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
Review - California Habanero Blends Ginger Garlic Habanero Hot Sauce
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Here's a sauce that I think has a very narrow scope. California Habanero Blends Ginger Garlic Habanero Sweet Mild Heat Hot Sauce certainly wouldn't be as versatile as it touts itself to be on the bottle, but for what it does do, you may discover it that it adds that little bit of difference you're craving to spice up hum-drum meals...
FireTalkers - Interview with Wayne Brawley of 2 Brothers Salsa
Here's the story: Texan Chef Wayne Brawley obtained a large amount of fresh tomatoes from his mother, so instead of letting them go to waste he decided to fire roast half of them and concoct a salsa recipe from them. Wayne's family became big fans of his newly-spawned product, in particular his brother Wesley, who encouraged Wayne to continue to make salsa and suggested he tried to sell it in stores. Wesley had passed away in 2004. Wayne entered a pair of salsa contests with his chipotle-infused creation and took home First Place prizes for both. Believing he had a viable product on his hands, Wayne decided to take his brother's urgings to market the salsa to retail locations around Texas. In honor of his late brother, he called it 2 Brothers Salsa.
I've asked Wayne some questions to shed additional light on his past, his company and salsa today, and what lies ahead for him and industry...
Scott: Where are you and your family from geographically?
Wayne: We live in the North Dallas area currently. My wife and I both...
A New Heat Scale for Chile Peppers?
A Whole New Scale Of Hot
Feb. 18, 2010
Peter Piper picked a pepper. If he had the new technology developed by one Baylor professor and his research team, he could have discovered just how hot the pepper was.
By Sara Tirrito
Staff writer
Dr. Kenneth Busch, professor and co-director of the Center for Analytical Spectroscopy, and his research team have eliminated the need for liquid chromatography in determining the heat of chili peppers...
Feeling Brave? The Fiery Foods Festival Might Be For You...
Februarys in Columbus, Ohio can count on getting warmed up by the annual North Market Fiery Foods Festival. If you live anywhere in the area, you'll want to check out the event this coming weekend. As always, our friends over at The Hot Zone Online (being the Ohio natives that they are) will provide excellent coverage.
The Fiery Foods Festival (not to be confused with the national Fiery Foods and Barbecue Show in Albuquerque) also gets some local media coverage, such as this from the Columbus Dispatch:
"You don't have to be a professional chef to compete in the Fiery Foods Festival
"The 7th annual event Saturday at the North Market includes contests for amateurs. They can compete against other homemade salsa makers or amatuer hot sauce creators.
"The truly adventurous can sign up the day of the event to compete in the Hot Pepper Eating or Wings of Fire contest. The person with the iron mouth can win prizes from Cajohns Fiery Foods.
"Local professional chefs will also compete in the Chef Chili Challenge. There will also be vendors, musical acts and other events.
"Not brave enough to compete? Visitors can still...
Review - Bainbridge Island Barbeque BBQ Sauces and Hot Sauces
Proprietor Gregory Epstein runs BIBBQ, which is short for Bainbridge Island Barbeque, and is named for the picturesque swath of land that is a stone's throw from Seattle, Washington across the Puget Sound. With BIBBQ, Greg aims to treat those in the Pacific Northwest with some down-home barbecue in an area not typically know for low n' slow, smoked n' grilled meats. Greg had shipped me two of his BBQ sauces, Chipotle Honey Barbeque Sauce (a past Scovie Award winner) and Bainbridge Habanero Barbeque Sauce, along with a quartet of hot sauces: Cranberry Star Fruit, Asid Reign, Devil's Blood and Sour Apple...
Chile Pepper iPhone App - ChilliFarm
Need something that will identify chile peppers on the go? Well, Stefan Wallington sponsored by the South Devon Chilli Farm (SDCF), both from the UK, have whipped up an iPhone app that contains a small database containing information and photos on various chiles plus loads of recipes. Called Chilli Farm, it sells for 99 cents in Apple's App Store.
I admittedly have not personally bought this yet, and my pre-purchase take on this is that since iPhones can internet access wherever there is coverage, you can simply surf to various websites to obtain this information (especially The Chileman or my own Scoville Scale). Still, the convenience of having all the data in one place coupled with the fact that this most likely leaps and bounds faster than reaching the web with 3G speeds probably outweighs the one dollar price tag.
To get it, just search for ChilliFarm made by SW Comms Ltd or click here.
Thanks to The Chile Foundry for bringing this to my attention.
Review - Bee Sting Honey n’ Habanero Pepper Sauce
One of my "guilty pleasures" in sauceland is Buffalo Wild Wings' Mango Habanero sauce. It's sticky sweet similar to honey, pours thick, has a dynamite taste and packs some chile pepper heat.
