>>Female Presenter: Hey everyone I'm Kat.
I'm from the Authors at Google team.
Today we're welcoming Randy Clemens.
He is the co-author of "The Craft of Stone
Brewery."
And he is also the author of “The Sriracha
Cookbook" and he's here today to talk to us
about this wonderful "Rooster Sauce."
Welcome Randy.
>> Randy Clemens: Thank you.
[applause]
>> Randy Clemens: Thank you guys for coming
out today and having some Sriracha.
So as Kat said, I'm Randy Clemens.
I'm co-author of "The Craft of Stone Brewing
Company: Liquid Lore, Epic Recipes, and Unabashed
Arrogance."
So, That was a book I wrote last year and
one of the Googlers here, Simone, is an old
friend of mine from high school and hit me
up on Google+ and said "Hey you should come
down and do a talk for us."
And so, I came for that and parlayed that
into a talk about my other book "The Sriracha
Cookbook."
So, here I am.
So, we'll do a little bit of a talk of the
hot sauce we all know and love.
If any of you are familiar with the comic
"The Oatmeal," the guy Matthew Inman who does
it is a little crazy about Sriracha.
And he's got all these really, really weird
comics about it.
But anyway.
So, I'm gonna talk a little bit about the
sauce.
It's not just a sauce though.
I mentioned that a little earlier.
It's not--.
It's not a brand.
Sriracha's not a brand.
It's actually made by a couple different companies.
It's a style of hot sauce.
And there's a sea-side town in Thailand called
Si Racha.
It's located inside of a province called Chonburi,
which is in the The Bay of Bangkok.
So, it’s about 60 miles southeast of Bangkok.
And essentially it's a sea-side town.
They're really well known for their seafood.
And just over time they developed this hot
sauce and people were--.
A lot of visitors to the town were really,
really drawn to this hot sauce and it became
a kind of thing.
People knew this town for their style of hot
sauce.
And it became popular throughout Thailand,
throughout Vietnam and a lot of the other
South East Asian diaspora that's there.
But other than that, there's not a lot that
the town's known for except their Tiger Zoo.
[laughter]
So, I actually got to go while I was working
on the book.
Went to the Tiger Zoo.
I don't know who was more excited about being
there me, or the tiger.
But I got this tour guide, this weird but
awesome tour guide, that took me to Si Racha
and when I told him I wanted to go to Si Racha,
his immediate question was "Why?"
And I told him--.
I asked him if he was familiar with the hot
sauce and he said, "Yeah, of course."
I think it's like going to Seattle and asking
to go to a Starbucks.
I wanted the hot sauce and he just didn't
understand why.
That I had flown from America to find this
hot sauce.
[laughter]
So, he gave me some weird looks and I just
said, "Oh and the Tiger Zoo" and he said,
“Oh.
OK, OK" So, that kind of made a little bit
more sense for him.
But actually we had a long drive from Bangkok
and so I explained a little bit more what
I was working on.
He still thought that I was weird but I thought
he was weird too.
But we had a good time.
[laughter]
So, right on the seaside there's this great
pier that goes out and they've got all these
amazing food stands.
And naturally there's a lot of food that goes
really well with the Sriracha.
So, the Shark brand Sriracha that I brought
today, like I said it's a little bit thinner
and it's a little sweeter.
Got a really great garlic flavor.
Got some great spice to it.
But the consistency, it's much more of a dipping
sauce versus the Huy Fong foods brand.
The American brand you squirt on top of everything.
And with my book, hopefully in everything.
So, while I was there, very similar to the
mango salad we had at lunch today, this is
green papaya salad that was there and it just
was beautiful with Sriracha.
And this is a calamari dish that I had there.
So again, they use it more as a dipping sauce.
But the food was amazing and I totally had
this moment of Zen where I was having Sriracha
in Si Racha and I kind of freaked out a little
it.
And this, this was the-- this egg dish that
I had.
Just a crazy little omelet they threw together
so fast and it also went really fast.
[laughter]
So, the way they make their Sriracha in Thailand
is with a couple of different kinds of peppers.
These are called prik chee fah.
And these are more medium style chili’s.
These aren't the super-hot ones.
That's these little bastards, these little
tiny peppers called prik khee nu.
And those are the ones that add the heat.
So, they do a blend of those.
