Esoteric Food Recommendations
It's late afternoon and the hunger pangs are starting to gnaw. I try to resist snacking -- not always successfully -- so perhaps writing about food will be a separate but equal answer (as Pogo would say).
Anyway, here are three somewhat unusual food items that MLB and I recommend highly for your consideration.
- Apricot Mango Wasabi Sauce by Robert Rothschild Farms. Wasabi is faddish, I know, but that doesn't make it any less delicious. In this concoction, it actually falls a couple of items behind plain old horseradish on the ingredients list, and my palate isn't discerning enough to distinguish the two in this setting. But this sauce is a wonderful blend of sweet and spicy, with just the right kick. Goes great with roast chicken and grilled tuna. Oh, and eggrolls, of course.
- Lemon Dill and Capers Sauce, again by Robert Rothschild Farms. We bought a jar of this in Fredericksburg at the same time we bought the aforementioned wasabi sauce. The taste of dill always takes me back to my paternal grandmother's dining table, where she served the world's best homemade dill pickles at every meal (OK, not at breakfast). This sauce is smooth and we really liked it with grilled pork chops. It's also good with tuna.
- Hot 'n Spicy Wasabi Chips by Eden Foods. I saved the best 'til last. These vegetable (a mix of carrot, cabbage, spinach, parsley, lettuce and onion) chips are baked, fried, then baked again, and they taste absolutely wonderful. Unlike the apricot mango wasabi sauce mentioned above, however, these chips have a serious kick to 'em! If you're a wasabi or horseradish fan, give these chips a try. We've not been able to find them in any retail store other than the Whole Foods Market in Santa Fe (even the WFM in San Antonio didn't stock them), but the internet comes through once again. One interesting bit of trivia: this is the only food item I've knowingly eaten that has "Job's Tears" listed as one of the ingredients.
I apologize if this post makes you hungry. I confess to succumbing to the lure of the wasabi chips; I just intended to read the label...but you know how that goes.
Rustlin' Rob's is the store in Fredericksburg, TX, from which we bought the two samples I wrote about. It's an amazing store. They have probably 200+ different kinds of sauces, mustards, salsas, pickled stuff, honey, nut butter, salad dressing, bbq sauce, etc. and every bit of it is out for sampling with crackers or pretzels. It's a great marketing tool, although if you're squeamish about the possibility of someone else "double-dipping," it's probably not for you. ;-)
Good luck with the wasabi chip hunting. I'll be jealous if they show up in your local market.
Posted by: Eric at April 15, 2005 08:22 PMEric, not the same as Wasbi chips, but packing the same spicy punch are roasted peas with Wasabi. And they are available locally ... at H.E.B. and at the Asian Market, in the middle shopping strip at the southwest corner of Midland Drive and Illinois Avenue.
Posted by: Jeff at April 15, 2005 08:31 PMJeff, you're exactly right, and my wife has brought a can of them home. But they're nowhere nearly as good as the chips!
Posted by: Eric at April 15, 2005 08:36 PMAvailable as well at the plain ol' run of the mill Albertsons that us Po Folks use. Have seen the display there and have even stopped to look at and read some of the jars labels. Haven't bought any yet, but will do so on the sole recommendation of this fine publication.
Posted by: Wallace-Midland, Texas at April 15, 2005 10:16 PMEric, I don't know about the variety in cans. I get mine in a bag, and eat them like chips or (a better analogy) corn nuts. Kasugai (out of Japan), is my favorite brand, though JFC are also good.
Posted by: Jeff at April 16, 2005 08:32 PMAbout the publisher
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That same Rothschild Farms is an hour or so down the road from where I live. They have pick-your-own raspberries (which unfortunately entails dodge-your-own wasps) every fall.
They have samples of all their stuff available, then, too. It's great to be able to try so many before choosing a few.
I recommend their pretzel dips, if you're into dips. The Raspberry Honey Mustard is a nice mix of sweet and .. well, mustard.
Tomorrow's grocery day. I'll have to sneak those wasabi chips onto the list and see what comes back...
Posted by: Brian at April 15, 2005 05:35 PM