Kikk-ing It Up with Kikkoman in San Francisco: Meeting the Soy Sauce Guru, Chef Helen Roberts and Learning New Cooking Alternatives That Blew Me Away! #KikkomanSabor

Kikk-ing Up the Flavor in Life!

Kikkoman does that.

This past week, I was able to travel to San Francisco to meet Chef Helen Roberts and the Kikkoman team. You may remember that Chef Helen selected my recipe that was created using Kikkoman sauces and this past week I was given the opportunity to go to their San Francisco headquarters for a learning experience. I also met the very kind Vice President of Kikkoman, Mike Evans who welcomed us into their home.

Cooking in the Kikkoman Test Kitchen!

The pressure was on (not really, they were totally easy going) and winners, Mayra from Estilo Familiar, Sandra from Mama Noticias and myself had to duplicate our winning dishes!  The dishes were Sushi Caribeño with Kikkoman Soy Sauce–a vegetarian sushi rolled in amarillito frito. Sandra made Tacos en Lechuga, using turkey meat and Kikkoman’s Soy Sauce. And I used Kikkoman’s Teriyaki and Ponzu sauces to create Lime Teriyaki Carne Deschilada y Arroz.

An Experience!

The team behind Kikkoman, Chef Helen, Maxine, Leslie, Jim from BusyDadBlog and Ana from Latina Bloggers Connect were amazing and really made us feel at home in San Francisco. It was fun having them in the kitchen and they were super helpful while we cooked. They also took us out to a delicious dinner at The Waterfront Restaurant and Cafe and we really got to know one another and Chef Helen, of course. Who by the way is amazing, funny and REAL.

We had lots of laughs and my US neighbors pointed out my very pronounced and obvious Canadian accent and my overuse of the word “EH”!

Time for Feasting!

After we had cooked our meals we sat down and enjoyed our dishes and took it to the board room to feast. They even brought us Dim Sum that is quite popular in San Francisco. Everyone tasted the different flavors and we discussed different Latin cuisines and what were our go-to, tried and true recipes and preferences when we cook.

New Flavors with Kikkoman!

I was so excited to try other dishes made with Kikkoman sauces and as I followed the #KikkomanSabor feed on Instagram, I was looking forward to try this sushi and the turkey tacos. They were delicious, I love platanos of course, which is fried plantains.You can make dishes that are tantalizing to your taste buds, that’s for sure.

Make Haste Slowly.

Apart from getting to know the Kikkoman team, we were able to learn Kikkoman’s mantra, their history and the magic about Kikkoman soy sauce. They have a rich and commendable history that broke barriers.

I also discovered that you can make so many family favorites and only make them better with Kikkoman soy sauce and sauces . Soy sauce has “Umami” which makes anything that you put it on, explode with flavor. It brings out all the flavors and it’s not only reserved for Asian-inspired dishes.

Chef Helen Tips:

• For flavorful shish kabobs, moisten your skewers in water with soy sauce.
• For delicious meats, brine your meats in water, sugar, salt and soy sauce.
• Make bunless hotdogs with Kikkoman’s Tempura breading.
• Infuse your soy sauce by adding a few garlic cloves to it.
• Blanche your veggies with water and soy sauce.

Thank-you for Helping me Kikk-It Up with Kikkoman!

I want to thank Kikkoman for inviting me into their kitchen and their headquarters and teaching me so many ways I can give my food an umami boost. I’m also more daring to try using soy sauce when I make Greek food, Italian, Latin, Southern Food and more! You can see my recipe and check out more delicious Kikkoman recipes, here.

If you joined us for our #KikkomanSabor Twitter party, you learned different ways to use Kikkoman soy sauce…

What recipes do you use Kikkoman soy sauce in?

Let me know, til next time–cheers m’deres!