sauce on.

It’s here. {sauce}s are in bottles. On a shelf. Ready to be ordered – by you.

We are proud to have Washington Green Grocer (http://www.washingtonsgreengrocer.com) be the first (of hopefully many!) online retailers to carry our beloved foodtruck’s dipping {sauce}s.

For those of you who’ve visited us on the truck, you know them all too well. For those of you who haven’t, (shame) let us introduce you:

{sauce} : creamy cilantro jalapeno – with a kick!

{sauce} : tangy, sweet & sour

What started as dipping {sauce}s for our stuffed foods have turned into a regular staple in our ingredient list – we use them as marinades, mix them up as slaw/salad dressings, add them to our soup/curry/chili base & of course, use them to dip anything & everything.

Stay in touch – let us know how you {sauce} & we will too.

Recipe #1 up tomorrow. {sauce} on.

Katch Up & Lamburgers

I know, I know - It's been a hot minute. 

Things have been, um, hectic to say the least. All good things though, whatever gets Sabrina on the road has to be good, right? For those of you who are out of the loop, newsflash, Sabrina is the Something Stuffed Truck.

Check her out, she's quite the looker.

Keep in mind that this is just phase one of her exterior make-over, she's going in for phase two on tomorrow. (!) 

Needless to say, opening day is soon. I can't tell you when, I can't tell you where - not here at least, not now. Stay tuned here... or here.. or even here. 

Anyhow, I digress. After all, Savor the Bite is, really, about the food. 

Lately the boy and I have had a serious craving for burgers. While we've discussed them as a meal option for several days now, we have a slight burger issue on our hands. 

Actually, the burger dilenma is really two fold. 

One, we have yet to stumble upon the perfect burger in our area, that is not only cooked well, super juicy, with a perfectly warm (not too crunchy, not too greasy) bun, fresh toppings (especially, but not limited to, the crunch factor - think lettuce, pickles, onions, jalapenos, slaw, cucumber, the list goes on), well-thought out condiments and tasty sides don't hurt either.  Obviously, We are also open to odd toppings or unconventional burger ideas.  Where do you buy your burger? 

Secondly, we aren't allowed to have a grill at the apartment. Fail. fail. fail. 

And not just for burgers, for everything else too. But for some reason, burgers, especially the homemade kind, almost need to be cooked on a grill. 

Well this past week, I had a package of ground beef burning a whole in my refridgerator - I had to use it, or risk the chance of wasting it. Grill or no grill. 

We hate wasting food. 

So burgers at home, on the stove, is how we satisfied the great burger hunger craving. 

Wanna know how we did it?

I'm not the best at giving recipes, mainly because I hate measuring cups and that sort of thing - but this is basically what we did - you should try it. Or take some inspiration, and create a fabulous burger creation of your own! 

For the meat mixture:

3/4 lb ground beef

1/2 lb ground lamb 

splash of soy sauce 

a couple dashes each:

- garlic powder

- onion powder

- hot mexican chili powder 

- fresh cracked pepper 

*note, the ground beef we used was crumbly, as it had been previously frozen for quite some time. I solved this problem by mixing an egg in with everything, which made for  much more cohesive meat filling. 

We let the meat marinate all day - you don't have to but I think it enhances the flavor. Some of you might be shaking your heads, I know its a lot of seasoning. What can I say? We're flavor cravers. And as for the lamb and ground beef? You should know by now how much we love a duo of meats. 

As I said before, we cooked the burgers on the stove. Medium to high heat, making sure we got a nice crust on both sides of the meat. Oh, and we used the Bobby Flay method of an creating indent in the center of the patty - here's why... 

We served the burgers on a warm kaiser roll (toasted in the oven for just the right amount of time so the bread wasn't too crunchy) with butter lettuce, classic ketchup, spicy brown mustard and a semi-homemade relish. 

For the semi-homemade relish, I parused the olive bar at the grocery store (one my most favorite and dangerous distractions). We combined:

- marinated mushrooms

- marinated peppadews

- marinated hot banana peppers 

- store bought relish 

- homemade caramlized onions (left over from a few nights ago) 

- fresh red onion 

Dice all of the above, combine and serve! 

Paired with some semi-ok store bought onion rings (we found an Organic variety and cooked them in the oven), our at home burger night turned out to be a great success! 

Now riddle me this - What's your favorite at home burger concoction? 

Three's Company

There are many perks to living with a boy roommate. They can reach things you can't. They always have a wide selection of movies, in the case of this boy roommate we are talking HundredS of movies. They take out the trash. And your boyfriend always has someone to bro it up with when he comes over. 

This scenario makes for, at least in our house, a classic 90's sitcom show - the 2k version. If only some major television producer would catch on... 

Regardless of who's watching us and who's not, our little trio has a colorful sense of humor and a dynamic sense of taste. After a long weekend of this, that and everything in between, the best weekend wind down is a one pot, or wok, meal for three. 

This week's menu featured a Surf 'n' Turf Stir-Fry. Made with 100% grass-fed beef & farm raised shrimp. Also, we used fresh noodles bought at our local Asian grocery store. If you've never tried em, you should. They have many varieties of noodles, even some green ones made with vegetables! 

