The Great Steak Sauce Taste Off

--Tailgatin' and how to make mofos start playa hatin' (Recipes)

I recently mc'd a gathering for 6 (+me) of my food buddies and we had a steak sauce taste off. It was a great event and a helluva way to start off summer the grilling season. We would be trying six different steak sauces including the most well known of the bunch, A1. I had brought a few and another friend of mine who said he had a few different kinds in his pantry brought the others. We had a friend who was judging the contests wife pour the bottles into plastic cups and label them 1-6 and since she wasn't all that into it, she would be the only one who knew what the numbers of each sauce was. Scoring was quite simple with 6 points being awarded to a judges favorite all the way down to just one point for their least favorite. Of course we would be using grilled steaks as the meat of choice for tasting the sauces with. Here is how it went down. Read on to see how you can have a chance to get a free bottle of the winning sauce.


2010 Great Steak Sauce Taste Off Contestants
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A1

Final Score: 17 points for 5th place
Highest Score: 4 by one person
Lowest Score: 1 by one person
Weird Ingredient: raisin paste

Notes: Well this was interesting considering that A1 is the most widely known brand at least in the United States. Well it didn't fare too well in this blind tasting contest and was voted in the bottom half by six of the seven judges. I would believe the steak sauce is one of the Kraft food companies big earners and I actually don't mind it but it didn't stack up with the rest, it got a two from me.
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Ashanti

Final Score: 23 points for 4th place (lost tiebreaker)
Highest Score: 5 by one person
Lowest Score: 1 by one person
Weird Ingredient: raisin paste, OJ concentrate, oil of grapefruit

Notes: This is a steak sauce made by Bridge Foods who is based out of New Orleans. I brought this one with me and score it a four and quite enjoyed it to the point where I wanted to give it maybe even a five but when I had a taste off with my five score it just lost out.
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Louisiana Supreme

Final Score: 23 points for 3rd place (won tiebreaker)
Highest Score: 6 by one person
Lowest Score: 1 by one person
Weird Ingredient: raisins, crushed oranges

Notes: The second of the Louisiana natives steak sauces just so happened to score the same points as the other contestant. Louisiana Supreme won the tiebreaker with having a score of six (Ashanti scored a high of five) from one of the judges but it also had a one just like Ashanti sauce did. I gave it a score of three so I actually slightly preferred the Ashanti sauce but never the less I also liked this. The contestants in the 1st ever Sauce Off were pretty strong in my opinion.
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Original Australian

Final Score: 12 points for 6th place
Highest Score: 3 by two people
Lowest Score: 1 by four people
Weird Ingredient: raisin paste, anchovy

Notes: The sauces full name goes by Original Australian Awesome Steak Sauce but nobody thought of it like they think of themselves. The main reason being how much thinner it was than all the others. It was almost like a marinade and not a sauce. It was my lowest rated mostly to do with this. I kept thinking maybe it would be better served by marinating some cubes of beef for Australian steak kabobs or something to that effect.
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London Pub Jamaican Style Spicy

Final Score: 35 points for 2nd place
Highest Score: 6 by two people
Lowest Score: 4 by one person
Weird Ingredient: Tamarind concentrate

Notes: This sauce comes from the London Pub line of condiments which is a line of many English condiments including their original style steak sauce and this spicy Jamaican version that scored very well. I am a regular consumer of this brand when I see them in the grocery store and had brought this bottle with me along with the two Louisiana sauces. I love this stuff, specifically the Jamaican style due to the extra heat and fact it goes so well with everything. I use it in my Sheppard's pie, meatloafs, steaks, tater tots, you name it. I was surprised when I scored it a five and it had me wondering what I scored the six. Its still one of if not my favorite steak sauces.
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YR Sauce

Final Score: 37 points for 1st place
Highest Score: 6 by three people
Lowest Score: 4 by one person
Weird Ingredient: Apples, Dates

Notes: It was a close call but the fifth generation YR Irish Sauce beat out the English sauce for 1st place in the 1st ever Great Steak Sauce Taste Off. In fact I even gave it a six over my favorite that I had brought which I gave a five. I really liked the stuff because as opposed to the last place finisher it was thick and hearty as it describes itself. I will stock up when I get my chance. If your in the Chicagoland area and you know where to get this let us know. Read on.


The 2010 Great Steak Sauce Taste Off Winner (win this bottle)

Oddly enough my rankings pretty much equaled the final results with just a switch here and there. So when I asked my friend where he got the bottle he told me Strack & Van Til over on Clybourn, a spot I like b/c they carry regional products and have a selection unlike the two main grocery stores in town. But then when I went over there to get some they didn't have any and I went to the people at the company and they told me they didn't think there were any spots for it in Chicago but that they would send me a few bottles, after I told them why I was looking. Well I'm pretty sure you can because I've seen the stuff since at a couple Irish Pubs and know its around since my friend got it at S&VT. But I can make it easy for you. Read on below.


