Friday, August 15, 2008

A Call For Products; We're Looking For A Few Good Sauces!

Are you a gourmet food or specialty sauce maker? Are you located in Northern California? Are you interested in having your products placed in online and Bay Area Stores?

Innuendo Enterprises LLC is looking for some great new products to add to their current offerings. Your products; should they be approved for placement in our network will be presented to our ever growing list of retail clients. Your product will automatically be placed online with their retail affiliate RoJosGourmet.com and may also qualify to be offered to over 40 million shoppers a day on Amazon.com .


The criteria are as follows:

*Your product must be a shelf stable gourmet or specialty food item.

*Your product should be professionally packed in a FDA approved processing facility.

*You must have a professional label which includes ingredient declaration and nutritional facts.

*You should provide a price list of your submitted items which includes both wholesale and distributor price and your suggested list price.

*Your product should be made and stocked in Northern California.

*You acknowledge that any materials that you submit will be done at your own expense and regardless of the outcome your samples and/or materials will not be returned to you.

*All decisions are at the sole discretion of Innuendo Enterprises LLC and its officers.

We are particularly interested in expanding our Rubs and Spices, Salsa, dressings, olives and pickles, wing sauce, and condiments offerings.

If you would like to submit your specialty food items please contact us at INNUENDO CONTACT FORM and provide us with some details of your products.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Is "Everything" Truly Better With Bacon?

It makes me proud to see that creativity is alive and well in Santa Cruz California. At Marini's candy shop at the
Boardwalk amusement park you'll find the ultimate treat; chocolate-coated bacon.“It was kind of a joke to begin with,
" said the owner, Joseph Marini III.

Here are three little words that might give the staunchest snacker pause: Chocolate-covered bacon.
It sounds so wrong. But it tastes just right, says Joseph Marini III, a fourth-generation candy maker who is selling the bacon bonbons at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk seaside amusement park.
“It's not just for breakfast any more,” he says with a grin.

It's hard to tell exactly where the dream of candy-coated breakfast meats started, but for Marini, the inspiration was a trip with some ski buddies a while back.
“One guy came up with, 'Who doesn't love bacon? Who doesn't love chocolate? Let's marry them together.'”

So Marini gave it a shot and after some trial and error — crispness is key, he says, noting that chewy bacon plus chocolate is undelicious — he came up with a product.
“It was kind of a joke to begin with,” he says. “We brought it down to the boardwalk and put it in a case just to see if people would react, and they reacted.”

Take boardwalk visitor Nathan Lopez, who on a recent foggy morning had a quizzical look on his face as he began eating a sample at Marini's at the Beach. But he finished with a smile.
“Interesting combination,” was the verdict. “I didn't think it would be very good but once I tried it; it was good.”

Of course, chocolate-coated bacon is just the latest incarnation of the wackier-the-better fair food philosophy.
Fair food has been shaking up the snack scene for some time, says Ron Whiting, of Whiting's Foods, whose family has been selling food at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk for decades.
“Years ago, I think food tended to be more traditional and less fun,” he says. Then came the corn dog and the era of quick and on-a-stick. “We all talk about the next corn dog,” he says.
Fry, fry again is a persistent theme. Current popular snacks include deep-fried Twinkies and Oreos.

Page, who admits to eating "more than my fair share of fried dough," notes that gourmet chefs have taken to putting food — just about any food — on a stick, coming up with some posh Popsicles. Meanwhile, there's the foie gras-cotton candy matchup, not a stretch flavor-wise since foie gras usually is paired with something sweet, but certainly visually arresting.
“It's the melding of both these worlds, the high end and the low end,” said Page.

Never underestimate the appeal of battered-is-better.

source: Associated Press

Friday, August 08, 2008

Recipe: Classic Barbecued Chicken Simplified

This recipe is an All American Classic. We like to use drumsticks, but you can use your favorite part of the chicken or even a whole bird, cut up for the grill!

I can't think of an easier way to impress your friends and family without having to slave in the kitchen. You can serve this with some grilled corn or baked potatoes done right alongside on your outdoor cooker.

Ingredients:

1 pkg Chicken Drumsticks(legs)
BBQ Rub or Salt & Pepper to taste
1 Jar BBQ Sauce any flavor

Wash thoroughly and pat dry chicken pieces. Season chicken with BBQ rub or salt and pepper. Grill chicken on a medium flame until it reaches and internal temperature of 160 degrees. Brush on your favorite BBQ sauce and continue to cook until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 175 degrees. Brush on more sauce during this process to achieve a nice sticky coating.

