Bonus Blog: The Great Zip Sauce Quest

So I went to Meijer Friday morning and saw that five pounds of potatoes were ninety-nine cents. That is basically free. I spent the next three hours driving to Ludington thinking about how to turn nearly-free potatoes into a soup creation. Now, Scottville has one of those Gourmet Mushroom places that sells super expensive mushrooms at not-so-expensive prices one hour a week. One hour. Once a week. You miss it, you’re screwed until next week. It is like dealing with the Mushroom Nazi.

But if I could get mushrooms, and free potatoes, then maybe leeks would round it out? I have never bought a leek in my life. I barely know what family of vegetables it belongs to. But hey, if people on YouTube say they are fancy, then I am in. Potatoes, mushrooms, leeks. The beginnings of something.

But what’s the flavor profile? What’s the star? What takes this from “Yup, that is a soup” to “Please can I have the recipe”? Cue fate.

THE Nick, Surgeon Jenn, and I were trolling around PM Lake looking for steelhead talking about who knows what, and Zip Sauce came up in conversation number 217 of the morning. That was it. The spark. Potatoes, leeks, mushrooms, and Zip Sauce. Risky or brilliant? Hard to say. The best soups usually hover between those two anyway.

We got the boat on the trailer, high-fived Nick, and Jenn and I went into ingredient-gathering mode. Back to Meijer…we loaded up the grocery cart with everything else and went searching for the crown jewel. Zip Sauce. The holy grail. The magic juice. The “put this in anything and it tastes better” sauce. Sold out. Excuse me? Huh?

Zip Sauce was gone, and to make matters worse, they did not even have Johnny’s Au Jus, which is usually the understudy to Zip Sauce. This entire soup idea was held together with Zip Sauce. Without it, I was just a guy with potatoes and leeks.

So we drove across the street to Ludington Meat Company. Now, this place has everything. Meat, sauces, snacks, weird seasonings, cool stuff you do not need, and things you end up buying anyway. Surely, they have Zip Sauce. They did not.

At this point I was losing hope. I asked an employee and told him it was for a soup. He immediately went into the back, which in my mind is where they keep the enchanted culinary relics, and said he would ask their “Soup Master.”

This stopped me in my tracks.
What is a Soup Master?
How does one become a Soup Master?
Is there a certification?
Can I challenge them?
If I win, do I take their place?
If I take their place, do I quit my job job?
What is the income potential of a Soup Master?

Does income even matter if you’re called a Soup Master?

He came back and said the Soup Master was busy. Which to me means the Soup Master was probably in the back stirring a fifty-gallon cauldron with a wooden paddle and chanting something mysterious.

Since there was no Zip Sauce to be found, I bought a six-dollar and ninety-nine cent Chef’s Recipe Au Jus Mix and hit the road.

The soup ended up being souper easy to make, which was a nice break from my usual four-hour, fifteen-ingredient marathon sessions. It came together beautifully and had the flavor profile I was chasing. Would it have been better with Zip Sauce? Absolutely. No question. One hundred percent. But it still tasted great, and now I have a baseline for next time.

My plan is to search for Zip Sauce on my drive home and, with a little luck, add a splash of it into tomorrow’s batch for the work crew. If they ask what is different, I will just tell them the truth. It is the sauce. Always the sauce.

And now the disclaimer. I am getting feedback that my soups are too spicy. Justy and Andy in particular. Even though this soup has black pepper in it, I would score the heat level at zero, maybe even negative one on the Scoville scale. Apparently, Justy is now calling onions “too hot.” At this point I am not even sure what to do with that information. WTF.

Oh, and if you happen to see Soup'r Club stickers around town - they are for real, we have stickers!

11/24/25 Update: I tossed half a jug of Johnny’s Au Jus into the pot, added more veggies, stirred it like a madman, and crossed my fingers. The goal was simple: enhance the soup, enrich the flavor, pray for a miracle. WTF. It worked.

I ran out of soup so fast it felt like an old school Black Friday sale at Best Buy. People, ahh, except for maybe Ian, were basically elbowing their way to the front of the line for seconds. Too bad there were no seconds. The pot was wiped clean.

Here is how the chaos unfolded:

• Hunter practically skipped into the kitchen for more. I said, “Hunter, do you mind waiting for some of the others?” He said, “Sure, but this was the BEST ONE EVER.” Then he dropped a 9.5 on me. Strong, but he already gave another soup a 9.5, so consistency points for Hunter, but not the best Hunter rating!

• Kevin said it had good texture and crunch, and after the first spoonful it left him wanting more. Then he hit me with a solid 8.5.

• Andy asked how I managed to get it that rich, threw in an 8.9, and then reminded me how much he loves the Soup Club stickers. Good man.

• Adam raved about it in person, left without giving a score, then later sent a text that simply said “9.” That is the kind of review I can appreciate.

• Aubreigh declared it the best one yet, told me I totally redeemed myself from the 6.0 she slapped me with last week, then gave me a straight up 10.0. I will be framing that one.

• Ian gave me “It’s good” followed by a 7 out of 10, which I would classify as the most on-brand Ian rating of all time.

• Felton hit me with “This is really good, a solid 8.5. With meat it would be higher.” Of course it would, Felton. Meat solves everything in Felton’s world.

• Marco said it was really good and threw in an 8.5.

• Conlan said it was nice and hearty, like a winter stew, and came in with a 9.0 that made my day.

All together that gives us an average of 8.76. Not too shabby for a soup that was basically repaired with panic and “au jus”.

I am starting to think I enjoy the non-Soup Club soups. The pressure is off. No ranking anxiety. No expectations. And then I was reminded that my official Soup Club day is next Tuesday. Now the anxiety is back in full force.

Tomorrow is Andy’s day. Or maybe Justy’s day. Hard to tell anymore. The question is, will she simply make the soup or will she make the soup and show up? We never know.

And shoutout to Conlan. The man has PTO tomorrow, but he is still coming in for Soup Club. Dedication like that should be recognized on a plaque somewhere…maybe a sticker?