Spicy Food
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It's Time to Start Planning for 2011 Chilehead Events
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If you're a foodie and you love the heat and savor the flavor, then it's likely that you're a chilehead.
If you consider yourself one, why not attend a hot sauce, chile pepper or spicy cuisine trade show or event this year? Many have already been scheduled for 2011, and almost all are worth a long-distance trip to visit. Chilehead events can be a blast to go to! They're usually full of great people and camaraderie, cool vendors, contests and fun, and most of all, great food to try.
I've recently added a slew of new events on my Hot Sauce/Chilehead Events Calendar. Check it out to see what shows, festivals and gatherings fit your schedule and are within reasonable travel distance from your geographic location. More will be added throughout the year, so bookmark the page and return regularly for updates.
A final note: if you know of any large-scale chile pepper or hot sauce event that's not on the calendar, I would love to hear about it!
Tabasco Hot Sauce Blamed for Man Exposing Himself to Teenager on Flight
Is Rafael Escamilla a hot-sauce lover or a bold face lying pervert?? You decide. Escamilla, a 50-year old Florida native was flying during the holiday season to visit family when he pored (we aren’t sure if it was accidentally or not) Tabasco sauce on his penis.
The hot sauce, according to Escamilla, made him massage and aggressively itch his privates – which we assume is ok if he didn’t have a 17-year old passenger sitting next to him who claims a slightly different version of events.
The unidentified teen says indeed Escamilla was massaging and itching but without his pants on and doing it underneath the tray table that was placed downward holding a laptop.
When the flight landed Escamilla was detained by authorities, where he was able to provide his unique view of events. He couldn’t answer why he didn’t resolve his ‘itch’ privately in the bathroom or where the Tabasco sauce came since we all know airliners are just serving peanuts and pretzels these days.
Escamilla was...
Weekly Firecast Episode 10 - Scott's Best Products of 2010
Watch the video to see what I award what I think are the best products of the year 2010. To qualify, this product either had to be released after January 1, 2010 or I would have tasted it for the very first time in the past year. Believe me, there were dozens of worthy sauces, seasonings and food enhancers I would have loved to include and so many product manufacturers that deserved a mention. But I had to narrow it down to the creme de la creme and give the "Scottvies" (with apologies to Dave DeWitt) to my top choices in each category.
Although most of the items I mention in the video could be classified as "spicy", overall flavor trumps fire any day. I judged the products based on several factors, including taste, aroma, texture, consistency, versatility, and balance of heat and flavor.
Due to time constraints, I ad to cut the Best Barbecue Sauce out of the video. I would bestow that honor to...
Christmas Cheer for Gunther’s Gourmet Groceries LLC
I'm getting caught up on some info that's been piling up in my inbox the past couple months. Here's a recent press release about about one of the preeminent salsa and gourmet flavor manufacturers out there, Gunther's Gourmet Groceries, LLC:
(December 28, 2010)
Christmas came a little early, and by email, this year for Gunther's Gourmet Groceries, LLC. Late on Friday afternoon, December 17, creator and owner Mike Lampros received a message from TheHotPepper.com that Gunther's Gourmet had won one or more of the site's Hot Pepper Awards for 2010. Following the email link, Mike was surprised to learn that his little Richmond, Virginia, food company had won not one (1) but a total of ten (10) awards in the following categories:
SALSA – Mild Category:
2nd Place - Gunther's Gourmet "Salsa Fresca"
3rd Place - Gunther's Gourmet...
Good Things to Come
Things are going great! I feel rejuvenated and truly blessed. Soon I'll be back on top, being the same old fun-loving Scott only with a renewed purpose, clarity and direction in my life. It won't be long until I'm once again crankin' out the spicy content for you all to enjoy.
Again, thanks for all your well wishes and prayers. I ask that you all direct your thoughts to our friend, Al "Buddah" Goldenberg, who has recently suffered a personal family tragedy. Please keep Buddah and the Goldenberg family in your prayers and thoughts, and that they be comforted and healed.
