What would happen if your secret sauce for success was actually a sauce? The new lineup of Trade East and Melinda’s liquid spices is ready to transform your already standout menu items into outstanding flavor-forward dishes.
In a first-ever product collaboration, Gordon Food Service is unveiling six new sauces combining Trade East Seasonings and Spices with Melinda’s hot pepper-infused products. It joins the Goodfinds by Gordon collection in support of Melinda’s passion for clean-label real ingredients and traditional hot sauce-making techniques.
If it’s heat consumers want, there are plenty of pepper sauces available. The condiment-style hot sauce arena is saturated with options for consumers who crave spiciness, so these liquid spices take a new approach. The combo of heat and flavor with the added benefit of a thicker consistency give this collection many back-of-house possibilities.
Cayenne, jalapeño, chipotle, scotch bonnet, red savina, and ghost pepper sauces are a perfect match for the pure flavors of Trade East rubs. It’s an ideal combination of menu originality, consistency, and back-of-house simplicity.
Dallas-based Gordon Food Service Culinary Specialist, Juan Rosado, and Center of the Plate Specialist, Aaron Staudenmaier, are excited about the liquid spices and have put together recipes to introduce sauces designed to set your menu apart and keep guests coming back.
Pepper, Pepper Everywhere
In addition to their recipes, both experts agree these new liquid spices open the door to possibilities in all parts of the menu.
“If you’re making enchiladas, ranchero beans, Thai or other Asian dishes, you could use this to provide fresh, real chile flavor,” Staudenmaier said. He notes that the sauces can be used in egg dishes, Hollandaise sauces, salad dressings, aiolis, marinades, dips, and even desserts. “Chipotle and chocolate work well together.”
Pulling from his experience creating on-trend meals with a global focus, Rosado believes there are infinite international flavor possibilities. The sauces can be incorporated into any cuisine – French, Middle Eastern, Hispanic, Latin American. … “I think these liquid spices are an easy addition to any establishment.”
Don’t overlook beverage programs, he reminds operators. “With the interest in bitters and syrups, I think doing cocktails or mocktails using liquid spices is going to be very important. All kinds of bar food, especially wings, would be fantastic.”
Advantages of Liquid Spices
Liquid spice has benefits beyond the menu. You can promote using clean-label products. You simplify inventory. You save prep time and reduce the risk of injury while cutting peppers. You create consistently flavored meals.
“Not all peppers are equal. Some are more spicy than others because of the weather where they are grown, the time they are picked … you slice one open and, well, good luck,” Staudenmaier said. “These new products allow you to increase the flavor at a highly consistent level – instead of trying to regulate how hot each batch is going to be every time you get a new pepper in stock, you can depend on an equal amount of liquid spice tasting the same every time.”
Fresh, consistent flavor is its culinary strength, but there’s more than meets the taste buds. Sauces can be safer, as well as more economical and efficient.
There’s no cutting with sharp knives, and your prep team won’t risk eye irritation, burning fingers or inhaling pepper aerosols. “There’s no prep. You don’t have the cleanup. Liquid spices give you a lot of flavor for just a few pennies,” Rosado said.
Bring the Heat With Pepper Recipes
When it comes to peppers, the balance of heat and flavor is important. Too much fiery heat can mask other flavors.
“Scotch bonnet peppers have a really great delicate floral flavor, and then the heat kicks in,” Staudenmaier said. “These new sauces balance the flavor and spice.”
The chef’s recipes capitalize on that balance to turn up the heat on some dishes that feel familiar, but are served up with a dash of flair:
Scotch Bonnet Scotch Egg
Add this double Scotch to your bar food menu, or any menu for that matter. A traditional scotch egg – a three-minute boiled egg, wrapped in raw sausage seasoned with Scotch Bonnet Pepper Liquid Spice, breaded, and deep-fried – is served with a ramekin of whole-grain mustard. Elevate the mustard with a dash of the liquid spice.
Deviled Egg Dressing
Southern roots shine in this creamy, flavor-packed dressing perfect for a mixed greens dinner salad or your side salad offerings. Mayo, lemon juice, oil, vinegar, relish, Cotija cheese, crumbled hard-cooked eggs, paprika, Creole mustard, and Cayenne Pepper Liquid Spice create plenty of texture and zesty flavor.
Watermelon and Spinach Salad with Trade East Chipotle Mango Dressing
A Tex-Mex take on a summertime salad brings to the table a bed of spinach, topped with watermelon cubes, roasted corn, pickled onions, crumbled queso fresco, mint leaves, cilantro, and citrusy tajin tortilla chips. The sweet-spicy star of the show is a mango dressing made with just the right amount of Chipotle Pepper Liquid Spice.
Scallop Blackberry Aguachile
A pop of color and a burst of summer flavor shine through in this recipe. Thin scallop rounds are placed on a nest of red onion slices and cooked in a ceviche-like bath of lime juice, chopped garlic, ginger, agave syrup, blackberries, and Jalapeño Pepper Liquid Spice. Served with cilantro oil, shaved green onions, and crispy tortilla chips, it is a showstopping plate.
Ghost Pepper Fajita Roasted Chicken with Jicama Tortilla Slaw
Two peppers, one dish. In this concept, the skin of a whole chicken is rubbed with a blend of mayo, granulated garlic, sea salt, cumin, coriander paprika, and Ghost Pepper Liquid Spice. The crisp spiciness of the skin will elevate the tender chicken. This main course is accompanied by a Hispanic-style slaw – julienned jicama, green cabbage, carrots, corn tortillas, red, yellow and orange peppers, radish slices, and cilantro are topped with a dressing featuring roasted garlic, oil, lime juice, and Red Savina Pepper Liquid Spice.
Go From Spicy to Fiery
Your team could create a signature condiment using liquid spices. “A touch of lime juice, some cumin, a little tomatillo, and some Jalapeño Pepper Liquid Spice could be a very accessible signature house sauce that you could put on the table,” Staudenmaier said.
Chile flavors can go from “Hey, that’s pretty tasty” to “Oh, my gosh, I’m dying.” From mildest to hottest, each bottle offers opportunities for flavor enhancement:
- Cayenne Pepper Liquid Spice – Earthly and woody undertones and a bright, clean heat. (Item No.: 428827)
- Jalapeño Pepper Liquid Spice – Arguably the most familiar of spicy peppers, this sauce delivers an herbal zing with some sweetness, followed by a kick of heat. (Item No.: 428826)
- Chipotle Pepper Liquid Spice – Smoke and spice intersect in a savory and sweet sauce with just the right amount of heat. (Item No.: 428828)
- Scotch Bonnet Pepper Liquid Spice – Fruity, floral, and fiery. This pepper sauce is an extreme tropical adventure for the taste buds. (Item No.: 428832)
- Red Savina Pepper Liquid Spice – A subtle sour and fruity tang makes for love at first taste, but the heat doesn’t mess around. (Item No.: 428829)
- Ghost Pepper Liquid Spice – Some like it hot, and this is for them. Earthy and sweet hit the palate before the heat sets in. (Item No.: 428813)
- Shop Liquid Spices
Heat tolerance can be tricky, yet there’s a lot of cache in putting super chiles like scotch bonnet or ghost peppers on the menu. Be confident by asking your Gordon Food Service Sales Representative about liquid spices and how they can fit on your menu. With liquid spices, you can strike a balance of offering the flavor consumers demand with a heat profile comfortable for everyone.
What’s your secret sauce?
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