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Pericles Tarsinos from Fooducopia invited me over to his home last night to meet, eat, and cook with a couple local vendors. I had a fantastic time the entire night because I was asked to do one simple thing, COOK! I kept it simple on my end in order to highlight the products that were being used, salt, pepper, and a small amount of vegetables thrown in (mirepoix) as a starter then the vendors product came into play and let me just tell you, it was awesome!

Frawg N’ Turtle (click to go to their site)

The first products I cooked with were from Keran and Laura Kipp who make Frawg N’ Turtle Sauces and More! They are a husband and wife couple that has put their heart and soul into their products and it shows. Keran is from Shreveport, Louisiana which is not far from where I was going to college in Natchitoches, Louisiana and somehow he found his way up here and met Laura. They are in the process of selling their house in order to downsize to focus on their product…..I’m selling my house to help pay for culinary school. We have a lot in common!

They have a product line consisting of 4 sauces, Hot & Horsey Apple Mustard, Hickory Apple BBQ, Apple Mustard, and Original Apple BBQ. Their “and More” consists of a Tuscan Rub, Apple-Hickory Wood Smoked  Sea Salt, and an Apple Butter. They use Washington grown apples which are the best in the world so you can’t go wrong with that!

I took a chicken breast and I glazed it with their Hot & Horsey Apple Mustard and the chicken came out fantastic! The sauce itself has a nice development of flavors that will take you from sweet to hot to hotter then back to sweet. It’s a fun ride! Next, I used their Hickory Apple BBQ sauce and poached some chicken in a small pan with about a cup of the sauce. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Playing with those two sauces opened up a lot of ideas in my head on other uses for their sauces. I’m kind of like a McGyver in the kitchen when it comes to thinking about food and food products so when I have something great it opens Pandora’s Box O’ Awesome Ideas.

Pericles had some pulled pork shoulder so I took about 1/2 cup of their Apple Butter and mixed it in. I love pork, I love apples, and I love the Apple Butter!

Zac’s Montana Kitchen

Chef Zac Kellerman is the creator of Zac’s Montana Kitchen products. He isn’t local to Washington, obviously but after reading a little more about him on his website I’m in awe. He’s a Chef, so I’m an even bigger fan of his products now. Pericles had two different products that Chef Zac had sent over to him consisting of Zac’s Montana Kitchen Sweet Hot Rub and Zac’s Montana Kitchen Yellowstone Kitchen Sauce. What to do with these products? How do I? They smell great and taste great but how do we use them in the best way possible?  Pericles called Chef Zac and I was able to speak with him myself!

Zac travels about 5 hours from his home in order to get to a processing plant to bottle his product………..dedication, yeah I think so. He told me that his Yellowstone Kitchen Sauce should be used as a finishing sauce and is best served warm. He told me his rub works for just about anything so I wanted to put that to the test.

I took a simple mirepoix cooked chicken then heated up a little Yellowstone Kitchen Sauce in a separate pan then glazed the chicken with his product. That kitchen sauce is to die for! Laura, from Frawg N’ Turtle, said, “I would buy that sauce!”, which is a huge compliment coming from another vendor. I wouldn’t just buy the stuff, if I could afford it I would bathe in it.

Rub a dub dub, Zac’s Sweet Heat Rub!  I took a pork chop and lightly salted it with a little pepper and cooked it in 3 tbsp. of butter then lightly sprinkled Zac’s Sweet Heat Rub on top. I’m a huge fan of pork chops, so I was interested to see what would happen to the chop with a little Sweet Heat Rub. What happens? Lots of drooling! It works with anything? Ok, how about sprinkled over some sauteed asparagus? Yes, it’s amazing as well. It’s an all-purpose ride of your life rub.

To cap the evening off Pericles made us some drinks using his new Blueberry extract. I won’t say what they were because I will be posting some recipes shortly on this site based from his creations. So stay tuned!

21 Acres

There is one person I saved for last that was part of the evening as well. Joanne Hedou is the grant writer for 21 Acres. 21 Acres is non-profit organization that is currently in the process of developing a building that will showcase new technologies for water and energy conservation in King County Washington.

From their website:

“the 21 Acres Center for Local Food and Sustainable Living will feature a year-round farmers market, community kitchen, publicly available classroom space and a 50 kW PV solar panel array.”

It’s the future of Farmers Markets!

Joanne is wonderful and works for a great cause and I hope we get another chance to sit down and talk about her projects!

Well, I hope that shows you a little bit about how cool it is to be a food blogger. Please take a little time to check out these products for yourself and if you trust my words then please buy their products. I don’t make a dime off advertising these products so don’t get the wrong impression. I really did enjoy these products and I hope you do to.

Frawg N’ Turtle

Zac’s Montana Kitchen

Fooducopia

21 Acres

Thanks again!

Eric