In the kitchen with Krystal Hudon

Krystal Hudon and her husband, Chris, of Nashua are the co-owners of Comfort Spice Co. (comfortspiceco.com, and on Facebook), now offering nearly two dozen homemade premium spice blends and several fruit jams since their launch two years ago. The couple started their company with an authentic Mexican spice blend that Krystal Hudon, who grew up in southern California, learned how to make from her neighbors at the time. Since then, their product lineup has grown to include everything from a roasted chicken rub, a steak and beef rub, a lamb seasoning and a pork seasoning to a house curry blend, a pumpkin pie spice and an apple pie spice. Comfort Spice Co.’s blends can be found at Trombly Gardens (150 N. River Road, Milford) and at Gigi’s Country Store (10 Main St., Wilton), as well as at Creative Vibes, inside the Pheasant Lane Mall (310 Daniel Webster Hwy., Nashua) — four-ounce bottles are available inside each of the stores, or you can contact them directly via email or Facebook Messenger to inquire about eight- or 12-ounce bottles. As for the jams, those come in eight-ounce jars and are available at Creative Vibes only.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

Normally, I would say a sturdy stirring spoon or a type of wooden paddle. … But no matter what you use in the kitchen tool-wise, nothing is going to come out well unless you have good, quality ingredients.

What would you have for your last meal?

For me, it’s cheesecake. I don’t even care what kind. … For [my husband] Chris, he said tacos and tequila.

What is your favorite local restaurant?

We love the Copper Door. It’s a scratch kitchen. They source most of their ingredients locally … and the food is always excellent.

What celebrity would you like to see trying one of your spice blends?

We picked Jason Mraz, for an interesting reason. … He has a farm in California where he grows all of his own vegetables, and his wife is also a chef. … I would have to talk to him and find out what he likes, because our spice blends are all very, very different.

What is your favorite spice blend that you make?

Chris says his favorite is the Cajun blackening mix, and he likes to put it on everything. … Mine is the roasted chicken rub. I think my favorite thing to use that on is pan-seared chicken legs and thighs with roasted vegetables and a nice pan gravy.

What is the biggest food trend in New Hampshire right now?

A lot of people seem to be into … locally sourced [foods], but it definitely should not be a trend.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

Any comfort food or anything that feels cozy. Things like beef stew and chicken soup. … I love making a Lancashire hotpot, which is so good. … It has fall-apart beef on the bottom, [with] carrots, peas and onions, all roasted, and then you layer potatoes on top that are sliced in discs and you bake it.

Homemade Lancashire hotpot
From the kitchen of Krystal Hudon of Comfort Spice Co. in Nashua

2 pounds shoulder roast, diced, or stewed beef, cut into slightly smaller chunks
1 ½ large onions, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
4 carrots, chopped into ¾-inch pieces
1 cup frozen peas
½ cup Marsala
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
4 cups beef stock
4 to 5 potatoes, sliced into ¼-inch thick slices
2½ Tablespoons Comfort Spice Co. steak and beef rub
¼ cup melted butter
1 Tablespoon canola oil
1 to 2 Tablespoons cornstarch

Massage the steak and beef rub into your beef. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven, then add onions and garlic and saute on medium heat until soft. Turn the heat up and add the beef. Brown the beef, stirring often so that the onions and garlic don’t burn. Cook until most of the liquid is gone, then add the Marsala and the Worcestershire sauce — this will loosen any bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook for about three minutes. Add the beef stock. Simmer, covered on low, for about an hour and stir occasionally. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix your cornstarch with equal parts cold water and pour into your beef, stirring until thickened. Turn off the heat. Add the frozen peas and the chopped carrots and mix well. Layer your potatoes on top and brush them evenly with the melted butter. Sprinkle a little more of the steak and beef rub evenly on top. Bake covered for 30 minutes. Uncover, turn up the heat to 400 degrees and continue to cook for 30 more minutes to brown the potatoes. Remove from the oven, let it cool for five minutes and enjoy.

Featured photo: Krystal Hudon. Courtesy photo.

Brews for vets

New brewfest coming to Goffstown

A new event coming to Goffstown this weekend will feature more than a dozen beer options from area breweries — along with local food vendors and live music — all to raise money for local disabled veterans in need. The inaugural Mount Uncanoonuc Brewfest is happening on Saturday, Oct. 15, from 1 to 5 p.m. in the parking lot of the town’s former Shaw’s supermarket.

The event is being presented by the Worker Bee Fund, its beneficiary nonprofit organization, in conjunction with Mountain Base Brewery. Plans to hold a brewfest were conceived shortly after the brewery’s opening late last year, according to Worker Bee Fund founder Brian Hansen, following some conversations he had with co-owner Carrie Currier and her daughter, event coordinator Candice Pendagast.

