2010 South Beach Wine & Food Festival: Guy Fieri (left), Michael Esshaki (right), Founder of Zip Sauce

The South Beach Food festival acclaims the top personalities in food, with the 2010 South Beach festival featuring Food Networks top Celebrity Chef’s – Guy Fiero, Rachel Ray, Bobby Flay, and Paula Deen to highlight a few..

“What a personality! Guy Fieri was fun and loud…and well himself! A big thank you to Guy and we look forward to the next years food festivals. ” – Michael Esshaki, Founder of Zip Sauce

“We look forward to incorporating Guy Fieri’s creative dishes and bold flavors with  Zip Sauce’s gourmet flair into our recipe collection.”  Composed by our Zip Sauce chef’s and our loyal fan base of at-home cooks, our recipe collection continues to grow as we are always receiving new and fresh ways to cook with Zip Sauce. Our goal is to provide a full-recipe collection that is an indispensible resource to your home kitchen, providing gourmet meal possibilities for all genres of food, it’s not just steak anymore.

Enhance our growing recipe collection with your Zip Sauce meal creation. Have you created an amazing back yard barbecue with Zip Sauce? Send in your grilling recipe to share with our foodie community and for your help we will send you some free sauce!

* Source: South Beach Food & Wine Festival presented by Food & Wine Magazine, February 2010

Filet mignon with a hearty zip sauce and blue cheese crumbles make an easy, irresistible combo. (KATHLEEN GALLIGAN/DETROIT FREE PRESS)

BY SUSAN M. SELASKY
FREE PRESS TEST KITCHEN DIRECTOR

A juicy beefsteak and sautéed mushrooms go together perfectly — especially when you add a great sauce to the mix.

Make that beefsteak a filet mignon, add a yummy zip sauce, top it off with a tangy blue cheese and you’ve got a combo that’s irresistible.

Today’s recipe mixes up sautéed mushrooms with some fresh green beans and my version of a zip sauce, a hearty sauce that enhances the beef’s flavor.

Another plus: This recipe keeps the mess to a minimum because it uses the same skillet to cook the beef and the mushrooms and make the sauce.

Just make sure the skillet is oven-proof.

Using a skillet to first sear the filets is a way to ensure a crusty exterior and a tender and juicy interior. Finishing them off in the oven provides low and slow constant heat.

Another option is to grill the filets over a high heat first and then move them to a cooler part of the grill to finish the cooking. When grilling, you’ll need to make the sauce separately, keeping in mind it won’t have any of those flavorful beefy pan juices or little bits of food that are packed with flavor.

Many metro Detroit chefs offer a version of zip sauce served with steaks.

In Detroit, the original Lelli’s restaurant, which burned in 2000, is known as the originator of zip sauce. Lelli’s, which now operates in Auburn Hills, serves the sauce with its famous filet mignon.

Lelli’s, of course, won’t dish on the recipe, only describing it as “a rich, buttery and slightly salty glaze.”

And if you’ve ever had it, it’s arguably all of that.

Some area grocery and gourmet stores sell versions of the zip sauce. Michael Esshaki, a former waiter at Lelli’s in Detroit, created the zip sauce called the Original Zip Sauce. A 12-ounce bottle of Esshaki’s sauce is about $7. All you need to do is add butter. Order it at www.ZipSauce.com.

BY SUSAN M. SELASKY
FREE PRESS TEST KITCHEN DIRECTOR

FOOD NETWORK: 2010 South Beach Food & Wine Festival

‘The Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival presented by Food & Wine is a national, star-studded, four-day destination event showcasing the talents of the world’s most renowned wine and spirits producers, chefs and culinary personalities.’*

“It was such an incredible honor and opportunity for ZipSauce to be in the presence of such talent as Rachel Ray. Most memorable from this year’s festival was the opportunity to meet Rachel Ray. She was such kind and genuine person, thoughtfully taking the time to speak with each eager guest and fans.” Michael Esshaki, ZipSauce chef and founder-

‘The one-day festival showcased wines from national and international wineries paired with food from local restaurants and chefs working with students of Florida International University school of Hospitality and Tourism Management. 2010 was a banner year raising over $2.2 million for beneficiary and welcoming over 50,000 wine and food lovers.’*

“We can’t wait till the 2011 festival to pair ZipSauce with favorite gourmet dishes from the kitchens of the best cooking in gourmet, and of course, to create more gourmet meal experiences for our ZipSauce fans.” Michael Esshaki-

* Source: South Beach Food & Wine Festival presented by Food & Wine Magazine, February 2010

Zip Sauce took home the award Best in show for Steak Sauce and Best Topping Sauce at the 2009 Metropolitan Cooking & Entertaining Show in West Palm Beach, Florida. The show, which took place on March 28th and 29th, brought in around 10,000 people that came to buy, taste, and see new and upcoming products that have went to market.

Cooking and Entertaining enthusiasts of all ages and levels of skill have flocked to The Metropolitan Cooking & Entertaining Show over the last 4 years. The event featured nearly 100 exhibitors, including Zip Sauce, live cooking demonstrations by South Florida’s hottest chefs, tasting and entertaining workshops, plus presentations. Over 3300 samples of the sauce were served during the two-day show.

Food Network sensation and renowned chef Bobby Flay was in attendance for the show as a presenter along with Paula Deen (Author and Show Host of Food Network’s Paula’s Home Cooking & Paula’s Party) and The Neelys. (Hosts of Food Network’s “Down Home with the Neelys” and “Road Tasted with the Neelys”)

Zip Sauce has been served in the finest restaurants for over fifty years.  It took chef and founder of The Original Zip Sauce Michael Esshaki almost 3 years to perfect the recipe for bottling and the elusive sauce is now available for purchase in 11 states. Zip Sauce can be used for everything from chicken and steak, to burgers, seafood, soups, and more.