Spicy Food
All about spicy food of all kinds - hot sauces, hot chile peppers, snacks, spicy dishes, hot wings, and more - and even bland food!
New! Spicy Food Reviews - Hot Sauces and Spicy Snacks
Can't Make It to the Weekend of Fire? Stay Tuned to This Website All Weekend!
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Okay, technically this site does not have a "radio" or anything of the sort with which you can tune in. My bad. But you can still keep scottrobertsweb.com opened in a browser tab and refresh it several times this weekend long for photo updates, quick reports and more from Jungle Jim's 2010 Weekend of Fire. It'll be the next best thing to being there at the chilehead event of the year!
Photos - I'll be uploading pics from each day's activities to the Photo Gallery.
Twitter Updates - Up-to-the-second reports and God knows what else will be twittered by me, all of which you can keep track of through my Twitter Account. Maybe even some guest tweets will find their way into the stream...;-)
Videos - Yep, don't be surprised if you see a...
Not One, But Two Winners of Free Hot Sauce in Newsletter Subscriber Contest
I want to say a heartfelt "thanks" to every person who has subscribed to my monthly e-mail newsletter.
To show my appreciation, I'm going to be giving away two bottles of hot sauce, one each to two lucky winners:
The first one will be awarded to one random person who signs up for the e-mail newsletter between the time of this posting and 11:59 PM Central Time on Sunday, August 15th.
The second free bottle of hot sauce will be given to one random person who is on the ScottRobertsWeb.com E-mail Newsletter subscriber list, regardless of when you signed up in the past, and includes everyone who signs up before 11:59 PM Central Time on Sunday, August 15th.
You read that right. For all new subscribers, you have double the chances of winning! So what are you waiting for? Get your name and e-mail address on the list today. Get moving, troops!...
Review - Tony Legner's Cat 5 Hot Sauce Food Polish
Tony Legner's Cat 5 Hot Sauce Food Polish. Now just what in tarnation is "food polish?" It comes in an irregular 8 oz. bottle and looked like it may be a dip, condiment or even a wing sauce. I've seen it numerous times at hot sauce shops and food shows, and now it was finally time for me to make the plunge and discover what riddles lie beneath its glass exterior...
Ingredients:
Seasoned Rice Vinegar [Rice Vinegar (Water, Rice) Sugar, Salt], Vinegar, Water, Peppers, Carrots, Onions, Salt, Spice and Natural Flavorings
Aroma:
3 out of 5. Very odd sensation when I took a whiff of Tony Legner's Cat 5 Hot Sauce Food Polish. It seemed like there was...
Kevin's Side of the Dish - Sonic Drive-In Review
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I present to you my son Kevin. He is a budding chilehead, and after watching his dad get to try out spicy foods and write about them, he expressed to me that he wanted to follow suit. So we've decided to have a recurring series that he himself has dubbed "Kevin's Side of the Dish". With today's installment, Kevin is cutting is review teeth (yes, pun intended) on a recent Sonic Drive-In visit.
All of these blog posts in the "Kevin's Side of the Dish" series, including the following one, will be 100% written by him. The only help I'll provide will be any necessary fixes in capitalization and punctuation. Of course, his old man here will help resize the photos (which Kevin will take himself) in Photoshop and code any necessary HTML code for the blog. Enjoy!
Sonic Drive-In Review
Today, I went to Sonic and had a Popcorn Chicken with Apple Slices and Caramel Dip. The Caramel Dip...
Review - Scovilla's Dragonfire Sauces - Beast Killer, Number One, Ultra Blast and End of Time
This review should probably be of genuine interest to the hardcores out there, the chileheads who regard the average habanero condiment as a "medium"-level table sauce. I'm talking about pepper extract sauces, the bitter capsaicin is introduced into the recipe to produced heat levels unobtainable by natural chile peppers, even the mighty naga bhut jolokia.
Because extract is considered by a virtual consensus to be a more of a negative-tasting ingredient than a positive one - despite the extra heat it delivers - the sauces containing this substance are almost always presumed to taste bitter and any reviews of them must be "graded on a curve". A reasoning of "this tastes good for an extract sauce" must be brought into play, and Scovilla's Dragonfire sauces are no exception.