To date, the Worker Bee Fund has completed around 30 home projects to date benefiting disabled veterans within an hour’s drive of Manchester.

“In a nutshell, what we do is fix up houses for people in really low income brackets,” Hansen said. “The idea is to help them age in place, and what that basically means is that when folks get older, it’s really nice that they can stay in their homes as long as possible. … As a result, we may go in and fix up their kitchen so that it’s wheelchair-accessible, or we’ll do like a full kitchen model or bathroom model or something like that. And we raise all of the funds ourselves.”

Set to take place rain or shine, the brewfest will take place in a cordoned off area in the south end of the parking lot, Hansen said, with plenty of tents and bar-height cafe tables for attendees. He expects around 14 breweries — nearly all from southern New Hampshire — to be represented, either via their beers being donated for the festival or the brewers pouring the beer themselves. Four-ounce samples of each featured beer will be available to ticket holders, encompassing several styles.

In addition to the beers, the brewfest will feature food options from a few local purveyors, including those that have hosted pop-ups at Mountain Base Brewery in the past. Squaloo’s BBQ of Manchester, for instance, which held its first pop-up at the brewery back in late July, will be there — chef Ira Street is known for traditional Midwestern barbecue staples and smoked meats. Other vendors at the brewfest will include Granite State Whoopie Pies, which will have fresh baked cookies, and The Bakeshop on Kelley Street, with its soft baked pretzels. Live music will be featured by the Robyn V Group, a young rock cover band based in Nashua.

At the conclusion of the brewfest, attendees can cross the parking lot and visit Mountain Base Brewery, which will be open that day and evening. The brewery recently debuted the release of its Grand Pumpkin, a vanilla pumpkin porter.

A three-barrel commercial nanobrewery, Mountain Base originally began as a homebrewing passion project for the Curriers — longtime residents of Goffstown — in their basement more than a decade ago. The brewery opened in the site of a former RadioShack inside the Shaw’s Plaza in mid-December 2021, across the parking lot from where the brewfest will take place. Currier said Mountain Base features anywhere from six to 12 rotating brews on a regular basis.

“[We keep] four or five [beers] on pretty consistently, just because we’ve … established some regulars at this point who drink specific ones,” she said.

Mount Uncanoonuc Brewfest
When: Saturday, Oct. 15, 1 to 5 p.m.
Where: 553 Mast Road, Goffstown (at the southern end of the parking lot)
Cost: $25 in advance or $30 at the door; admission is free for designated drivers
Visit: workerbeefund.org/events/brewfest
Event is rain or shine and 21+ only. All proceeds benefit the Worker Bee Fund.

Featured photo: courtesy photo.

Granite grazing

Taste of New Hampshire returns (in person!)

Experience the best of what several local eateries have to offer during the 17th annual Taste of New Hampshire — for the first time post-pandemic, the event is due to return in person to the Grappone Conference Center in Concord on Tuesday, Oct. 18, featuring opportunities to meet with chefs, discover new restaurants and breweries and bid on all kinds of silent auction items.

Formerly known as the Taste of Concord, the event — a chief fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central New Hampshire — began welcoming restaurants in other neighboring cities and towns in 2017. The last two years, Covid regulations caused it to go virtual in the form of discounted restaurant gift card promotions. Although the Boys & Girls Club was able to raise more than $160,000 for local restaurants over those two years, development manager and event coordinator Tanya Frost said she’s “thrilled” to be able to have it back in person once again.

“The gift card portion was such a huge hit that we’ve had people reach out about it, and we’re actually working with the restaurants now to see who would like to participate in that,” Frost said of this year’s event. “So we will also be selling gift cards to some of those restaurants in attendance as well, and that will be at a discounted rate, so the consumer is still getting that deal. … For $20 you get a $25 card and then for $40 you get a $50 card. We will be reaching out to those who purchase them after the fact, just like we’ve done in past years.”

Frost added that the event, normally held on a Thursday, has been moved up to a Tuesday to accommodate the participating restaurants, many of which continue to experience staff shortages.

“We’re just trying to be respectful of the restaurants as well [with] every step that we’re taking,” she said. “Even before we started planning, we surveyed the restaurants and ended up moving the event to Tuesday to try and help them and so that we could also get more people.”

hand passing plate with small burger in bun to another person
Courtesy photo.

Attendees will have free rein to graze their way through the venue, sampling sweet and savory options from more than two dozen vendors this year. The Red Arrow Diner, for instance, will serve American chop suey with garlic toast, onions and peppers, while O Steaks & Seafood will offer its homemade macaroni and cheese. Some vendors, like the Banquet Center at Pats Peak Ski Area in Henniker, are bringing a whole smorgasbord of items for you to try — they’ll have bacon-wrapped shrimp drizzled in a honey garlic sauce, along with fried chicken and mini waffles served with maple syrup, and teriyaki beef kabobs with onions and peppers.

