Scott Recreates the Four Horsemen Burger
Being both a chilehead and a fan of the Travel Channel's Man v. Food, I always take great interest when host Adam Richman attempts to tackle spicy food-related eating challenges. For some reason, his recent battle against a four chile pepper hamburger really piqued my interest. He's previously taken on super hot wings and scorching Indian curry, but I guess what got me intrigued was the fact that this particular challenge could be duplicated at home with relative ease. Instead of trying to figure out a secret formula, mystery recipe, or unknown ingredients that were essential puzzle pieces in other Man v. Food-featured dishes, the Four Horsemen Burger was something somebody like me would have been able to get all the parts necessary for in-home trial.
Okay, let's get some background on the "real" burger. The Four Horsemen is the ultimate sandwich offered by Chunky's Burgers in San Antonio, Texas. The "four" in its name represent the four chile peppers present on the burger: jalapeno, serrano, habanero, and the ghost chile, better known as the bhut jolokia. Those supposedly "brave enough to eat it" must put on rubber gloves to avoid "spice burns" and are given 25 minutes on the clock to wolf down the entire thing. After taking the last bite, the challenger must wait an additional 5 minutes to let the pain from the peppers set in, and cannot wipe his or her face or drink or eat anything to alleviate the burning, such as milk or ice cream.
Here's a quick video snapshot story of how the Four Horsemen Burger is shown the episode:
Above is the burger as presented on the show - with the beef patty side covered with chile peppers, melted cheese and a habanero sauce.
Adam Richman hovers over a previously-made Four Horsemen and bowls containing the four peppers.
The four "horsemen", er, chile peppers. Clockwise from top-left: jalapeno, serrano, bhut jolokia (ghost chile), and habaneros in a sauce.
At this point I should mention that habanero peppers themselves are not on the Chunky's-constructed burger, but a non-descript, unknown (kinda goes against what I said earlier, huh?) "hot habanero sauce" is employed instead.
Clockwise from top-left: sauteing the peppers; topping the burger and chile peppers with generous amounts of shredded cheese; a brown habanero sauce poured over the melted cheese; presenting the finished beast to Adam.
Okay, let's get to my own homemade concoction.
The peppers used match the Four Horsemen's, and clockwise from top-left they are: two chopped jalapenos, three orange habanero rings (yeah, not used on the burger itself but shown floating in the sauce), 1 1/2 chopped serranos, and three dried bhut jolokias. Seeds, membranes and all were left in just as shown on the TV show.
The ghost chiles, or bhut jolokias, are the hottest chile peppers in the world according to the Guinness World Records and the New Mexico State University's Chile Pepper Institute. Chile peppers' heat is measured by the Scoville Scale, and jalapenos clock in anywhere from 2,500 to 8,000 Scoville Heat Units. Bhut jolokias can get as high as 1,000,000 SHU.
When they are dried and smoked, jolokias get a lovely brown, wrinkled texture, almost like a crunchy raisin.
The jalapenos, serranos, and bhut jolokias being sauteed in a little butter.
Chiles on the burger.
Monterey Jack cheese melting on top. Nom nom nom!
Those extra rings of orange habs I sliced earlier? While not on the original Four Horsemen Burger at Chunky's, they were "cherries on the top" for me.
Alright, since I have NO idea what that mysterious brown habanero sauce that was used in the Man v. Food segment, I just opted for what hot habby sauce was open in the fridge. Since there were probably ten opened bottles of different habby sauce, and just grabbed one I recently tried and liked - Jakk Hammer XXX Habanero Sauce. Even if by chance the habby sauce used at Chunky's was hotter than Jakk Hammer's, I'd say that the hab rings I placed on top would offset any negative heat discrepancies .
It was time to get down to business! I set up the same rules as Chunky's has - a 25-minute time limit, with a 5-minute period afterwords with no milk or soothing ice cream. The Man v. Food episode was a little vague or whether or not ANY type of beverage is allowed at any point in the challenge. So to be on the safe side, I opted for having NO beverages at all, during the time I ate the burger AND during the five-minute wait.
Chunky's makes you wear gloves while eating, but I wasn't too worried about "spice burns" on my hands (LOL!), so I went without them.
