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About US – Our Incredible Story
About US – we are Marie-Claire and David Johnson, the passionate husband-and-wife team behind RecipesBend, and about US means sharing our extraordinary 10+ year journey of mastering authentic American sauces while honoring traditional French culinary heritage. About US represents a beautiful fusion of two culinary worlds, creating the ultimate destination for sauce enthusiasts worldwide.
About US begins with a simple yet powerful dream: to bridge the incredible world of American sauces with Marie-Claire’s distinguished French culinary background. When people discover about US and our mission, they learn how we’ve dedicated our lives to helping home cooks master the sophisticated art of sauce-making through authentic, tested recipes.
Our Culinary Journey From France to America
About US and our culinary roots trace back to Marie-Claire’s grandmother’s enchanting kitchen in Provence, France, where the intoxicating aroma of garlic and fresh herbs created pure magic from dawn to dusk. Grandmère Simone was an extraordinary kitchen wizard, but what truly captivated young Marie-Claire’s heart was her incredible passion for condiments and sauces. She would always say with a knowing smile: “Marie-Claire, the perfect sauce can transform the simplest dish into a magnificent royal feast.”
By the tender age of 8, Marie-Claire was already standing on her favorite wooden stool, eagerly helping craft world-famous Provençal sauces. Grandmère generously taught her the closely-guarded secrets of creating perfect aioli, preparing silky-smooth tapenade, and most importantly, mastering the delicate art of tasting, adjusting, and perfecting until every single drop achieved absolute perfection. These foundational experiences shaped what about US truly represents today – unwavering commitment to authenticity and excellence.
During her teenage years, Marie-Claire’s unstoppable culinary curiosity expanded far beyond the boundaries of traditional French cooking. She voraciously devoured international food magazines, becoming absolutely fascinated by these mysterious American hot sauces with their exotic names like Tabasco and Sriracha. How could these incredible condiments be so dramatically different from beloved Mediterranean sauces?
During her intensive marketing studies in Lyon, she spent countless weekends conducting exciting experiments in her cramped student kitchenette. She tirelessly tried recreating these legendary American hot sauces using whatever ingredients she could possibly find in France. Her patient roommates became her very first enthusiastic taste testers – and thankfully, they absolutely loved being her willing guinea pigs! This experimental phase truly defined what about US and our dedication to authenticity means.
The Life-Changing Move to America’s Food Paradise
In 2018, pure love brought Marie-Claire across the vast Atlantic Ocean to discover America’s incredible culinary landscape. She met her amazing husband David, a brilliant American software engineer, during an unforgettable university exchange program. After enduring two challenging years of long-distance dating filled with care packages overflowing with exotic spices and countless recipe exchanges, Marie-Claire courageously made the most life-changing decision imaginable: relocating to the food paradise of Portland, Oregon.
The cultural adjustment proved incredibly challenging at first. Beyond navigating complex language barriers and experiencing significant culture shock, discovering America’s vast and diverse culinary landscape completely revolutionized her understanding of food. The incredible Mexican hot sauces, the iconic Burger King sauces, the legendary boom boom sauce – an entire magnificent universe of bold flavors was dramatically opening up before her amazed eyes!
When people ask about US and our authentic American sauce expertise, this transformative period represents the foundation of our genuine credibility and deep understanding of both French and American culinary traditions.
David and Marie-Claire joyfully tied the knot during the memorable spring of 2020, right in the unprecedented middle of the global pandemic, hosting an intimate and heartwarming ceremony in their beautiful backyard garden. It was during those extended lockdown months that they truly dove headfirst into the fascinating world of authentic American sauces with unprecedented dedication. Their romantic evenings were spent ordering incredible specialties from different states across America, meticulously analyzing every single remarkable sauce they enthusiastically tasted together.
They’ll never forget their absolutely mind-blowing first encounter with that perfect horseradish sauce for prime rib – that incredible spicy revelation that perfectly complemented their traditional Sunday barbecues! David would laugh heartily watching Marie-Claire take extremely detailed notes on every single condiment they tried, but he completely understood and supported her burning passion. This dedication to thorough testing and documentation exemplifies what about US means in terms of uncompromising quality and authenticity.
The Revolutionary Birth of RecipesBend
The groundbreaking idea for RecipesBend was born from a simple yet powerful observation: countless French people like Marie-Claire were genuinely curious about authentic American sauces but felt completely overwhelmed and lost in this incredible jungle of complex flavors. Simultaneously, they were meeting numerous Americans who desperately wanted to understand the subtle nuances and sophisticated techniques behind traditional French condiments.
Why not build a comprehensive bridge between these two magnificent culinary worlds?