Visit the recipe archive at RoJosGourmet.com by clicking the Easy Gourmet Recipes link http://www.rojosgourmet.com/category_s/39.htm?click=82

Send In a recipe using one of the products purchased from RoJo's Gourmet. If your recipe is chosen we will post it for all to read. You will also receive a gift from RoJo's Gourmet Foods if your recipe is selected. Thank you all in advance for your great recipes.

Saturday, August 02, 2008

Sauce Maker Interview: Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce

I received an email from Al at County Bob’s All Purpose Sauce Company. He explained that they had seen “The Last Bite” and wondered if we would be interested it trying their fine All Purpose Sauce. Seeing as though Country Bob’s is not available in California I was all over that like a tornado on a trailer park.

Country Bob’s is a small company from Centralia, Illinois. One man’s passion for cooking resulted in their original sauce recipe. They formed a corporation and the business exploded. They credit their great success to God and have appointed Christ their CEO. While the CEO was not available for this interview; co-founder Al Malekovic was happy to answer our question:

Q: How did you come to found a gourmet sauce business?
A: Country Bob Edson created the All Purpose Sauce in 1968. He owned a filling station and all the local guys would come around and he would make lunch. He loved to BBQ and he would fix different meats and feed them. He could not find a sauce that suited him so he created Country Bobs All Purpose Sauce.

Q: How long have you been in business?
A: Country Bob was making it to sell locally and in 1982 the four of us Bob, Terry his son, Al Malekovic Terry’s father-in-law and Reed Malekovic, Al’s son created Country Bob Inc. and started on our way. This answers the next question, Al’s wife Eileen, runs the office, also a son-in-law and two grandsons. We have a total of 14 employees.

Q: Do you have business partners? Is it a family business? etc.
A: Didn’t you read the last answer? (us, not their answer)

Q: What kinds of challenges are involved in having a gourmet sauce company, and how do you surmount them?
A: The main challenge was getting people to taste it. We use to do a lot of demos, but due to the high cost we have about quit. Cost has went from $35 a day to about $150 a day, but now we give a lot of coupons for free bottles of Country Bobs away. Mainly over the internet!

Q: Do you use a co-packer? How did you find a good one, and how do you work with them to make sure the product comes out the way you intended?
A: We pack our own and also for several other small companies. We are now making our plastic bottles.

Q: What’s the best thing about your job?
A: Meeting all the great people and see how they react to Country Bobs. Working with our family and way the Lord has blessed us.

Q: What’s the worst thing about your job?
A: Getting told NO!

Q: What was your first sauce?
A: Do you still offer it for sale? Country Bobs All Purpose Sauce was our first and still is!

Q: How do you go about developing a gourmet sauce?
A: We do it ourselves; in fact, we are working on a marinade and two new BBQ sauces.

Q: How do you taste and evaluate gourmet sauce?
A: Our employees help with the taste and we see what the market place is needing.

Q: How has your company evolved over the years? (if applicable)
A: Because of the increased number of chains and the Broker system dissolving; we now use the internet to get people to taste Country Bobs. We send out a coupon for a free bottle if the people register on our web site. We are on a bunch of search engines that give free stuff away. Also we started blogging a couple of months ago and our hits on our web site have doubled. We are redoing our web site to make it more person friendly.

Q: Do you use any unusual ingredients that people might be surprised at? (No Answer)

Q: Do you have a favorite sauce? What do you like about it?
A: Our All Purpose!!

Q: Aside from your own, do you have a favorite commercially available gourmet sauce?
A: NO!

Q: What’s the best way to use your sauce?
A: You name it! From marinating, dipping, steak, BBQ, and the vast ways to cook with it. (you should see our cookbook).

Q: What’s the strangest way you’ve heard of someone using your sauce?
A: Ice Cream

Q: What do you want people to know about your sauce?
A: If they will taste it they will buy it.

Q: What is next for your company?
A: Gourmet BBQ sauces

Q: What trends do you see happening in the specialty food industry in the next several years?
A: Shelf space being a premium and the cost of doing business rising.

Q: Where can we buy your products?
A: Web site, call us, Amazon, most Kroger and Wal-Mart Super Centers, Albertsons, and other independent stores. Country Bobs is sold mostly in the Midwest and the South.

We truly enjoyed the sample of Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce and you can get your
FREE bottle by simply signing up for their newsletter. Some restrictions apply, see their site for details: http://www.countrybobs.com/pages/signup.asp

Look for part two where we use Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce in a recipe from the Country Bob's website!