My wife set her iPhone timer for 25 minutes and away I went...
Here I am at around the third bite in.
If you saw Adam Richman's performance on Man v. Food, the very first bite stopped him dead in his tracks (the video trailer containing that moment can be viewed here). Me, I didn't really taste the extreme heat until approximately halfway through the burger, and most of that was only felt around the corners of my mouth.
Here's my oldest son looking on me as I try to look "tough". Just wait 'till he's older and I make him do this!
All talk of pepper burn and pain aside, I thought this was a great-tasting burger! There's something about adding peppers that gives a cheeseburger - or a lot of other foods - a great deal of added complexity and dimension. I loved the four-punch flavor that the chiles provided.
When it it got close to finishing time, the heat was starting to build up nicely. My lips and corners of my mouth took the brunt of the burn, but my tongue started to feel the pain as well. And the endorphin rush was kicking in. God I love this! With my eyes starting to water a bit, I picked off every piece of pepper that fell on my plate, ate them, and then consumed my last bite of burger. The timer had 17:00 minutes left on it, so 8 minutes ain't too shabby for a cheeseburger. Now my wife reset the timer for 5 minutes and I waited it out.
No drink, no wiping my face, no nothin'. And the crinkle-cut fries on my plate had to wait, too.
Here's the timer one minute and 54 seconds in, with 3:06 left to go.
Here I am happy and fed, with a bit of red, teary eyes.
To be honest with you, as the wait went on, the fire in my mouth slightly cooled. From experience, the heat from certain peppers and sauces will remain lingering for 10 to 15 minutes and even continue to build up. Because of the quadruple onslaught in this burger, I didn't know what to expect, but luckily the fire was dying.
Time was finally up, and the Four Horsemen proved to be no match for me. No beverage was necessary at this point. I proceeded to eat my French fries and only wanted to take a drink when my throat got dry from the fries.
Yeah, those last few sentences sounded a bit big-headed of me, admittedly. But I'm definitely not conceited and I don't eat hot stuff to prove how "macho" I am. I couldn't care less about trying to prove myself to people. I just did this for fun, but I might try this burger recipe from time to time 'cause it's really tasty!
If you would like to contact Chunky's Burgers & More, you can find their contact information at their website: http://www.chunkysburgers.com
To find out more about the Travel Channel's shows or to buy episodes, go to http://www.travelchannel.com
Related Articles:
Adam Richman of Man Vs. Food Takes on a Four Chile Burger
Morning Show Does Munchies 420 Cafe Fire in the Hole Wing Challenge; Scott Finds a Boo-Boo
Comments
2009-09-13 06:24:16
2009-09-13 11:21:30
You emerged victorious, and I believe you deserve a place in the pantheon of St. Louis Spice Gods. Given the reaction of Richman, your victory may even be deserving of international attention!
My wife tells about her dad slowly feeding her little sister some pretty hot Hungarian peppers (usually they aren't the hottest, since the most famous Hungarian peppers are of course paprika). To this day, her little sister is quite a lover of spicy foods.
Did you have any childhood experiences that strengthened your palate?
Cheers,
Phil
2009-09-14 08:24:02
2009-09-14 15:32:45
We're planning a trip down there soon. Sounds like a killer burger.
2009-09-14 19:36:01
Phil, glad to see you around these parts. There was nothing specific in my prepubescent childhood that turned me onto spicy foods. As a teenager, I did enjoy "hot" wings and pickled jalapenos with nachos (stuff like that is pretty mild to me nowadays). I built up a tolerance for jalapenos by eating a half jar at a time with nothing else. It was just a slow and gradual process through my 20s and 30s that I ate hotter and hotter stuff, and, well, here I am.;-)
2009-09-15 20:44:53
2009-09-16 20:51:38
2009-10-01 07:50:42
2009-10-07 14:51:44
2009-10-23 14:26:55
Either you're a freak of nature...or there's something 'special' that Chunky's does to their burger to make it painful. I attempted and completed the feat at Chunky's a few weeks ago and it was quite possibly the most painful experience I've been through. I LOVE spicy foods and figured the challenge was over-rated. After four or five bites I was ready to throw in the towel, and would have had I not had the restaurant patrons there to urge me on. (Peer Pressure Sucks) 'Wolfing' down the Chunky's burger is next to impossible and sure to lead to a quick exit from the competition due to vomitting. The burger feels like a churning ball of lava in your stomach I finished the burger with about 5 seconds to spare...and somehow managed to hang in there for the 5 minute torture session afterward, before being declared the victor. (less than 5 minutes after that the burger was no longer inside me).
