Bruce Fawcett says he used to give out his marinade recipe to customers he served when he worked as a cashier at local grocery store.
“When I worked at Food Basics, three years ago, I used to give out the recipe on business cards to my customers. And I had such positive feedback from that. That’s where the idea came from initially,” he said. “I had people coming back and asking me for more recipes because they loved it so much.
“It made me feel awesome. People remembered me and it was a positive experience for them. And it also sold more pork loin and actually lamb at the store.”
He says he got the recipe from a person he played Euchre with online in the US. Then he started making and serving it for friends and family. That was 15 years ago.
Then, at the encouragement of a friend, he decided to start selling it earlier this month.
“I was talking to a girlfriend of mine here in Elmira. And she’s the one that got me into selling it. She loves the recipe. And as she put it, she’s too lazy to make it. And so she said that (I) should bottle it and sell it. So I thought about it and I talked to a couple other friends, and my sister, and this is what happened.”
Crystal McGuire is a friend of Fawcett’s. “I got to know Bruce a number of years ago after he moved to town,” she said. “He started working at the Food Basics grocery store where I still work and we have been friends ever since. I have tried the marinade prepared by him when I was at his place, it was very good.
“I have bought a couple jars already and I’m looking forward to finding something to marinade this weekend.”
He calls it Bruce’s Highway 85 Marinade because, “I wanted to do an homage to Elmira.”
It’s a Greek-inspired recipe made of olive oil, lemon juice, soy sauce, garlic, water and oregano.
Fawcett says he makes 12 jars at a time, and sells each 500 ml mason jar for $4.
The marinade is meant for pork, chicken and lamb. He says it’s really good for shish-kabob. He suggests cutting up the pieces, poking them with a fork, adding them to a ziplock bag with the marinade overnight and cooking from there. He says each mason jar should be enough for two small batches.
Fawcett is currently collecting disability. Making and selling his marinade is something he feels confident doing. He doesn’t drive, and this makes collecting the ingredients a challenge. “I’m relying on my friends and family to drive me around to pick up the supplies and I use Amazon a lot,” he said.
Anyone interested in buying Fawcett’s marinade can contact him at Tplbruce@yahoo.ca or join the Facebook group Bruce’s Highway 85 Marinade.
