The Ichiban, Field Roast Specialty Dog

Have you whiled away the hours, drooling over condiments?  Do you have a special way that you top your veggie dog?  Perhaps you have YET to indulge in the creative generation of Frankfurter variations?  That’s right, it doesn’t have to be just the regular mustard and ketchup, or even relish and kraut.  Although, man does that hit the spot eh?  Our new specialty Frankfurters at Safeco Stadium have peaked our curiosity for more new and exciting takes on the illustrious dog, and we can’t be more excited to get your ideas!

Perhaps you could start with a name for inspiration…something evocative and with a point of view.  What would the Frankenstein Dog have on it?  How about the Havana Singer?  What about the Robo Rambo?  Or the Tuscaloosa Tottie?  I could come up with silly names all day.  Trust me.

So pick an inspiration, even a good ol baseball cliche (know your audience right? Who are the Mariners playing the night of June 9th?) and get to topping.  Its all about the passion, and we hope it gets sloppy!  Just remember that we are going to serve these to the masses during a game, so although the condiments can be complex, the presentation and assembly should be simple to execute.

Easy rules to enter: You can submit your entry under Veggie Happy’s Facebook post, or at the Veggie Happy Blog.  Please submit the name for your specialty frankfurter along with a short description of your concept.  Note that it should have no more than four toppings. Feel free to post a photo of your specialty frank if you’d like, too!

The top five finalists will be notified on Friday, May 25 and asked to submit specific recipes for the cooked and sauce elements.  The winning specialty frankfurter will be selected by David Lee and announced on Friday, June 1.

The winning dog concept will be served at the June 9th game at Safeco, and the contestant will get two tickets to the game!  Or if you aren’t in Seattle, you’ll be able to get a special delivery of Field Roast goodies right to your door.  Enter today!

Gook Luck!  I hope to try your creation in the Field Roast test kitchen soon!

If you are planning to take this route soon on Amtrak Acela*, you might run into Field Roast’s Smoked Tomato loaf on the menu!  Apparently, they are shingled on the plate and served with rice and sauteed zucchini with a roasted pepper sauce. It is being merchandised on printed menus as ‘Smoked Tomato Vegetarian Meat Loaf’.  Field Roast is not used in the name.  Has anyone seen it??  We would love to have a photo…and there could be a t-shirt in it for the person who does!   Happy Travels!

* Amtrak Acela trains in the East Coast market. It will be on afternoon and evening  menus between Boston, New York and Washington, D.C.  It is in First Class (complimentary) and sold in Coach (price was not revealed).

When we received confirmation of a positive result we immediately informed the Food and Drug Adminstration and implemented a voluntary recall.

IMPORTANT:  This involves only batch code 11333.

The batch in question was made on November 28th.  We made 215 cases of the product, all of which was shipped out and mostly consumed by Christmas of last year.  Batch 11333 was only shipped to the following areas:  Northern California, Oregon and Washington State.

IN YOUR HOME?:  If you have Hazelnut Cranberry Roast En Croute in your refrigerator or freezer with the batch code 11333 (only in Northern California, Oregon and Washington State) DO NOT EAT IT  and please contact us for instructions and a refund.

Luckily we have not received any customer complaints (from December to now) regarding this particular batch and no customer complaints for any Hazelnut Cranberry Roast En Croute whose description would match the symptoms relating to ingesting a food with Listeria Mono; flu like symptoms, nausea, etc.

Our Hazelnut Cranberry Roast En Croute needs to be cooked before you eat it and if you follow the instructions on the package you will effectively kill the bacteria.  Yesterday, in fact,  Malcolm and I ate some of our Hazelnut Cranberry Roast from batch 11333 to no effect.

The vast majority of the product was sold to United Natural Foods (natural food distributor)…who have instituted the product recall process as per FDA guidelines.   The FDA told us that once the product is sold to a distributor, it becomes their responsibility in regards to contacting individual stores so if you haven’t heard from us it’s because we were told not to contact stores ourselves  and confuse things.

