First Bites: August 2020

A taste of Barbados
 

Together with son, Rommel, and daughter, Renita, Raphael Drakes brings customers the flavours and seasonings of his family heritage in Barbados through Raphael’s Gourmet Foods, a line of locally made sauces and seasonings. “These are our family recipes. We’ve always eaten them at home. My father learned them from his mother, who learned them from her mother. It’s a 200-year-old family legacy,” Renita says. Those recipes include Bajan Seasoning and Caribbean Pepper Sauce, the latter of which is a Bajan specialty made with scotch bonnet peppers and turmeric. “In Barbados, these are the two sauces that everyone uses at home,” she says. Bajan Seasoning is a wet rub, made from lime, vinegar, sea salt, green onion, garlic, thyme and a hint of scotch bonnet peppers. Renita describes it as medium spicy while still being light and fresh. “It’s not a condiment, but rather designed to be used prior to cooking as a marinade and the flavours need to be activated with heat.” It works with any protein and is perfect for grilling although Bajans generally don’t limit it to that form of cooking. “The great thing is you don’t need to learn anything new to use these. Just add it to the dishes you already like to eat.”

Raphael’s Gourmet Foods
raphaelsgourmet.com

Find it at: Fresh is Best, So Low Foods, South China Seas

Latin-inspired charcoal flavour
 

Sebastian Cortez gets excited when he talks about the tradition of asado, as practised in his homeland of Chile, where meat is cooked slowly at low temperature, often over a charcoal grill. “Friends show up early and build the fire together while we have a few drinks. It can go on all day.” As the owner and butcher behind Sebastian & Co. Fine Meats, where his butchery has been delighting fans since 2007, Cortez has created a dry rub that promises the flavour of the South American asado. His Charcoal Rub was inspired by those all-day parties, his mother’s marinade and the smoky flavours of the charcoal grilling process. To recreate that in a dry rub, he uses cumin, paprika, oregano, citrus powder, chipotle and chargrilledflavoured oil for added taste. Activated charcoal gives the rub its unique black colour. Cortez recommends that whatever the cut of meat, it should be covered completely with the rub. “It can [look] intimidating,” he says, referring to the unusual black colour, “but it’s not overpowering. It’s actually quite delicate”. Besides barbecue, the rub is equally at home on the rim of a Caesar, on an oven-cooked brisket, roasted chickpeas or seared tuna.

Sebastian & Co. Fine Meats
sebastianandco.ca

Find it at: Chop N Block (Kamloops), Codfather’s Seafood Market (Kelowna), The Gourmet Warehouse, Fresh Street Market

Clean ketchup
 

Jonny Hetherington, the lead singer for rock band Art of Dying, and Melissa Mercier, a designer and photographer, launched Jonny Hetherington Essentials in 2016, with a trio of habanero hot sauces free of preservatives and binders. Founded on a philosophy of “clean ingredients,” they applied the same thoughts to their line of ketchups, this time spurred on by the arrival of their daughter, Jake. Not happy to give their daughter the existing big name ketchups packed with highfructose corn syrup, Hetherington and Mercier decided to develop a line of what their daughter called “che-chup” using natural ingredients. “We designed the ketchups around Jake,” says Hetherington, with pride in his voice. Produced with mainly local ingredients, the line includes Original, packed with fresh tomatoes and sweetened with organic cane sugar; earthy Beet; and a unique Goji Berry version with Gojoy goji berries grown in Abbotsford. “It’s extremely tasty and we were able to sneak a superfood in there, too,” says Hetherington. Delicious on anything you’d normally put ketchup on, they can also be used as marinades and Hetherington suggests marinating a chicken breast in beet ketchup before throwing it on the grill.

Jonny Hetherington Essentials
jonnyhetheringtonessentials.com

Find it at: Choices (Kelowna), Federal Store, Harvest, The Fish Counter