Introducing Not Ketchup

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If you've been wondering where I've been, take a look at http://www.notketchup.com and all will be clear.

More later. Must go pack boxes.

How to launch a food brand: Interview with Chris Cornyn from Supermarket Superstar

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Food marketing expert Chris Cornyn helps aspiring entrepreneur Patricia Kiernan design her label on Lifetime's Supermarket Superstar (photo: Adam Taylor)

Have you ever thought of taking your signature dish to supermarket shelves? Anyone ever told you that you should bottle your barbecue sauce, salad dressing, homemade jam?

[Raises hand.]

That's why I was so excited to talk with Chris Cornyn, founder of DINE Marketing, one of the country's premier food branding companies. Not only has DINE developed the brands and packaging for more than 2,000 different food products, but Chris is currently a mentor on Lifetime's new food reality show Supermarket Superstar, where aspiring food entrepreneurs compete to get their products manufactured and in front of grocery buyers. If anyone knows what it takes to make a food product successful, he does. Read and learn.

Erika: How long does a product have to get shoppers' attention?

Chris Cornyn: There's a lot of research on that. It takes somewhere between 2.5 and 3 seconds for a consumer to decide whether they're going to pick up a product - we call that "The Stop." If they pick it up, then generally they look at the label. That's "The Sell" - they look at the photo or illustration, the product if it's showing, and the information on the label to decide whether they want to buy it.

Erika: When the Supermarket Superstar contestants came in, how far along were they in their product development processes?

The Supermarket Superstar mentors: From left, Debbi Fields of Mrs. Fields Cookies, chef Michael Chiarello, and Cornyn, with program host Stacy Keibler (photo: Adam Taylor)

Chris Cornyn: All of them had an idea that they thought belonged on supermarket shelves. But none had thought out what we call "The 6 P's": product, positioning, packaging, production, profit, and promotion. I assume anyone who wants to get into the food business has a delicious product. But the other P's are what make the product work.

Erika: When you first meet the three contestants in each episode, they give you a short pitch. How much help did they get with that?

Chris Cornyn: I don't really know - that was the first exposure we three mentors had to the contestants. I heard some of the ideas and thought "That's a home run - just needs a little tweaking." Other people came in with unbelievable passion, conviction, and personality, but they didn't have the product to match.

Erika: What did you think of the guy who made snacks out of cricket flour [in the Natural Foods episode]?

Chris Cornyn: I was rooting for him because he's trying to change the world by making a sustainable protein that helps the planet. We're one of the only countries that doesn't eat insects - you can go down to Mexico and get some amazing cricket tacos. Is America ready to start eating bugs? Maybe not. But is he a trend-setter and thinking ahead? Absolutely.

Erika: In one episode the contestants made barbecue sauce. Does the world really need another barbecue sauce?

Chris Cornyn: Actually, a mature category like barbecue sauce is ripe for innovation. Consumers like to try new products, even if they're really similar to existing products, just because they're new. What about a barbecue sauce with an ethnic twist? Or a sustainable angle? Or a local style of sauce that's not as well known? There are ways to make everything new.

Erika: What trends do you see in food product labeling and packaging?

Chris Cornyn: The label should have as few ingredients as possible, and the easier they are to pronounce, the better. The package and label have to stand out in the product's category. I recommend that food entrepreneurs go buy every single product in their category and set them up like a grocery store shelf, then put their product in the middle and ask random people - not family and friends and neighbors - which ones they'd pick up.

Erika: Once you get your product made [and there's a whole manufacturing issue to deal with which doesn't get a lot of attention on the show - it's pretty technical], then you have to sell it. How does that usually happen?

Chris Cornyn: The most successful food entrepreneurs are the ones who go out and sell it themselves, often starting with small independent grocery stores or at farmers markets. They know the product and they have the passion - no hired gun broker or salesperson can replicate that passion. When you see entrepreneurs demoing their products in markets, that passion comes across both to consumers and to supermarket buyers.