And actually, you'll find a couple different--
I think even one of them that's here today
is labeled hot.
I mean they'll have multiple different varieties.
You can get mild.
You can get medium.
You can get hot.
So, they really-- they play with their sauce
a little bit more there than we do here.
The really cool thing was I actually got to
actually--.
We--.
My tour guide again was awesome.
We found this factory and that's what I wanted
to do.
So, we were there and I had a bottle of the
Shark brand and had the address on it.
We went on a wild goose chase to try and find
this place.
And we went all over the town and we're asking
these people--.
The address is actually their office, so it's
not the factory.
And they were kind of skeevey about telling
us where it was.
But we still ventured out anyway.
And we kept stopping everywhere and it took
us a couple hours but we found this factory
in the middle of nowhere.
And sure enough it was guarded.
There was this huge fortress of security stuff
around and the security guard there, he hopped
out for a minute and he's talking to the security
guard and he comes back in and he says, "OK.
You're an American importer looking to buy
the sauce.
We're going in."
I was like, "Cool."
He made up this story on the fly.
[laughter]
And it was awesome.
We got to go in and check everything out.
So--.
And the guy was very over-zealous and having
me try everything and showing me all around,
which is really cool.
[laughter]
So, the essence of the sauce, these blue tubs
you see here, that's the sauce fermenting
away.
They--.
So, it's chili peppers, garlic, salt, sugar,
and vinegar.
The chili peppers and the garlic are fermented
and it stinks so good.
Really, when it's in the midst of it all--.
And it was really cool 'cause he picked some
of it out and I got to try it while it was
fermenting.
It's really, really great.
But again, my tour guide was my hero.
I wish I remembered his name 'cause I owe
him a hug.
So, these are some of the Thai style hot sauces
like I mentioned.
You can see so on the middle one there I believe
it's Cock brand, that one says strong up on
the neck.
So, they have varying levels of heat.
But the one we know and love here.
So, essentially what happened is, there's
a company Huy Fong Foods.
It was started a while back here in California.
It isn't actually heaven sent--
[laughter]
As some people would believe.
And sorry for the little watermark down there
with my website.
I sent one picture out one time without and
it went crazy on Twitter.
And I was like damn it, no one knows I made
that.
[laughter]
And no one knows it ties it back to the book.
So I have these silly watermarks and I don't
have pictures without them.
So.
So, Huy Fong Foods.
This is a factory actually in Rosemead, and
the entire street smells amazing.
You would know you were there.
If you're a block away you could smell it.
So, essentially it was started back in 1980
by this gentleman in front, David Tran.
And he's of Chinese descent and was born in
Vietnam and was growing chili peppers in Vietnam
and not making a whole lot of money selling
them.
And so, he ended up starting to make chili
sauce with them.
And started making a little more money there.
Unfortunately, because of the Vietnamese War
and the aftermath, they weren't super nice
to foreigners even though he was born in Vietnam
because his family was of Chinese descent
and had immigrated.
He was forced to flee, as so many people were.
And actually he escaped on a boat, a Taiwanese
freighter called Huy Fong.
And that's how he got the name of his company.
So, this is in the late 1970s and eventually
got to America.
He landed in Boston first and then came out
to Los Angeles when he found out there were
jalousies growing in California and started
using red jalapeños So that's one of the
major flavor differences also.
It's a much different chili pepper and you're
gonna get a much different flavor as a result.
So, he started making it in around 1983.
He opened his company in 1980 and started
making Sriracha in 1983.
He started a company with 50,000 dollars that
he -- of his family-- It was all of his family
savings.
He was actually denied a bank loan from a
couple different places and finally just went
all in with his family savings.
Bought a Chevy van, a big Hobart mixer, a
little shop, storefront in Chinatown.
But moved to Rosemead in 1987 and kept expanding.
In 1986 he ended up taking over the spot next
to him that used to be an old Wham-O factory.
And now they're in Irwindale.
They're relocating.
They got a huge 40 million dollar build-to-suit
factory.
And the city of Irwindale was -- gave them
some huge breaks to move there.
So, they're doing really, really well.
It took them a while, but they're doing really
well.
So, my obsession didn't kick in 'til probably
about 1999.
Thanks to that lovely woman in the middle
there.
On the right is my friend Phi Nguyen and his
brother Phook and his mom in the middle, who
cooks the most amazing food on earth.