I've tried out a few honey-infused hot sauces in my day, but to me that Mango Habanero has remained the quintessential "honey"-type sauce. However, I have been and will continue to be open to any syrupy or honey-esque hot sauces on judge them on their own merits.
Along comes Bee Sting Honey n’ Habanero Pepper Sauce produced by the Half Moon Bay Company. Although I admittedly have never tried anything under the Bee Sting line, Half Moon bay has a good track record of sauces and salsas (I love a few of their Iguana sauces in particular), so I was chompin' at the bit to see if this worth any buzz...
Just What is James Beck’s Big Announcement?
My buddy James Beck of Eat More Heat has been dropping little hints as of late about a BIG announcement coming soon. He posted this message on his Twitter account yesterday:
"BIG announcement hint: me, donkeys & lasers, total mayhem, possible jail time, w/ @psedillo getting it all on video"
Whatever could this mean? Follow his @EatMoreHeat Twitter to find out!
Hear Me Monthly On The BBQ Central Radio Show
I'm thrilled to announce that I've joined another podcast. This is one that I've been a fan of for a couple of years...it's the weekly The BBQ Central Show, hosted by none other than Greg Rempe. I made my debut on last night's live episode, and I will be returning monthly for a segment where I will be reviewing barbecue sauces, rubs and seasonings and sometimes hot sauces. As of now, I'll be tentatively scheduled on the first or second Tuesday of the month, depending on what date it falls on (there will be more clarification on the dates as they approach).
Last night's show I covered Chef Hymie Grande's Cascabel Express Barbecue Glaze, Outta the Park BBQ Sauce and Christopher Creek Pork Rub.
To listen to the February 9, 2010 edition of the BBQ Central Show, you can click here to download the MP3.
Even if you're not huge into backyard grilling or barbecueing, The BBQ Central Show is still a very enjoyable and fun listen. You can Subscribe via iTunes or you can Subscribe to the RSS Feed with MP3 for listening on your ...
The Most Overrated Hot Sauces in the World
You may actually like them, tolerate them or plain hate them. Do you think that there's an overhyped group of spicy condiments that boggles the mind why throngs of consumers rave about but that you just don't get? Yup, me too. Below I present to you what I believe are the most overrated hot sauces in the market today.
Huy Fong Food Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce
Do a Google search for Huy Fong Food's Sriracha Sauce and you'll be diluged with dozens of results pages containing gushing accolades from food fans on forums, blog comment pages and review sites. The people love this Thai-style pepper sauce.
As much as I tried, I just couldn't get into this stuff. This one an instance where a sauce had a peculiar atrribute I just couldn't put my finger on. Perhaps it was too much salt and garlic, but Sriracha had an off-putting dark and bitter horseradish-like flavor, especially in the aftertaste...
The Burn Buzz - Spicy Food News 2/8/10
Here's my first 2010 edition of the Burn Buzz, where I list hot n' interesting links about spicy food and BBQ that have been floating around on the intertubes lately...
Chick-fil-A Spicy Chicken Sandwich Coming Nationwide
Locally Made: Bill Hutchison Solves the New Mexico Pepper Debate - Helping to Answer the Question "Red or Green?"
The Great New Mexico Chile War - More on the Red vs. Green debate, plus a mishmash of other subjects.
Building A Better Pepper - Chile pepper farmer Ed Curry and growing chiles in Arizona.
Nestle's Hot Sauce Heats Up - The food company introduces a new hot sauce in Malaysia.
Hot times in the city: Farmers process hot peppers on Saginaw 'assembly line' - Growing chile peppers in Michigan
New celebrity diet pill Capsiplex hits the UK streets - Capsaicin-based diet pill is claimed to burn as many calories as one would burn in 90 minutes of a brisk walk.
Review - Uncle Bruthas ALLSAUCE No. 9 Chile Verde Garlic and Ginger Hot Sauce
I don't think I've had quite a wallop of pure flavor such as this in a long, long time; perhaps not since I reviewed Jake's Mesa Breeze Basil Lime Marinade have I encountered a sauce that possessed bold, amazing taste notes and also was balanced and delicious. The sauce I'm talking about is the wonderful chile verde, garlic & ginger-based Uncle Brutha's ALLSAUCE No 9, one of two condiments (the other sauce being a multiple chile pepper-dominated red sauce) devised by successful music industry sound technician-turned hot sauce maker Brennan Proctor.
Blair's Golden Death Coming Soon/Sauce Manufacturer E-Mail Newsletters
Many of you reading this had received the inaugural issue of Blair's Extreme News yesterday. Blair, of course, has blasted out e-mails to subscriber fans for years. But they've never been sent out on a regular, recurring basis until now (these promise to be weekly).