So one of us brought the rib-eye. The other brought the shrimp. Veggies were a compilation of treasures found in each roommates respective veggie drawer. And the third one brought the dessert. 

The result? A perfectly sweet, spicy and smokey stir-fry* paired with Northern Lights IPA (we forgot to mention another perk of a male roomie: excellent eye for tasty brews). The key to good wok cooking is to let that baby getting smoking hot, literally smoking, before you start tossing around the goods.

Oh, and for dessert, Ben & Jerry's Americone Ice Cream - I adore waffle cones. 

*we've been asked, on several occasions, what brand of stir-fry sauce or teryiaki sauce we use in our stir-frys. Excuse me?

We make our own and you should too. A little o this, a little o that. Use em all, or don't. Add your own variations. Be one, with your sauce.
(ps, a few sauces bottles missing from this equation include soy sauce, red wine vinegar and every now and then I throw in raw sugar.) 

Utensils down, hands up!

Time's up! 


Ok, it's really not but if you're a top chef head you know what's up. 


This one tops our list in food shows, okay maybe it shares the spot with Iron Chef, but that's beside the point. The competition is slick, the challenges are exciting and it doesn't hurt that Padma might be the prettiest woman ever. Not to mention that these contestants are always a serious pool passion driven artists. 


Like all viewers of reality shows, we have our favorites and are not so favorites. I was actually lucky enough to spot one of my very favorites from Top Chef All-Stars, Carla Hall (a DC chef!), at none other than a Truckeroo festival this past summer. 

Carla, if you are reading this, I know I thoroughly embarrassed myself! I completely failed to mention being a cook myself, I was just so elated to meet you and tell you how much I loved your comfort-food, down home style! 


Anyhow, back to the show. It's consuming. Week to week we watch and anticipate the performance of each chef in whatever cunning and unexpected battles they must undergo. The worst is when one of the favorites goes home; the best is when the absolute favorite, wins! 


And that's exactly what happened in this year's season, Top Chef Texas. Although he battles it out for Texas throughout the season (he is the exec. chef at Uchiko restaurant in Austin), this Philippino born chef claims Springfield, VA is hometown!! Guess who else claims Springfield as her hometown? While he did attend a rival highschool, the news of this awesome culinary inspiration coming from the same hometown is too good. Pretty much the only time you'll hear me say, Go Lancers! 


PS, If anyone reading knows Paul and wants to hook it up with an interview........well let's just say I'll owe you more than an empanada. 

The Soul Food Scholar & NYC - Part I

If you've ever met my pops you know he is a bank of knowledge. The man knows people, places, facts, factoids, equations, food, trivia, maps - the whole nine. In fact the only thing I think he can't spit on at a moments notice is what's the happs in pop culture (but even then he may surprise you, like the time he bumped jayz the whole way home on an 8 hour road trip. So what if it was forever young).

He's generous with his knowledge, always willing to offer his 2 cents and then some. My email inbox stays flashing with notifications of emails from dad - some of which I do read, others of which I just glance over and a few, I must admit, that have yet to be opened. It can just be a bit overwhelming, okay?

Anyhow, every now and again he'll send over a particularly intruiging notification.

Fastforward two weeks later. Something Stuffed heads to NYC! Not the truck, people, the twos of us. For a delightful evening at the Yale Club of NY, given by the UVA (afore mentioned dad's alma mater) Alumni Association, for a dinner hosted by none other than Adrian Miller - former special assistant to president Billy C., soul food historian, BBQ judge extrordinare and nice guy. (Really he is, even his business card says so).

During his presentation, us and the other guests dined on a meal of tomato soup, chicken & waffles, mac 'n' cheese, green beans, cornbread and rice pudding. While the meal was fitting for the theme of the evening, I was slightly unimpressed by the execution of the plates. The highlight of the meal was the breadbasket, these tasty little cornbread muffins had great texture with nice heat from the jalas (our pet name for jalapenos, pronounced: hAla). Other than that, the meal was sub-par. But hey, that's just my opinion. 

Anyhow, back to the main reason for the evening... 

Mr. Miller spoke on the history of African Americans and how soul food and homecooking has had an impact on the country's most VIP of kitchens, The White House. His presentation covered the Chief Commanding Officers' meals and kitchen conduction spanning all the way back to when the oval kitchen was housed in Mount Vernon.

Being the official scholar of soul food, Miller spoke of homestyle favorites like chicken & waffles and mac 'n' cheese. Incidentally, this childhood favorite of many, started as a dish made only for the ruling court in Europe, where it is said Thomas Jefferson and his enlisted cook, African-American, James Hemings (name sound familiar?) found the dish and brought it back to the Americas. (Jefferson had sent Hemings to France to learn French cooking techniques - today, we can see French culinary influences in both soul food and home cooking.) 

The writers at The Post must have heard a rumor about this presentation, for in this Wednesdays dining guide, this noodle and cheese dish gets a heavy feature, spanning both the front and back page. Check it out... 