We informed the FDA of the situation on Monday, sent written notice to our distributor on Tuesday morning, most of the recall has occurred at this point.  We are still waiting for the FDA to classify this recall – Class 1 to Class 3.  Our contact there told me that it might take some time.  Because our Hazelnut Cranberry Roast En Croute needs to be cooked they have not responded as quickly as they would if our product was a “ready to eat” product that doesn’t require cooking before consumption.

Our apologies to all of you for allowing this to happen.  We are proud of our food safety program here at Field Roast.  Those that have had the opportunity to tour our facility are often impressed.  Our last inspection by the Washington State Department of Agriculture yielded a 100% score.  Our last two audits by an independent audit firm Silliker, who inspects us for Costco was 98.4 in 2012 and 98.6 in 2011.  This event has been a game changer for our Quality Assurance department and we are examining our procedures to take a corrective action.  As an initial corrective measure we have also hired an outside food safety expert to do a thorough review of our program.

If you have any concerns or suggestions please don’t hesitate to contact me personally at david.lee@fieldroast.com or at 206-762-5961

Kind Regards,

David Lee

President and Co-Founder

We are currently updating our website to include these “on the box” recipes, and would love your feedback and photos!  If you have never seen or eaten our slices, they are something special.  As with any of our products we pour in fresh cut vegetables, real & bold herbs and spices, and use traditional cooking methods to create a deli meat that is vegan, artisan, and scrumptious.  Three flavors to enjoy!

Lentil Sage, seasoned with garlic, zesty lemon juice, pungent rubbed sage and fine herbs

Wild Mushroom has earthy flavors of Shiitake, Porcini Champignon mushrooms accented with fruity balsamic vinegar

Smoked Tomato with hearty tomatoes, hickory smoked infusions with red wine, old world spices and herbs

We are happy to announce these deli slices are ready to stand up and be noticed!

When I made these we couldn’t keep them coming fast enough.  It was impossible to enjoy your own corndog because everyone wanted to have a bite.  That day we perfected the batter and “corn-dogged” everything from bananas to steamed cauliflower.   That crunchy, salty, sweet corn tasting batter added the perfect taste to all things dipped in it and added a smile to everyone’s face.

TIP: I found it easiest to put the batter into a tall drinking glass and dipping the frankfurters that way.  Also, if you don’t have a fryer, or a pot deep enough to get the whole thing in the oil, you can cut them in half and make mini corn dogs!

• 1 pack Field Roast Frankfurters
• 1 1/4 cup white flour
• 3/4 cup fine corn meal
• 1 Tbsp vegan egg replacer or ground flax
• 4 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 cup soy milk (additional soy milk to thin batter if needed)
• Oil for frying (safflower, vegetable, corn, etc.)
• 6 Corn dog sticks or chop sticks
• flour for dusting

Heat fryer oil to 350F. Mix dry ingredients and add 1 cup of soy milk and mix until smooth. Add additional soy milk if needed until batter has a consistency of pancake batter. Insert sticks into Field Roast Frankfurter and roll the franks in flour (this helps the batter to stick). Brush off excess flour. Dip in batter, shake off excess batter, and gently lower into hot oil. Fry for 3 to 5 minutes until golden brown. Serve hot with a side of yellow mustard.

ENJOY!

Essential Smoothie Ingredients

The latest Field Roast employee benefit is by far the tastiest employee benefit! We started our healthy shake program recently to encourage everyone  to consume more raw veggies more often. Field Roast bought the Vitamix Blender and continues to buy the essential smoothie ingredients. Practically every morning my breakfast consists of kale, spinach, carrots, beets, ginger, apple, banana, cinnamon, cacao, grounded almonds, filtered water, and ice. There is no way kale, beets or carrots would make it into my cereal! Without the Vitamix, my breakfast veggie servings would be dramatically lower!

