Thursday, July 26, 2012

Empire Mayonnaise Co.

It was a hot and extremely humid day, but it also happened to be my birthday, so I was going to do whatever I wanted. I walked to the Empire Mayonnaise Co. - about two miles away - and browsed their selection. I'd never tried them but I'd read good things, and I was in the mood to buy some gourmet food. I selected the black garlic, vadouvan, smoked paprika, and lime pickle varieties. Here are some of the things I made with them. (Everything was delicious, including the mayos, so I won't be adding any commentary.)

 Black Garlic Peppercorn Steakhouse Burgers

I grilled one of those amazing brisket-and-short rib patties from Paisanos, slathered black garlic mayo on a kaiser roll, added caramelized onions and blue cheese, then finished it off with A.1. Peppercorn steak sauce.  
 
Lime Pickle Crab Cakes
Out for a walk one day, I ducked into Cobblestone Foods and bought one of their crab cakes - thick pucks stuffed with plenty of crab as well as spices - then added a dollop of the lime pickle mayo, which I had been told worked very well with seafood. 

Smoked Paprika Whiskey Pickle Burgers

There was a thunderstorm so I wasn't in the mood to walk all the way to Paisanos; I went to Heights Prime Meats instead, which is only three blocks away and pretty damn good in its own right. I put the smoked paprika mayo on a fresh brioche bun, grilled the meat, added Swiss cheese, caramelized onions and whiskey-maple pickles.

French Curry Mustard Salami Sandwiches
The deli counter of a local supermarket stocks a salami flecked with mustard seeds, and it's a rare week that a package isn't sitting on our refrigerator shelf. (It's easy to make a sandwich for Elizabeth to take to work and it's really easy for me to snack on the salami any time I get a craving.) I placed a few slices of the salami on a piece of flatbread with cheese and hot peppers, and slicked the other half of the flatbread with the vandouvan mayo.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great pics! try brooklyn brine pickles... maybe they are in brooklyn?

JustinM said...

That's what the whiskey-maple pickles were! I was going to feature them on their own one day...

Banana Wonder said...

Happy belated birthday! Who would of thought there would be a mayonaise shop like this? Looks like you paired everything well with the appropriate mayo flavs.

JustinM said...

Happy belated nuptials, my friend!

SuperLarge said...

Everything looks fantastic.

JustinM said...

The burgers definitely were. The sandwich was very, very good. The crabcake is the only thing I won't do again, but really, when you are buying a crabcake that has been cooked possibly hours earlier, you know what you're getting.

Michelle said...

Damn do you have to be in Brooklyn to get these? They look awesome.

JustinM said...

You can buy them lots of places in the NY area but you can order them online as well.

Anonymous said...

i am sooooo frickin hungry

JustinM said...

Then I hope you get food soon.

marinko said...

Wonderful food! I am holding you responsible for my diet failure. LOL

JustinM said...

Fair enough. I still haven't gotten around to the pljeskavica but I promise I will within the next month. (After my parents visited, where we ate out for every single meal, I took a bit of a break from going out.)

Liz said...

That salami is delicious!