I grew up very white and I never had any Southeast
Asian food before.
And I started hanging out at Phi's house a
lot more after the first time I went over
and she made dinner.
She makes really crazy stuff and sometimes
I would ask what I was eating, and he would
just shake his head "No."
Like, "You don't want to know."
[laughter] So, pig uterus, delicious.
So, she made fried rice one morning and just
put this bottle of Sriracha out on the table.
And didn't say-- you know it wasn't like they
were “Here, try this."
It was just, it was out and I decided to try
it.
And ever since then I started going down this
wicked spiral.
Started playing around more and more with
the hot sauces.
And started putting it on just about everything.
[laughter]
And this quickly became my mantra.
You know I was just putting it on everything.
And then, there was a day when I wanted to
cook with it.
I-- Actually I was--.
It was a happy accident, I was out of Frank's
Red Hot and I was going to make buffalo wings.
And just thought, "Hey."
It wasn't rocket science, but I used Sriracha
instead.
And I think I might have used some green onions
or something and make it more Asian.
I don't know.
I don't remember that much.
But I remember this was probably the first
thing that I had made with Sriracha as an
ingredient.
So, this is a picture from the book.
It's not from that fateful day.
But I did, I started using it as an ingredient
and I kinda had this idea festering in my
brain about making a cookbook about Sriracha.
And I thought it would be really cool.
So, fast forward a couple of years and I still
got this idea.
I'm really now starting to realize if I don't
make this someone else is going to.
And I kinda have to.
So, I started thinking up recipe ideas and
started putting together a book proposal.
And started coming up with these different
recipes.
This is the Ultimate Sriracha burger.
These are all in the book.
It's photography by Leo Gong.
He's a really, really talented food photographer
up in San Francisco.
So, this is not for the health conscious.
It's got Sriracha mixed into the patty.
It's got bacon, grilled onions-- sautéed
onions, and onions are sautéed in the bacon
fat.
Which makes them really tasty.
Some arugula, beef steak tomatoes, Swiss cheese,
and then there's a blue cheese Sriracha dressing
on it as well.
It's really good.
And if you have fries or sweet potato fries
with it, I would make extra of the blue cheese
dressing.
It's really, really good.
This one's hot, just to warn you.
Most of the recipes in there are pretty hot.
This one's really hot.
So, couple others that came to mind.
I really wanted to showcase it as an ingredient,
not just as a condiment.
Not that I mind putting Sriracha on everything.
But again, and I've gotten that comment before,
"I could write a Sriracha cookbook."
You know make food, add Sriracha, and it could
very well be that simple.
[laughter]
But I really--.
I tried to really combat that and be more
creative with it.
So, I've got a fire roasted corn chowder.
Which, this is my favorite recipe out of the
book.
It's, if I say so myself, it’s really damn
good.
And a cheddar Sriracha swirl bread.
This is a really, really cool one to make.
It makes awesome toast and awesome grilled
cheeses.
So, again, I really wanted to think outside
the box and just flex my Sriracha muscle.
And just show that there was really, really
cool stuff you could do with it.
So--.
And it's funny because I found out as you
guys are here, I'm not the only one who's
obsessed with this stuff.
There's this crazy cult following behind it.
And I think a lot of that comes from--.
You can find the bottles a lot more now.
But before you'd see bottles of the Huy Fong
Foods brand, you'd see them in Pho restaurants,
or other Asian restaurants.
But the cool thing about it, the bottle itself,
you've got all these different languages on
it.
It makes it really seem exotic.
People--.
A lot of people are still surprised to find
out it's just made here in California.
It's got all these different languages.
The red bottle with the green cap really strikes
me as a jalapeños still being on the branch.
And just the idea that--.
I think what worked so well for them early
on is that the phone number is on the bottle.
And if you called, they'd mail you a bottle.
So, people would come out to L.A. a lot, they'd
steal bottles, bring them back home.
Throw them in their purse, whatever.
Give them to people, when they'd run out,
they'd have the phone number and call them.
They'd ship you a bottle.
No problem.
So, I think a lot of that was really what
helped foster its cult following.
This really hardcore following.
But it's funny--.
Again you'll see people really obsessed with
Sriracha.
So, the stuff I've seen on Facebook and Twitter
is hilarious since writing the book.
But there's been Halloween costumes.
New application methods.
