Guys, lemme tell you ’bout this cocktail sauce…
It’s AH-mazing.
Cocktail sauce is cocktail sauce, you might be thinking. That’s okay; I was, too. Unlike a condiment where the brand matters—say, mayonnaise or hot sauce—I’d always considered cocktail sauce pretty generic. Until my parents told me about a brand they’d discovered, here in Wisconsin of all places, that knocked the socks off any other they’d ever had. When I arrived at their house for my PNW visit last month, one of the first things my mom asked me was, “Did you bring us any of that Bucky Badger cocktail sauce?”
I had not. Five minutes inside their front door and my long-awaited visit was a fail, judging by the look on her face.
But all was not lost! My folks still had a partial bottle in their fridge, and that evening, we adjourned to the sun room, where my mom served up shrimp cocktail, with the requisite Bucky Badger sauce, as if to prove a point.
Did she ever.
One bite and I was hooked. The cocktail sauce was pleasantly tangy with just a slight kick, all the flavors blending together harmoniously. Somehow, the Bucky Badger food scientists cracked the code and figured out the perfect proportions of tomato paste, salt, lemon juice, and horseradish, plus an unpronounceable ingredient or two.
Usually seafood is the star of the show, but in this case, the shrimp merely served as a convenient vehicle for scooping up the cocktail sauce. My mom brought out some poppy seed rolls (weird, I know) for dessert, but I would have been happier with a big ol’ bowl of the cocktail sauce. ‘Cause damn.
On our first grocery outing after I returned home, we grabbed a few bottles of the Bucky Badger sauce (one of which we sent to my parents, shh if they read this before checking their mail). At this point, Tara hadn’t tried it yet.
“Cocktail sauce is cocktail sauce,” she said.
“Just you wait,” I replied.
Last weekend, Tara was rooting around in the freezer for dinner ingredients and happened upon a bag of shrimp, as one does. Bingo! This was the perfect opportunity for her to try the BBCS (it’s a lot to type out), so she boiled up a bunch, and we got to dippin’.
One bite and Tara was hooked. Are you sensing a theme here? Seriously, she was raving about that cocktail sauce for a good 10 minutes. Long after the shrimp had disappeared from our plates. Look, I have no idea why it’s so fantastic, but it really has changed my outlook on condiment branding. Now I need to start paying attention to food items I’d previously never given a second thought, like yellow mustard and black pitted olives and lemon juice.
By the way, we were already familiar with Bucky Badger, but mainly for their cheese curds, which are stellar even by Wisconsin standards. They’re a fourth-generation family-owned company with an impressive lineup of cheeses, sauces, beverages, and snack products. We may have to branch out and try some others!
I should probably add a disclaimer, even though I shouldn’t have to add such a disclaimer…but, you know, my own flesh and blood once accused me of being a paid product sponsor because I gushed too enthusiastically (in his opinion) on my blog about something I loved. Culver’s, I think it was. Well, lemme just reassure you, I am not a corporate shill for anyone, and am receiving no compensation whatsoever for a single word published on Mark My Words. If I rave on about a product or movie or song or whatever, rest assured that it’s only because I’m passionate about said [fill-in-the-blank] and want to share my discovery with the world.
It’s not that I’m afraid of being labeled a sellout, because this isn’t 1995. I’m not against a little payola-type scheme, if anyone from Corporate America is listening.
Most days are too something
Weather-wise, today was perfect.
It was a WFH day for me, and when noon rolled around, I retreated to the deck with my lunch and Kindle. This is something I rarely do, because most days are too something: too hot, too cold, too windy, too humid, too wet, too mosquito-y. Thursday, May 14 was a rare exception.
While basking in this glorious perfection—the sky a cloudless azure, birds chirping, the koi pond fountain bubbling soothingly—it occurred to me that there are only a handful of days each year as perfect as this one. The temperature was an extremely pleasant 68° and there was just the faintest whisper of a breeze to tickle my cheek. Mother Nature absolutely nailed Thursday.
She did a shittier job on Tuesday. The weekly food truck had set up in the CheeseGov parking lot, tempting me with its homemade Thai, Japanese, and all-Asian dishes that combined savory and spicy flavors (borrowed from the website, thanks). Despite the promised high of 70°, it was a rainy, blustery, barely-50° wait for my order. And I hadn’t brought a rain jacket or umbrella ’cause I’m a dummy. Thankfully, the beef bulgogi was worth those ten minutes of discomfort.
It was sunny and 70° when I left that day, wouldn’t you know it.
And now, this weekend, they’re predicting our first real heat and humidity of the season. Mid- to upper-80s, dew points around 70°. Possible thunderstorms at times. Talk about a roller coaster, but believe it or not, we need the rain.
Yes, we were just flooding. All I can say is: Wisconsin.
Mark My Words 
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