Supermarket Superstar airs Monday nights on Lifetime. Check your local listings for channel and time.

Nambé CookServ cookware giveaway and Thai fish stew

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{Scroll to the end of this post to enter Nambé's great giveaway!}

A long time ago, I got engaged to a wonderful man. 

And like many young brides-to-be, sparkling diamond on my fourth finger, I immediately trekked down to Bloomingdale's and registered for flatware, dishes, pots and pans, serving dishes, and crystal. 

One of the pieces I threw onto the registry as a lark ("You need to include items at every price point," counseled the wise and chic department store salesperson) was a medium-sized bowl by Nambé. Silver-toned, asymmetrical, off-kilter in a pleasing way, it stood out among the many bright, shiny objects on display.

In the 16 years we've been married, I've used that bowl many dozens of times. Still graceful, still surprising, it makes me feel fashionable and design-forward every time it's on the table. Those of you who know me in person know "fashionable" is not exactly one of my common states.

I don't do a lot of product reviews, but when Nambé asked me if I'd be interested in trying its new line of CookServ cookware, I had to say yes. 

When I took my Nambé 12-inch CookServ sauté pan and its lid out of the box, I think I moaned a little. This is the most graceful and beautiful pot that has ever entered my house. The handles alone make me catch my breath.

It was so beautiful I was afraid to cook with it. It took me more than a week to get up the nerve to put it on the stove over an open flame. 

But then I made a batch of my family's favorite Thai fish stew, and the pan looked just as beautiful when I was done as it had when I started. It's heavy, 5-ply stainless steel. You can use it on the stove or in the oven. It can even go in the dishwasher.

However you cook with this pan, here's the most important part: You can carry it straight to the table with your head held high. You could put this pan down in front of Queen Elizabeth and it would likely be the most beautiful thing she'd seen on the table in a long while.

I've encountered only one problem with this pan: It takes up a lot of horizontal space and thus it's been hard to find a good place for it in my drawers and cabinets. The handles on the sides, while gorgeous, stick out pretty far, making it hard to store. So far I've addressed that issue by leaving it out on the stove at all times, but eventually I'm going to have to find it a hiding place. That said, I have a lot of pots and pans already. If you're starting your cookware collection from scratch or buying a wedding gift for a couple furnishing their first kitchen, space constraints probably won't be as much of an issue.

Summary: Stunningly beautiful cookware. Good for all stove types, including induction. Safe for stove, oven, dishwasher. Would make a fabulous gift. See the entire CookServ collection here.

Oh, the Thai fish stew? You'll love this recipe. It's a variation on a dish served to me years ago by my good friend Rachel Kaganoff Stern of Inside the Kaganoff Kitchen. She calls hers Brazilian; I added the Thai curry paste and took it farther east. I use whatever combination of fish and shellfish strikes me, and I give you permission to do the same.

print recipe

Thai fish stew

by Erika Kerekes May-2-2013

A quick and simple stew with fresh fish, shellfish, coconut milk and Thai curry paste. Finish with a generous shower of fresh chopped cilantro and/or basil.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds fresh fish filets and shellfish, any combination, fish cut into 2-inch chunks
• 6 limes (juice only)
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 2 Tablespoons yellow or red Thai curry paste
• 2 14-ounce cans coconut milk
• 1 bunch fresh cilantro, leaves and stems, chopped
• salt to taste

Instructions

Put the fish and/or shellfish in a large bowl with the lime juice. Toss and leave to marinate 15 minutes.In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and bell pepper and saute 3-4 minutes, until the vegetables are softened. Add the Thai curry paste and stir to coat the vegetables; saute 1 minute. Add the coconut milk to the pot and stir until everything is well combined and the coconut milk is starting to bubble around the edges.Now add the fish and/or shellfish and the marinating liquid to the pot. Bring the pot to a boil, quickly turn down the heat, cover the pot, and simmer the stew about 15 minutes, until the fish is cooked through and flaky and the shellfish is cooked. Add the cilantro, stir, season to taste with salt, and serve immediately.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 20 mins Total time: 30 mins Yield: 6-8 servings

GIVEAWAY: Enter below to win a set of four Nambé CookServ sauté pans (8, 10, 12, and 14 inches). You can enter every day until the giveaway ends!

