Red Sox Slugger David Ortiz Introduces Big Papi Line of Hot Sauces

Scott Roberts June 10, 2009 at 7:02 pm food

There is a difference among hot sauce fanatics between the tasters and the masochists. For the tasters, hot sauce exists to coax flavor from food and elongate the sensation of taste. The masochists, by contrast, seek to push the limits of tolerance. They're in it for the fix and, of course, the bragging rights.

David Ortiz, the amiable if presently downtrodden Red Sox slugger and self-described "grill-man," is a taster. Inspired by a well-documented affection for spicy Dominican food and backyard barbecues, Ortiz's new line of Louisiana-style hot sauce, Big Papi En Fuego, is for chili connoisseurs (en fuego is Spanish for "on fire"). Now in supermarkets, four preservative-free levels include Original En Fuego, Monster Double En Fuego, Off the Wall Triple En Fuego, and Grand Slam En Fuego, the fieriest...

And fiery it is. At Fenway Park last Friday, hours before the Sox fell to the Texas Rangers, Ortiz sat down to a lunch of seafood paella, plantains, and other Dominican delicacies provided by his close friend Hector Pina, owner of the Roxbury restaurant Merengue. Pina describes his customers, including Ortiz, as hot sauce obsessives who will liberally douse most dishes on the menu. But when a bottle of Papi's own Grand Slam En Fuego - a brutal "xxxtra hot" mix of habanero, cayenne, chipotle, and garlic, with a picture of Papi wielding a smoking bat on its front - was proffered, even Ortiz himself didn't dare. The masochists are not his people.

"I put hot sauce on pretty much everything," he says, aiming a bottle of his mild Original into a bowl of mondongo (beef tripe soup) before taking a spoonful. "But I like mild hot, not burning hot. Not crazy hot." His Monster Double - a medium-hot verde sauce with habanero, naga jolokia chili, and vinegar - is as daring as he'll go.

"It's not about being a tough guy," he says. "I'm telling you right now, number four is pretty dang hot." He's referring to Grand Slam. "I do not think a human being should try something hotter than...

Comments

Peppersandmore
2009-06-12 05:30:17

Peppers and More will be doing a review of this sauce in the next few week.As much as it pains me to advertise anything comeing from a Boston player.lol

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