Trader Joe’s Jalapeño Sauce? No, gracias!

Posted on September 3, 2019 by Burnt My Fingers
Trader Joe Jalapeño Sauce

Trader Joe’s Jalapeño Sauce

We are huge fans of many Trader Joe’s products. Like their aged “1000 day” Gouda, the giant bricks of semisweet chocolate and raw cashew pieces we use in our Cashew Coconut Clusters, ridiculously affordable Boatswain Ale and those pricey Cheese Bites. We are not above grabbing a few produce or meat or dairy items in a pinch, and have found them to be consistently of good quality and well-priced. In fact, until now we have never found a Trader Joe’s product we would emphatically NOT recommend.

Enter Trader Joe’s Jalapeño Sauce.

We grabbed a bottle of this relatively pricey ($3.49 for 10 oz) product at a feature display this past winter. We’ve put it through its paces as a taco topping and in many other instances where you want a green (=vegetal) topping. It’s just not hitting the mark. The jalapeño flavor is way too mild and it mostly tastes of an emulsion of generic green stuff in a fatty base. It’s the textbook definition of “empty calories”, adding fat and a bland mouthfeel without much flavor enrichment.

Fresh jalapeños are amazing, and universally available. If you like the flavor, just chop up a fresh pepper, removing the seeds and veins if you are timid, and add to your whatever. Green sauces are also pleasant. If you crave a verdant coating to your meat or veggies, try our aji verde.

But Trader Joe Jalapeño Sauce? No, y bienvenidos a la basura!

Have you ever been disappointed with a Trader Joe’s product? Please share in the comments!

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Hacking Trader Joe’s Cheese Bites

Posted on August 29, 2019 by Burnt My Fingers
Parmesan Gran Padano Cheese Bites

Copycat Trader Joe’s Cheese Bites made with parmesan and Gran Padano

Trader Joe’s Cheese Bites and similar products are taking the world by storm. They were one of the top trends we identified at the recent Fancy Food Show in NYC. And what’s not to love? They’re delicious, full of protein and have zero carbs so they’re perfect for keto diets.

But the bites are not cheap, starting at $2.40-2.70 for a 2.11 oz (60 g) bag at Trader Joes and going up from there. So perhaps we can save some money by making an equivalent product at home? A blogger named Become Betty had already done the groundwork, identifying the cheese ratio at Trader Joes as 1 part Parmesan and 3 parts Grana Padano, an aged version of Parmesan, and recommending a cooking time of 11-14 minutes at 400 degrees for a shredded mixture.

Cheese Bites Ready for Oven

Cheese bites on silicone pad, ready for the oven

So we set out to make ourselves a bunch of cheese bites. We bought grated parmesan for $6.99 and Gran Padano at $12.99 at our co-op and shredded the latter, then mixed them and made bites of a heaping teaspoon each. Become Betty uses a “mini muffin tray” which we didn’t have but we cooked some in a muffin pan, others heaped on a silicon pad atop a half sheet pan. In they went for 10 minutes, checked to see if they would need longer cooking time. They didn’t.

Broken Cheese Bites

Cheese Bites cooked in muffin tins broke apart when removed

After 10 minutes the water had evaporated from the cheese and the fat had oozed out and the cheese coalesced into an appealing wafer. We got the best results from the pieces on the open silicone pad.  The ones in the muffin pan fried on the bottom and stuck when we tried to get them out, then broke into less appealing but entirely edible pieces. The verdict? Delicious, as good as Trader Joe’s.

Cheddar Cheese Bites

Cheddar Cheese Bites

Next we tried a combo of one part parm, 3 parts sharp cheddar. This didn’t go well. The extra moisture in the cheddar made the wafers spread out too much when cooking but much worse, they had an ingredient that gave them a burned/bitter taste. At least we didn’t spend a lot of money on this experiment: our cheddar was just $5.99 lb.

Swiss Cheese Bites

Swiss Cheese Bites

Finally we took some cheap ($6.99/lb) swiss cheese and mixed it with parm 50/50 since the cheddar had been disappointing. This worked out well. Light, crispy, airy; one taster dubbed this the favorite of the evening.

If you have been keeping track of prices and quantities, you are guessing we saved money big time except on the Gran Padano version. But what we haven’t told you is that the amount of cheese by weight reduced almost 50% in each case as water and fat boiled away. The net cost by finished weight:

4.64 cents per gram for Gran Padano prep
1.60 cents per gram for cheddar fiasco
2.77 cents per gram for Swiss/parm mix
4.48 cents per gram for Trader Joe’s cheese bites at $2.69.