New Taste of New Hampshire participants include the 110 Grill, which is due to open a location in Concord next year. Reed’s North of Warner and the Flannel Tavern of Chichester — both owned and operated by local chef Carrie Williams, a friend of Frost’s — are also newcomers.

For dessert, there will be items like a flourless chocolate torte from The Crust & Crumb Baking Co.; pumpkin cheesecake and chocolate cake shots from The Red Blazer Restaurant & Pub; and chocolate-covered cream candies from Granite State Candy Shoppe. The Boys & Girls Club will even be serving its own pumpkin whoopie pies throughout the evening. As for drinks, New Hampshire Distributors and Horizon Beverage Group will be providing some wines and a wide variety of craft beers to sample, including several Oktoberfests, pumpkin brews, IPAs and more.

Silent auction items are available for all event attendees to bid on — in the past, items have included everything from restaurant gift certificates and assorted gift baskets to VIP brewery tours and some other special experience gifts. All proceeds from the Taste of New Hampshire benefit various programs of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central New Hampshire, which has expanded to more than 20 service sites across the state.

17th annual Taste of New Hampshire
When: Tuesday, Oct. 18, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Where: Grappone Conference Center, 70 Constitution Ave., Concord
Cost: $40 per person, or $350 per 10 people; tickets are available in advance or at the door, with all proceeds benefiting the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central New Hampshire
Visit: tasteofnh.com

Participating local businesses
• 110 Grill (110grill.com)
• Alan’s of Boscawen (alansofboscawen.com)
• The Barley House Restaurant & Tavern (Concord, thebarleyhouse.com)
• Boys & Girls Clubs of Central New Hampshire (Concord, nhyouth.org)
• C.C. Tomatoes Restaurant (Concord, cctomatoes.com)
• Chuck’s BARbershop (Concord, find them on Facebook @chucksbarbershopnh)
• The Common Man (Concord, thecman.com)
• Constantly Pizza (Concord, constantlypizza.net)
• The Crust & Crumb Baking Co. (Concord, thecrustandcrumb.com)
• Downtown Cheers Grille & Bar (Concord, cheersnh.com)
• El Rodeo Mexican Restaurant (Concord, el-rodeo-nh.com)
• Flannel Tavern (Chichester, flanneltavern.com)
• Granite State Candy Shoppe (Concord, granitestatecandyshoppe.com)
• Grappone Conference Center/Catering by Design (Concord, cateringbydesignnh.com)
• Hermanos Cocina Mexicana (Concord, hermanosmexican.com)
• Horizon Beverage Group (Concord, horizonbeverage.com)
• Lakehouse Tavern (Hopkinton, lakehousetavern.com)
• New England’s Tap House Grille (Hooksett, taphousenh.com)
• O Steaks & Seafood (Concord, osteaksconcord.com)
• Pats Peak Banquet Center (Henniker, patspeak.com)
• The Red Arrow Diner (Concord, redarrowdiner.com)
• The Red Blazer Restaurant & Pub (Concord, theredblazer.com)
• Reed’s North (Warner, reedsnorth.com)
• Smokeshow Barbeque (Concord, smokeshowbbq.com)
• Sunshine Baking (sunshineshortbread.com)
• Twelve 31 Events (Tilton and Concord, twelve31.events)
• The Wine’ing Butcher (Pembroke, wineingbutcher.com)

Featured photo: Photo by HK Photography.

The Weekly Dish 22/10/13

News from the local food scene

• Diner days: Join the Red Arrow Diner for a special 100th anniversary celebration event at its Manchester location (61 Lowell St.) on Saturday, Oct. 15, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The block party-style event is free and open to the public, featuring an afternoon of raffle prizes, games, music, family-friendly activities and an onsite radio broadcast with DJs Nazzy and Marissa of Frank FM, along with samples of a variety of the diner’s most iconic dishes available to ticket holders for a small fee. All year long, to celebrate its 100th year in business, the Red Arrow has also been featuring monthly “Diner Dish of the Decade” promotions at each of its four locations, offering special discounts that have corresponded to various menu items that were or became popular during different decades. Visit redarrowdiner.com to learn more, or check out our coverage of the Red Arrow’s historic milestone in the Sept. 29 issue of the Hippo — the story starts on page 10. Visit issuu.com/hippopress to read the e-edition for free.

