Cat's Meow
by
Pauline Uchmanowicz
The iconic black dog, town animal in seaside Woods Hole, Massachusetts, corresponds in my mind to the
black cat of sister-in-hippiedom Woodstock. So it makes perfect sense that feline owners Christine Geisler and Ted Jeremenko
have named their new venture Lucky Black Cat Spice Company. The duo manufacture and bottle gourmet spice blends, dip mixes,
marinades and seasoning rubs in a cozy corner of their home, formerly a cowshed, a half-mile from the village green off Rock
City Road. Bounded by a fourteen-acre meadow, breezes soothe the sweeping grounds; at night the stars hang brightly.
In the alcove where Geisler and Jeremenko work, a tantalizing odor seasons the air with the scent of
a luau. A vintage French poster depicting a chat noir hangs above a stack of jars, each wrapped in a yellow label bearing
the company logo, modeled after the black cat who sidles into the room. "That's Sherekhan, named for the tiger in The Jungle
Book," introduces Geisler, who equates the creature's luck with its healthy appetite. "We love to eat too."
Geisler, who began bussing tables in restaurants at age fifteen and catered weddings at Holiday Inn
during college, worked until recently at New World Home Cooking, where she was a manager for four and a half years. "I've
always been a foodie," she says. "But I really started to appreciate food varieties and flavors working at New World, which
is really the focus there."
The spice company founders also credit the Culinary Institute of America as inspiring their undertaking.
"This is a food lover's paradise with great chefs," Jeremenko observes. "But people can't eat out every night." So the partners
developed a line of spice blends for gourmands to recreate restaurant-quality meals at home.
Their recipes evolved in the course of attending once-a-month theme dinners, hosted by various people
in the food business. Geisler and Jeremenko were popular on Indian and Thai nights, and equally welcome during barbeque season.
"A rib rub came out of that, and the idea for a business started to brew," Geisler recalls. "We talked about how to make your
own garam masala [a cardamom-rich spice blend used in Indian cooking] and your own jerk [a blend used in Caribbean dishes]."
They perfected their versions by consulting and modifying information from two sources: Helen Willinsky's Jerk Barbecue from
Jamaica, and The Sugar Reef Caribbean Cookbook, put out by a Manhattan restaurant.
Lucky Black Cat currently offers three spice blends, priced from $4.75 to $6 for a four-ounce glass
jar (shaker top included): Dark Fire, Jamaican jerk rub and marinade; Iko-Iko, New Orleans-style rub and dip mix; and
Perfect Rib-Rub, for chicken or pork glazes or to liven up baked beans. Most of their ingredients come from Atlantic Spice,
an import company on Cape Cod that distribute all-organic, non-radiated goods. Habaņero pepper, central to jerk, arrives via
a producer in Georgia, who procures the fiery substance from a fair-trade farm in Belize. The Woodstock spice sellers mix
these powders together by the pound in thirty-gallon drums, rolling the containers end over end until the requisite blends
result.
A fusion of Jamaican pimiento, thyme, cinnamon, nutmeg, onion and the notable habaņero pepper, the
jerk seasoning Dark Fire is intended for grilled or smoked chicken, pork, beef or fish. According to Jeremenko's research,
the word "jerk" comes from charqui, a colonial Spanish term for preserved or dried meat (also the source of the word jerky
in America). But jerk as a cooking method also extends to barbequing techniques perfected by Carib-Arawak Indians of Jamaica
as well as by Cormantee of West Africa, enslaved and brought to the island in the seventeenth century. They would poke holes
into meat and rub a blend of peppers, spices and herbs into the openings and then fire the food in large stone-lined pits
covered with green pimiento wood, which imparted sweet and spicy smoke flavors.
"Our jerk is still not as hot as they make it in Jamaica; we've toned it down for the North American
palate." Dark Fire produced a savory and delicious jerk tofu, as I learned in following the recipe... Complex in taste, its
fruity essences flirt with the tip of the tongue before a peppery burn blossoms at the back of the mouth. But with a more
blistering wallop wanting, I'd welcome a stronger Lucky Black Cat blend in the future. Even so, those who prefer mild to medium
spicing take heed: "We have to put on gloves and masks when we make the jerk because it burns the skin and sinuses otherwise,"
Geisler warns.
I also sampled Iko-Iko, stirring a tablespoon into eight ounces of plain, whole milk yogurt. (Lucky
Black Cat's recipe calls for cream cheese.) The classic Cajun concoction, touched with lemon, garlic, onion, hot peppers and
other spices, yielded an addictive dip, suitable for potato or corn chips.
Coming soon from the local spice sellers, Great Tsunami, a sushi-inspired seafood mix containing soy,
wasabi, ginger and other ingredients. All-Purpose Dry Rub as well as Southwestern Seasoning also will be added to Lucky Black
Cat's spice rack in the near future.
You may meet the local spice company owners and taste their wares at farmers markets in Uptown Kingston,
New Paltz and Vassar College. Also look for their merchandise at fine stores throughout the Hudson Valley, including Woodstock
Meats, Heaven and Woodstock Seafood Market; Traphagen's Honey in Hunter; The New York Store in High Falls; Bella Carne Italian
Market in Kingston; and Jack's Meats and Deli in New Paltz. ++
