Salviana Raw Maguey Sap

When I was offered a sample of maguey sap from a company called Saviana (people send me lots of stuff to sample for free), I first had to ask what "pre-Hispanic" on the label meant. I'd ever seen that particular terminology before.

Easy answer: this is a food product that predated the time when Spaniards came to the Americas. In other words, the maguey is a native plant and the sap was being used by people who lived here a long time ago.

Okay, then.

After a little research, I found out that maguey is actually agave. Whether it's the same agave that goes into the agave syrup that you see on store shelves. It didn't taste like any agave syrup I've had, so perhaps it's because it's raw. Or maybe it's another species of agave. I really have no idea.

Like all the other natural sweeteners (maple syrup, honey, etc.) the maguey sap I got had a distinct scent and flavor. It reminded me a lot of corn. Now, when you're adding it to something, it's not like you're going to feel like you're gnawing on a corn cob while you're drinking your sweet tea. But it does have a corn-like aroma and flavor, so you might want to think about what you're adding it to and decide whether a hint of corn would be delicious or weird.

So far, I've added it to savory dishes, and just a little bit since savory doesn't need a lot of sweet. I think it would be lovely in cornbread or drizzled on cornbread, if that's the sort of thing you do. Or drizzled on chicken and waffles, if that's your thing. It was nice in a corn and bean salad I made, with just a little to balance the tartness of other ingredients. I'd use it for sure in corn muffins.

I think strong flavors would obliterate that hint of corn, particularly if you're not using a lot of it, but I think I'd hesitate to add it to anything with delicate flavor where corn would be a distraction.

So there we go. Raw maguey. Another first for me.

Yup, I got Salviana Raw Maguey Sap this for free.

Degustabox July 2018

How time flies! It's time for another box from Degustabox. They send me one every month, so I can tell you allllll about it.

This month's box had a summer-like feel to it, which kind of makes sense since it's summer.

Uncle Dougie's Sweet n Snappy Barbecue Sauce
Yikes, I used 3/4 of this bottle in about a week. Good flavor, not too sweet or tart, and thick enough to stick to all the ribs I was cooking. Prior to this, I'd only tried Uncle Dougie's wing sauce, which is also good, but I might have to admit that I like BBQ sauce better, in general. This one is definitely worth a taste,

Lee Kum Kee plum sauce
If you order moo shoo pork (or other moo shoo) at Chinese restaurants, this is the dark sauce that comes with it. I'm not sure exactly what else you'd do with plum sauce, but it's awesome with stir fry whether or not you're serving it with those pancakes. Good stuff.

Loacker cookies
I've gotten these before, but this time they were little packs that would be great for tucking into a lunch or for portion control. I got the cocoa and cream version, which were pretty tasty.

Aiya Matcha
This is single serve matcha tea plus sugar so you can make yourself a quick cup of tea anywhere you can find some hot water. Nice for taking to work for a little midday pick-me-up or you could add it to recipes.

Sir Kensington's chipotle mayonnaise
A lovely spicy condiment for burgers, sandwiches, salads, and pretty much anywhere you want a creamy, spicy sauce. This would be perfect for fish tacos with a little shredded lettuce. Yum.

Wise Snacks Cheez Doodles
Oh my heck. I think I need a case of these. Or two cases. I like the other cheesy puffy snacks, but these have even more cheese flavor. Where have these been all my life?

Chomps turkey sticks
Thin little smokey sausage-like snack. Perfect when you want a little something to eat, but you don't want sweets or carbs.

Goetze's Candy chocolate caramel creams
These are sort of like the ones that are caramel and cream, but ... chocolate. They're nice and chewy without welding themselves to my teeth and they have a nice flavor. Yum.

So that's it for the month ... lots of tasty treats and at least a few things that I'll be buying again, when I'm done with the goodies I got. How many of these have you tried?

Yup, I get these boxes for free. Lucky me, right?

The Chicken Hook

What the heck is this thing? How does it work?

Here's another view. Does that help?

So it 's like this.

I had a new grill on order. The old one hadn't been used in years. It was so badly rusted, I didn't want food near it, much less on it. And it didn't start without help. So there was a risk of kaboom, even before the rust problem.

I got an email from some folks who make a device called The Chicken Hook. For roasting chickens. Obviously. The hook suspends the chicken over the pan or grill, so the whole chicken gets time in the hot air.

Sure, why not, I said. I can try it on my grill.

Grill arrived (more on the grill at a later date), and I went out and bought a chicken to test the rotisserie.

Then the chicken hook arrived. Decisions, decisions. Rotisserie or hook?

I decided to test the hook, since I can cook other things using the rotisserie. Like roasts. Or other chickens.

The chicken goes on the hook breast down and butt (or tail, I guess) up. Then you put it on a pan in the oven, or in the grill. Of course I used the grill. It's hot out. No way am I turning on the oven. It looks kind of ridiculous, right?

I used indirect heat, so the bottom of the bird - which now was the breast - wouldn't cook too fast. I shoved some potatoes around it, thinking that the drippings on the spuds would be nice. Later, I moved the potatoes to a hotter spot on the grill. Indirect cooking was great for the chicken, but the potatoes weren't really amused.

After about 30 minutes, I had a beautiful golden skin, but the bird wasn't quite cooked all the way, so I let it keep on going until it was done. It didn't look quite as weird once it started cooking and wasn't sagging any more.

What would I do different next time? I think that at end of cooking, I might turn the heat on directly below the chicken to get that skin more brown. But other than that, it worked pretty well, although it looked bizarre as heck when I first put it on the hook.

The finished chicken looks pretty nice, though.

They also sent me three of their spice mixes. I've sniffed them, but haven't used them yet. All three look like they'll be pretty useful. Positano is an all purpose Italian mix, which is always handy to have on hand. Santa Clara is garlic-heavy. Yup, I like that. And Machu Piccho is a spicy Peruvian-inspired blend. Yum times three.

Who's it for: People who want to try a different way of cooking chicken.

Pros: Heat gets all the way around the chicken, and it's not as tall as with a beer-can style chicken that stands upright. Easier to fit in oven or grill.

Cons: If you put this thing away without the instructions and find it a year later, you might not have any idea what it is.

Wishes: There's really not a lot I can ask from a bent piece of metal.

Source: I received this from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review.