Food That Makes You Feel Good
From humble beginnings, Al Brown has built an empire. His latest achievement? A collaboration with popular Kiwi company Proper Crisps, featuring Al’s Simply Red Kasundi Ketchup and Old Yella Habanero Mustard.
It’s hard not to like Al Brown. From the second he starts talking about his relationship with food, you know this is a guy who’s passionate about produce — and despite his many awards, including his restaurant Depot winning Metro Restaurant of the Year in 2012 and 2015, and making the 2021 Trip Advisor Top 10% Worldwide list, he’s humble too.
“I don’t think I’m a particularly fantastic chef. I think I’m a bloody good cook,” Al says, humbly.
From a young age, Al knew he wanted to work in the food industry. “I grew up on a farm and didn’t really connect with the farming life. There was no sort of dairy to buy sweets and ice creams near me so I started cooking,” Al says. “I baked coconut ice and chocolate fudge and those sorts of things when I was a kid.” From there, Al travelled and “fell in love with kitchens”, and in his early twenties made the decision that cooking would be his life.
Al studied overseas and worked in a host of kitchens before he opened Depot Eatery in 2011, a modern restaurant located in Auckland that’s known for fresh produce cooked over hard wood in a casual environment. “All my great food memories were in very informal places — it’s not what the people do, it’s who the people are,” Al says, capturing the ethos behind this award-winning restaurant.
Federal Delicatessen was his next project, a Kiwi take on an old-school New York Jewish delicatessen, boasting delicious bagels and sandwiches, appetisers, cocktails and more.
Best Ugly Bagels is another Al Brown venture, touting authentic Montreal-style wood-fired bagels that, despite their name, taste absolutely beautiful and hero fresh ingredients that will leave your mouth watering.
He’s also authored several books, appeared on many TV shows and even partnered with a wine brand. Not bad for a guy who’s “just a good cook”.
However, wine isn’t his only retail offering. Al has a range of sauces available that, just like Al’s other products, are informal and tasty with a side helping of fun.
“One of the first dishes we put on at Depot — which is still on the menu today — was a skirt steak with tobacco onions, a wedge of iceberg and ranch dressing, and we’d serve it with this habanero mustard that we made,” Al says. “It has a sweet upfront taste then you’re hit with the habanero, the fresh chilli — that dish is still on the menu. People kept saying, ‘When can we buy the mustard?’ and eventually we got around to making it happen.”
This was the birth of Old Yella Habanero Mustard, a sauce that flew off the shelves. While Al did have some concern heading into the creation of his second sauce product, likening the experience to a rock band having to follow up their first hit album, the Simply Red Kasundi Ketchup was another Depot-inspired sauce — and it was equally well received. “It’s kind of like an Indian relish, relatively sweet, a bit spicy but not too hot,” Al says, perfectly describing the flavour profile.
With all this under his belt, Al could be forgiven for taking it easy and relaxing. Instead, he’s partnering with iconic New Zealand brand Proper Crisps to launch a limited edition range of flavours appropriately inspired by the sauces that helped boost his food career to new heights.
“When Proper Crisps approached me, I was just delighted,” Al says. “When it’s an iconic brand like that, which you respect — you don’t get many opportunities like that.”
This product also reflects Al’s informal approach to food. “When you open a bag of chips it’s normally around friends. It’s like opening a bag of fun or love, and you pass them around,” Al says. “You’re generally having chips when you’re having a good time. They make you feel good.”
Potato is the perfect feel-good base for Al’s two most iconic sauces, Simply Red and Old Yella. Proper Crisps and Al worked closely to ensure the flavour profile of the chips was as close to the sauce as possible, resulting in a limited-edition range that we just can’t choose a favourite from. Simply Red and Old Yella crisps are both absolutely more-ish.
Proper Crisps hand cut, hand grade and hand stir their crisps to ensure the quality is high. They also make all their seasonings in-house using real ingredients only.
The Old Yella Habanero Mustard crisps and Simply Red Kasundi Ketchup crisps are available in selected Proper Crisps stockists from the 7th of April. Get yours today!
