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(Survival Spice™, our 2006 Scovie-award winning barbecue rub)

Here's a great letter from Fran in Texas, who happened to place an order during one of our not-so-secret newsletter specials. As a reminder, you can see our newsletter archive here.

Scott, I must say that coming home from work today was like Christmas in February. I had not only gotten the 6-pack of Survival Spice I'd ordered, but you enclosed an EXTRA 6-pack! Wow!!

I had ordered 2 tins a little while back, and was so crazy over it that I decided to be generous with the 2nd tin and I gave it to my sister for her birthday. I didn't really want to send it, it was a totally magnanimous gesture on my part, to give up that second tin!! ( I was hoping I wouldn't run out before I was able to order more!)

Now she is crazy over Survival Spice, too. I had plans today for broiled lamb chops for dinner~~well, I made them, and I can't get enough S-S, so I used it as a dip for my lamb chops when they were done broiling. Sheer ambrosia! I use it on scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs, meat, salad, baked potatoes, well, really, ANYthing.

I don't like Bloody Marys, or else I'd have tried it in that, too. Maybe I should, I might find that I just DO like Bloody Marys, as long as S-S was one of the components. I'll let you know if I try that.

Anyway, Scott, thank you for your kind and most generous gift. I have big plans for S-S as gifts throughout the year, and am thinking of making it a featured item in the family gift-giving at Christmastime, I believe in planning ahead. Especially when I come across something as good as Survival Spice.

There is an old saying, 'Every day in every way, I am getting better and better'. I have to say that with Survival Spice, you've got the very best. Keep up the great work, and I totally understand that one letter on your website when the person stuck his/her tongue in the tin, I haven't done that, but I sure do dip spoons into it! Yum!! Nice controlled heat, and the little cracked peppercorns explode in your mouth like tiny sparklers.

I DO plan to give a tin to the head chef at the golf course that I work at on the weekends. Let's see what he might do with it~~

Thanks again,
Fran

Here's an email from Denise in Columbus, Ohio who recently moved, so she had thrown away just about everything they had in the pantry. Glad to see that you kept your Survival Spice™!:

Since we're back in the Midwest, we can't exactly grill any time we please. So, we had taken out some ribs to thaw the other day and grilled ribs were on tonight's menu.

Unfortunately, it has been raining off and on today and I am not sure what it will be like when my husband gets home, so I figured I had better just slow cook them in the oven. I hate to do this, but I am kind of busy today and thought I'd just dump in a bottle of bbq sauce. Well, we don't have any on-hand. I thought I'd check on one of my favorite websites for a recipe for bbq sauce that would utilize the few ingredients I have on-hand (always find out when it's too late what I should have picked up at the store....still don't have a very good selection in my spice cabinet). I do have ketchup and brown sugar, however....so, I found a recipe for cooking ribs in a stock pot on the stove which had ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar and some other ingredients I THOUGHT I had on-hand.

Well, I wrote it down and went into the kitchen to get started. I sprinkled salt and pepper on the ribs and browned them, then put them in my trusty blue-enamel pan and went to work mixing up the sauce. Ketchup, check. Water, check. Vinegar, check. Brown sugar, check. Salt, check. Paprika....uh-oh. Chili powder....uh-oh.

Well, this is looking like it is going to be some pretty blah bbq sauce at this point.....but then wait! Survival Spice to the rescue!!!! Mix it together, pour it over the ribs, thinly slice half an onion and scatter it on top, cover, and it's now in the oven at 275. I'll turn up the heat around 5:00.

I am glad that I was out of the chili powder and paprika because I am sure this will be MUCH better anyway. I really don't like ribs this way- I'm addicted to ribs on the grill with Survival Spice--and I normally hate eating foods that result in sticky, greasy fingers), but I think this might have possibilities!

Thanks, Denise! There's no shame in oven cooking anything when you can't grill, and your two temperature technique was exactly right. Low and slow until the meat's cooked, then high heat at the end to crisp them up. It's great that she kept her Survival Spice™ Survival Spice™ when they moved, I know if I could only have one spice in my cabinet, that would be it!

I'm out of town on a working vacation this week, so blogging will be a bit light, but I wanted to share an email I got a customer in Los Angeles recently:

Made a very good Desert Island rubbed tri-tip for the last night (smoked over Hickory and Wine Barrel oak.) Loving the new Weber my brother got me and finally getting the full carmelizing goodness out of your rub using it on a real grill instead of an oven...yum.

Tri tip is one of my favorite uses for Survival Spice™. It helps to form a beautiful crust, and really helps to help bring out the natural flavors. If you have the time, rubbing your tri tip generously, then letting it marinade in the fridge for a few hours or overnight will impart even more flavor.

