A Tale of Two Srirachas

Sriracha certainly has become the "It" condiment lately. From being in the news on the verge of being shut down, to home cooks coming up with emergency recipes to make your own, seems like I'm seeing sriracha, or "rooster sauce", everywhere. The Chef loves the stuff. He puts it on everything I swear. Without sriracha, Dragon Noodles would be just........noodles. No spicy mayo for my sushi or my Asian slaw for burgers. What a dull and ketchupy place this would be.

A while ago I happened upon a Kickstarter campaign for a new product and it really peaked my interest.  A few student athletes from Colorado Mesa University were partnering with a local business person to creat a new, fresh and all natural sriracha sauce. No processed sugar, no preservatives, but tons of flavor. They chose to raise money via Kickstarter, a popular crowdfunding resource for entrepreneurs, and had no problem reaching their goal. 

Photo courtesy of RMS's Kickstarter campaign.

Fast forward to production- the initial fund raising drive allowed the students to join a business incubator in Grand Junction with a commercial kitchen, and off they go. They wisely made use of local ingredients such as organic garlic from the Hobbs Family Farm in Avondale, rare Fresno peppers, organic agave nectar and natural sea salt to create their version of sriracha sauce. They also made their sauce more unique with the addition of 100% organic turmeric, cumin and rosemary. I had no idea these spices were in sriracha sauce!

And how does it compare? First off, let's talk about the original Rooster sauce. It's pungent. Smooth. Vinegary. Hot. The vinegar taste is apparent immediately and the heat quickly takes over. It's obviously blended and strained as it's very very smooth. It's good. It's familiar.

Rocky Mountain on the left, Rooster on the right.

Then I tasted the Rocky Mountain Sriracha. What a refreshing change! Now, if you want sriracha strictly for heat, this is not going to be your go-to sauce, but if you want great fresh pepper flavor, more of a chunky consistency with bits of pepper and seeds throughout, less vinegar and more pepper flavor this is the sauce for you. It's not as hot as the other sriracha but it more than makes up for less heat with better flavor. This stuff is amazing. AAAAAAmazing.

You can get your own Rocky Mountain Sriracha by clicking HERE. I highly recommend you try it. I'd also like to mention that a portion of their proceeds are donated to charity, so that makes me appreciate what these guys are doing even more.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 55: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Amazing Asian-style Dragon Noodles

Funny things happen when your friends are as foodie as you are. Normal conversations don't really exist. You spend hours discussing grains, or Kobe beef, or the best way to make kimchee. You each look up the same food blog online and pore over recipes, dissecting the ingredient list and making substitutions and technique changes that you usually agree on. Day long conversations (via email usually) center around food and drink, interspersed with  "OMG I'm getting sooo hungry" one of the most commonly used phrases.

My friend Andi and I are just like this. Every day, pretty much. We talk food like it's our job. What we had for dinner last night. A new restaurant in town. What we're cooking tonight. New versions of tomato jam. Things to do with bacon. The pros and cons of curry. Cake. Lots of cake. And we always land on "OMG I am sooooo hungry." 

Today for example, almost as soon as I got to work and signed online I got a message from her. It went something like this:

(link to recipe on website)

I'm just gonna leave this here

For you

I made them last night

and HOLY BALLS are they DELICIOUS

You get the idea, right? We are OBSESSED !!!! By now you're probably wondering what kind of recipe we were talking about too, right?  Well Andi had come across a website called BudgetBytes. We are both always searching out new ideas and new dishes to make. We are not "same old same old" people- we like to find new recipes to try all the time. Anyway, she found this website and it's loaded with great budget-friendly recipes. EASY recipes with ingredients you probably have in your kitchen already. I think we spent an entire day discussing the meat-free noodle dishes ! We got to talking about which recipe looked super easy and delicious, bookmarking, printing and saving recipes, and we came across one that looked soooo good we were both dying to try it. She made it last night, I am making it tonight. The recipe is called Dragon Noodles, and to make it you will need:

• 4 oz lo mein noodles (or linguine)
• 2 tb butter
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1 large egg
• 1 tb brown sugar
• 1 tb soy sauce
• 1 tb Sriracha
• 1 sliced green onion
• handful fresh cilantro

Bring a pot of water to boil and cook noodles.  While noodles are cooking, mix the sugar, soy and Sriracha in a small bowl and set aside. In a skillet, melt the butter. Add the red pepper as it melts. Beat the egg and add to butter in skillet, cook, stirring until done. Remove from heat and set aside.