[laughter]
This guy sent this to me on Facebook.
Just was amazed that it actually works apparently.
I still haven't done it.
But I think it's a really cool way to get
even application of Sriracha.
And then there's some really die hard--.
[ background chatter]
Some really die hard people out there.
More die hard than I am somehow.
[laughter]
So, even some Sriracha ink.
So, Huy Fong Foods they really have--.
This sauce has taken off.
You can find it all over.
You'll see it at TV shows.
You'll see it--.
Top Chef I think was a huge thing for them
'cause they used it so much.
And I think Season Four or something, Casey
made this Sriracha ice cream and it was apparently
a miserable failure.
But even still, I've got a recipe for a peach
Sriracha sorbet.
I did an event last night and Scoops Westside--.
Plus I made this cinnamon Sriracha sorbet
with pear and lime that was really good.
So, it can be done.
But ice cream might be a more interesting
challenge.
So they're doing really well.
And they're making more in that humongous
factory that they've got going now.
I believe they're making around 20 million
bottles a year.
And this new factory can quintuple that apparently.
So, it's pretty exciting.
But it's going all over the place.
You can find it in Wal-Mart now.
You don't have to steal it from a Pho shop.
And it's been just about everywhere including
the International Space Station.
You can see it right back there in the corner.
Well, sort of in the corner by that dude's
head.
That weird whatever it is hanging down.
You guys see it?
It's there.
It's been everywhere.
So, it's one of my favorite things and it's
been really, really cool to be able to showcase
it.
Again, not just as a condiment but as an ingredient.
And to get to--.
To find out more about the story.
I was fascinated to find out there was this
whole back story behind it.
That it wasn't just a crazy condiment.
And the whole--.
Oh, and another little fun tid-bit, the rooster
on the front of the bottle.
So, David Tran the guy that started Huy Fong
Foods, that's his zodiac sign.
So that's why everyone knows it as the rooster
sauce.
[laughter]
So, there you go.
That's my book.
And that's a little history about Sriracha.
You guys have any questions?
>>Female#1: Do you have any tattoos of the
sauce?
>> Randy Clemens: I don't.
I've got food tattoos.
But none of the sauce.
I've got garlic and--.
I've got two of the ingredients.
I've got garlic and the salt hangin' out.
[audience chatter]
But I'm gonna get parmesan reggiano and--.
Oh I got three of the ingredients.
I've got chili peppers.
[laughter]
[chatter]
So, my nice farmer tan.
[laughter]
Beets, silverware, parmesan reggiano . But
no Sriracha sauce yet.
[laughter]
Questions?
>> Female#2: Thanks for coming here again.
>> Randy Clemens: Sure.
>> Female #2: I really enjoyed the beer talk
that you got earlier--
>> Randy Clemens: Sweet.
>> Female #2: as well.
>> Randy Clemens: Thanks.
>> Female #2: I had a question to tie these
two together.
Do you have beers that you prefer to have
with your Sriracha dishes?
And a two part question.
>> Randy Clemens: Yes.
>> Female#2: I'm sorry.
>> Randy Clemens: No.
>> Female#2: Cocktails.
Have you ever tried to make Sriracha based
cocktails?
>> Randy Clemens: Yeah.
So, with beer--.
Beer's great 'cause it can help kill the heat.
And actually for my book release party, Eagle
Rock Brewery made a Sriracha beer for it.
It was really, really interesting.
It was good.
I liked it.
[laughter]
No.
I really liked it.
But four ounces of it was like the perfect
amount.
I didn't want a refreshing pint of it.
But no, it works really, really well with
beer.
So, I did an event last night at Library Alehouse,
and we paired a couple dishes with beers from
El Segundo Brewing Company.
And it was really, really interesting how
well it worked.
So, for me, if you've got a really well made
lager, it works really well.
And not the 30 pack for $12.99 stuff.
If you can get a really well made lager like
Craftsman here in Pasadena, their 1903 Pre-Prohibition
Lager is awesome.
And that works really well because, you know
it's lighter in flavor but it really helps
accentuate a lot of the flavors that are already
there in your dishes.
I really like hoppy I.P.As.
Those work really well with spicy food anyway.
They--.
The citrus usually--.
Flavors usually present in an I.P.A work really
well with spicy food.
But then again we had a rum soaked, oak chips
that were soaked in rum were put into this
stout.
