Assorted Special Flavorful Items?!

Item Image	Item Name	Where to Buy	Comment
	Gold Leaf Bacon	IGA	This is cheap bacon produced in Smithfield, NC. The quality varies at times, and because I like the pepper bacon, I haven’t been buying as much of the Gold Leaf as I had previously.
	Pepper Bacon	Lee’s Fresh Market, Benson, NC	This is really flavorful bacon that is coated in pepper. Each slice is probably over a foot long so I either cut it in half or even thirds and store it in the reusable Hillshire Farms deli-meat containers. I can fill three of the Hillshire Farms containers with the bacon from one of Lee’s packages. I put two of them in the freezer and the other one goes in the fridge for current use. I like this bacon with fried apples and also with an egg for breakfast. *I use the bacon grease to cook other things like pork chops or vegetables.
	Neese’s Liver Pudding	IGA	This product comes in a rectangular package, with no casing around it. I prefer this when I am going to make sandwich, or even slice off some to go with the sesame rice crackers.
	Pender’s or Larry’s Liver Pudding/Mush	Food Lion, IGA	This product comes packaged in a sausage casing. I cut the skin and peel the ground liver into a frying pan, and may mix it with chopped onion.
	Nueske’s Smoked Liver Pate	Fresh Market (Fay)	This ground liver product comes in a tubular package that is about 3 inches in diameter. I like this on the sesame rice crackers or perhaps a french baguette.
	Hillshire Farms Pastrami	IGA, Walmart	Walmart probably sells this deli-sliced meat at the cheapest price. It comes in their clear plastic container with the clear reddish top. These containers are designed to be re-used. You can easily peel off the cardboard advertising sheet that is glued to the red plastic top.
	Castelvetrano Olives	Whole Foods, Fresh Market	Covid has made getting these really flavorful olives more of a “crap shoot.” I first tried these olives from the olive bar at Whole Foods in Raleigh. But after Covid, Whole Foods started packaging these olives in plastic bags. The olives in these bags were not as distinctly flavorful, and I really haven’t found a decent alternative source. Before Covid, there two sections of these olives: one with pits (more flavorful) and those pitless.
	Inglehoffer Cream Style Horseradish	Harris Teeter	I’m not using as much of this creamy horseradish sauce as I once did because I’m not eating as many deli-style sandwiches at home. I loved combining the creamy horseradish with either dijon or regular yellow mustard, and then adding some sweetener (Splenda and/or Agave Nectar).
	Homemade Thousand Island Dressing		This is about a six ingredient dressing that I use on my Pastrami Reubens that I make at home: mayo, ketchup, relish, chopped sweet onion, hot sauce. Use this with sauerkraut, either on the sandwich, or as a side dish (kraut & dressing).
	Homemade Pizza Sauce		This is a seven ingredient pizza sauce that tastes just like Pizza Hut/Inn and I use it on my Ciabatta Pizza Rolls. This sauce and shredded cheese and sliced pepperoni makes a satisfying pizza at home. Ingredients: tomato paste, oregano, white vinegar, salt, thyme, garlic powder and olive oil. Add a little chopped onion & sweet bell pepper, with the pepperoni to this pizza and it definitely “hits the spot.”
	Herdez Salsa Ranchera	Compare Foods, IGA	This salsa is flavored by Chipotles and makes a good base for a Mexican chicken or ground beef dish.
	Pataks’ Hot Curry Paste	Harris Teeter	This is a wet curry paste in a glass jar. This gives an India Indian flavor to a chicken or ground beef dish. *You can prepare the chicken/ground beef, tomatoes, carrots, onion and peppers the same but use the Salsa Ranchera or the Curry Paste to go in tow completely different directions (Indian or Mexican).
	Spice Mixture for Fried Apples		Originally I only used cinnamon on my fried apples (with some sweetener), but eventually I started adding all the other “warm” spices: cinnamon, cloves, ginger, mace, and nutmeg. I also use some ground coriander and pumpkin spice which includes these other spices.
	Curried Remoulade		Duke’s Mayo, Patak’s Hot Curry Paste, small capers. I have not used this dressing for a while but I first had something like it at the Waterside Restaurant on Shem’s Creek across from Charleston, SC. I had ordered a Shrimp Po’Boy sandwich and this type of dressing was on it. I tried to repeat this at home and it became a fourth condiment for many sandwiches, not just seafood. (mayo, mustard, ketchup)
	Black Pepper Sopressata Salami	Wegman’s	This comes in a small sausage tube wrapped in plastic. The salami is semi-soft and is completely coated in ground pepper. It is easy to slice into flat rings.