One of the steaks used in the taste off with some twice baked mashed

To get a bottle of the 2010 "Steak Sauce Taste Off" just join my facebook group or click follow on this very site near the top right (those already in the group or following are automatically entered) and you will be automatically entered into the contest where two random winners will be chosen from a random computer drawing on June the 25th, 2010. Good grillings to all and thanks again for reading. Plenty more to come this summer. Stay tuned.

Super Shrimp de Jonghe

--Tailgatin' and how to make mofos start playa hatin' (Recipes)

Chicago has many different original dishes that were created in the city. Shrimp de jonghe might not be as well known amongst 20/30 somethings as beef and pizza but its a classic Chicago dish that needs to return to some menus around town. In fact its Chicago's oldest delicacy and is said to have been concocted by two Belgian immigrants that owned the DeJonghe's Hotel and Restaurant that rested at 12 E. Monroe St from 1899-1923. There is something really special about shrimp blanketed in garlic, butter, parsley, sherry and bread crumbs. Its a dish I have been eating since I have been on this earth. My uncle makes a killer de jonghe and he was happy to show me the art of this lost Chicago dish. Its also perfect during the wintertime and a sure hit for your super bowl party.

Uncle Richard's Shrimp de Jonghe

2 lbs shelled shrimp
1 stalk of flat leaf parsley (leaves chopped from stalk)
1 entire bulb of garlic (8-10 cloves)
1.5 cups of bread crumbs
3 sticks of butter
1 cup of dry sherry
salt, pepper and red pepper flakes
grated Parmesan

~add everything but the shrimp and cheese to a cuisinart and blend it into a paste like this.



~Take a large baking dish or single baking instruments such as these seashells that we used. Fill the shells or dish with the shrimp or a few on each individual serving and pack the blended paste tightly around the shrimp making sure there are no air holes. If using individual serving then place them on a baking trey.





~sprinkle the Parmesan on top of each serving



~Bake at at 350 for 10-12 minutes or until they look like this.






This is a great super bowl party food. Goes great with beer.

Five Cheese Garlic Spread from River Valley Ranch

In a little town called Burlington in Southeast Wisconsin (about 1.5 from Chicago) there is a mushroom farm called River Valley Ranch that produces mushrooms and canned goods. In fact it wasn't until they started the canned good business that they started turning a profit and were able to make a living harvesting mushrooms. Check out the website for all they have to offer which is a whole lot.

RVR is the oldest mushroom farm in the Midwest. Dating back two generations to '76, they grow all sorts of mushrooms at the farm and sell them fresh at the country store located on the farm. I'm sure that many people have seen them at various farmer markets throughout Chicagoland. With all the mushrooms grown, they have to put them to use in ways other than fresh picked and they do that by offering all sorts of wonderful pasta sauces, dips and pickled relishes but there most amazing product doesn't even include mushrooms, its a garlic five cheese spread (hey this is a mushroom farm in Wisconsin) that is the best condiment from the state of Wisconsin. You can buy the spread at the green City farmers market in Chicago and they also carry it at various Sam's wine & spirit stores throughout Chicagoland. One day I decided to make a Wisconsin style de jonghe.

KingT's Wisconsin Style De Jonghe

The Stock

-shrimp shells
-2 cans of Wisconsin beer such as high life
-1/2 stick of butter
-celery stalk chopped into 3 pieces
-1/2 onion chopped a few times

Shrimp De Jonghe

-1 lb gulf shrimp with shells 12-15 count or larger
-2 sticks of butter
-1/3 cup of RVR five cheese garlic spread
-Bread crumbs or crushed ritz crackers

~preheat the oven to 450

~Boil the stock for 15 minutes and then drain it into a bowl and remove the shells/veggies and return stock to pot.

~Bring beer stock to a boil and add the half stick of butter. When beer is boiling add the shrimp and poach them for 2 minutes until just pink. Remove shrimp and wash with cold water and set aside.

~Melt stick of butter and layer the bottom of a baking dish with the butter and toss shrimp around and get them coated with the butter. Add the 1/3 cup of RVR cheese/garlic spread and make sure each shrimp is pasted with a little bit. Be liberal with the spread, this is Wisconsin style.

~Layer bread crumbs on top and bake for 12 minutes.




bam! there goes your heart

Other fun stuff to do with River Valley Ranch five cheese garlic spread.


the Country store at the farm


Stuffed 'Shrooms

~Stuff a mushroom with half cheese spread and half bread crumbs and bake for 12 minutes


The best garlic bread on earth


Cheesy garlic bacon wrapped shrimp

~rub spread on shrimp and wrap with a thin slice of bacon and fry until bacon is crispy.

RVR Mushroom Farm
39900 60th St.
Burlington, WI 53105
262 539 3555
Website