Food

Here’s a quickie review on some chile pepper sauce shipped to me by Alfred Golini from the UK. Alfred had come across a non-descript super-hot chile (or chilli, as those jolly ol’ blokes in England like to spell it) during his visit to Sudan, Africa. When he was back in London, he ground the scorching pepper pods into a mash, and then covered the chiles with water and salt and proceeded to boil the mixture. Alfred took the concoction and whipped it up in a blender, let it cool, and added a small amount of white vinegar. That’s it.

Alfred feels as if this is one of, if not THE hottest chiles he’s eaten. I don’t know exactly what kind of peppers were used (and neither does Alfred). Even though this may or may not be made out of naga/bhut jolokias, trinidad scorpions, 7-Pots/7-Pots or fataliis, this elixir makes for an explosive and potent sauce…

We foodies love ALL kinds of food from around the world, but if you had to pick one overall, which would it be? I know I couldn’t list all of them, so if your favorite is missing please name it in the comments below.

I’m going to forgo a long introduction and say that Hot Heads Pepperspread Hoppin Jalapeno Spread is a great, all-purpose fiery product that you could use in place of most any general hot sauce, pepper relish or salsa.

Ingredients:
Jalapeno peppers, onions, vinegar, salt, garlic, lime juice, sugar, spices

Aroma:
3.5 out of 5. I detected some relatively prominent smells such as vinegar and onions to give it a nice relish-like aroma, but the jalapeno peppers give it a bit of depth…

You might have already witnessed this killer custom-made smoker/grill shaped like a gun, but for those of you who have never seen it, here it is. This allows you to take aim and smoke the competition with an awesome-looking body that looks like a giant’s Smith & Wesson Magnum 500 revolver. Can you imagine driving down the highway pulling this beauty with your truck’s hitch? When it’s cooking time, I’m positive that after spending just a few minutes with it, I’m sure you would get a charge out of it. Just fire it up and you could blast your way into barbecue perfection. You’ll be on target and hit the bulls-eye with your family and friends every time! This is so awesome it’ll blow your head clean off! And just shoot me if I’ve gone too far with the bad puns.

Click to enlarge image.

Update: Smoking Gun BBQ Grill Creators Found!

I wouldn’t be going out on a limb to say that the vast majority of foodies are well familiar with Louisiana “The Original” Hot Sauce, as would be a large bulk of the American populace. For over 80 years the Bruce Foods corporation has been churning out the product, which easily stands amongst Crystal Hot Sauce, Texas Pete, Tabasco and Frank’s Red Hot as historical biggies of American pepper sauce (for those of you interested in learning more about the historical record, look at Chuck Evans exhaustive treatise on Louisiana pepper sauce). At the request of Louisiana chefs, Bruce Foods has opted to introduce a premium lineup of sauces loosely based on their original condiments but with smoother, richer properties. They’ve dubbed these as their Louisiana Gold sauces, and the offerings are Louisiana Gold Red Pepper Sauce, Louisiana Gold Green Pepper, Louisiana Gold Horseradish Sauce and Louisiana Gold Wasabi Pepper Sauce, which are available separately or as part of convenient 4 bottle gift pack. The eager beaver I am, I was hoppin’ to test all of these out, so I had requested of Bruce Foods that they send all four flavors for me to indulge in (thanks guys!).

All split the review into two parts. This time out, I’ll cover the Red and Green Sauces, and next time out I’ll be taking the horseradish and wasabi versions for a spin.

Here’s the lowdown on Sandi Kraft’s contribution to the Great Bacon Challenge, which was a call to craft a great-tasting spicy condiment or salsa containing an element of the meat of the hour – bacon! Sandi is a mainstay in the online chilehead community and a contributor at tastethefear.com, and had previously created her homemade “40:1 Salsa” for the annual Open Fields get-togethers. She devised the idea of “breakfast-izing” the salsa by adding bacon and maple syrup…

Here’s a clever little Toluca Gourmet TV commercial that ran several months ago. It features their Jalapeno and Habanero hot sauces at the end.

California sauce producers All Spice Cafe are celebrating “Give Away Mondays” in 2010. Every week they will choose one person at random to receive a free, single product of the winner’s choice. To be included in the pool from which All Spice Cafe draws names, you must follow the company on Twitter, be a fan on ASC’s Facebook page or have an account at their online store. Each week All Spice Cafe will rotate the list from which the random name is selected.

Link: http://www.allspicecafe.com/news/2010/01/give-away-mondays-2010/.

Jonesin’ for some excellent talk about grilling, smoking, cooking meat or even hot sauce? Just about anywhere where you have internet access, you can tune into the BBQ Central Radio Network, which provides non-stop streaming of some of the best foodie shows and podcasts around the clock. Greg Rempe hosts the flagship show BBQ Central Radio show where he talks to the biggest names in the world of barbecuing and grilling. In the Hut and The Celebrity Grill podcasts are other worthy shows focusing on great discussion, conversation and tips and tricks from people who really love the art and sport of grilling. And if you’ve been reading my blog lately, you’re probably familiar with Hot Sauce Weekly, which also makes the rotation of shows streaming on the network.

What’s great about the whole concept of online radio, podcasts or streaming audio in general is that you can turn in on in another browser tab or window, and go about your business while you surf the interwebs. I love this type of passive entertainment; you get to hear cool topics and information that most foodies, BBQ-ers and pepperheads would be truly interested in. It’s like talk radio that doesn’t suck.

One thing I personally love is that you can listen to the QuickTime stream of BBQ Central Radio on the iPhone! That means I can listen to the network wherever I go and not having to have all the podcast mp3 files downloaded on the phone.

Click here to select the listening options.

With the mind-boggling glut of spicy-flavored and buffalo-style snacks offerings – both good and bad – here’s yet another chip vying for the attention for junk food lovers and chileheads alike. Nothing jumps out at me when biting into Brother Kane Buffalo Wing Bleu Cheese Potato Chips yet a would still give this a thumbs up because of the smooth, cheesy flavor.

This jar of Mr. Naga Hot Pepper Pickle was shipped to me from the UK by Alexis Holliman, as this was one of his favorite naga chile products and he was eager to see my take on it. Overall my favorite chile pepper would have to be a nice, sweet habanero, but I also love the taste and fire of bhut jolokia/naga jolokia/naga morich, so I was hoppin’ to test out this chile sauce/salsa.

It’s always great to see the online chilehead sites continue to grow and evolve, even if it may be something as simple as acquiring a fresh new look and layout. Two such hot food sites that have received a New Year’s revamping are The Hot Pepper and The Hot Zone Online.

The Hot Pepper is the biggest and best chile pepper message boards. Dan the webmaster has recently upgraded the forums software to version 4.0.0 of vBulletin, and with it gave it a much-needed sprucing up of the styles and colors.

One of my favorite blogs – not just fiery foods-oriented but of all subject matters – The Hot Zone Online has gotten a facelift. Full disclosure here: I helped design the new theme for Joe and Linda Levinson, the site’s owners. I have to add that it was a pleasure and honor to work with them on getting the HZO blog reskinned. Be on the lookout in the coming days as sidebar elements are consolidated and moved, pages are added, and things are tweaked here and there to improve the site overall.