• Grapes and meatballs: Don’t miss the Hollis Grape & Italian Festival, set to return to the Hollis Town Common (Monument Square) on Sunday, Oct. 16, from 2 to 7 p.m. Presented by Fulchino Vineyard, the annual festival raises money for the Hollis Agricultural Scholarship, the Hollis Police Benevolent Association and the Hollis Fire Explorers. This year’s features will include grape stomping, cornhole games and local vendors, as well as a few food trucks and — new this year — a meatball contest. Admission is free, but there is a $5 fee to sample the meatballs entered into the contest. Visit fulchinovineyard.com.

• Get in the spirit: Tickets are on sale now for A Taste of Ireland: Exploring Premium Irish Spirits, a special seminar-style tasting event happening on Wednesday, Nov. 2, at the Manchester Country Club (180 S. River Road, Bedford) as part of New Hampshire Distiller’s Week. Leading Irish spirit experts and distillers will be on hand to present a series of products from their premium brands, from Clonakilty, Coole Swan and Drumshanbo to Five Farms, Green Spot, West Cork and more. The event will also include a reception with various hors d’oeuvres and sampling of some signature cocktails. Tickets are $60 per person and, at the end of the event, attendees will be able to purchase products with a 15 percent discount on every bottle. While you’re at it, save the date for the annual Distiller’s Showcase of Premium Spirits, due to return to the DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown (700 Elm St.) on Thursday, Nov. 3. Visit distillersshowcase.com.

On The Job – Chelsey Goss

Portable restroom rental provider

Chelsey Goss and her husband, Zach, own and operate Powerhouse Portable Restrooms, a portable restroom rental service based in Hudson.

Explain your job and what it entails.

At Powerhouse Portable Restrooms, we rent portable toilets for a variety of occasions such as construction sites, weddings, festivals and town parks. On a typical day, I spend my time in the truck completing a service route, which includes pumping out portable restrooms, restocking the toilet paper, sanitizer and deodorizers, and sanitizing all surfaces inside and outside of the unit. I also take care of all of our scheduling of new and existing customers. This includes taking customer info, site locations, billing information, creating our serviced routes and providing quotes.

How long have you had this job?

We opened April 1, 2022, so about six months.

What led you to this career field and your current job?

My husband was affiliated with another company within this field, so I worked for them while I was finishing up a second degree. I became very passionate about this field and enjoyed working alongside my husband every day. We decided to go on our own and open Powerhouse Portable Restrooms.

What kind of education or training did you need?

No education was required. A driver’s license, a great work ethic and hands-on experience was all that I needed. My husband has taught me everything about this field of work, which I am very grateful for.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

We don’t wear anything in particular. We have company shirts with our logo and slogan that we typically wear daily, and a good pair of work jeans and muck boots to keep my feet dry while spraying the units down.

What was it like starting a business during the pandemic?

Starting a business during the pandemic was definitely scary. However, coming from within this field, we knew that the demand was there and still at an all-time high. So far, it remains high. People are taking more units for job sites, and private outdoor events are happening more often as the pandemic pushes people to get outside.

What do you wish you’d known at the beginning of your career?

I wish I had known about this field from a business standpoint sooner because I would have started right out of high school.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

That portable toilets are not gross. There are definitely larger companies that push volume over quality, however, there are more small family-owned companies like us that take pride in what we do and offer top-of-the-line portable restrooms.

What was the first job you ever had?

I worked at Walgreens for a summer.

What’s the best piece of work-related advice you’ve ever received?

To always stay humble, keep my head down and always give 110 percent every day. As long as I do that, the tough days will iron themselves out.

Five favorites

Favorite book: I’m not a big reader.
Favorite movie: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
Favorite music: Country
Favorite food: Mexican
Favorite thing about NH: There is natural beauty throughout the entire state, and the unpredictable weather allows us to experience a little bit of each part of the country right here in one state.

Featured photo: Chelsey Goss. Courtesy photo.

Treasure Hunt 22/10/13

Dear Donna,

Can you tell me if this small pot is old? As you can see, it says Nashua on it and a small home. It measures 1½ inches by 1 inch. Very sweet little piece of pottery.

Thank you.

Tammi

Dear Tammi,

It is a nice miniature crock. Although it’s not too old, it does have an interesting history. It was done by Sid and Eileen Vernon from Virginia.

Your little crock was created by Sid and then decorated by his wife. Eileen. They created much more as well, lots of miniature pieces made with love. After the loss of her husband, Eileen continued making and decorating pieces herself.

Even though your crock was made in the past 30 years, it’s made and slip decorated (the cobalt painting) to represent an older one. It’s a wonderful piece of miniature pottery and if you have time, Tammi, do research on the artist who made yours and many more.

Values run between $20 and $40 as long as there’s no damage. Thanks for sharing and I enjoyed the personal story of the artist.

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