The Hyperion Stout from El Segundo Brewing
Company.
And that was paired with the sorbet, which
I wouldn't have thought of in a million years.
It worked really well.
So, you can play around.
And then cocktails.
I suck at making drinks.
[laughter]
It's really depressing.
I'm pretty good at making food and I like
drinking beer, but I can’t make a decent
cocktail other than a gin and tonic to save
my life.
But my friend Chris Day, actually made a cocktail
recipe for the book.
Someone is laughing.
Someone knows Chris Day.
He made a cocktail for the book.
It was great.
We were out one night drinking heavily.
And we went back to his place and drank some
more.
And I was in the middle of working on this
book and I said, "Hey, can you make a Sriracha
cocktail?"
And he didn't even answer.
He just walked away and went in the kitchen
and came back in like three minutes with this
amazing drink.
He used this crazy organic tomato vodka and
Sriracha, of course, and I think some jalapeño
and some other stuff.
I haven't made it in so long.
But it came out really great.
So, it's definitely something you can play
around with.
It makes a really nice Sriracha-lada.
Like a michelada with Sriracha in it.
Really good.
That's like the ultimate hammock beer for
me in the summer.
>> Male#1: Thank you very much for coming.
I was curious whether you can talk a little
more about the process of writing the book.
How does it go?
>> Randy Clemens: Sure.
So, had this idea and I didn't really know
where to go with it.
And the power of meeting people, I was so
lucky.
I wanted--.
I started looking for publishers that had
written books about spicy food or about chili
peppers.
And one of them that I came across was Ten
Speed Press.
And I went to their website to try to get
some information on submission guidelines.
Was lucky enough that they accept un-solicited
manuscripts.
Which means, you don't have an agent and they're
not looking for--.
You're pitching them directly.
They’re not looking for your work.
You're telling them, "This is what I have,
would you be interested?"
So, finding out a little information, I go
to their page and this big huge banner pops
up and it was "New book from Peter Reinhart"
who is a bread god.
And I had the pleasure of meeting him a few
years before at a bread festival in Portland,
Oregon that I flew up for because I like bread.
I go to Thailand for hot sauce, Portland for
bread.
But I had the pleasure of meeting him and
chatting with him before and so I sent him
an email just out of the blue and said,"Hey,
don't know if you remember me, but, looking
to write a book and I think Ten Speed would
be great.
Are you able to share your contact information
there?"
And he said, "No.
But I'd be happy to pass it along if you want
to send it to me."
So, I wrote up this book proposal, which is
a really lengthy process.
But you kind of sell yourself.
You sell the book.
You sell why the publisher wants this book.
Why they want it now.
Why you should write it.
How it's going to sell.
Why there's nothing else like it.
Why there should--.
You know you lay it all out.
Sent it to him.
He was gracious enough to send it back with
“Fix this.
Fix that.
Move that around.
Put this here.
Shorten this."
I mean, he really--.
I owe him my life.
But so, anyway he finally passed it along
and I actually sent it on to two editors and
from two different publishing houses.
And I was--.
They both wanted it so I tried to engage them
in a bidding war.
You--.
I got really lucky.
So, yeah, they took it and from there, that's
when the fun part starts.
'Cause that-- the contract negotiation--.
I'm actually negotiating a contract right
now for a follow up for a vegetarian, vegan
follow up that I want to call “The Veggie
Lover's Sriracha Cookbook."
But we're going throughout the contract right
now and my editor, Melissa Moore, who I love,
needs to call me back.
Melissa please call me back.
[laughter]
So, anyway.
So after that's done, that's when the fun
starts.
You can start laying out the recipes you wanna
do.
And actually I submit the recipe list with
my proposal.
I pretty much know what I wanna make, I just
haven't made it.
And I need to get on that.
I've got 50 more recipes I need to write.
But that's the fun part for me.
Is putting the pieces together and testing
out different amounts and making friends chip
in.
I wanna put together some sort of pot luck.
Have people bring dishes they tested for me.
I send them the recipes, they test them, and
everyone gets together and has a good time.
You know, put something like that together.
You test the recipes.
You turn it all in.
They send it to a copy editor who makes sure
you're not retarded and fixes your grammar
mistakes, missing words.
They test some of the recipes.
Once that gets sent off, they start design
and layout and they do photography.
