In This Installment:
Dan Dan Chili Sesame Sauce
Back in January, I had the chance to attend the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Diego, California. Usually it’s in San Francisco or—most recently—Las Vegas, but this time it was in San Diego. It’s nice there. Seems like it was 70º every day and sunny. Well, it was partly cloudy for twenty minutes one day but otherwise it’s a pretty beautiful place. I see why folks flock there!
These “Fancy Food Show” are a chance for product selectors like myself to meet, taste, and get the story of food makers from around the country and around the world. There are two big shows every year: Winter Faire in California (somewhere) in January and then the Summer Faire in New York City at the end of June—which means it’s ridiculously hot, you can’t get a reservation anywhere, it rains every day and then radiates heat from the concrete below you…oh! And this year the World Cup is in town so you’ll have soccer fans and revelers coming from all OVER the country. Hotel rooms started at $700 a night. Needless to say, we’ll be skipping the summer show.
The Winter Faire, however, showcases producers we don’t often get to see because they don’t come east and we rarely get to go west. This show was extra special because we got to meet a lot of producers from Hawaii and Japan and Korea that we’d normally never meet. A “buyers trip” to Hawaii and then Japan sounds pretty good to me so I was on a mission to find as many items from Japan and Hawaii as I could! (We found more than a few items that would work perfectly on our shelves so hope springs eternal.) But there were lots of delicious foods from this country, too, just from California producers that are hard for me to find.
Superlova—the folks behind this Dan Dan Chili Sesame Sauce—are one of those producers I would have missed if I hadn’t gone so the trip was worth it right there! This sauce is inspired by the flavorful (and spicy) cuisine of the Sichuan province of China. It’s spicy, sure, but not four-alarm fire spicy. Instead what I love about it is its rich texture, its intense and deep flavors, and the wonderful melange of spices inside. Truly a mix of flavors, textures, and sensations we don’t usually find in western cuisine.
Helen Li and her chef husband started out with food trucks, then moved to brick-and-mortar buildings before heading into the catering world. This sauce (along with their sweeter May May Sauce) are the two products they make, and they make them well. The sauce is easy to use and will turn any ol’ “boring” dish into a zingy affair. There’s an easy and tasty recipe below.
One last note: it turns out I’d actually tried this Dan Dan sauce a year or two prior to this and didn’t like it. You see, we’re sent products all the time for us to consider and we host a large “tasting team” meeting where the product selectors like myself all gather to try what’s been sent our way. Most of the products don’t make the cut, but I’ve always believed it’s important to give honest feedback to the producer and help them understand why we said ‘no’. Good foods might not be great fits for us, but since they took the time, energy, and expense to send us the samples in the first place, I wanna honor that effort with an equal response.
So when we turned down this Dan Dan Sauce in the past (Superlova was operating under a different name at the time), I was specific in why we chose not to bring on the sauce. I’ve been sourcing products for more than 20 years. I’ve learned what works for us and what doesn’t and I feel I should share the experience so the producer can decide what to do next in an informed way. It’s the least I can do.
Back to San Diego. I saw this Dan Dan sauce and gave it a taste. Fantastic. Made my mouth tingle (in a good way), the flavors were electric. I loved it and wanted to learn more so I engaged with the woman (Helen) behind the table. “I really like your Dan Dan Sauce,” I said. And before I could say anything else she looked up, looked at the name on my badge and said: “Oh my God…you’re Brad from Zingerman’s!” Then she turned to her partner behind the table, pointed at me, and said again: “This is Brad from Zingerman’s!”
“Oh wow,” he said. “It’s really nice to meet you.”
I’m not the type of person that gets noticed anywhere so I was a bit taken aback. “Yeah, that’s me.” I said.
Helen was beaming. “This is because of you!” She said, pointing at the Dan Dan Sauce. “We sent you our sauce more than a year ago, and you didn’t want it, but your feedback and thoughts and suggestions were spot on.” I started to blush as she continued. “You were right. The spices were a bit tired and the oil we were using wasn’t great and you pointed that out. Based on what you said we improved our recipe, used better ingredients, and rebranded to be Superlova.” She paused, smiled, and said again: “this is because of you!”
I’m still riding the high of Helen’s words. My buttons were bursting. It justified the way we do things and I was proud of the role I played. I would have selected this sauce anyway, but after meeting Helen there was no way I could let it pass us by. Enjoy the experience and remember to always get back to people…you never know where it might lead.
Not Your Average Broccoli
Ingredients
- Broccoli (1 head, cut into florets)
- Garlic (2 cloves, minced)
- Superlova! Dan Dan Sauce (2–3 tbsp, to taste)
Instructions
STEP 1. Prepare the Broccoli
- Cut 1 head of broccoli into bite-sized florets.
STEP 2. Blanch the Broccoli
- Bring a pot of water to a boil.
- Add a heaping teaspoon of salt to the water (this helps the broccoli stay vibrant green).
- Blanch the broccoli florets in the salted water until tender but still crisp, about 2–3 minutes.
STEP 3. Drain and Toss with Sauce
- Remove the blanched broccoli from the water and place it in a large mixing bowl.
- Add 2–3 tablespoons (or to taste) of Superlova! Dan Dan Sauce.
- Toss until the broccoli florets are evenly coated with the sauce.
STEP 4. Plate and Garnish
- Transfer the broccoli to a serving plate.
- Sprinkle with 2 cloves of minced garlic for an extra burst of flavor.
STEP 5. Serve and Enjoy
- Serve immediately as a side dish, or pair with rice or noodles for a complete meal.
Peach Mochi Gummies
After all that crazy spice and once we’ve dabbed away the light cheek perspiration that comes from Sichuan style cuisine, I figured it was time to cool things down a bit and head over to the delicate, ethereal side of the spectrum.
Mochi is made from rice flour, sugar, and a bit of water. By heating and beating, mixing and mashing, it becomes a stretchy dough that you can use to fold around fillings like red bean paste or even ice cream. In this case, they won’t wrap the mochi around anything; they just flavor it and cut it into tiny jewels of chewy delight.
Mochi gummies sit directly opposite Dan Dan sauce. They’re not too sweet. I think they’re wonderfully balanced and nuanced (the peach flavor is the perfect example of what I’m talking about: it’s a hard flavor to present without tasting too faint or even fake).
And they’re really, really easy to eat because of their pleasant, soft, pillow of a gummy. It’s not often you toss around the word “exquisite” when talking about gummies, but that’s the word that comes to mind. So just pop ’em and start chewing. They’re great anytime of day. Don’t share them with children…you know how they are when it comes to gummies.