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Disclaimer: Nambé sent me the 12-inch sauté pan pictured above for this review. No cash changed hands. All opinions expressed here are mine (as if you couldn't tell). 

How to plan the perfect Girlfriend Getaway

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Patti, Erika and Dorothy at Hofsas House, Carmel-by-the-Sea

Husbands are great, but sometimes this girl just needs some girlfriend time.

Which is why I jumped at the opportunity to hit the road for a Girlfriend Getaway with two of my best food blogger pals: Patti Londre of Worth the Whisk and Dorothy Reinhold of Shockingly Delicious.

Thanks to the generosity (and PR-savvy) of Carrie, the third-generation owner of Hofsas House, the three of us drove up the California coast and spent three jam-packed days and two ultra-cozy nights in Carmel-by-the-Sea.

We were wined and dined. We unwound and de-stressed. We shopped 'til we dropped. We hiked up and down the hills of Carmel village. We plopped our middle-aged butts in the sand and soaked in the glorious winter sunshine.

Soaking in the winter sunshine at the beach in Carmel-by-the-Sea

And we talked. And talked. And talked some more. I don't think we got even the teensiest bit tired of each other.

We had the perfect Girlfriend Getaway, and you can too. Here's the magic formula:

Pick the right girlfriends. Patti, Dorothy and I have known each other about three years. (Well, technically Dorothy and I have known each other longer, because our kids went to preschool together, but we didn't really get to be friends until we connected as food bloggers.) We know each other, but it's not like we've got decades of history or inside jokes that might make someone feel left out. We're still learning about each other's pasts. That made three days of nonstop conversation easy and fun. We also have similar temperaments: no-nonsense, up for anything, willing to lead or follow.

Toasting to a delicious dinner at Fandango in Pacific Grove

Make it a road trip. Car trips are so much more relaxed. You don't need to make your stuff fit into a carry-on bag. You can stop where you want and go anywhere once you get there. And it's okay if you accumulate treasures (very important - see below). Of course, this requires having someone willing to drive, which I always am. I like to drive. 

Enjoy the journey and stop along the way. It's about five and a half hours from my house in Santa Monica to Carmel-by-the-Sea. On the way up we jumped off the road in Buellton for an early lunch at Pea Soup Andersen's, a California road trip institution, and then again in San Luis Obispo to explore the pretty-in-pink Madonna Inn. On the way down we sacrificed speed for beauty by spending an hour on Carmel Valley Road, a glorious two-lane highway where I wouldn't have been surprised to see a "happy cow" California cheese commercial in progress. Getting there and back was certainly more than half the fun.

The dining room at Pea Soup Andersen's in Buellton

You'll find Hap-pea and Pea-wee at the bottom of every bowl of pea soup at Pea Soup Andersen's 

The Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo, pink and girly all year round

The bar at the Madonna Inn

We stopped to watch the seals along Monterey's 17-Mile Drive

Stay at a place that feels like home. Chain hotels are for business trips. A Girlfriend Getaway deserves a hotel with personality. Hofsas House, a big pink lodge built down the side of a hill over looking the Pacific, was the perfect home base for our trip. They serve breakfast in the tiny lobby, which means you start every day chatting with the proprietors about your plans. My room was cozy and comfortable; lighting up the Duraflame log in my private fireplace in the evening relaxed me instantly. We had separate rooms, but if you're into the slumber party thing, Hofsas House has many rooms big enough to share.

