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One year ago Thursday, Diane Mashore and her daughter Brooke Franklin met at the Robert S. Kerr Food and Agricultural Center with Dr. Darren Scott, with bacon on their minds.
Together they own and operate Diane's Signature Dressings for Salad and are one of four groups The Oklahoman has tracked the past two years to document the progress of their food products.
Franklin lives with her family in Dallas, where she's cultivated a thriving relationship between her company's dressings and Texas grocery giant Central Market. She and her mother had pitched a bacon dressing to Central Market, but the feedback was that it needed more bacon flavor.
As FAPC clients, they were able to enlist the help of Scott, who is a food scientist who was capable of navigating Mashore and Franklin through a series of painstaking tests to work out problems of temperature and texture for mass production.
Mashore showed Scott a manila folder filled with notes written in red of their many attempts to find the perfect blend before Scott began tapping on an old-fashioned calculator. He jotted his calculations on a yellow pad, converting their measurements into weights for efficiency.
They took a selfie for posterity, just as they've done each time they've come up for testing, which can not only be tedious but require multiple sessions.
The first taste-test results were good, but it still needed a little stronger bacon flavor. For the second test, Scott warmed the dressing, which changed things for the worse.
"It got pretty bland," Franklin remarked.
Bacon salt turned it red, real bacon pieces didn't impart flavor as boldly as bits, and on it went through the day.
A full day spent in testing resulted in a major decision: bacon dressing went on hold. By July, Mashore and Franklin had all but abandoned the idea, concluding it would be more trouble to continue testing than it was worth.
In the case of Diane's Signature Dressings, the secret has always been premium ingredients. The Legendary Italian Dressing took years to develop.
One dressing they did decide to add was the Hatch Chile Valley dressing, which has been a well-received addition. The new product is especially good for recipes. We've got a pasta salad recipe you won't want to miss, but either dressing works very well as a simple glaze for fish or marinade for chicken.
Salsa ace
All the clients we've followed the past two years have gone through similar testing and product development.'
Susan Witt's Ace in the Bowl Salsa has settled on three flavors, which has suited her well enough. Despite being known by her family as the kitchen klutz, Witt is the only person on either side of her clan who has a food product on the shelves of grocery stores.
"I wasn't a great cook so I decided to concentrate on making one thing as best as I could," Witt explained with a laugh. "I wanted to make my salsa different from anyone else's so I got the idea to use olive oil and all fresh ingredients."
Many who taste it for the first time can't put their finger on what it is that makes it stand out, and Witt said a lot of times customers don't believe her.
The salsa comes in three levels of heat: mild (the original), medium and hot, which includes habanero peppers.
Because of its unique ingredient list, Ace in the Bowl is more versatile than the average salsa.
Global influence
Suan Grant found her entrepreneurial spirit animal in Jamaica — the Scotch Bonnet pepper. Scotch Bonnets are a close cousin to the slightly fierier habanero, but Grant goes to great pains to ensure her jellies don't overwhelm you with heat.
Her jellies sell worldwide, and it doesn't take much more than a single bite to understand why. The jelly is simply amazing in that it not only works as a spread but might be even better as a cooking ingredient.
What started out as one heavenly product has grown into a line of seven. Besides the original jelly, she now offers a Scotch Bonnet Flavor Sauce and Scotch Bonnet Relish. But to prove she was more than a purveyor of peppers, Grant added a Mango Lemon Fruit Butter, Sweet Tomato Jam, Pineapple Cinnamon Jam and Onion Preserves.
Like her original jelly, each of these products provides rare versatility. A dollop of Sweet Tomato Jam sneaked into a wok of stir-frying beef, chicken or pork infuses it with a subtle acidic sweetness impossible to match with anything else I've tried.
Here are some recipes using the products from our subjects.
JALAPENO MAC 'N CHEESE
Makes: 2 casseroles
1 pound macaroni pasta
1 pound bacon (cooked and chopped)
1 pound cream cheese (cut into 1 inch cubes)
3/4 pound shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 pound shredded Monterrey Jack
1 pound butter
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cup whole milk
1 cup half & half
5 fresh jalapenos, sliced
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 1/2 cups your favorite Ace in the Bowl salsa
Salt and pepper
Heat oven to 350 F. Cook pasta according to directions. Drain and set aside. Cook bacon until crispy, cool, and chop. Set aside. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and stir until liquid is absorbed and roux begins to form. Add milk and half and half and stir continuously. Bring to a boil and cook until liquid is thick and smooth. Remove from heat and add cream cheese, Monterrey Jack, cheddar, and salt and pepper. Stir until cheese is completely melted into the liquid. In a large bowl, combine pasta with cheese sauce. Fold in bacon and salsa. Pour into a buttered baking dish. Top with jalapeno slices and breadcrumbs. Bake for 45-60 minutes or until golden brown and cheese is bubbly, enjoy!
SOURCE: Susan Witt, Ace in the Bowl Salsa
Poached Pears in Scotch Bonnet Pepper Jelly and Red Wine
Makes: 8 servings
8 Bosc pears
2 cups red wine
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
½ cup sugar
½ cup Suan's Scotch Bonnet Pepper Jelly melted over low heat
1 stick cinnamon
zest of lemon
1 vanilla bean.
Peel pears without removing stems, placing in a deep saucepan. In saucepan of melted Suan's Scotch Bonnet Pepper Jelly, add wine, lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon, lemon zest, vanilla bean and enough water to cover pears, pour over pears and simmer very slowly until just tender 10 to 20 minutes. Remove pears carefully to a serving dish, rapidly boil down liquid to about 1 cup, pour over pears and serve cool to cold topped with whipped cream. These pears will be spicy; you may reduce the “heat” by reducing the jelly in half or increase the “heat” by the amount of jelly used.
Source: Suan Grant, Suan's Foods
Spicy Southwest Pasta Salad
1 pound dried farfalle or rotini pasta
1 bottle Diane's Hatch Valley Chile Dressing
1 tomato, diced
1 avocado, diced
1 medium sweet onion, diced
1 sweet bell pepper, diced
Cook pasta according to directions on the box, drain will and transfer to a mixing bowl.
Add remaining ingredients and mix well. It can be served warm, room temperature or cold. You may also cook the pasta in advance, combine with a tablespoon of olive oil and refrigerate so you can chop the vegetables and serve later.
SOURCE: Dave and Lori Cathey