The quartet of Dragonfire products - Beast Killer, Number One, Ultra Blast and End of Time (to be technical, Beast Killer is a non-extract elixir) - all promise to be tongue-screaming hot sauces put forth by the young German company to unleash on the heat-loving throngs. What did I think of them? Read on to see...
Weekly Firecast Episode #2 - Ott's Honey Blackberry BBQ Sauce and Weekend of Fire Preview
The second episode of The Weekly Firecast is here! This time out I try out Ott's Honey Blackberry BBQ Sauce for the very first time. I sample some on a spoon on camera, and then reconvene a few minutes later with a pulled pork sandwich and some sauteed chicken breast chunks to see how the sauce fares on those. In another segment, I speak a few minutes about the Weekend of Fire hot sauce show. Also on the video I debut my Resource of the Week.
Want to stay up on these? Subscribe to the Weekly Firecast RSS Feed to see new episodes as they're posted.
As always, I invite everyone to give me comments, questions, suggestions and topic ideas! Something you don't like? wants a product reviewed? Leave a note in the comments or e-mail me!
If you haven't watched the pilot episode, click here to watch it now!
Presenting the Weekly Firecast - the first weekly video show and podcast about the fiery food that chileheads and barbecuers love - hot sauce, wings, salsa, BBQ and more.
Letter From the UK - July 2010
We have now published over 500 articles in the UK and to celebrate we have collected together some hot sauces which we are going to send to one lucky UK reader at the end of the month.
Our site also moved in to fourth place behind the Chilli Farm Web sites in the UK top Chilli web sites, it was also reported in the UK press that Chilli sales in the UP had grown by 600% with one farm producing over a million Dorset Naga Chillies per week.
But the big event this month was GrillStock 2010 the UK's first BBQ show, which included a marquee from Fiery Foods who organised their truly awesome Chilli eating competition which on the first day ended in a draw after two contestants both put 6.4 million SHU extract on their tongues for 10 seconds. You can read the review and see the pictures at http://www.chilefoundry.co.uk/2010/07/19/fiery-foods-chilli-eating-competitions-grillstock-bristol-2010/...
Report From the Windy City Ribfest 2010
People don't always think of Chicago as a destination for ribs, but there is no doubt Chicago takes comfort foods very seriously, and there is no comfort food better than ribs! So, when the Windy City Ribfest set up show on the Northside of Chicago, only a short walk from my home, this event called out to me like a spicy and sweet siren song!
If you are reading this blog there is no doubt you are serious about ribs, so you likely will not be at all surprised at all by my consumption strategy for the event: eat everything within reach! I hit the festival right at dinner time with two like-minded taste-testers that were ready to get elbow deep in some sauce. We sampled ribs from six vendors, and awarded some impromptu, unofficial awards...
What's In A Name? Spicy Food Terms and Definitions
In cooking, consuming and dealing with fiery cuisine, especially the liquid seasonings that provide flavor and heat to dishes, you're going to stumble upon dozens of interrelated names and terms. Some of their meanings may be obvious, but chances are good that if you're newer to the world of spice you may get hung up on a few.
For the novice foodies and beginner chileheads, I've given definitions of a lot of these words you'll encounter. The following list is certainly not comprehensive, yet still should cover most of the terms encompassing the wide world of spicy sauces, condiments and liquids.
Hot Sauce
In its most basic meaning, a hot sauce is simply any sauce that uses hot chile peppers as one of its mean ingredients to give it a spicy taste. Diving deeper into what the definition of hot sauce is, it can technically mean any type of pepper-based substance ranging from watery liquids to thicker condiments all the way up to a thin paste in terms of consistency. Hot sauce can have an almost unlimited number of supporting ingredients including tart, sugary, fruity, salty, smoky or tangy ones. It also should be noted that technically salsas are considered to be hot sauces, albeit much ticker ones. Also referred to as pepper sauces and chile sauces.
Salsa
The word "salsa" means "sauce" in Spanish, so actually any hot sauce could be a salsa, but not all salsas are hot sauces because salsas can have just about any ingredient under the sun, including beans, corn, fruit, herbs, spices, nuts and even seafood. To Anglo-American audiences, salsa usually means a denser substance that contains thicker or more solid ingredients (although they may be soft) than pure liquid and can even be virtually all solid chunks in some...