So you may or may not be saving money but it isn’t very much. If you consider that Trader Joe’s product started at around 4 ounces assuming the same attrition, that’s around $10/lb which is not bad at all for quality cheese. Meanwhile, we had a bunch of greasy pans to clean.

Now that we’ve got the basics down, we may try an all-parm version. And we’ll make some more of the Swiss for the taster who liked them. But for day to day cheese desiccation, we’ll leave it to the Trader in the future.

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We check out Wholesome Pantry from ShopRite

Posted on August 27, 2019 by Burnt My Fingers
Wholesome Pantry Sweet Potato Tortilla Chips

Wholesome Pantry Sweet Potato Tortilla Chjips from ShopRite… delicious!

I agreed to sample the Wholesome Pantry line from ShopRite because I wanted to explore this chain anyway. But it turns out these products are really good! Some wicked clever food designer has picked up on the attributes people crave in snacks and taken them to another level.

Example: Sweet Potato Tortilla Chips really do have sweet potato as their third ingredient, after corn and oil, plus a bit of sugar! (No worries, it’s organic.) You get the crunch and familiar corn flavor but with a deeper, sweeter note. We ate the whole bag right away, but I think these would be amazing with guacamole.

Wholesome Pantry Maple Granola Bar with Pumpkin Seed

And: snack bars that really strut their stuff, rather than grinding up their featured ingredients. The Cranberry Almond Fruit and Nut Bar is festooned with big fat cranberries. The Maple Pumpkin Seed Granola Squares are covered with whole pumpkin seeds. The binding agent in these is agave and puffed rice, giving them a Rice-Crispy-squares texture which is quite appealing. Even humble Mango Slices were big and fat and dried to a perfect consistency which is chewy but quickly yields to hungry teeth.

As part of my assignment from ShopRite’s PR agency, I am supposed to report “how I’m snacking smarter this Summer”. Answer: I am going to get me some more of these treats, even though my nearest ShopRite is a good 30 miles away. Check out ShopRite.com/wholesomepantry and you’ll find that ShopRite has converted all its organic products (including bread and entrées) to Wholesome Pantry and they are now certified to contain 100% USDA Organic ingredients.

On my visit, I’ll also dig deeper into why ShopRite has some avid fans. My home base in the greater Albany/Capital District of upstate New York doesn’t have a single Ethiopian or Burmese or Filipino restaurant, but we’re burgeoning with supermarket choices. Price Chopper, a local chain that is also closest, is where I most often shop. For Italian specialties like Pastene Crushed Red Peppers, I’ll periodically visit Hannaford. We also have two smaller chains, Fresh Market and Healthy Living, and an outpost of Whole Foods. And of course there’s Walmart and Target for those who want to buy their food along with their sweatpants. And let’s not forget Trader Joe’s and its beehive parking lot.

Wholesome Pantry Packaging

Wholesome Pantry packaging

ShopRite is different because it’s the nation’s largest cooperative grocery chain, according to their website, which means stores or groups of stores are individually owned but share corporate management and distribution. As with any such operation, one can expect some variability from store to store.

The Albany location on Central Ave mostly impressed me with its vastness, while the Niskayuna store had narrow aisles, nooks and crannies and specials stuffed onto end caps, and the possibility of live uni at year-end (Sicilians use it for holiday pasta, and ShopRite is based in the Italian-American heartland of upper New Jersey). I missed it last year but they gave me the seafood department phone number so I can call and check next season.

I worked in supermarkets in many departments in my teens and learned that while they do their best to present an image of retail efficiency, they are at their heart overgrown delis. I look forward to exploring my semi-local ShopRite stores as I am stocking up on Wholesome Pantry.

This is a review of free product which was gobbled up by yours truly.

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Recipe: Seafood Cocktail Sauce

Posted on August 22, 2019 by Burnt My Fingers
Seafood Cocktail Sauce

Seafood Cocktail Sauce with shrimp. The shrimp were boiled with Old Bay Seasoning which accounts for the pinkishness and flecks of spices. Delicious.

Why pay for an expensive bottle of seafood cocktail sauce that takes up room in your refrigerator, when you can make your own as needed with ingredients you already have on hand? Inspired by this recipe from Kitchn. Makes ¾ cup, more than enough for a pound of shrimp.

Ingredients:
½ c ketchup
2 T horseradish*
1 t lemon juice
½ t Worcestershire sauce
½ t hot sauce (Tabasco or Crystal)

Method: mix all ingredient and serve cold with chilled seafood.

*Use a good refrigerated (not shelf-stable) brand that has a little kick to it. If you are lucky enough to have access to Atomic, the brand used in foodservice, reduce to 2 t, taste, and add more if needed.