Mr. Miller also shared stories of the various staff members who were responsible for the meals served to our chief officer, including an interesting tid bit on the "first" woman executive chef to grace this said kitchen. While there have been several women to run the kitchen, like Dolly Johnson who cooked for President and Lady Harrison and Zephyr Wright who cooked for President and Lady Johnson, none of them ever held the title of executive chef until, Cristeta Comerford, who was given this coveted position in 2005 during the Bush Administration and remains head chef today. We were particularly excited to hear this story, not only on the girl-power front but the fact that Chef Cristeta is South East Asian, just like us! Holla, girl. Now if only she catches wind of this post and invites us into her kitchen... hey, a girl can dream. 

All in all, the evening was a grand success! Not only were we able to engage in Mr. Miller's insightful presentation, but we had a chance to chat with my dad's good friend, who happens to be the dean of admissions at one of the country's finest culinary programs, Johnson and Wales. He gave us some wonderful insight on start-up food ventures, as well as providing lovely company for the evening. It was also a pleasure to speak with Mr. Miller after the dinner, he will certainly be an inspiration for a Something Stuffed, soul-food inspired, new menu item - keep your eyes out! 

Special thanks to Courtney Schaefer of the UVA club, The Yale Club of NYC, Mr. Adrian Miller and, of course, my pops. 

Stay tuned for part II of this blog, to see what the twos of us got into before and after the dinner. 

So You Think You Can Stuff?

Sunday night dinners are a regular thing around here. We go halfsies on purchasing ingredients, I generally do the cooking and, most of the time, someone else does the dishes. It's only fair. 


Some nights it's just the twos of us, the roomie and I. Well I should say the threes of us, puppy's there too but he usually doesn't get invited to the table. On these occasions we make a big one pot meal that'll last us through a couple of lunches for the week. Last week, we had beef stew. 


This past Sunday we added three more the the mix - the dancer, the Frenchie and the comedian. A fine group indeed. 


Aside from the fabulous company this Sunday night dinner was particularly fancy for three reasons.. 


First off, the Oscars served as the entertainment for the evening. The Cirque du Soliel show took the cake for me.


Secondly, our favorite guest sous chef rocked it out, as per usual and inspired the elevation of an old fav recipe into a must-have new truck menu item for Spring 2012 - GEM's Chicken Dumplings: Free-range ground chicken with ginger, cilantro and waterchestnuts - I promise, it's one of those oh-wow-gimme-more kind's of things. 


Finally, the spirit of doings things together really took of when the dancer joined the Frenchie in a fabulous stuffing assembly line of love. For an amateur cook, as the dancer calls herself, this girl got her stuff on and made some of the cutest little dumplings and she did it, fast. 

The comedian served as the photographer, the roommate made sure the habi (our pet name for habanero chilis) made it into the meal and the dog, wagged his tail. 


PS.. sorry kids, by the time we remember to photograph a finished product.... there was no more product left to be photographed. We'll getcha next time. 

Wrap it up, baby.

Lately we've been totally into anything wrapped - tacos and lettuce wraps being number one on the list. These meals can be as elaborate as you want, with multiple proteins, various toppings, with sauces and sides to boot -or- they can be a quick fix meal for one.

They are also perfect for date night. With your boo or for a one on one girls night, this meal is ideal for dinner pour deux. Duties can be divided up, based on skill and who was last to do the unwanted tasks (dishes).

There are a few rules associated with at an at home date night. Might we elaborate... Firstly, while the setting is far more relaxed, and rightfully so, don't go thinking you can slack on effort. Do your hair, don't do your hair. Put some makeup on, or don't. Stay in your sweats or dress it up. Whatever your ensemble, just be ready to get your hands dirty and collaborate. That's what it's all about.

Second, mix it up, why dontcha? Play around with fillings, a duo of proteins is undoubtedly fitting for date night. Oh, and get creative with your beverage mixology. After all, what's a date without a couple cocktails?

Finally, tuck away your day's frustration. Relax, unwind and enjoy yourself. Don't stress about the meal, it'll be the highlight of your evening. And hey, if it doesn't turn out exactly the way your tastebuds imagined it, remember there's always plenty of hot sauce to kick things up a bit.

This blog was inspired by two seperate, yet equally successful date nights.

The first features seared sesame ahi tuna tacos & sesame crusted tofu. They were served with blue corn tortillas, SS peppery Napa slaw, sweet fish roe (we seriously can't get enough) red onions, fresh cilantro, SS soy dipping sauce, and a side of sauteed spinach and baby carrots. This meal was paired with Jam Jar Sweet Shiraz, from Whole Foods Market (so we like red with our fish) and ice cold Sapora cans for the boy.

The second date was sparked by a long overdue and much needed girls night featuring grilled hanger steak and tofu (inspired by our SS V3 dumpling) lettuce wraps, served with hydroponic bib lettuce. The wraps were served with smoky garlic bean sprouts, Napa cabbage, fresh cilantro & green onions with our green sour cream. This meal was paired with Four in Hand IPA from Whole Foods Market, which dually lived up to its promise of complimenting a spicy faire.


What are you wrapping up?