Local Finds: Whatever MisoHeat Is, It's Delicious

In Local Finds, recipe developer and freelance writer Ashlee Redger highlights standout local food brands and dishes up recipes using their goods.

Vendor: MisoHeat

Where to find it: You can check out MisoHeat at the monthly Lowry and Sloan's Lake Night Bazaars. The next one is scheduled for July 20 in Lowry (find more dates and details via Denver Bazaars). You can also get a jar at one of several retail stores, including Leevers Locavore, Ruby's Market and Element Knife Company.

For more info: Visit misoheat.com.

About the business: What is MisoHeat? Well, it's like sriracha, but with a heavy hit of umami flavor. No — it's like miso paste, but delightfully piquant and spoonable. "We're still developing how to explain it best to people," says chef Curtis Bell, MisoHeat's founder. It's not quite a hot sauce, it isn't chile oil, and it isn't even that close to a conventional chile paste. "It's kind of a unicorn condiment." Whatever it is, the versatile blend of red miso (fermented soybean paste), chiles and rice vinegar that Bell has created is seriously delicious.
It's no surprise that Bell created something so crave-worthy. He was formerly trained at the Culinary Institute of America and has a background in fine dining. In 2011, he moved away from the restaurant industry and began working as a private chef in the Mile High, serving clients that include players from the Colorado Avalanche and Denver Broncos. Bell says he's loved the opportunity to work one on one with his diners, whether they're athletes or families that just want to eat great food. "It's just fun to feel like I have this personal direct impact on a daily basis," he notes.

It was at a client's party that MisoHeat was born. Bell had just come back from a month-long trip to Japan, where he had stuck to his food budget by eating ramen in each of the twelve cities he visited. "I've always been a very curious person as far as food anthropology, food science, things like that," Bell explains. He found inspiration in all of the different condiments and accoutrements that he saw throughout the regions. When he came back home and was asked to put together a fun holiday menu, a ramen bar was a no-brainer.

He says he put out twenty or thirty options for guests to add to their bowls, but soon noticed everyone gravitating toward one in particular: a chile-laced miso schmear that was influenced by Sapporo-style ramen. "They started putting it on the charcuterie board and other non-ramen appetizers I had made," Bell remembers. The party's host even asked him to leave the rest of the spicy sauce there so he could put it on his eggs in the morning. After a few months, he was asking Bell to make jars that he could buy, too.

There was one problem, though. "I looked back at how I made it, and all I had was a picture of the peppers on the tray that I had broiled them on," Bell says. He pieced together the ratio of peppers that he used from the picture and tried to re-create it from memory. He took it back to the client who had hosted the party, who confirmed that Bell had nailed it.

He continued doing R&D, though, to make sure he had the best version possible, experimenting with different peppers and miso pastes. (Fun fact: One of his clients at the time was Von Miller, who got to try many of the early iterations.) "To my amazement, the original formula was perfect. It was sheer dumb luck that it was the combination that we had come up with from the beginning," Bell says.
MisoHeat debuted in late 2019 at a holiday market at the Denver Sports Castle on Broadway. "We had no idea how to talk about the product, and we were still just figuring out what it was that we even had on our hands," Bell recalls. Regardless, the jars sold, and Bell decided to take MisoHeat to the National Fiery Food & BBQ Show in Albuquerque in early March 2020. It got an even better reception there. "We're like, oh, my gosh, this is amazing. People love it. I signed up for every event I could," he says.

Within a week after the event, everything shut down because of the pandemic. But Bell continued to work on the MisoHeat brand and submitted it for the 2021 Scovie Awards, a widely regarded competition that happens annually at the Fiery Foods Show. "A lot of people call it the Oscars of hot sauce," Bell explains. It came out on top in two categories: Best Product Label and, aptly, Best Unique Hot Condiment.

Today, Bell does regular pop-up markets for MisoHeat with the help of his girlfriend, Kristen, and friend Alan (who helps with production). You can find it at the Sloan's Lake and Lowry Night Bazaars on the second Saturday and third Thursday (respectively) of every month this summer until mid-August.

MisoHeat has also added another flavor, a Carolina Reaper-infused miso for customers who want even more of a kick. If you can't make it to a market, you can find the Reaper edition in three retail locations around metro Denver: Ruby's Market on South Pearl Street, Pacific Mercantile on Lawrence Street downtown and Tom's Seafood in Lakewood. The original MisoHeat can be found at those locations, too, as well as at a few dozen shops around the country. Bell says he's brought on a few team members this summer to "take the training wheels off of the business" and help with the finances, distribution and sales. This year, he wants to expand MisoHeat's retail presence throughout Colorado, and is working on a third product for the line (keep an eye out on social media for updates).

