On the description part of the Lucky Dog website, it is stated ‘Year of the Dog …may well be Lucky Dog’s best sauce to date’… well, cast my vote for saying it IS Lucky Dog’s best sauce to date! All of the Lucky Dog sauces are top notch (I don’t say that lightly), but this one is in a category all its own. This one is just jammed packed with bold and fresh flavors; I say it indeed stands supreme!
I just couldn’t wait to try this one, especially with such bold claims as it being so ridiculously good. Unscrewing the cap on the new squeeze bottle and peeling back the safety seal, the smell is immediately enticing and exotic; the aroma instantly gets the juices flowing while you anticipate to see if the taste matches as good as it smells! The taste test does not disappoint! Upon initial tasting, an instant rush of both sweet with a little tartness that tickles the tongue is the first thing I experienced, while the ginger and roasted garlic/toasted onion really come forward first for me. I picked up some of the pineapple, but that more so as a contributing factor to the overall sweetness factor - the ginger and roasted/toasted notes from the garlic, onion and sesame were the main flavor profiles. This stuff is fantastic! Hands down the best sauce in the Lucky Dog lineup! There is a noticeable difference in texture and consistency compared to all the other Lucky Dog sauces; this one much smoother (the smoothest?). I’ve always liked the rather rustic or slightly chunky texture of the prior sauces, but the smooth puree with The Year of the Dog perfectly suits this sauce, especially for use as a dipping sauce - no ‘chunks’ falling off during transference from dish to mouth, and it just gives an overall better coating to any food it may be applied to!
Back to the initial flavors… I really love the roasted garlic, toasted onion and sesame seeds in this - I feel without the ‘roasted/toasted notes’, this sauce would be definitely lacking; it would be missing that ‘something’ that ties it all in together. While the sesame seeds are at the end on the list of ingredients, I am picking up a definite roasted sesame seed/oil flavor for sure. Is there anyone who doesn’t love the smell and taste of roasted sesame seeds or oil? Tying perfectly with the Thai or Asian themed sauce, roasted sesame seeds (or more specifically the oil) just happens to be one of ‘those’ smells and tastes right alongside soy sauce that is almost always distinctly described in culinary terminology as being ‘Asian’. Have you ever eaten at a Chinese buffet and many of the dishes have that same underlying flavor and smell that you just can’t place?; it’s most likely the sesame oil! (I've had friends that worked at Chinese buffets before) This sauce has and captures that smell and taste we all know and love!
After gorging and then restraining myself on this sauce the past few days, I’d say this sauce is indeed a very versatile sauce! The pineapple did give me some initial doubts about that though… pineapple being one of those ingredients that can be so forward and distinct that it just tends to shadow everything else it’s combined with. I’d classify ginger as another of those ‘specialized’ ingredients that don’t really serve as well as other things (like tomatoes) to a multiplicity of uses and applications. With the deft touch of an experienced sauce master, such strong flavors have been combined into a symbiotic taste symphony that manages to capture the best of each ingredient and lets its characteristics shine without overpowering the others. Job most well done!
I cannot but highly recommend the Year of the Dog! Go out and buy, order, bribe, or just do something to get some of this in your arsenal of sauces! You will be glad you did… heck, go ahead get 2 bottles while you’re at it!
(Aside from putting this on my morning eggs, I had to make something Asian (no Pad Thai or anything distinctly ‘Thai’… not yet at least!) - so from things I had left stuffed in the cabinets and freezer, I put together some vegetable (cabbage, onion, and carrot) potstickers, Chinese black ‘forbidden’ rice noodles in raw Nama Shoyu soy sauce, cast iron browned black eyed pea tempeh, some raw zucchini strips (later drizzled in chile infused sesame oil) and an egg. The next day for breakfast I also assembled a makeshift Ethiopian platter consisting of an assortment of various sauced lentils, beans, vegetables, and fresh purple carrots and Cherokee tomatoes and cucumber as a palate cleanser (with an egg of course! Haha!) All was served on 3 grain (teff, barley, and wheat) injera.)
I just couldn’t wait to try this one, especially with such bold claims as it being so ridiculously good. Unscrewing the cap on the new squeeze bottle and peeling back the safety seal, the smell is immediately enticing and exotic; the aroma instantly gets the juices flowing while you anticipate to see if the taste matches as good as it smells! The taste test does not disappoint! Upon initial tasting, an instant rush of both sweet with a little tartness that tickles the tongue is the first thing I experienced, while the ginger and roasted garlic/toasted onion really come forward first for me. I picked up some of the pineapple, but that more so as a contributing factor to the overall sweetness factor - the ginger and roasted/toasted notes from the garlic, onion and sesame were the main flavor profiles. This stuff is fantastic! Hands down the best sauce in the Lucky Dog lineup! There is a noticeable difference in texture and consistency compared to all the other Lucky Dog sauces; this one much smoother (the smoothest?). I’ve always liked the rather rustic or slightly chunky texture of the prior sauces, but the smooth puree with The Year of the Dog perfectly suits this sauce, especially for use as a dipping sauce - no ‘chunks’ falling off during transference from dish to mouth, and it just gives an overall better coating to any food it may be applied to!
Back to the initial flavors… I really love the roasted garlic, toasted onion and sesame seeds in this - I feel without the ‘roasted/toasted notes’, this sauce would be definitely lacking; it would be missing that ‘something’ that ties it all in together. While the sesame seeds are at the end on the list of ingredients, I am picking up a definite roasted sesame seed/oil flavor for sure. Is there anyone who doesn’t love the smell and taste of roasted sesame seeds or oil? Tying perfectly with the Thai or Asian themed sauce, roasted sesame seeds (or more specifically the oil) just happens to be one of ‘those’ smells and tastes right alongside soy sauce that is almost always distinctly described in culinary terminology as being ‘Asian’. Have you ever eaten at a Chinese buffet and many of the dishes have that same underlying flavor and smell that you just can’t place?; it’s most likely the sesame oil! (I've had friends that worked at Chinese buffets before) This sauce has and captures that smell and taste we all know and love!
After gorging and then restraining myself on this sauce the past few days, I’d say this sauce is indeed a very versatile sauce! The pineapple did give me some initial doubts about that though… pineapple being one of those ingredients that can be so forward and distinct that it just tends to shadow everything else it’s combined with. I’d classify ginger as another of those ‘specialized’ ingredients that don’t really serve as well as other things (like tomatoes) to a multiplicity of uses and applications. With the deft touch of an experienced sauce master, such strong flavors have been combined into a symbiotic taste symphony that manages to capture the best of each ingredient and lets its characteristics shine without overpowering the others. Job most well done!
I cannot but highly recommend the Year of the Dog! Go out and buy, order, bribe, or just do something to get some of this in your arsenal of sauces! You will be glad you did… heck, go ahead get 2 bottles while you’re at it!
(Aside from putting this on my morning eggs, I had to make something Asian (no Pad Thai or anything distinctly ‘Thai’… not yet at least!) - so from things I had left stuffed in the cabinets and freezer, I put together some vegetable (cabbage, onion, and carrot) potstickers, Chinese black ‘forbidden’ rice noodles in raw Nama Shoyu soy sauce, cast iron browned black eyed pea tempeh, some raw zucchini strips (later drizzled in chile infused sesame oil) and an egg. The next day for breakfast I also assembled a makeshift Ethiopian platter consisting of an assortment of various sauced lentils, beans, vegetables, and fresh purple carrots and Cherokee tomatoes and cucumber as a palate cleanser (with an egg of course! Haha!) All was served on 3 grain (teff, barley, and wheat) injera.)