Zane & Zack's Honey Co. Makes Appearance on The Cooking Channel's FoodCrafters
First it was Danny Cash, now it's the McCanless clan of Zane & Zack's World Famous Honey Co. that will appear on Aida Mollenkamp's "FoodCrafters" on The Cooking Channel. The first airing is tomorrow night, Monday, July 19th at 9PM Central/10 PM Eastern. For those of you without DVRs, future airings will be at 7/20 at 1:00AM CT/2:00AM ET and on 7/24 at 4:30PM CT/5:30ET.
This episode that features Z & Z's is titled "Sticky" and in additional to them, it will feature three other U.S. business owners that make sweet and sticky edibles in some capacity.
Keep an eye out for additional airings on the official FoodCrafters webpage.
Review - Dat's Nice Datil Pepper Sauce
Using datil peppers famously grown in the St. Augustine, Florida region, Dat's Nice have conjured up a pepper sauce much like Dat'l Do-It Datil Pepper Hot Sauce both in utility and overall flavor. They were kind enough to send me a bottle for evaluation, and when I received it I was a tad surprised that the container was a heftier 12 ounce size as opposed to something smaller. Did they expect this to be consumed quicker or in larger amounts? It would be fascinating to find out what it is about this sauce that would fulfill either of those conditions.
Review - Honnie T Original Spicy Garlic Sauce
Here's a unique little sauce that should be required tasting by all flavor fans, even if it might not be ending up their speed: Honnie T Original Spicy Garlic Sauce. Vinny of H.T. Sauce (which is what the company is sometimes abbreviated as) shipped me a bottle of the bright red liquid, which according to their website, has a "beautiful meaning behind it. The word 'Honnie' stands for admirable, special, upbeat and valued; it stands special in everyone's heart. For its traditional flavor and spice, which is always admired and loved by all the customers who taste it. The difference of the sauce is in its exclusive blend of oriental spices, offering your taste buds the unique epicurean experience it has been looking for. The result is a flavorful tangy and spicy sauce with a balanced heat for which it is fondly referred to as 'Honnie T Sauce'.
Sounds moderately intriguing. Did it live up to its flowery hype?
I had originally planned to do an "on location" video review of this sauce on the dinnertime vittles provided by Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede Dinner & Show in Branson, Missouri, but unbeknownst to me until the last minute, I found out that video recording of any kind was prohibited there on the premises. Instead, I opted to sneak a few still photos of my food. This practice also was forbidden, but I want to give a big thanks to our server Collin, himself a hot sauce fan, for overlooking my picture snapping.
What's Happening - Weekly Firecast Update, New ZestFest Website, and More
We're still having a blast during our vacation in the Branson area. AT&T's coverage completely sucks down here (the Edge network is an unequivocal joke) and the hotel wi-fi isn't much better, allowing me to access the interwebs only 10% of the time. Because of my relative disconnect with the online world I haven't been able to post as nearly as often as I'd like.
Also, because of the fact of me going on holiday (as the Brits would say) there will not be a Weekly Firecast put out this coming Friday, July 16. I'll work towards making a show for Friday, July 23, and then release a regular recurring episode each subsequent week.
What else is new with me? Well, I haven't been able to get ANY decent barbecue in the Branson area. I'm sure it exists somewhere down here, but I sure as heck haven't uncovered it yet. The only type of ribs I've consumed have been the mushy, boiled and oven-baked variety, with no wood-produced smoke and lacking any discernible positive flavor. It's been highly disappointing, especially considering that the McDonald's we had for lunch has literally been far more flavorful than any of of this so-called "BBQ".
I assume the big news on the hot sauce front that I haven't previously posted is the debut of of the ZestFest website. Not much to see yet, but it's promising to see something from a show that hasn't always had the strongest web presence.
What else? There's more activity brewing in the DEFCON camp, which may include two new products...
Branson Restaurant Reviews Part One
I'm currently in the midst of a well-deserved vacation in Branson, Missouri. This current jaunt is my first real personal or family break in three years, the occasional weekend getaway or hot sauce show notwithstanding.