Bell hasn't transitioned to running MisoHeat as his main gig, though. "I eventually see it being full-time, but I certainly enjoy my work. I'm fortunate to be in such a unique side of the industry, and I really have a lot of fun with it," he says, though he tries to keep MisoHeat separate from his private chef job and has avoided advertising his background or any of the big-name clients he's worked with. "I want [MisoHeat] to have its own credibility," he adds. At the same time, it's this really cool thing that I just want to share with people to help them enjoy their food more."

How to use it: You can dollop MisoHeat onto anything you would use hot sauce on and stir it into anything you would add miso paste to. Bell says it pairs especially well with eggs, tomato, dairy (anything creamy, really), salmon and grilled meats. It enhances the savoriness of everything, well, savory.  He recommends incorporating it into any pasta sauce, ramen (duh), marinades or salad dressing. There are even recipes on the MisoHeat website, like Spicy Shakshuka and MisoHeat Mustard Chicken, if you need ideas.

With tomato season upon us and so many great bread makers at the farmers' markets this year, I went for a spicy take on panzanella. It's an adapted version of J. Kenji López-Alt's recipe, and the perfect solution for when you've overestimated just how much sourdough and tomatoes you can go through in a week.

It can be made with bread that is fresh or a little stale, and any kind of tomatoes you like. The Thai basil has a hint of licorice/anise flavor, and I like how it plays with the Asian influences from the MisoHeat. If that's not your vibe, use Genovese basil (you know, the popular one). Serve by itself as a lunch or light dinner, or as a side to grilled steak or chicken.
Spicy Miso Panzanella
Makes two to four servings

For the tomatoes:

• 1 pound ripe tomatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

For the bread:

• 1/2 pound rustic bread (sourdough, white or ciabatta, or get fancy with an olive or herb loaf), cut into bite-sized pieces
  
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

For the dressing:

• Tomato juice (reserved from chopped tomatoes)
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar (white wine or cider vinegar works, too)
• 1 tablespoon MisoHeat (start with 1/2 tablespoon if you want it more mild)
  
• 1/2 small shallot, finely diced (about 1 heaping tablespoon)
  
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1/4 to 1/2 ounce Thai or Genovese basil, finely sliced or hand-torn

For the tomatoes:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (this is for the bread in the next step).
2. Add the tomatoes to a colander and set over a large bowl. Sprinkle the salt over the tomatoes and gently toss to coat. Set aside (at room temperature) until you're ready to use, at least fifteen minutes. Toss or stir occasionally. The salt will pull the moisture out of the tomatoes, which you'll save to use in the dressing. The bread is going to be primed to soak up a lot of liquid later — using the tomato juice will intensify the overall flavor of the salad without having to add extra ingredients.

For the bread:

1. Place the bread on a sheet tray and drizzle with olive oil. Toss gently to distribute the oil over all of the pieces.
2. Bake until the bread is crisp and dry, but not toasted or brown (about fifteen minutes).
3. Leave at room temperature to cool while you prepare the dressing.

For the dressing:

1. Remove the colander of tomatoes from the large bowl and set it on a plate or in the sink while you make the dressing.
2. To the reserved tomato juice in the bowl, add the MisoHeat, vinegar, shallot and garlic. Whisk to combine, then continue rapidly whisking while you drizzle in the olive oil.
   
3. Taste the dressing, then add salt and a few heavy grinds of pepper to taste.
4. Add the bread, tomatoes and basil to the dressing in the large bowl and gently toss everything to evenly coat.
5. Let the salad sit for fifteen to thirty minutes for the bread to soak up the dressing (occasionally stirring to redistribute any extra liquid), then serve.
   

Bonus Finds: Markets are in peak season, so here's what's ripe and ready in Colorado this month:

• Cherry and apricot season is ending, making way for our summer headliners: sweet corn, melons and peaches. Stock up, and bring an extra tote (or three) for green beans, eggplants, plums, pears, chiles and maybe even some early apples.
• Don't try Bibamba's pâté au chocolat unless you're ready to be obsessed (I'll admit it — I've picked up two jars in the last two months). The founders, Patrick and Mara, own an ethically operated farm in Cameroon. That's where they source the cacao beans, then combine them with hazelnuts, almonds, sugar and salt to make a spread that's good straight off a spoon. Check its website for a full list of market locations and retail stores.
• Remember Pint's Peak Ice Cream from last year's Farmers' Market Finds? Founder Caitlin Howington and team have been showing up all over Denver thanks to a new ice cream truck, serving floats, sundaes and scoop flights. Flavors vary between the truck and market stands, so follow Pint's Peak on Instagram for the weekly deets.