai, and Mahal chocolate bars

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