Now in my personal profession as a web developer, I've been heavily involved with broadcasting e-mail newsletters for whatever employer I happened to be working for at the time. This type of marketing when executed correctly had proven itself to be highly effective - at that time, that is. With the emergence and wide-spread influence of social media, namely Facebook and Twitter, is e-mail marketing as powerful as it once was? I happen to think that it still has a bit of life left in it. Where the medium will be in two or three years, who knows, but I believe it's still a great way of touching base with your customers (both actual and potential).
Hot sauce manufacturers in general haven't pursued this brand of marketing. With limited budgets and limited staff - monthly e-mail newsletters can require at least a part-time person who is well-versed in basic web and graphic design - it's easy to understand why. Many of our favorite sauce makers have a full-time job to contend with in addition to concocting and producing spicy food products, and a lot of them have to reply on co-packers to bottle...
The Hot Sauce/Chilehead Events Calendar
Not much to write about tonight - the evening consisted mostly of helping my boys with their homework, light web surfing on my laptop and catching the season one finale of BBQ Pitmasters on TLC. But I did want to mention that many fiery foods events, hot sauce shows and chile pepper festivals for 2010 are already scheduled. I've compiled most of them on the Hot Sauce/Chilehead Events Calendar. I urge everyone to look it over the list to see if you can take the time out of your busy schedules to attend one of these events. Some of them vary in function and have different focuses, but almost all have good & spicy food and great comraderie with fellow fiery foods fans. Be sure to check out their descriptions and click on the web links for more information.
Oh, and if you know any that I might have omitted, or have any important details I may not have posted, please contact me and let me know the details!
Review - Louisiana Gold Pepper Sauces, Part Two - Wasabi
Here's Round Two of analyzing the new Louisiana Gold Hot Sauce line. In the previous episode, I considered Red to be so-so with a pungent vinegar & salt pairing, and Green to lack heat but still have a delicious flavor. Now up to the plate is Louisiana Gold Wasabi Hot Sauce.
Now this is something I was both very eager and hesitant to test out. This is Bruce Foods' (Louisiana Hot Sauce's parent company) very first wasabi-infused food offering so the curiosity level was high in that regard. You don't see the "big boys" - Louisiana, plus Tabasco, Frank's, Crystal, et al. - exactly diluging the market with wasabi products, and Louisiana Hot Sauce...
February 2010 Chilehead T-Shirt of the Month - Capsaicin Molecule-Scoville Chart
As all chileheads know, capsaicin is the chemical compound found in chile peppers that makes them taste hot. This sweet tee showcases a capsaicin molecule on the front along with the actual chemical formula (C18 H27 NO3).
Okay, so you've seen capsaicin molecule t-shirts elsewhere before. What makes this one different from the others is that it sports an ultra cool Scoville Scale chart of hot chile peppers on the back. Coming or going people will know you're hardcore about your passion for heat...
Help Zane and Zack Help Haiti
Zane & Zack's World Famous Honey Co., makers of some of the finest sweet and spicy products this side of the Equator, are doing their part for Haiti relief by offering an "I Dream of Hot Sauce" bottle up for auction on eBay! Packaged in a gorgeous 1973 Jim Beam "I Dream of Jeannie" bottle, the top is covered in gold and silver wax and the bottle is numbered and signed by the whole Zane & Zack's crew. There are only 25 in existance with several numbers left to choose from.
ALL proceeds from this sale will be donated to World Concern where 94% of each dollar goes directly to help the victims of Haiti's earthquake. Zane & Zack's will also pay for shipping in hopes of raising more money to help all of the victims in this horrible disaster.
PLEASE BE AS GENEROUS AS YOU CAN!
Auction Link: click here.
Recipe - Scotty's Monster Breakfast Mash
You won't have to wait until the Halloween season to enjoy this scary-good cacophony of basic flavors. What you do need is some leftover fried chicken. It can be whole pieces, chicken strips or even chunks or nuggets (whatever you have on hand), but they should be breaded and fried. If you had cooked up a bunch of bird for the previous night's supper, this is the perfect thing to do with any leftovers...
Review - Lizards on the Bayou Gila Venom Habanero Sauce
Let's give a rundown of Lizard's on the Bayou Gila Venom Habanero Sauce's accolades: it was 2006 ZestFest's Peoples' Preference Hot Sauce Award winner, a 2007 Golden Chile Award, placing 3rd in the Pepper Blend category, and a 2008 1st Place Scovie Award in the Habanero Hot Sauce category. Not a bad list for a sauce, so let's see how it holds up to my humble little palette...
Review - Gameday Eats Hellfire Habanero
GamedayEats.com is website geared towards showcasing recipes of sports fan foods - you know the snacks, dips, wings and meats we all proudly love to stuff our happy little faces with whether watching the game at home or tailgating out in the parking lot by the stadium. Gameday Eats is now trying their hand at making wings sauces. Curt Johnson of the site was kind enough to ship me a jar of their brand new Hellfire Habanero sauce to put through its paces...
Spicy Food Reviews - Hot Sauces, Spicy Snacks, and more.