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Recipe: Garlic Comfit

Posted on August 20, 2019 by Burnt My Fingers
Garlic Comfit

Garlic Comfit with the bag of garlic that had to be comfitted

I bought one of those big bags of peeled garlic and it was getting long in the tooth, so I made Garlic Comfit. The cloves retain their garlic-ness for use in cooked dishes, and I now have some nice flavored oil I can use for sautés and vinaigrettes. Adapted from this garlic comfit recipe from Saveur. Makes about 3 cups.

Ingredients:
1 ½ c good olive oil
1 ½ c peeled garlic cloves
1 ½ Kosher salt
10 whole black peppercorns
5 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 t dried thyme
1 bay leaf

Method: preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place all ingredients in an ovenproof bowl of pot that is narrow enough garlic is submerged. Cover and bake 1 hour, until garlic is fragrant and has darkened slightly. Cool and transfer to a 24 oz jar or other glass container. Will keep for several weeks under refrigeration.

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Recipe: Chinese Takeout Sweet and Sour Pork, Hacked

Posted on August 15, 2019 by Burnt My Fingers
Sweet and Sour Pork Hack

Takeout Chinese Sweet and Sour Pork, hacked

Order sweet and sour pork at my local Chinese takeout place, and you’ll get a product that looks like the picture at the bottom of this post: individual pieces of pork battered and fried, with a tub of fluorescent sweet and sour sauce to dip them in or pour over the top. You and I can do better by hacking our Sweet and Sour Pork recipe, but with a few shortcuts to get you the table faster.

Ingredients:
1 large takeout serving of battered and fried pork, about 1 qt
1 T oil for wok
1 T minced garlic
1 green bell pepper, cut into ¾ inch pieces
1 onion, peeled and cut into ¾ inch pieces
½ c canned pineapple chunks

For the sauce:
3 T water (or Xiaoxing cooking wine or dry sherry)
2 t cornstarch
¼ c additional water
3 T ketchup
1 T vinegar (use rice vinegar if you have it, otherwise cider or white vinegar)
¼ pineapple juice (from can of pineapple)
Additional sauce from takeout place (optional)

Sweet and Sour Takeout

Chinese takeout sweet and sour, pre-hack

Method: mix 3 T water and cornstarch in a small bowl until cornstarch is dissolved, then add ¼ c water, ketchup, vinegar and pineapple juice and stir until blended. Heat the oil to medium and add garlic, pepper and onion to wok; cook while stirring till vegetables are softened but not limp. Add the pineapple chunks and pork then pour over sauce (include the sauce from the takeout place if you wish) and heat until sauce is thickened and all elements are evenly coated. Serve over rice.

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Food for Thought: Indian Instant Pot Cookbook

Posted on August 13, 2019 by Burnt My Fingers

[6/23. See important UPDATE at the end of this post. Please read before you cook from this book!] Our extended family includes a two-career couple with two small children and, as you might expect, they are very strapped for time. They have enthusiastically embraced the Instant Pot and, on a recent visit, whipped out the Indian Instant Pot Cookbook by Urvashi Pitre and proceeded to make a Butter Chicken as good as any I’ve had. (That link is to the recipe within the New Yorker article which brought the author widespread attention as the “butter chicken lady”.) The chicken was tender, the sauce was as rich as expected, and this labor-intensive dish came together in under an hour, most of that cooking and pressure release time.

Turns out Urvahi Pitre is also the proprietor of the Two Sleevers blog, source of the Easy Bhindi Masala recipe shared a few days ago. I’ve been aware of this blog for some time; the odd name comes from the gastric sleeve weight reduction surgery Pitre and her husband had a few years ago. Originally, their blog chronicled their transition to a healthier lifestyle with an emphasis on low carb eating. There’s a lot of Indian on the website but recipes like Kichadi (rice with lentils) are not going to be found on a low-carb blog.

Recommendation: bookmark the blog, but also buy the book. (It’s currently around $10 on Amazon.) When it arrives, you might start by whipping up the Garam Masala spice mixture on p. 24; you’ll need it for the butter chicken. Then make some Paneer (Indian soft cheese, p. 32) and use it for Palak Paneer (p. 88) which will take you all of 30 minutes in the Instant Pot. Check it out.