Marie-Claire started by carefully documenting their extensive experiences – chronicling both their remarkable successes and inevitable failures while attempting to recreate these absolutely legendary hot sauces. Their very first detailed article about homemade Buffalo sauce became an unexpected viral hit – friends were enthusiastically sharing it across social media platforms, and they started receiving encouraging messages from complete strangers around the world!
When visitors learn about US and our revolutionary mission, they discover our unwavering commitment to connecting cultures through the universal language of incredible sauces. About US represents years of dedicated research, countless hours of testing, and an unshakeable passion for culinary excellence that sets us apart from ordinary recipe blogs.
What Makes US Your Ultimate Sauce Authority
Today, RecipesBend stands as much more than just another recipe blog. About US means being your comprehensive guide and trusted authority for anyone who, like us, is genuinely passionate about the sophisticated art of sauces. Whether you’re desperately seeking to master authentic Mexican hot sauce, eager to understand the closely-guarded secrets behind American burger sauces, or determined to discover how to create the perfect horseradish sauce, you’ve definitely come to the right place.
About US and our mission remains beautifully simple yet incredibly powerful: completely demystify the complex world of American sauces and provide you with all the essential keys to nail them perfectly at home, whether you’re cooking in Paris, New York, or anywhere in between!
What You’ll Discover on RecipesBend
- Detailed, rigorously tested recipes for all the iconic American hot sauces and international favorites
- Comprehensive buying guides to help you choose the absolute best store-bought sauces available
- Professional preservation techniques and expert tips for customizing your condiments to perfection
- Fascinating stories and historical anecdotes about the captivating origin of each sauce
- Expert pairing advice: discover which sauce perfectly complements every dish
- Complete heat level guides designed for both spice lovers and cautious beginners
- Video tutorials showing step-by-step sauce preparation techniques
- Ingredient sourcing guides for finding authentic components
About US encompasses our rigorous testing methodology where every single recipe undergoes multiple rounds of careful refinement before publication. We never publish anything that hasn’t been thoroughly tested in our professional kitchen and approved by our diverse panel of taste testers.
Join Our Thriving Community
About US means building lasting connections with fellow sauce enthusiasts from around the globe! Every carefully crafted recipe we share represents the culmination of countless hours of meticulous testing, precise tweaking, and tremendous amounts of love and dedication. About US is ultimately about creating a supportive community where sauce lovers can learn, share, and grow together.
David remains our official (and refreshingly honest!) taste tester, but we absolutely love hearing from our incredible readers – your valuable feedback, creative variations, and original sauce creations inspire us daily. When fellow cooks share about US with their friends and family, they’re spreading our passion for authentic, homemade sauces that bring people together around the dinner table.
For additional incredible sauce inspiration and professional techniques, we highly recommend visiting America’s Test Kitchen and Serious Eats, two outstanding external resources that perfectly complement our comprehensive mission.
Don’t miss exploring our most popular internal guides that showcase what about US and our expertise truly means: Ultimate Hot Sauce Reviews, Perfect Homemade Ketchup Recipe, Complete BBQ Sauce Mastery Guide, Authentic Buffalo Sauce Recipe, and Secret Restaurant Sauce Recreations.
When people discover about US and join our incredible community, they become part of thousands of passionate home cooks who’ve successfully transformed their kitchens into professional-quality sauce-making laboratories! About US represents this amazing transformation and the joy of creating restaurant-quality sauces in your own home.
Our Culinary Philosophy and What Drives US
Grandmère Simone was absolutely right: a perfectly crafted sauce can change everything about a meal. But we’d add that behind every truly great sauce, there’s a compelling story, a rich culture, and an unwavering passion for excellence. It’s this incredible richness that we want to share with you through RecipesBend, and it’s exactly what about US represents at our core.
From the fiery kick of a Carolina Reaper sauce to the tangy sweetness of a perfectly balanced honey mustard, each condiment tells a fascinating story of American ingenuity and remarkable flavor innovation. About US means being here to help you discover these captivating stories – and master the professional techniques behind them.
Marie-Claire and David Johnson
Founders of RecipesBend.com
Portland, Oregon
P.S. If you have a mysterious sauce you’d love to recreate, send us a photo! We absolutely love challenging culinary puzzles and about US includes helping fellow sauce enthusiasts solve their most perplexing recipe mysteries.
Connect With Our Amazing Community
- Email: [email protected]
- Pinterest: RecipesBend Sauces
- Facebook: RecipesBend Sauces
Follow along for daily sauce inspiration, exclusive behind-the-scenes recipe development content, and yes, the occasional kitchen disaster (they happen to the best of us!) that teaches valuable lessons about what about US really means.