Did you cook anything good this weekend?

From Don in Bellingham, WA:

Did a rolled pork roast on the spit yesterday with the wonder powder (Survival Spice™), of course, a great success and loved by all. Also use it on potato slices and baked potatoes in the oven, (skins on). Um, good!

Thanks! We love feedback on our products. If you've been using one lately, let us know!

(Survival Spice™, our 2006 Scovie-award winning barbecue rub, obviously...)

I got this email from Donna in Alamosa, CO, in response to a question on how she found out about Desert Island Foods™.com after she ordered 12 tins of Survival Spice™:

One of your faithful customers, [name removed], uses your spices and has the best backyard barbeques in town.

Donna

We love emails like that, keep 'em coming!

Great email from an E-Z Hook® fan:

Put me down as a huge fan of the ezhook! It works great, it cleans up easily, and it's amazing how many other utensils are relegated to the 'seldom use anymore' drawer.

Thanks! Dennis

We've been talking about new gift baskets at Desert Island Foods™.com, and we're about evenly split so far. Then it dawned on me that I have the greatest focus group in the world right here.

What do you expect in a gift basket? As far as the basket goes, handles or no handles? Light colored wicker or darker? Oval or round?

I'd love to hear what you all think.

We're starting to get some nice comments from customers in response to our last newsletter. In case you're not receiving our Desert Island Foods.com newsletter, you can go to our Desert Island Foods™.com main page and sign up.

Hint, hint: We've got a few special sales going on this month for our subscribers, so you might want to click on over. Our subscriber list is for our use only, no spam, no evil mailing lists, no way! You can unsubscribe any time, too.

Here's a nice email about Survival Spice™ from John in Mesa, AZ:

I just have to write to compliment you on the flavor and quality of your Survival Spice. It is my new "cannot do without" in the kitchen. I must say, I am very selective and have grown used to the spices I have used my whole life. My sons have grown used to what we eat as well. Your Survival Spice has replaced near everything in my cupboard and my sons are coming up with recipes for us to make just to use your spice. It really is that good!!

Thanks again, keep making the good stuff. I am a customer for life!!

John

Thanks, John!

We've been getting great reviews on the E-Z Hook® we introduced at Desert Island Foods™.com last year.

A customer called yesterday to say that all the people that he sent Survival Spice™ to as Christmas gifts are thrilled, and that he's going to send them E-Z Hooks® next, because he finds his indespensible.

An email from Marilyn today:

My husband loves the E-Z Hook®, he says he barely touches the meat and it flips whatever he's cooking flawlessly. Plus, it's not cumbersome like other utensils.

I have to say that I use my E-Z Hook® just about every day, and I agree completely. Sometimes I feel like I was born with kitchen tongs in my hand, but I find myself reaching for the E-Z Hook® more and more often. Marilyn also asked for more egg recipes that use Survival Spice™:

After reading your recipe for salmon eggs, this morning I cubed up some left over ham and fried it with some of the great Tibvrtini oil you sent us and added some Survival Spice. Then I cooked up some eggs, scrambled like, then mixed the two and added crushed tortilla chips on top. It was delish. Any more egg recipes would be much appreciated. We have a never ending supply of eggs, our 12 ladies (hens) keep us satiated!

Wow, must be nice having fresh eggs every day.

Thanks to everyone who's sent in emails lately. If you have feedback on a product, good or bad, please email me. I'll post more soon when I have some more time, plus I hate to turn The Pragmatic Chef™ into a frickin' infomercial. I know everybody gets how good our products are!

One thing we're researching here at Desert Island Foods™.com is Stevia, to use in some new products in development.

Stevia is controversial stuff, and a real political hotspot. Let's start here:

From the first time he tasted a Stevia leaf, Jim May was impressed with its sweetness, which is said to be at least 30 times as sweet as sugar. He first thought he was being offered an illicit drug in 1982 when a man who had just returned from a stint with the Peace Corps in Paraguay showed him a cellophane bag with leaves in it.

He finally tasted a leaf and discovered that the longer it stayed in his mouth, the sweeter it became. May was so impressed with the Stevia herb that he invested his life savings to order more leaves and began selling Stevia-sweetened herb teas out of his garage in Phoenix.

Read the article. More on the FDA controversy can be found at the Stevia.net site in the FDA section. Interesting stuff, and a classic example of established industries fighting innovation tooth and nail.

A marketable ingredient or a potential albatross around my neck? Would you avoid products that contained Stevia or seek them out?