6/23 UPDATE. I’ve always believed you need at least a cup of liquid in an Instant Pot recipe to generate sufficient pressure to seal the pot. Urvahi Pitre says this isn’t true and you can cook with much less liquid. Today I tried her Lamb Rogan Josh (p. 118) which contains just 1/4 c of water along with 1/4 c of thick Greek yoghurt. It never developed pressure and I got my first ever BURN notice on the display. Luckily I was able to rescue the lamb (and the now caked-on pot) before the dish was completely ruined, and I will finish it in a few hours on the stovetop. The moral of the story: don’t trust her low-liquid recipes. Find a way to incorporate at least a cup of liquid event if she doesn’t. It’s worth going to the trouble because the recipe (based on tasting the marinade) is delicious.

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Recipe: Best Way Ethiopian Tibs

Posted on August 8, 2019 by Burnt My Fingers
Best Way Ethiopian Tibs

Best Way Ethiopian Tibs (made with top sirloin)

There are a LOT of recipes for Ethiopian Tibs (stir fried beef or lamb) on the web, and no two seem to be alike. The essence of the dish is chunks of tender meat in a savory sauce with onion, garlic, tomato and wine plus berbere seasoning to make it as spicy as you like. Try this prep, or simply compare to the other recipes in your Google search, and you’ll agree this is the best way to make Ethiopian Tibs. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
1 lb lean beef or lamb, trimmed of fat and cut into ¾ inch cubes*
1 ½ T or more berbere spice mix**
¾ t Kosher salt
2 T kibbeh**, clarified butter, or a mix of butter and vegetable oil
1 medium red onion, peeled and sliced into slivers, about 1 c
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 T fresh ginger, grated or chopped
2 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped, about 1 ½ c, or 14-oz can chopped tomatoes
1 6-inch sprig fresh rosemary or 1 t dried rosemary
½ c or more red wine

Method: toss the meat with the berbere and salt till all pieces are evenly coated; let it stand while you prepare the other ingredients. Heat the kibbeh/butter/oil in a wok or cast iron skillet and sauté the meat on medium-high heat till it is crispy on the outside but rare to medium rare in the middle. Reserve. Add garlic, oil and ginger to the pan (which should now have additional liquid thrown off by the meat) and sauté on low to medium heat until onion is limp. Add wine and rosemary and simmer 5 minutes or so until the wine has reduced somewhat. Remove the rosemary spring if using and return the meat to the pan. Taste and adjust seasoning (add more berbere and salt if needed) and heat briefly. Serve immediately with injera or rice.

*Any lean cut without a lot of connective tissue will do, since we’re only cooking it to medium rare: round steak, flank steak, sirloin, tenderloin or leg of lamb.
**I use Penzey’s Berbere which I think is spicier than most blends. Taste and add more as you go to your own tolerance/preferences. Resist the temptation to just use cayenne because berbere includes a number of additional ingredients (check the list on the Penzey’s link above).
**Kibbeh is the seasoned clarified butter that makes its way into most Ethiopian dishes. Recipes abound. For my test run, I actually used the similarly-seasoned oil I’d made from the Teff Love cookbook (it’s Ye’Qimen Zeyet/Seasoned Oil on page 25), mixed half-and-half with plain butter.

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100 years of little weiners at New Way Lunch

Posted on August 6, 2019 by Burnt My Fingers
New Way Dirty Dogs

Dirty Dogs with the Works at New Way Lunch 100th Birthday


Last weekend was the 100th  birthday of New Way Lunch in Glens Falls, NY, and they rented the Farmers’ Market for a great big party. Highlight of the day was a hot dog eating contest, and 5 cent hot dogs for those lucky enough to make it to the front of the line during a 30-minute window.

The eventual winner of the hot dog eating contest. Note that he removes the dogs from the box to save time during competition

New Way is a local institution from the days Glen Falls was packed with factories (many in the paper industry) and it was originally open 24 hours to accommodate the workers who stopped by after their shifts. It’s in the fourth generation of ownership by the same extended family, and now has satellite locations in nearby Warrensburg and Queensbury.

The only days they closed were FDR’s funeral (a government mandate) and during an ice storm in 1964. (They actually tried to stay open and cook on propane stoves with lantern light, but an employee knocked over a lantern and the place caught on fire.) The only time they ran out of food was on VJ Day. If you had boned up on such company history on their “our story” page, you could have walked away with prizes like a New Way Lunch gift card during the trivia contest.

Hot Dog Eating Contest Finale

Final seconds of the hot dog eating contest at New Way Lunch 100th birthday party. Click here to watch the video.

The hot dog eating event was a somewhat feral affair, with the crowd chanting “eat eat eat” and a guy in Jersey Shore-style sunglasses threatening me because he felt I was getting in the way of his nephew’s view of the consumption. The winner downed 16 dogs in 15 minutes and won $500 cash; the runner-up ate 15 dogs and got four $50 gift cards, enough to buy 100 more hot dogs, a fact that produced some chuckles from the group. The rules included “no throwing up” and nobody did though one guy came very close.

