Heinz Ketchup – Announcements & Press Event

On my actual birthday, while it downpoured, I was invited to attend a Heinz ketchup press event.  They had some big announcements to make, and while I’m not a “put ketchup on everything I eat” kind of person, I do stock Heinz ketchup in my fridge for a number of reasons – including that my homemade BBQ sauce starts off with a healthy portion of it. 

The first thing I saw when I walked in, flustered from the rain and being a few minutes late, was this awesome display.  Heinz ketchup bottles over the years, along with ads, books, and other assorted interesting artifacture from their extensive 135 years as ketchup producers (Heinz itself is slightly older than that, but ketchup was added in 1876).  There was also a television displaying various posts from their Facebook fan page – closing in on a million fans within 2 years.  I need lessons on that – I’m not even at 1,000 and I’m pretty sure I’ve had a fan page for longer than that 😉 

The first bite we were served was a lovely seared tuna with balsamic onion reduction on top of a rice cracker. 

So one of the first announcements was the inclusion of up to 30% plant materials in their new plastic bottles.  Renewable resources FTW.  That’s great, but the second announcement interested me even more – the introduction of these nifty little packets of ketchup.  Instead of those stupid little small packets that some of us struggle to open, this packet has a top notch to rip off so you can squeeze it over whatever you’re eating… or a peel back area so you can dip because the ketchup is in a small tub (think fast food places with their chicken dipping sauces, I didn’t take a photo of the depth).  How genius is this?!  It’s like one of those things that is so stupidly simple but no one thought of until now.  GENIUS.  It’s got 3x as much ketchup as one packet did, too.  And you can buy them in 10 packs for about $1.99 – if you want to keep some in the car to carry when you eat at places that only have the packets, or put them in your kids’ lunches to eat whatever with them, you don’t have to resort to looting your nearest fast food chain.  (At this event, they said Chick-fil-A has them – yes, I know, they’re not in NYC really – but also that Wendy’s was going to start carrying them shortly.  Hopefully other chains will pick up on it and start carrying as well!) 

At this point, we moved into the kitchen area and were treated to a delicious lambchop that I couldn’t photograph comfortably but omg, was deliciously tender and just… incredible.  Then, this lovely dish: crabcakes on top of a ketchup-based remoulade, which was slightly spicy.  My crabcake was very obviously eggy, which has never been a concern of mine in the past – I know egg is used as binder, but mine was almost like a very fluffy omelette that had crab meat in it.  Interesting.  Tasty nonetheless though, but I thought it was unusual for me to be able to taste the egg. 

Chef Spike Mendelsohn was our celebrity chef for the day, and he began demonstrating how he would make the turkey burger he was about to serve us. 

He invited one of us to be his sous chef, and Ann did a fantastic job – chopping and adding things to the pan like a pro. 

After that we sat down and were treated to lovely kale chips and…

eggplant chips.  The eggplant chips were softer than I expected and a little dry, but

the salsa on the side – made with ketchup – was delicious.  I really loved the sweet background to this, adding a lot of depth to a simple dip. 

Then this plate was put in front of me, and I forgot all about the chips. 

A wedge Cobb salad – topped with a ketchup-based dressing – was really tasty, and very crunchy.  I love texture in the things I eat. 

Our turkey burgers!  Chef Spike said that turkey meat tends to be dry, so he added a lot of things to the ground meat before cooking it, like diced apples, adobo chiles, a bunch of sauce… then topped it with more sauce.  Very yummy, slightly spicy, but lots of flavor and not dry at all. 

The final and possibly most exciting announcement?  The release of this limited edition ketchup made with balsamic vinegar – available through Facebook starting November 14th, and then afterwards available online and at some retailers for a limited time – which was so freakin’ good.  I can’t even explain – Chef Spike used it to cook nearly everything we ate, and the sweet vinegary balance was just so effing good. 

 

And then there was pie.  I’ve never been a huge fan of cooked fruits, but this apple pie was just slammin’ (and I’m going to try to make this for Thanksgiving – though when this post goes up, it’ll be well past Thanksgiving).  Amazingly – yes, there’s ketchup in the pie – but even more amazing is the caramel he drizzled on top.  Equal parts balsamic ketchup, butter and sugar.  WTF?  Who does that?!  I would NEVER think to do something like that.  And tasting just the caramel, it was simply incredible.  It was just – balanced and not too sweet, just perfect.  The crumble topping on this pie was amazing too.  The pie is just too easy to not want to make it!  Yum yum yum. 

We all went home with our very own bottle of balsamic ketchup – I can’t wait to make my own pie! and other assorted goodies that will totally come in handy. 

Thanks to Heinz for inviting me to this delicious and informative event!  Looking forward to what else y’all come up with – oh, and to those who might be interested, check out My Heinz to customize your own ketchup bottle labels.  Wuuuut?  Yup, you can customize the labels with whatever you’d like!  So cool! 

Please note that I attended this event courtesy of Heinz, and that I did not receive any monetary compensation to write this post – though I did receive cool goodies in a nifty insulated bag to use.  I was not obligated to post about this event, positively or negatively, and freely share my opinion with you.  And if you want recipes for anything, let me know – I will post them in comments for your home use.