Again, Leo Gong up in San Francisco, I got
to go up to his studio and just watch what
he did and the food stylist Karen Shinto,
just amazing and so tolerant of me.
And others who would nitpick little things,
we were trying not to.
But literally, how can you move that little
piece of parsley over there?
It happened and I felt bad every time but
she was gracious the entire time because she
wants it to come out right.
She doesn't take it personally.
Even so, I felt like an asshole a couple times.
That corn picture, which is my favorite picture
in the book too, I really was neurotic about
that one.
[laughter]
But to her credit, she was great the whole
time.
Goes off to a printer, books come back, it
comes out and I get a cool book release party
at Blue Palms Brewhouse in Hollywood.
And--.
I always try to tie in beer when I can.
And it was great.
And it's been phenomenal.
It sold exceedingly well.
It's exceeded every expectation I ever had.
I'm so happy with it.
It's still a blessing, the fact that I'm here
talking to people and that you're listening.
It's still humbling and surprising and awesome.
So, thank you guys for being here.
>> Male#1: Thank you very much.
>> Randy Clemens: Sure.
>> Male#2: Hey, I got here a little late so,
I'm sorry if you went over this already.
But what are your thoughts on all the sauces
that are out there that are kind of knock-offs?
>> Randy Clemens: Good question.
You know there--.
You will.
You'll see knock-offs.
And actually there was a period of time when
someone was making counterfeit Huy Fong Foods
Sriracha.
They were--.
There's a laser etching on the bottle now
that's the date stamp and stuff.
And they've done a couple other things that
make it harder to counterfeit.
But someone was making serious knock-off hot
sauce and selling it as if it was Huy Fong
Foods.
And they were getting a lot of calls that
the quality wasn't as good and what was going
on.
And they started looking into it.
Turns out some guy was doing it.
Having it made in China and having it shipped
over.
And I don't know how that's cheaper because
they sell the stuff for so damn cheap.
I don't know how it's cheaper to have it made
in China and shipped over.
It scares me to think what was going in there.
But they ended up finding this abandoned warehouse
where there was like a --. Someone, a small
security guard or something, found this abandoned
pallet in the parking lot or in a storage
unit or something like that and called the
company and said “Hey, you guys need to
come pick up your hot sauce."
So he went down to check it out.
And they found it and kinda waited around
and eventually someone came to pick it up.
And they stopped them and said, “Hey, where's
this going?"
And they said, “We just got an order to
pick it up and take it here."
They went over there and someone else was
there and they were like," Oh, well this guy
is the one that paid for it."
And he had a personal check with his name,
phone number, address, and everything else
on there.
And so, they--.
Yeah, they ended up shutting them down and
taking them to court and all that kind of
stuff.
But other knock--offs, there's a couple--.
Again there's a couple different brands making
it.
For me, the two that are my favorites are
the Huy Fong Foods brand and the Shark brand.
There's other one's out there.
American made and made in Thailand and other
countries too.
There's a really cool one that doesn't get
exported here.
You can find it in England.
So, I'm hoping to get some.
I'm going to England this summer and I hope
to get some.
It's called Flying Goose.
And they actually have like seven different
flavors.
They do a garlic.
They do a ginger.
They do extra hot which I'm stoked about.
The cool thing--.
The other cool thing in the book is that there's
a homemade Sriracha recipe.
So, it's different.
It's different than the Huy Fong Foods brand.
But it's again, play with it.
A friend of mine made it with habaneros and
it was great.
It was a lot hotter, but it was really good.
But it's kinda fun to have something bubbling
on your countertop for a little--.
For a week.
And starting to get stinky in a good way.
So, but as far as the knock-offs, for me,
I stick with the original.
Well, the American original.
And Shark brand has been around for a while.
Sriraja Panich is considered by most people
to be the originator.
Hello.
>> Female#3: Speaking into a microphone.
So strange.
>> Randy Clemens: Tell me about it.
>> Female#3: Do you--.
[laughs]
[laughter]
Thank you for being here first of all.
Do you have any restaurants in L.A. or otherwise
that serve some really good Sriracha based
dishes?
>> Randy Clemens: Damn.
>> Female#3: Or anything like that that's
not pho?
[laughs]
>> Randy Clemens: Right.
You know what?
There's some--.
To me the people that are doing the most interesting
things with Sriracha are the food trucks.