Another Personal Follow-Up
For those of you visiting this website who are only interested in hot sauces, Scoville Units or buffalo wings, feel free to skip this post.
For everyone else, here's a follow-up message to something I posted back in November.
If we're friends in "real life" or on Facebook, many of you already know the things I've been dealing with the past few months: divorce, love, heartbreak, desperation, confusion, moving away from my old job and the adjustment to a new one.
I'm not writing any of this to garner sympathy, but just to let you where I'm at. Lots of you reading this have gone through similar circumstances so you know exactly what I've been through.
My priorities have changed. It's incredibly difficult to put my whole heart and mind into writing about spicy foods. I just can't do it for the time being.
What do I have in front of me? There's a mountain of unanswered e-mail, a few large boxes of products to review, and several ideas for blog articles and Weekly Firecasts. There are also a few side projects I've yet to finish for friends in the fiery foods and BBQ communities.
I will get to that all; I promise to do my best to see that just about everything is answered, covered and accounted for. I'll still try to create an occasional post or review just to tide everyone over, but don't expect daily updates until sometime after the New Year.
Meanwhile things are looking up for me. I don't know if many of you are the believing kind, but God is doing phenomenal things in my heart. Sometimes it takes hitting rock bottom to realize that He will always be there to offer a helping hand to lift you up and comfort you. Christ has really given me unbelievable direction and clarity. Now the things that really matter are God, my two sons, and family and friends. Nothing else.
I want to thank you all for the well wishes, the phone calls, the words of encouragement and the prayers for me and my boys. My friends, especially those in the hot sauce and BBQ world, are the nicest people on earth. I am not joking. I've cried many times in amazement and have thanked the Lord for all the generosity you guys have provided. I love you all and I'll come back stronger than ever through God's grace.
One last thing: if any of YOU need anything from me, do not hesitate to ask. Whether it's a prayer, or you just need someone to talk or vent to, I will always be here for you. My contact info is at the bottom of the right sidebar.
Zombie Apocalypse Video Spot For Torchbearer Sauces
This is Torchbearer Sauces' 2010 Holiday Kiosk spot for Zombie Apocalypse. Enjoy!
Deano's Jalapenos Holiday Recipe Contest
Win Jalapeno Chips and Let Deano's Jalapenos Help with Your Holiday Gift Giving
Deano's Jalapenos wants to reward your awesome cooking skills and help with you're holiday gift giving. That's why they're launching their very 1st recipe contest. Just fill out the form on their contest page with your name, email address and recipe and you will be entered into the contest. If your recipe is chosen as the winner you will win a case of Deano's Jalapeno Chips AND you will also win five three bag boxes and Deano himself will ship them to your friends and family anywhere in the US! All entries must be received by Monday Dec 20th, 2010 to insure that the winner's friends and family receive their gifts in time for the holidays.
Click here to sign up!
Contenders to the Throne: What is Really the World's Hottest Chile Pepper?
Everyone knows that the Bhut Jolokia, AKA "Naga Jolokia", "Ghost Chile" or "Ghost Pepper", was crowned the official heat king of the capsicum genus four years ago by Guinness World Records at a then-high of 1,001,304 SHU. Of course, a cottage industry has been built around the heat (and flavor) of the jolokia with the draw that the customers will get to partake in the hottest the chile world can provide without getting into extract sauces.
With many more chile variants and cultivars still left to be discovered and tested, the hotness horse race is far from over. And chile pepper growers and sauce manufacturers alike would love to get access to the next big thing and grab a slice of a new sub-market based around the next "world's hottest"...
Auction Number 3 For Hudd - The Mega Auction
Auction #2 has ended with Chris from Insane Chicken winning with a $255 bid. In keeping with the generosity of our chilehead community, Chris has decided to re-enter his winning hot sauces into Auction #3. That's right...
All products from all three auctions have been combined to make one "super auction"! There are now 166 Bottles, 1 gift card, 6 boxes of jerky mix and 1 pound of jerky available for winning to the top bidder!