What's there to do in Branson and what is there to do in this town? Well, it's often criticized or lampooned as a mini Vegas strip for rednecks, a heavily commercialized, tourist trap-like stretch with numerous country music shows, restaurants, hotels, and gift shops. The main strip, highway 76, is without much exaggeration in a perpetual traffic jam from mid-morning until midnight. For all of its criticisms, it's still hard to beat as a mecca for bite-sized, family-friendly entertainment, especially for those who play their cards right.
Eating can be a big part of any trip, and here's a few quicky reviews for munch-down joints I've been to on this vacation.
I Present to You...The Weekly Firecast
Ladies and gentlemen, here is the "pilot" episode of the Weekly Firecast.
Subscribe to the Weekly Firecast RSS Feed to see new episodes as they're posted.
How did this come about?
Well, one of the many undeveloped ideas I had spinning around in my head for the longest time was some sort of video show. I was trying to conceive of what could be the "ultimate" program for chileheads and barbecue lovers. Would it...
2011 Scovie Awards Now Accepting Entries
One of, if not the most prominent award competition in the fiery foods and barbecue realm is the Scovie Awards. Entry is now open for the 2011 awards, and everything can be done at the Scovie Awards website for an extra simple and smooth registration process.
What's new for the 2011 Scovies? First, there are a couple of newly added/revamped categories. Although there was previously a wing sauce category somewhat obscured in the "Meat Required" grouping, there is now an entire Wing Sauce category with four subcategories dealing with heat levels, fruit-based wing sauces and international flavors. There is also a brand-spankin' new Extreme Sauce category with 6 subcategories that are perfect for super-hot elixirs containing habaneros, bhut jolokias or extracts.
Second, there are special deals for early bird entries and for multiple submissions. Enter before July 31st and...
Why You Must Attend to CaJohns' Open House
For those of you who haven't been in the loop, for the past few years CaJohn Hard has been having an open house the Monday after the Weekend of Fire ends. Since the CaJohns factory in the Columbus, Ohio area is located roughly only 100 miles from where the Weekend of Fire is held in the northern Cincinnati suburbs, many die-hard chileheads make the pilgrimage to hang out at CaJohns HQ for a big chunk of the day.
Why, may you ask, must YOU attend? Easy...
Review - Chili Lime Yumnuts Cashews
This blog was due for another spicy snack review, and I was hoping this one would not disappoint. Yumnuts Naturals markets their nut products (which also include Sea Salt, Spicy Cajun, and Toasted Coconut flavored items) as being no artificial anything, cholesterol-free, no preservatives...you know the drill...but do they flat out make a dynamite snack? I recently tested out Yumnuts' Chili Lime Cashews hoping to find some answers.
The Best Hot Sauces According to RachaelRayMag.com
I just caught this a few minutes ago. The editors of RachaelRayMag.com taste-tested dozens of hot sauces found in grocery stores and online to find they favorites. The results are their choices for tops in six different categories. There are a couple of expected picks that are commonplace and safe (Sriracha, Frank's RedHot), but I was excited to see one of my personal faves in Captain Thom's Thai Monkey on their list.
To read the selections, go here: Taste Test: The Best Hot Sauces
Review - Heartbreaking Dawns Dry Rubs
Johnny McLaughlin and Nicole Ramsperger of Heartbreaking Dawns shipped me their three hot sauces this past Winter and I was pleased overall with their offerings. While I wasn't blown away by their efforts, I found something positive about each sauce and considered Heartbreaking Dawns to be an up-and-comer in the fiery foods industry to keep an eye on.
Some time after I had met Johnny and Nicole at the Fiery Foods Show in March, they had sent me another trio of products, this time out it was some dry spice blends. I am extremely pleased to report that while I thought their sauces were good, these dry rubs are even better. I truly believe they are hitting their stride with these seasonings.
Just reading the names of these products - Dr. Bird Jerk Blend, Memphis Belle BBQ Blend and Storyville Cajun Blend - will tip you off to their flavor and utility. Seeking to test these all out once, a uniform base of grilled chicken breasts seemed like a good candidate for a meat that would bring out the flavor of these. More on that in a bit....
Spicy Food Reviews - Hot Sauces, Spicy Snacks, and more.