So if you--.
Chego, which is associated with Kogi Barbecue,
or Kogi, I don't know which one it is.
Roy Choi.
His pastry chef makes this Sriracha chocolate
bar.
That sounds weird, but it's awesome.
It's really good.
So, I think they have a peanut caramel base.
Chocolate on top, Sriracha, some sort of nougat,
I think.
And then it's all just enrobed with more chocolate.
And it's really, really good.
I bought one then I bought four and took them
home and saved them.
[laughter]
Shared it with a friend.
So, if you go to Chego, which is the stand
alone or the brick and mortar shop they've
got 'em there.
But if you're lucky enough to find the truck.
There's another one called Dos Chinos and
they do a tapatio Sriracha cheesecake which
I haven't tried.
But I've heard it's really, really good.
The Grill 'em All truck.
They have a peanut butter and jelly, bacon
and Sriracha burger called the Dee Snider.
Which again I haven't tried, but it's supposed
to be awesome.
But yeah, as far as other restaurants, I can't
think of any off the top of my head.
>> Female#3: Just make our own.
>> Randy Clemens: Yes.
>> Female#3: It'll be good.
[laughs]
>> Randy Clemens: Yes.
There you go.
>> Female#4: Would you mind just explaining
what each of the bottle are on the table right
there?
I know you talked a little bit about some
of the differences in texture and things like
that.
But just what the different brands are there
and which ones are--.
>> Randy Clemens: Sure.
To be honest, I've only had three of 'em.
>> Female#3: Oh.
>> Randy Clemens: So, there's some new ones
for me to try.
So, Chef Michael actually picked them up.
There's a couple great stores out in San Gabriel.
Hawaii Supermarket and the San Gabriel Superstore.
Which they're adventures if you ever want
to go.
They're really, really cool stores.
But yeah, they've got all sorts of different
brands.
So, the Shark brand is again my favorite as
far as the Thai style goes.
Just to me it's really, really well balanced.
And I like to use that.
That actually flows a little better for cooking.
I like--.
If I 'm cooking something quickly, I like
to use that a little bit more.
The Huy Fong Foods brand is thicker and just
a different flavor from the jalapeño peppers.
And so, for me that one's more my condiment.
And it's just more conducive to it anyway
because of the squirt top.
The Por Kwan brand, I still can't--.
I like the flavor but the texture to me is
just weird.
It just comes out looking artificially thick.
And not like, I don't know.
You just have to check it out.
>> Female#3: I like that one.
>> Randy Clemens: Yeah.
No.
It tastes great it's just like, it's like
shiny and glossy and gloopy.
[laughter]
That's the only word I can keep using for
it.
But it tastes good.
I don't know.
This little guy here I haven't had yet.
I gotta check it out.
It looks--.
I always like when chili stuff is smaller.
I am almost more scared of it.
But good scared.
I will always try it.
But those are the only three that I've had.
So, I am looking forward to trying the other
one.
>> Female#3: Thank You.
>> Randy Clemens: Sure.
I can tell you quick fun facts.
Just so--.
Thai bird chilies.
The whole story behind why they're called
that.
Birds aren't actually sensitive to capsaicin.
Which is the heat element of chili peppers.
So, they often eat them.
The peppers actually grow facing up like the
prik khee nu, those little mean bastards I
showed you.
They grow pointing up so birds can see them.
And they'll come down and eat 'em.
The seeds don’t digest and so they come
out with a nice little layer of manure right
around them and they plop right down to the
ground.
It helps the plant spread.
But that's the whole idea around them being
called the Thai bird chili.
"Cause the birds eat them and make them spread
and grow.
So, there’s a lot of chili peppers all around
Thailand and elsewhere.
But that's normally how it's spread.
>> Female Presenter: That's a really cool
fact.
Reminds me of the cat poo coffee.
>> Randy Clemens: Yes.
The Civets.
[laughter]
>> Female Presenter: That we pay 25 dollars
a pound for or something.
Well, thank you very much Randy for coming
here to join us at the Authors at Google program.
We hope you finish your vegetarian Sriracha
books very soon and come back and see us again.
>> Randy Clemens: Summer of 2013 it should
be out.
So, I'll--.
>> Female Presenter: Summer of 2013.
>> Randy Clemens: I'll be here.
[laughter]
[applause]
