Rochester Plate Sauce

I found this sauce years ago. It came three packages to a box and could sit on your shelf nicely. Unfortunately, the co-packer changed machines or something and they were unable to make the product any more and it went off the market for awhile. My website only features products you can order online and I toyed with the idea of taking down my review. However, I liked the product so much that I decided to leave something up as a note to people who came here and as encouragement for Jim at Hot Top Foods to find a solution to get his product back on the market. I even would email Jim from time to time basically to just say hi or talk hot dog topping, partially because he seems like a genuinely nice guy, but more so that I always wanted to plant the seed in his head that his product needs to be back on the market. I even offered to buy a really large quantity if he found a new co-packer and needed enough to make a minimum order. I think all that says enough about how much I like this.

I'm proud to say it's back. I know it came back a few months ago, but my circumstances changed recently. Anyway, long story short I asked for this as a Christmas gift and received it today.

The new product is freshly made and ships frozen. I have ordered from Dominic and the staff at NYStyleDeli.com a bunch of times now. I've never had any issues at all. My sauce came in a styrofoam container that fit the packs perfectly. There were ice packs on the top and bottom. The package arrived earlier in the day, I arrived home many hours later and things were still frozen. Here's a picture of the package after having removed the top. It was taped very well and the contents did not slide around.

People who tried the old product will notice this new version tastes very similar, although slightly better. The reason for this is because there aren't some (or as many) of the preservative type stuff that was in the old one. I don't have the old package to compare ingredients, but I'm guessing those are really the only changes.

The sauce is bursting with flavor. There's a nice heat and flavor that lingers in your mouth long after eating. It's not too salty either. I think the ingredients all play a part into making a perfect savory flavor (such as the vegetable broth). Great to make Rochester Plates, on hot dogs, right out of the bowl on a spoon, or with chips.

Cooking is easy. You can do it on a stove, although I did it in the microwave. Just snip off a section of the package to vent end and put in a box and microwave for 5 minutes. I found that ceramic bowls weren't good. Glass bowls is perfect. The only issue is now you have a bowl of chili with a package sitting in it. My preferred method of cooking was to actually cut the product out of the package and put it in a container to microwave, however I found since taking it out of the pouch I had to microwave a bit longer.

I previously mentioned that this is something I crave from time to time. The new product is no different.

Ingredients: ground beef, beef broth (water, beef stock, natural flavor), salt, yeast extract, sugar, beef fat), vegetable broth (water, vegetable juices [tomato, mushroom, onion, carrot, celery], yeast extract, salt, natural flavor), water, onion, tomato paste, spices, salt, modified food starch, xanthan gum, canola oil.