My room at Hofsas House had a king bed, a fireplace, a kitchenette, and a glorious ocean view

Spring for Hofsas House's wine and cheese package so you can sip while you watch the sun set over the Pacific

Eat well, drink well. Patti, Dorothy and I love food - we know that, you know that, and the wise PR folks who arranged this trip knew that. They showed us the best of the area. We had terrific tapas at Mundaka in Carmel-by-the-Sea, elegant Continental fare at Fandango in Pacific Grove, and a delicious farewell lunch at Jacks Restaurant in the Portola Hotel & Spa at Monterey Bay. We also tagged along on Carmel Food Tours' three-hour culinary exploration of Carmel-by-the-Sea, during which guide Staci shared local Carmel history as she led us through tastings of cheese, wine, charcuterie, chocolate, olive oil, vinegar, pizza and pasta at local shops and restaurants.  

Bouillabaisse at Fandango in Pacific Grove

Staci leading the Carmel Food Tour

Sharon at The Bountiful Basket led us through a tasting of olive oils and infused vinegars

The selection at The Cheese Shop in Carmel

Fresh sea bass from Monterey Bay at Jacks

Spinach gnocchi at Casanova, considered the most romantic restaurant in Carmel-by-the-Sea

Don't get up too early and don't go to bed too late. You don't want your Girlfriend Getaway to feel like work. For me, being awake at either dawn or midnight feels like work. I'm old. Your mileage may vary.

Play to your strengths. I drove and navigated. Patti suggested pit stops. Dorothy took notes. We all took pictures. 

A tiled balcony in Carmel-by-the-Sea

Look for treasures. Okay, that's code for "shopping." Trip souvenirs always have a story attached, which makes them extra-special.

The embroidered pashmina I almost bought (but didn't) 

Patti digging for gold in the garden at Pink Trash & Treasures in Buellton

My favorite trip souvenir: A big bracelet from Pink Trash

Push your conversational boundaries. We got into everything you'd expect middle-aged girlfriends to get into. Husbands. Children. Aging parents. Wild college years, how we met our husbands, how we lost our virginity (um, not in that order). With true girlfriends, nothing is off-limits.  

Indulge each other's whims and pass no judgment. We ate fast food tacos on the road because Patti had free coupons. We lingered in a shop over a teal blue pashmina because I couldn't decide whether I had to have it. Patti let Dorothy have the front seat in the minivan to keep car sickness at bay. And no one complained when the winding valley road I chose added an hour and a half to the drive home.

Spend part of your Girlfriend Getaway planning the next one. Once you find a good Girlfriend Getaway team, the possibilities are endless. Will our next road trip take us to San Diego? Palm Springs? Santa Barbara? Solvang? Big Bear? San Francisco? Stay tuned....

Tree huggers

Thanks to Carrie at Hofsas House, Chef Brandon at Mundaka, Fandango, Staci at Carmel Food Tours, Chef Jason at Jacks Restaurant, and all the lovely people of Carmel, Monterey and everywhere in between for a wonderful Girlfriend Getaway!

Postcard from Carmel: The coolest dining room table in the world

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Yeah, okay, I'm a furniture geek.

I spotted this ultra-fabulous round wooden dining room table in Carmel during my Girlfriend Getaway with fellow food bloggers Patti Londre (Worth the Whisk) and Dorothy Reinhold (Shockingly Delicious). When I saw the ingenious way the table went from big to bigger, I had to pull out my camera.

I love dining room tables that expand. But I hate having to store extra leaves elsewhere in the house. Watch the video and look at how this one is engineered. I thought my own draw-leaf table was cool. This one is WAY cooler.

Location: Carrigg's of Carmel in Carmel-by-the-Sea. The salesperson was not too nice to me, actually - you may be able to hear her telling me to "get a life" as I'm rolling - so I'm not suggesting you shop there. But if you're into cool furniture and you're in Carmel, stop by and take a look.

20 foods I wish I could buy at Costco

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I am a loyal, dedicated, tireless Costco shopper. I truly love Costco. I hit Costco once or twice a month and buy most of our meat, fish, produce, canned goods and household cleaners there.