As for taste...didn't taste a thing, so still don't know if Chunky's makes a good burger or not. The heat hit me too fast to taste anything. But who cares..I'm on the famed 'Wall of Flames' now and sit back and smile at the accomplishment. I have no doubt your burger was hot. Hell, coulda been hotter than Chunky's but if your ever near San Antonio make sure to stop by Chunky's and drop me a line if you do. I want to be there to watch you do it. And NO...I won't be joining at the table.
2009-10-31 14:43:12
Is it possible the hab sauce that Chunky's uses has a bit of extract in it?
2009-11-20 23:37:35
So I ordered the burger and signed the waiver. A hush fell over the kitchen after I ordered, but I didn't think much of it. We grabbed a seat on the patio and out comes out waitress who makes the announcement. "here's John and he's going to do the 4 horsemen challenge" she exclaims. The small crowd listened and she continued with the 25 minute rule etc. Then the burger came. She started the timer as I bit into it. no big deal for bites 1,2,3. Bite 4 got me and I began to feel a good burn. Sweat began to bead on my forehead, and I was careful not to use a napkin on my face that might have hot stuff on it (been there done that). OK, now this burger took a turn down a dark and painful road. bites 5,6,7, and beyond become a bit of a blur. I was in some pretty intense pain at this point. I did not even begin to care about the flavor of the burger anymore, but was encouraged to continue by the cheers of the folks all around.
This has gotten ridiculous. I felt like I was swallowing broken glass. My mouth didnt burn suprisingly, it was my throat that hurt. I have had strep throat before but that does not even begin to scratch the surface of the feeling I was encountering. 3,2,1 bite left and the waitress was right there to be sure she started my "burn timer".
I finished the burger in about 8 minutes, and got through the burn timer then drank a big glass of milk. I honestly can say, I held back a bit because I did NOT WANT TO THROW UP.
It turned out to be the hottest thing I have ever ever ever eaten. I will NOT eat another, even if someone showed me $1000. to eat it. I can say that I felt so warm inside until I began to digest it. 2 hours or so later on, I had the most painful and terrible burning inside. The pain came in waves and I found that I had to sit in front of a fan murmuring and sweating like crazy. The waves of pain came over me about 8 or 9 times that night and sleep did not come easy.
If you think you are man enough, try it. you may regret it. If you dont, you are more a man than I! good luck. Oh yeah, note to Scott, come to see the Alamo and then go eat one where it was born. Thanks for reading! John in San Antonio.
2010-01-14 15:29:26
2010-01-17 06:55:41
I'm not up on the science, but would cooking the chiles reduce their heat? It seems from the comments that it was the sauce that was the killer.
What I would like to see is a burger infused with chiles, as opposed to being a topping. Chopped, dried or extract. Whatever would taste good.
2010-01-17 19:10:49
Now look at the third picture above at the lower left quadrant, where the orange pepper slices are sitting in the deep brown, drippy liquid (in fact, one of the slices have been partially covered in that thin, semi-translucent sauce). That is NOT Mega Death. This darker sauce - what they show being poured on the burger elsewhere in the episode is a runnier liquid that looks like a dark brown barbecue sauce.
Look in all the TV screen captures of the show, especially the very first one. They're all the runnier sauce.
I had recently called Chunky's twice - both at different times of the day and with different people who answered the phone. Neither one were willing to disclose what exactly the mystery habanero sauce they put on the Four Horsemen was, if it was a completely homemade sauce, if it was a hybrid homemade/pre-made concoction, or if it was entirely pre-made.
Aric - no, cooking does not take heat out of chile peppers.
2010-01-18 07:27:29
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