What’s ahead?

We made it through January 6, 2025, though for many of us our memories are full of chaos, violence, outrage and despair from four years ago. We will momentarily return to this, but in the meantime let’s postulate on trends for the new year.

The New York Times cooking section — love those kitchen distractions! — has put out some predictions for 2025. They say we can look forward to “savory coffee, great convenience store cuisine, and sauces on everything.” I guess they are extrapolating from our covid years when we mostly stayed at home, spent more time in the kitchen and ate “comfort food with abandon.” This may be one of the results of a 2024 that was an annus horribilis for so many of us.

Sauces are delish and so fun. Even for humble sides like fries or onion rings, I’ve got to have fry sauce, tartar sauce, and ranch dressing for dipping. Potato chips are better dunked; mix a packet of onion soup in sour cream — a ‘60s party favorite. Sauces give you choices and are a simple, delightful way to augment a food thing.

This also put me in mind of a phrase that was in vogue several years ago — the concept of a “secret sauce,” as in some special type of charisma or advantage that makes a company, brand or person stand out above the rest. So the special sauce of 2025 may be sauces.

Dijonnaise sauce

To consult on this metaphoric and culinary trend, I checked in with chef extraordinaire Nanci Main about her favorite “secret sauce.” Turns out it’s one of my favorites, too.

First, a little disquisition on Dijon, the traditional mustard-making region of France in Burgundy. Mustard was first presented in 1336 at the table of King Phillip VI. Interestingly, the mustard seeds now used to make Dijon mustard — 35,000 tons are needed annually! — come from Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada. And their production has been drastically reduced due to recent global heat waves. Just another story about the interconnectedness of all aspects of our globe.

Anyway, I reproduce for your secret sauce eating pleasure the Dijonnaise recipe from the 1983 “Cuisine of the Pacific Northwest, Ark Restaurant Cookbook.” The sauce was developed collaboratively by Nanci and chef Jimella Lucas. This was used for one of the all-time fave Ark appetizers — Calamari Dijonaaise, but this same cookbook also sites its use for a splendid chicken dish.

“Put 1 1/2 oz of clarified butter in a pan and before it heats up, add one clove of minced garlic. Just before garlic starts to burn, add a squeeze of lemon to cool liquid. Blend carful; add 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard. Deglaze the pan with 1/4 cup of white wine, and add no more that 3 tablespoons of heavy cream. Blend and reduce enough to bring out the color of the mustard.” La voila! Throw your calamari, chicken breasts or maybe even rabbit in the pan and cover liberally.

Jimmy Carter’s secret sauce?

And speaking of liberal, last week we were in the middle of seven days of ceremony honoring Jimmy Carter, our 39th president. He will probably go down in history as our last and most honest inhabitant of the White House. Remember when he responded to a question in a 1976 Playboy Magazine interview that he had “committed adultery in my heart?” And this from an unquestionably devoted husband. It seems quaint now, but at the time that statement was a bombshell. What politician in their right mind now would volunteer an answer like that, however true?

He told it like it was for the duration of his term, giving the American people accurate read-outs on the economy, the mood of the country, the state of our energy situation, and the hostage crisis. This guy’s secret sauce was an exceptionally good heart and total honesty, admirable qualities that were antithetical, even lethal, for a politician. Once we voted him out of office — we really couldn’t take that much truth-telling — he was able to utilize those ethics to become a shining star in so many other fields. He was also one of the only past-presidents who stepped out boldly and publicly criticized the presidents who followed him. I guess you can take the peanut farmer out of the White House, but you can’t take the honesty out of the peanut farmer.

Donald Trump’s secret sauce?

So can we go back to Jan. 6, 2020 for a moment? Trump’s secret sauce I believe is his ability to unabashedly lie. We all saw what happened on Jan. 6. It was the main event for hours on every television in the land, and probably millions more across the globe. Yet Trump still contends it was a “day of love,” and it seems he is demanding concurrence on this interpretation from the many folks he has tapped to be in his administration.

I must admit I continue to be flabbergasted at the scope, the depth of this hubris and his unflagging attempt to rewrite history. We saw congressional representatives rushed to safe spaces in the labyrinthine Capitol building basement. We saw videos of Vice President Mike Pence and his family hurriedly escorted to safety. Seven people died. There was $3 million dollars worth of damage to the Capital. Rioters broke windows and doors, looted offices, desecrated parts of the People’s House with feces. Even Senate Majority leader, Mitch McConnell, R-KY, said at the time, “There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day.”

It’s all meticulously documented with photos, videos, and the testimony of people who were there. Yet President Trump wants our entire nation to ignore what our eyes and ears told us. I’m sorry — I cannot let this pass. And it is simply the tip of the iceberg, the most comprehensive use of Trump’s greatest secret sauce.

The days ahead

But let’s get back to relishing more palatable ideas. If sauces will be a feature of 2025, I say hurray! Bring on sweet and sour, bring on barbecue, bring on chimichurri, pesto, molé, Béchamel, cranberry sauce, chocolate sauce, Alfredo, hot sauce, Bordelaise, buffalo sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, and — by all means available — bring on mayonnaise! (Did you see the winning coach for the Duke Mayo Bowl, the Minnesota Golden Gophers’s coach P.J. Fleck, receive his celebratory dosing of mayonnaise? Epic!)

I’m looking forward to an extremely saucy and sassy 2025.