Tested by Mary Gallagher
Around the turn of the century, in his family’s tiny cottage kitchen inChapel Hill,North Carolina, Page Skelton set out to create a spiced condiment that is made with sweet potatoes a majorNorth Carolinacrop. Page called his original creation, “Cackalacky ™.” (Pronounced “kak-uh-lak-ee”) which according to the Urban Dictionary means someone from theCarolinas, especiallyNorth Carolina.
I received a bottle of Cackalacky sauce to test out and thinking it was ordinary hot sauce waited a few weeks before exploring some possibilities. There are the usual things like adding some to sour cream for a dip or rolling your drumsticks or wings in it and they worked out fine. But I found it’s really good at adding a nice flavor touch (not just hotness) to foods that may have turned out a little bland, like a cream soup where ones first inclination is to add more salt. That not being the healthiest move I started using Cackalacky. The results were great
It’s a heavier consistency than some sauces which made it more desirable for coating food on its own or before breading. A couple of dashes in scrambled eggs, egg salad and a hamburger goulash brought new life to these old standbys.
Cackalacky Spice Sauce was featured in the February 2012 “Savor the South” issue of Bon Appetit Magazine and can be found in gourmet grocery markets in more than half of the U.S. or on line.
Recently the company introduced Cackalacky ™ Spice Nuts taking another famousNorth Carolinaproduct, jumbo peanuts and adding the same “secret spices” that are found in their Spice Sauce.
I think the gourmet or average home cook will find this sauce a great addition to their pantry staples.
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