And other times we treat ourselves to a deliciously fresh fruit smoothie with other berries and fruits personally brought in. But when comparing the fruit smoothie with the health shake, the difference is the nourishment. The health shake fills me up (sometimes even past lunchtime!), especially if I drink a full vase! Not surprisingly, sugar flows then ebbs energy drastically while the vitamins and proteins from the veggies provide sustenance to digest. Another healthy aspect from having a smoothie for breakfast is not needing or wanting coffee/caffeine, which is pretty common here in the Emerald City of Seattle.  And by emerald, I mean grey.

Now some of you might be wondering ”what if….you put Field Roast in a smoothie?”…

… let’s just not even go there…. 

Honey Hole has been around for a while, and about 2 years ago started serving up Field Roast as an every day menu item on their hot vegetarian sandwich menu.  They really do it right, lots of bold flavors…pesto, banana peppers, spicy mayo sauce…seriously good eats.  We would say more, but our mouths are full!  Feast your eyes on Emilio Pestovez & Bellissimo! Both made featuring Field Roast Smoked Tomato Slices.

Have a great weekend!

Last Friday we took our first break in a few months and had our own vegan Thanksgiving Dinner.  We’ve added a few new employees so we can no longer fit into our kitchen.  We sectioned off part of our warehouse, rented some tables and chairs, plopped down some candles and some table linens and cooked up a storm.

Our vision for Thanksgiving was to honor the spirit (either in reality or myth) of the first American Thanksgiving – a multi cultural feast that honors each participating culture with special thanks to the First Peoples (Native Americans) of this country.

Jennifer was the hostess and party planner person with Chef Steve cooking the fundamentals…..mashed pots, gravy, stuffing, cranberry relish and yes…..our beloved Hazelnut Cranberry Roast En Croute.  I (David) cooked some of the more culturally specific meals because unlike last year, employees were to busy working to cook their own dishes.  Mushroom Adobo from the Phillipines, Momo from Nepal/Bhutan with fresh salsa, Corn, Red Bell Pepper, Black Bean, Cilantro melange representing from South of the Border.

We also had a special honoring of key Field Roast employee Nhung Nguyen who has worked at Field Roast for 10 years!  If you’ve ever had Field Roast….then you’ve had something that has been sliced, labelled, packed by Nhung and her crew of almost 20 people.

We hope your Thanksgiving tomorrow is as enjoyable and meaningful as ours was last Friday.

Peace to you,

This is a warm spinach salad with Smoked Apple Sage Sausage, roasted butter nut squash, pomegranate, and toasted pumpkin seeds.  So rich and comforting for a fall day.

Preheat oven to 425 F.
Peel and cut 1 butternut squash into wedges.
Place on a baking sheet and drizzle with 2 Tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper and roast in oven for 15-20 minutes stirring occasionally.  In a small sauce pan over medium heat, add balsamic vinegar and reduce to a thin syrup.
Slice Field Roast Apple Sage Sausage. In a skillet over medium heat, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil and add Apple Sage Sausage. Cook sausage browning on both sides, 4-5 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.
Add remaining one Tbsp of oil to pan. Add the spinach to the pan and stir constantly until spinach is wilted and reduced in size, 2-3 minutes.
Toss together spinach, Apple Sage Sausage, pumpkin seeds, pomegranate, and squash. Plate and drizzle with balsamic reduction.

Below is the press release and menu for the event.

Presidents Wilson, Truman and Roosevelt galvanized the nation with voluntary meatless days during both world wars. The idea of meatless days has recently been revitalized across the country in the Meatless Monday Movement and has been embraced by such luminaries as President Clinton, Oprah Winfrey and Ellen Degeneres and supported by organizations such as The Humane Society. By cutting out meat once a week, we can improve our health, reduce our carbon footprint and save precious resources.

In honor of this worthy effort, Field Roast is sponsoring an evening that celebrates a delicious plant based menu that carnivores and vegetarians will find both satisfying and delightful.  The menu has been created by the folks at Field Roast in conjunction with Judkins Street Café and will contain both Field Roast vegetarian meats and Judkins Street Café regular menu items.