Skip to main contentGet your barbecue-fu on this summer with an Asian sauce that packs a serious punch. Sensei Sauce is made by Sellwood judo instructor and bona fide badass Jason Luedtke, a master of both the martial and culinary arts with four black belts and one hell of a secret weapon: a cracking marinade that hits the perfect tangy note between sweet, sour and salty. "I call it 'judo for your food,'" says Luedtke, "because it doesn't cover up the flavor of your food; it actually enhances it."
The recipe was handed down to him by a feisty Korean restaurant matriarch, following an epic coming-of-age story worthy of an '80s teen movie montage, in which the cocky young grad student spent months washing dishes for pocket change in her Seattle eatery to learn her business and cooking secrets. Luedtke and his family handcraft each batch of the sauce from all-natural, all-vegan ingredients, including fresh oranges amd lemon; locally grown ginger, garlic and vine-ripened tomatoes simmered in soy sauce; apple cider and sake. Since students at his judo club persuaded him to make it commercially available three years ago, it's now sold in 40 stores around Portland. So karate-chop some veggies; nunchuck it on your tofu; baste on, baste off some pork; and sweep the chicken leg with it for a meal that genuinely kicks ass.
Sensei Sauce is available at Whole Foods, New Seasons, Food Front and other grocery stores around Portland and retails for about $6 a bottle. Visit senseisauce.com for more info.
WWeek 2015