Between Costco, the farmers' market and the family-owned neighborhood market a few blocks from our house, I can get just about everything my family needs. But not everything. So, Costco purchasing team, here's my wish list. If you stock the things below, I guarantee I will buy them on just about every trip. And I bet a lot of other folks will too.

1. Flour in smaller bags. I've tried the huge sacks and they just don't work for me. I bake a lot and probably go through at least a few pounds of flour a week. But I don't have the time to transfer 25 pounds of flour into smaller containers or zip-top bags. Have you thought about bundling a quartet of 5-pound bags together instead of selling one huge bag? I would buy those for sure. I've got plenty of room to store them in my extra Supermom refrigerator in the basement. 
2. Sugar in smaller bags. Ditto.
3. Wheat germ. I sprinkle wheat germ on oatmeal, use it to coat chicken and fish, add it to pancakes and bread dough and pizza. I really like wheat germ. A nice big 5-pound bag would be fantastic. Not the honey coated wheat germ, though - just the plain stuff.
4. Take-and-bake pizzas that actually fit in my oven. I have to cut your pizzas in half to fit them in the oven, which means I can't bake them as you suggest directly on the rack. Also, a lot of the cheese runs off on the cut side. How about two smaller pizzas packaged together?
5. Pork belly. It's a thing. 
6. Freshly sliced cold cuts. The packaged turkey breast is dry and salty. The packaged roast beef tastes funny. The packaged ham is watery. Would it be so hard to devote a corner of that huge butcher room to slicing some cold cuts fresh?
7. Kerrygold Naturally Softer butter. You had it for a while and my husband got addicted. Now it's gone and he's miserable. Please bring it back.
8. Raw whole duck. You sell chickens, turkeys, cows, pigs, fish. How about throwing a few raw ducks into the mix? I'd settle for raw duck breast. 
9. Fresh herbs. A mixed pack with parsley, cilantro, scallions, dill, tarragon, thyme and basil would fly off the shelves. I would buy it on every single trip.
10. Tanimura and Antle Artisan Romaine. This is my new favorite lettuce - it's got the taste of romaine with a superior crunch and tightly packed heads like iceberg. You sell other Tanimura and Antle lettuce already. Ask them to add this one to the mix. 
11. Really good thickly sliced bacon. I'm talking an artisan bacon, maybe applewood smoked, thickly cut. Sell it in the butcher section. It will fly off the shelves.
12. Frozen all-butter puff pastry. The kind without chemicals. It's expensive but well worth it. You could demo it in store by wrapping it around sticks of smoked sausage or baking it with a little chocolate in the middle.
13. Frozen pie crusts. Even the most avid home cooks sometimes need a leg up when it comes to pie crust. Find the best frozen one and stock it.
14. High quality dark chocolate chips. The Nestle Toll House chocolate chips are okay, but I like mine darker and less sweet. Callebaut and Valrhona make nice ones. How about 2-pound bags?
15. Unsweetened chocolate. Not the cheap "baking chocolate" I can get at the grocery store. I'm talking Belgian or French, preferably in little discs that melt easily. 
16. Unsweetened cocoa powder. Again, not the cheap grocery store stuff - we foodies need something with oomph. I like Valrhona, but that's me. Yes, it's expensive, but I'm willing to pay.
17. Whole wheat pasta. I love the six-bag bundles of Italian dry pasta, but I'm trying to feed my family whole grains as often as possible. Can't you do something similar with whole wheat pasta?
18. Frozen chopped spinach. This is the one frozen vegetable I use all the time. If you don't want to put it in big bags, how about bundling six or eight standard-size boxes together?
19. Frozen artichoke hearts. Ditto. The marinated artichoke hearts are phenomenal but sometimes I want the vegetable on its own.
20. Donuts. You already sell muffins, bread, croissants, cake, cookies and pies in your bakery. Why not donuts? Glazed, chocolate glazed, chocolate old-fashioned, frosted with sprinkles, jelly donuts...you get the idea. I'm pretty sure if you put a donut stand inside every Costco you'd see a big jump in revenues.