Catch Big Dawg Salsa on The Cooking Channels FoodCrafters
After Danny Cash's and Zane & Zack's appearances, yet another of our esteemed fiery foods brethren will be featured on The Cooking Channel's FoodCrafters show...this time out, it will be Darrell and Candy Fitch of Big Dawg Salsa!
Tomorrow, November 30th will be the big show's "Flavor" episode in which Big Dawg salsa will be appearing, and airs at 8:30pm Eastern/7:30 Central and repeating at 12:30am/11:30pm. If you're unable to catch it, be sure to record it.
Here's the official show description via the network's website:
"In this episode, host Aida Mollenkamp shows us how to add zest to any dish using flavors from some of the best FoodCrafters out there. From sweet to salty to spicy, Aida takes us to SF for Shakirah Simley's small batch jam, Kentucky for micro-brewed soy sauce and Dallas for a Double Dawg Dare Ya salsa. Then, it's onto Arizona for EVO and a visit to Queen Creek Olive Mill."
Review - Heartbreaking Dawns Grilling Sauces
Heartbreaking Dawns cannot be explained away as another young food enhancer maker attempting to have a ubiquitous presence by overextending themselves with lots of new but unnecessary products. Like an elder spicy sauce manufacturer such as CaJohns, just about everything Heartbreaking Dawns sells is good. And as long as they offer quality products and are able to sustain their current clench of focus, then more power to 'em if they produce 8 items or 80.
With a pair of fairly new grilling sauces - North Star Honey Datil Grilling Sauce and Meridian Serrano Grilling Sauce, Heartbreaking Dawns continues their steamroller-like proficiency in yet another area of flavoring food. While neither is a dead-on, perfect sauce, each one has its strengths and is worthy of you picking up a bottle or two of each to try for yourself.
Heat for Heroes Donation Project
Here's another great cause to support. This one is the Heat for Heroes Donation Project that's been created by Heartbreaking Dawns to help our men and women in the armed forces. It help explain the details, here are the words from the HBD website:
"As some of you may already know, we received a wonderful letter from a Sergeant overseas serving our country. They had some of our products from a gift package and were hoping to get some more. We went ahead and sent them out a large box of hot sauce, grilling sauces, seasonings, salts, shirts, etc. We were excited for the opportunity to give back to the women and men that are living in a war zone so we can live comfortably. After sending them their package, we received the suggestion to allow other people to participate through out website.
"Our program is called HEAT FOR HEROES. The way it works is you purchase donations in $5 increments and once a week we'll take the total and MATCH EVERY DOLLAR. We'll put together a box of products and send it out to the troops. If you have an address to suggest, feel free to send it with the purchase in the COMMENTS box. We'll post a tally of what we sent out, where they are going and who donated. Even though we'll keep this going as long as we can THE FINAL DATE FOR HOLIDAY PACKAGES IS DECEMBER 10TH SO WE ARE HOPING TO GET AS MANY OUT AS WE CAN! Below is the letter we received..."
Danny Cash to Open Retail Hot Sauce Shop
Our good friend Danny Cash is opening his own retail store! If you're in the Denver, Colorado area, you can visit the brand new Danny Cash Hot Shop starting this coming Black Friday, November 26 at 9:00 am! They'll be open till about 6:00 pm or so depending on business, and plan to have the same hours the following Saturday and Sunday.
Need directions? Click on this Google Maps link to get there: 3378 S Broadway, Englewood, CO 80113
Where's Scott?
I don't want to violate a rule or two of my 8 Ways To Have an Unsuccessful Food Blog, but I probably will anyway. I want to reassure everyone that I'm still around, but I'm just going through some personal and family matters that need my attention and in the grand scheme of things are far more important.
Don't worry, I'll get back to blogging, recording the Weekly Firecasts, Facebooking, Tweeting, and everything else soon. I want to thank everyone for the well wishes, the offers to help, the friendship and for reading this blog during the past few years. In the meantime, you can check out one of the many other fine spicy food blogs over on my links page.
