Tuesday, January 13, 2015

to sauce or not to sauce

I love a good sauce, don't you? One with locally-sourced organic ingredients that elevates your food to haute cuisine?

Here are two Portland sauces that work wonders for your broiled salmon, huevos rancheros, taco night or Thai noodle dishes.

Marshall's Haute Sauce: Yum! And look at all the stuff they put in that tiny bottle! You'd be hard-pressed to replicate it without investing in some fairly expensive ingredients. I sampled some of this the other day, and I swooned. (Their website seems to be undergoing some sort of hacking/safety issues, I'm getting the "are you sure" message when I click there - but the url is marshallshautesauce.com if you want to give it a go.)

On the Thai side, one of my go-to favorite food carts in Portland is the infamous Nong's Khao Man Gai downtown. I've been going there for years - even before every major food magazine
hailed them as the next-best thing to sliced gluten free bread. A couple years ago they started selling their sauce, and I typically have a couple bottles in my pantry at all times.

That said, here's an unexpected consequence of my January, 2015 experiment: I'm trying to not only eat clean, but look at the economics of my eating. As fabulous as the sauces are, they are a bit pricey. And I say that not to complain. They are worth every penny! But after I curtailed my grabbing-lunch-on-the-go habit, it started this domino effect where I'm confronting my "eating out" budget as well as my grocery store spending.

So yesterday, instead of pouring $3.50 worth of bottled sauce on my wild salmon (which I buy in bulk once a year, directly from Alaska thanks to a friend with contacts), I squeezed half a lemon on it instead. Drizzled a bit of olive oil, and waved the salt & pepper grinders over my fillet. Broiled for six-and-a-half minutes, I have to say, it tasted fantastic. Fresh, I guess, is how I'd describe it.

That's not to say I'll forever abandon the yummy sauces, but it was a good lesson for me. Simple can taste just fine. Also, I think my palate is getting sensitized to seasonings again - recoiling at extra sodium and such.

The best thing about that salmon is - it's fantastic high-quality, low calorie protein. I can eat it every meal. Truly.

What's your favorite condiment?

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:10 PM

    Hmm, favorite condiment. Are pickles a condiment? Can I pretend that they are?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sure they are! At least in my book.

      Delete

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