GunPowder Spice
When Kisha Formica was handed her family’s beloved seasoning and asked to experiment with it, she had not tasted it on anything but the deer sausage it was used in making once a year. Originally blended by her grandfather 45 years ago, it was a family-kept seasoning until one day seven years ago.
When it was once again time for family and friends to gather and make several hundred pounds of deer sausage, Kisha’s grandfather handed her a pack of the seasoning and told her to play around with it and see what she thought. A good cook like many in her family, Kisha says, “I started using it, and it was great – not heavily salted. I wondered why we hadn’t used it on more things. I made a chicken fricassee with it and served it to my grandfather. He didn’t recognize his own seasoning and was impressed by how good it made the food taste. My dad, who thought I’d tweaked the recipe, started using it on different things too.”
Turns out, the seasonings brings the perfect flavoring to beef, pork, poultry, seafood, veggies, wild game, sweets like cobbler and cinnamon rolls, and surprisingly on watermelon, as well as snacks – including popcorn.
Made with seven ingredients, it is described as very well-rounded and balanced releasing layers of flavors.
In 2020, Kisha began canning it through Cargil (where the recipe has been kept all these years and packaged) and selling it under the name GunPowder Spice. The logo is a nod in many ways to her dad and grandfather. The headstamp of a shotgun shell is a reminder of the many deer hunts, and the red and gold colors of the container of the U.S. Marine Corps, which her grandfather served. Crossed dueling pistols reference the Calcasieu River Bridge in Lake Charles that her father crossed many times on his way to his native Houston. Three stars under the pistols denote the three generations sharing the family tradition of this recipe. (Kisha hopes to add more stars.)
Today, GunPowder Spice has been shipped across the country from California to South Carolina, Ohio to Wyoming, and places in between.
Its versatility has inspired Kisha to make dishes that she has added to her line, like her crawfish pistolettes. And there’s her homemade lamb tortellini with fresh pasta, stuffed with a lamb and spinach filling, then glazed in a sauce Espagnole. (Take a moment to let that sink in.) In fact, the popularity of her meals led to her catering on the side.
You can find GunPowder Spice at Fresh Pickin’s in Lafayette or at the Delcambre Seafood & Farmers Market where Kisha became a vendor last year. “Everyone is so friendly and wonderful at the market,” she says. “It’s an amazing feeling of community and comradery. It feels like home; it’s friendly, fun, and everything I grew up knowing.”
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