When noodles are cooked, drain completely, then add to skillet, adding sauce mixture. Return to heat and cook, tossing noddles until excess moisture is gone and noodles are coated with sauce. Sprinkle with green onions and cilantro and serve immediately.

I had a couple small pieces of sirloin in the fridge so I thinly sliced, stir fried, and tossed with my noodles. It was perfect- like a hot/sweet Mongolian beef. **NOTE- I also multiplied everything else by 4 to make leftovers, using a pound of pasta. This recipe is super easy to double, triple or go bigger.

Honestly, I wish I could claim to be the culinary genius behind these noodles. But that honor goes to BudgetBytes. I hope you stop by the website and check out all the delicious recipes there. Like so many recipes, Dragon Noodles is so ridiculously versatile. You can add whatever Asian veggies you like, cooked mushrooms, tofu, thinly sliced and cooked meat of almost any kind (imagine chicken or even shrimp.....yum!) to turn this into an entree (increase the sauce mixture by two or three times). This dish literally comes together in the time it takes to boil water and cook noodles. The sauce is the key to the delicious DRAGON heat with sweet, hot and salty all at the same time.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 55: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Trending: They've come to snuff the Rooster

Rooster Sauce, that is. The fight has been brewing in California for well over a year about whether or not the fragrance of Sriracha is a public nuisance or not. Of course, to the foodie world, we are shocked at the mere thought! Why would anyone go to war against Sriracha? Unthinkable! Eaten on everything from egg rolls to scrambled eggs, Sriracha is one of the most widely-recognized condiments, probably as popular as ketchup. In a way, you could say it's ketchup for grownups. Fortunately, I heard on the news the fight is over!! Yay!! Sriracha is saved!!

Another popular trend right now is the burger. Once the lowly drive in sandwich, the humble burger is making a major place in the culinary scene, from unusual meats to crazy marketing schemes and theme restaurants. Seems like the more outlandish the idea, the more popular the burger. Here at the Little Lake House we love burgers as well, and you already know that we play with our food. That's what happens when a professional chef and an amateur chef take up residence! We love our Sriracha around here, and we love Asian flavors too so it just seemed natural so want to combine them into something really delicious- and along came the Asian Burger with Spicy Mayo and Rooster Slaw. You can prepare the meat indoors or on a grill outdoors. Topped with a crunchy "slaw" it's a delightful burger we hope you will love too.

To make the burger you will need:

1 pound ground beef

2 TB Sriracha sauce

2 TB Hoisin sauce

1 TB sesame seeds, lightly toasted

small bunch green onion, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 TSP red pepper flakes (optional)

1 TSP finely grated fresh ginger or a few dashes dried ginger

salt and pepper

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix by hand until thoroughly combined. 

Divide into 4 portions and form into patties. Preheat your outdoor grill, grill pan on the stovetop or skillet. Cook the burgers to desired doneness.

Meanwhile, for spicy mayo mix together 1/2 cup mayonnaise and 2 TB Sriracha.

For slaw toss together:

1 cup sliced Romaine lettuce

1 or 2 green onions, sliced

1/4 cup shredded carrot

enough of spicy mayo to moisten

some chopped water chestnuts, if you have it, add another crunchy element

To assemble burgers, toast sesame seed buns. Place burger on bottoms, top with slaw and bun top that has been spread with additional spicy mayo. Top with additional Sriracha if you like it super spicy.

That was easy and a fun twist on a burger. A little like Mongolian beef, a little spicy, this would be great with any kind of ground meat. Serve with some grilled asparagus or stir fried vegetables and you have a pretty fantastic meal!