Hawaiian-style pulled pork sliders, bite-sized happiness

If you've already read my blog post about mac salad, I bet you're wondering about the other half of the dish in the photograph at the bottom.

Some folks are tired of slider mania, but I say that this trend should live on forever and ever and ever. What is not to like about mini-sized sandwiches? I mean,  it's great for kids, and it's great for those of us on diets (I like to put tiny sliders on small plates and fool myself into thinking that it's full size, or I've shrunk. Whatever. It works). It's also great when you want to turn a sandwich or burger into an appetizer so that your party guests don't have to leave early because they are suffering from food coma. Krushburger here in Sacramento has capitalized on this awesomeness, you can order a mix-and-match so you can try all of their tasty offerings without busting your belt. Oh shucks, they are just so darned cute! What's not to love?

Mac salad, the king of side dishes

We just finished an epic Memorial Day weekend full of friends and fun, and hosted a luau-ish style party! We have never been to Hawaii, so you'll have to forgive me for my lack of authenticity.

We needed to come up with a Hawaiin style main dish and side that was easy to make and a real crowd-pleaser. Luckily, that isn't too hard, these folks know how to eat! My favorite is the "Plate Lunch". The Plate Lunch typically consists of a protein (pork, beef, chicken, or fish) in some sort of BBQ or teriyaki or other awesomeness, served with rice and a side of my all time favorite food ever, macaroni salad - or as the locals like to affectionately call it, "mac salad" for short.

The srirachas are rolling in

Update as of 5/21/213

Roland came in today! This one is made in China. Another Dragon Sauce. Can't they all just like get together and have an international expo or something and pick different mascots? That would be pretty darn cool. They can call it SrirachaCon!

Color and texture in the bottle are looking pretty similar to Trader Joe's. Waiting on Lee Kum Kee, Flying Goose, and a few others. On that note, if anyone knows how we can obtain Saigon Sisters "T-racha Awesome Sauce" (based out of Chicago), please let us know, we will send you a check.  Oh and look, there already is a Hot Sauce Expo. Need to plan our trip...

Throw some hot shrimp on that barbie

No no no, that's just silly. What I'm talking about is firing up the grill while things get hot outside! To match the Sacramento heat, there is nothing like making some spicy shrimp kebabs on the BBQ!

So this is a true SFB original, no inspiration here besides me opening up my condiments cabinet and having at it. Try it out and tell us what you think.

Ok, I was inspired by reading about a Nate Appleman recipe in Food and Wine calling for mayo on grilled asparagus to "create a beautifully blistered crust". Basically, it acts as an oil that has sticking power (and what is mayo besides egg, oil, and a vinegar?). On another blog topic, we make our own mayo, and you can too, and I suggest you try it some time.

Update on the Sriracha Smackdown

Update: See our results for Round 1 and Round 2! The post below tells the story of how we came by these many srirachas, and some additional facts about them.
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For those of you that missed a beat, we have decided to put The Rooster and Huy Fong foods to the test.

Here is an update of our srirachas to date:

Srirach Name Origin Status Tested Huy Fong US Obtained, duh! Round 1 and Round 2 Caravelle Thailand Obtained Round 1 "Shark Brand" Mild Thailand Obtained Round 1 "Shark Brand" Hot Thailand Obtained Round 1 and Round 2 Grand Mountain Thailand Obtained Round 1 Green Mountain Thailand Obtained Round 1 Green Mountain "Strong" Thailand Obtained Round 1 Trader Joe's US Obtained Round 1 "Flying Goose" Thailand Obtained Round 1 "Crying Tiger" Thailand Obtained Round 1 and Round 2 "Pain is Good" US Ordered Round 2 Lee Kum Kee US Obtained Round 1 and Round 2 HT Traders US Obtained Round 1 Roland China Obtained Round 1 Yuzu Pao Japan Obtained Round 2 Oxygen Amazon Colombia Obtained Round 2 ABC Indonesia Obtained Round 1 Sriraja Panich Thailand Obtained Round 1 Sky Valley US Obtained Round 1 and Round 2 T-racha Awesome Sauce US Obtained Round 2 Aroy-D Thailand Obtained Round 1 Uncle Chen US Obtained Round 1 Dark Star sriracha US Obtained Round 2 Homemade My House In the works Round 2

Get sriracha for breakfast, (almost) every day!

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Get ready for the next "Judgement of Paris"... Is Rooster King?

Ok sriracha fans, you've asked for it. Less non-sriracha and more sriracha. While this really wasn't the full intent of the blog, I can't deny requests for content.

As you're probably aware (well, at least if you read sriracha news like I do, and I know you do), there has been quite a kerfuffle about "counterfeit sriracha". More on that here, and here, and here (yes, even Zagat is on this).

But I say - so what? Why does Huy Fong have a corner on the market? Is it true that Rooster is King? Turns out, everyone and their mother makes sriracha sauce. True, it was David Tran's version that sparked the Great Sriracha Revolution back in 2008/2009, but really, sriracha was inspired by Thai hot sauce that has been around for an undetermined amount of time. Don't believe me? In fact, what you know as rooster sauce is as American as apple pie, and tells of a classic immigrant success story.