Modesto sauce makers to appear on Food Network. How they impressed Iron Chef Michael Symon

The secret to impressing an Iron Chef is definitely in the sauce for the Modesto-based makers of Five Monkeys BBQ Sauce.

The locally made barbecue sauce has been a regional hit since 2017, when the five-member Morasci family launched its brand of corn syrup-free, clean ingredient sauces. Now, the company’s food has the blessing of celebrity chef Michael Symon, and the Morascis will appear this month on his Food Network series “BBQ USA.”

Cleveland-based chef Symon is known for his Food Network shows “Iron Chef America,” “Burgers, Brew & ‘Que,” “Symon’s Dinners Cooking Ou,” and his newest series, “BBQ USA.” Launched last year, the part-travel, part-cooking competition show follows Symon as he checks in on barbecue events across the country.

It’s at one of these events that Symon met George Morasci and learned of the family’s Five Monkeys sauces. Morasci, his wife, Kelly, and three adult children run the company and attend food events to promote the brand. They started producing the sauce commercially after friends and family urged them to share their personal recipe with the world, and its playful name refers to the five family members.

Morasci said he received an invitation earlier this year to an annual benefit in Queens, New York. He had gone to the event last year and almost ignored the emailed 2023 invitation. Then he learned this year’s celebration would be filmed for Symon’s series, with the famed chef picking a handful of teams to shadow and feature on the series.

The filming took place over two days in April in New York. Film crews followed Morasci’s team and seven others, though signing on didn’t guarantee they would make it onto TV. Still, the opportunity to have the prestigious James Beard Award-winning chef taste their offerings was enough for them.

“Honestly, I didn’t care too much about the competition, I just thought it was cool that Michael Symon would be coming by to try my food,” Morasci said. “You get an Iron Chef to come by and try your food, people pay attention.”

George Morasci, his daughter, Taylor (who now lives in Boston), and friend and fellow chef Andy Nguyen attended the Queens competition, which featured judges from another popular Food Network series, “BBQ Brawl.” Kelly Morasci, who teaches for Modesto City Schools, and the couple’s sons weren’t able to make the trek.

To stand out, Morasci decided to cook nontraditional barbecue dishes for his competition entries. He made a pulled pork egg roll with a Vietnamese slaw and an ice cream sundae with homemade baklava and caramel sauce. Both dishes, of course, featured their Five Monkeys products: BBQ sauce in the eggrolls and the new flavored almonds in the dessert.

His strategy worked, and Symon spent time visiting with them and even brought his wife back to their booth to try the food. At one point, Morasci said, Symon took video of the food to send his Greek mother to tell her he had a new favorite baklava.

“I don’t think he’d heard of us before this event. But I darn well know that he knows who we are now. Took a clam-shell of baklava home with him,” Morasci said.

The episode will air Aug. 14 on the Food Network as part of the show’s ongoing second season. The Morascis will host a free, public watch party at downtown Modesto’s Food Fix restaurant to screen the episode. Chef Nguyen also will be there and the interactive event will feature samples of the dishes they made for the competition available to taste.

Family members have not seen the episode yet but are hopeful they’ll make a good showing. The company’s first national television exposure comes at a time when Morasci said they’re resetting their production. They currently manufacture out of a facility in Patterson but are looking for a larger space to upgrade their operation.

Before the pandemic, the company had ramped up its distribution to about 1,400 sites, including some national. But Morasci said that level of production proved too much for the family-run business, where George and Kelly still work their day jobs. During the pandemic, when supply and other manufacturing issues abounded, they pulled back distribution because they couldn’t satisfy demand.

So they now work with only about 100 largely local distributors and what Morasci calls “mom and pop shops.” Regionally you can find the products at some Raley’s Supermarkets and Ace Hardware stores, as well as downtown Modesto restaurants Food Fix, Piccadilly Deli and Chinn’s International. They’re also available on Amazon and through their company website, fivemonkeysbbqsauce.com.

Since its launch six years ago, the company has gone from its one original BBQ sauce to two additional varieties (chili orange and scotch whiskey). It also has a line of seasoned almonds and recently debuted a Mexican-style seasoning.

Morasci said the family isn’t sure what to expect from its appearance on “BBQ USA” but he hopes more people will get a chance to try and enjoy the Five Monkeys creations.

“It was probably as cool a thing as I’ve ever done in my life. To have someone of that caliber standing next to you and talking about the food you’re creating, wow,” Morasci said.

The “BBQ USA” featuring Five Monkeys BBQ Sauce will air at 7 p.m. Aug. 14 on Food Network, and the watch party at Food Fix, at 938 11th St. in Modesto, starts at 5:30 p.m.