Hot Dog Lines at New Way Lunch 100th Birthday Party

People have been standing in this line for close to an hour for 5 cent hot dogs.

After the contest, I got into a very long line for my own chance at a 5 cent dog. Missed that offer but paid a buck, a discount from the usual $1.80.  In my opinion it was a decent dog, but not as good as the mini-dogs served 50 miles down the road in the Troy/Watervliet area. The size is somewhere between those tiny weiners and a standard frank, I’d guess six inches uncooked. (New Way gets its weiners from Old World Provisions, whereas the other places use Helmhold.) The meat sauce was a bit watery and the buns gummy, probably because they weren’t able to steam them as in the shop. It still made a satisfying nosh, and I don’t think I’ll wait 100 years to return… especially because the New Way stores offer a variety of Greek-diner specialties, not just dogs.

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Egg Bites and more from 3 Little Pigs

Posted on August 1, 2019 by Burnt My Fingers
Egg Bite on English Muffin

Sous Vide Egg Bite on toasted English muffin with a bit of marmalade

I have long been aware of Les Trois Petits Couchons, or Three Little Pigs, a Brooklyn-based maker of charcuterie items. So when they asked me to review their products, in particular their new Sous-Vide Egg Bite, I was more than happy to agree.

Mousse and Miustard

Truffle Mouse and Moutard a l’Ancienne

The familiarity is because I’ve been going to the Fancy Food Show for many years and they are one of the first artisanal charcuterie suppliers I can remember. Founded in 1975 in Greenwich Vllage, 3 Pigs (as they abbreviate themselves on their website and in correspondence) had the simple mission to make high-quality French-style patés available in the U.S. (Many charcuterie products are not permitted for import.) They’ve expanded into sausage and an organic line over the years, and now the Egg Bites.

Sous Vide Egg Bites


Sous Vide Egg Bites

A Sous-Vide Egg Bite is cooked in the vacuum seal method used for their patés and mousses, and emulates the fillings in a quiche but without the crust. The most popular flavor is Bacon & Swiss, based on a quiche sold from the Greenwich Village shop in the 1970s. Other flavors currently available are Spinach & Feta, Prosciutto & Gruyere, Ham & Espalette Pepper and Mushroom & Swiss. All are made using cage free eggs, and are free from preservatives, nitrates/nitrites, and artificial ingredients; they are also sugar-free, gluten-free, and all-natural. The 3 Pigs marketing director pointed out that the first ingredient is eggs, unlike a competitive product at Starbuck’s which has cottage cheese as its first ingredient.

Pate Mustard Bread

Truffle Mousse and Moutard a l’Ancienne with some Tartine Porridge Bread

I did not try the Bacon & Cheese because one of my tasters got there first, attesting to its popularity, but all of the others exhibited the satisfying eggy/cheese balance you expect from a good quiche. I tried them at room temperature and they were fine, but they are much better if you microwave for 30 seconds or so. My favorite prep was on a toasted English muffin with a bit of butter and jam for an upscale breakfast sandwich. Refrigerated storage is recommended, so pop into your cooler if you are headed for the Race Course.

I also tried two of their other products, the Truffle Mousse and Mousse de Foie de Canard au Porto, from the new organic line, then added on my own dime the Paté Campagne. Each of these is the sort of appetizer you’d expect in a conservative fine dining establishment: quality ingredients, good flavor balance, and a traditional flavor profile. They are not competing with new artisanal products that might include chunks of fruit, nuts or other non-traditional experimentation.

Egg Bite Cut

Spinach and Feta Egg Bite as my favorite.

And, a shout-out to the Moutarde a l’Ancienne—a whole-grain mustard which the booth person raved about at the Fancy Food show, so I asked them to be sure and included it in my shipment. This stuff is addictive: the crunch of whole mustard seeds with a real kick from the heat. It’s a perfect companion to the patés served on a nice piece of bread or toast.

So, where to buy?
The “store finder” button on the Sous Vide Egg Bites product page told me simply that “there are no stores in the area.” The website indicates that you can call 1-800 LES PATES or email info@3pigs.com for local retailers but neither of those sources responded to our inquiry. So we did our own legwork and found the Egg Bites at Putnam Market in Saratoga Springs (at a bit of a markup) and charcuterie items at Price Chopper and Hannaford, two local supermarkets. You can also order on the website with “standard ground shipping” at $9.99 flat or via Instacart.

Note: Burnt My Fingers received free product, but no other form of compensation, for this review.

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