Auction Number 2 For Hudd
Here's Hot Sauce Auction Number 2 to raise money for one of our chilehead brothers, David "Hudd" Huddleston and his family; who like many, because of this economy, have fallen on some hard times. First of all, getting product donated for these auctions was NEVER a problem. Manufacturers contacted Doug Spiros and I, eagerly wanting to send product and help a fellow chilehead. So a big kudos and "thank you" to all you manufacturers who stepped up. You are truly great people, and hope that the good that you do comes back to you tenfold.
For as long as we have been a part of this industry, we have seen so many come together to help friends in need. It is so inspiring to see that there is still compassion in this world and that our chilehead "ties" are so strong.
Our first auction was won by Butch T. After winning, Butch send Doug and e-mail stating that he did NOT want the product, he just wanted to help out and that he would like to re-donate it ! Wow, Butch! What a kind and heartfelt act. We are truly lucky to have guys like you on our side!
All of the prizes from Auction #1 will be added to our other great prizes in Auction #2. Yes, that's right, this...
Review - Tony Chachere's Injectables Butter & Jalapeno Marinade Injection
One HUGE facet of flavor enhancement I rarely get into in these reviews are marinade injections. There may be possible reasons for this, with a major one being that I tend to create my own injectable liquids whenever cooking large pieces of meat.
Still, it's nice to see what's commercially available out there, if not to use a couple of injections with any regularity, then I would borrow ideas from them which I concoct my own meat flavor brews.
Enter Tony Chachere's (surname pronounced SA-shuh-rees), a long-standing Cajun and Creole crusine company that's had some pretty admirable taste concepts over the years. One such product of theirs that recently caught my attention was the Tony Chachere's Injectables Butter & Jalapeno Marinade, and I was itching to see how it would enhance the juiciness and savoriness of my food, as well as adding a possible tinge of spiciness.
Chileheads, Lend a Hand...
David "Hudd" Huddleston is a friend and brother to many of us in the online chilehead community. Hudd, his wife Betty and son Danny are some of the nicest, big-hearted folks ever to grace this little blue orb; if there was a quintessential, real-life example of the phrase "salt of the earth", it would be the Huddlestons.
Unfortunately Hudd has run into some hard times financially lately. Because of this, we chileheads are going to take care of our brother by having a set of charity auctions for him.
We've gotten more than a dozen of our sauce maker friends to graciously donate nearly 150 bottles of spicy products of all types - hot sauces, wing sauces, BBQ sauces, seasonings and LOTS more...
Review - Benito's Habanero Infused Vermont Maple Syrup
Ladies and gentlemen, Benito's Habanero Infused Vermont Maple Syrup is a very pure, simplistic product that flat out works.
It has merely two ingredients: Pure Grade B Organic Maple Syrup from Palmer Lane Maple in Jeffersonville, VT and Organic Habaneros from Foote Brook Farm in Johnson, VT.
It's not meant to have a swirling, complex melange of flavors. It takes two major tones - fruity and spicy habanero peppers and rich, sweet maple syrup - and marries them together almost perfectly.
Really, the distinctive taste of capsicum chinense shines through wonderfully, as if you're eating spoonfuls of diced habaneros...
Review - Cajun Heat Mercy Beaucoup Cajun Wing Sauce
New Orleans transplant (and now Virginia resident) Clement Bourg of Cajun Heat roared out with his Liquid Napalm Hot Sauce and Voodoo Ash Seasoning a few years back and has recently added to his lineup a mustard (Fire on the Bayou), a medium level pepper sauce (Fiery Cajun) and the subject of his review: a cajun-inspired chicken wing coater named Mercy Beaucoup
I acquired all three of the new goodies at the most recent Weekend of Fire show in hopes of being able to provide my take on them. Clement has already suggested that we will make possible tweaks to one or more of the new products. That having been said, here's my take on the original version of Mercy Beaucoup wing sauce that debuted at the show...
Spicy Food Reviews - Hot Sauces, Spicy Snacks, and more.