Thanks for listening, Costco. And let me know what I can do to help. I know people. I can hook you up.

Why I shop at 99 Cents Only Stores

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Note: This post is not sponsored, paid or, or in any way supported by anyone or anything other than my own opinions and my own pocketbook. I am a very happy and frequent customer of the 99 Cents Only Stores.

There's a chain of dollar stores in California and other southwestern states called 99 Cents Only Stores. There's one very close to my house. And I buy a lot of my groceries there, including excellent fresh produce.

Buy produce at a dollar store? Yes. The 99 Cents Only Stores stock produce that is high-quality, fresh, and sometimes even organic. They have brand-name groceries, too. And each item costs...99 cents.

You never know what you'll find and you can't count on buying the same thing two days in a row. But if you're an opportunistic food shopper, you can do very well at the 99 Cents Only Stores. I've found that the best time to go is around 10am - they've put out the day's stock but it isn't heavily picked over yet.

Here's what I bought on one trip this week - I think you'll be impressed. Next time you see a 99 Cents Only Store, stop in and see what's they've got.

Persian cucumbers (2 packages)

Sliced Baby Bella mushrooms (4 packages)

Sicilian sea salt - coarse and fine

Organic spinach - 1 pound for 99 cents! (2 packages)

Precooked brown rice (4 packages)

Brown sugar (3 packages)

White and orange cauliflower

Coconut milk (4 cans)

2-pound bags of all-purpose flour - this mill usually sells wholesale (I looked them up) (3 packages)

Cactus tortillas - I love these for quesadillas (2 packages)

Beautiful heads of crunchy romaine (2 packages)

Limes (1 bag)

Three kinds of melon

Whole wheat pasta (4 bags)

Postcard from Santa Monica: Supplies at The Gourmandise School

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Freezer - mostly butter, puff pastry and nuts

Refrigerator - look at all those eggs!

I thought you'd enjoy this peek inside the refrigerator and freezer at The Gourmandise School of Sweets and Savories in Santa Monica, California. Co-owner Clemence Gossett says the school goes through four cases of eggs (that's 60 dozen) and 60 to 90 pounds of butter each week. And no wonder - the most popular classes involve homemade croissants, brioche and French macarons. When the croissant class is at capacity, the 10 students use a total of 72 pounds of butter.

Trader Joe's coffee cake with pears

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Most of the time I bake from scratch. I like the process of scooping and sifting. I like being able to adjust the amount of sugar, substitute one flour for another, use nutmeg instead of cinnamon. I like putting my own personal stamp on a recipe.

But sometimes a good cake mix is a godsend. And I love coffee cake. And it's been a long few months of back-to-back business travel. And I was tired. Which is why I decided to try Trader Joe's cinnamon crumb coffee cake mix.

I'm pretty sure I could have made a better coffee cake from scratch. The topping was a little sweeter than my preference. The cake had a tiny bit of that metallic aftertaste you always get with cake mixes. But there was something awfully nice about getting a cake into the oven without having to think too much.

The instructions were clear and simple. Of course, I couldn't leave well enough alone; I peeled a ripe, beautiful red Bartlett pear and lay thin slices over the crumb layer in the middle of the cake. The pears softened in the oven and kept the cake moist without making it mushy. Soft, fluffy cake. Spicy, sweet crumb. Tender, soft pears. This cake didn't last long.

I'm not telling you to give up baking from scratch. Far from it. But if you're in the mood for coffee cake and you've had a long day, I think you'll like this mix.

Note: No one paid me anything to write about this cake mix. I'm happy to write for free about products I really like.

Postcard from Vermont: Mendon

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Early Melba apples, bracingly tart albeit a little mealy, at the Mendon Mountain Orchards store, Mendon, Vermont (just south of Rutland). They also sell homemade fruit pies of all varieties.