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ShareThanks to Robert "Parker" Bates for pointing this one out.
Review of 19 Different Unique Wing Flavors - St. Louis Wing Company
During my first report for the Chevy STL Keys promotion (more about that soon!), I decided to do a formal review on one of the most unique chicken wing eateries I've yet to come across, and I'm fortunate enough to have learned that it was located in the St. Louis, Missouri metro area where I call home.
I'm referring to St. Louis Wing Company, the brainchild of Chef Bobby Tessler. Instead of featuring multiple level heat sauces (you'll find monikers such as no mild, medium, hot, and nuclear) like some wing joints or differently-flavored bottled sauces such as Buffalo Wild Wings, Chef Bobby takes a different approach. He whips up created-fresh-from-scratch sauces, glazes and marinades and will also apply herbs, spices and chopped and minced solid ingredients atop the already "tossed" wing pieces.
The results are some of the most unique and creative gourmet styles of wings you may have ever come across, especially if all you're used to are mostly buffalo wings from your local pizza parlor that only differ by various heat levels.
Chef Bobby is a trained culinary craftsman who worked as an Executive Chef at a handful of restaurants before deciding to made the jump into entrepreneurship by opening his one-of-a-kind wing eating house. As he told me, he loves comfort food in general and chicken wings specifically, so why not use that avenue to invent some really crazy concoctions?
Trinidad and Tobago Uses World's Hottest Pepper For Tourism Promotion
Jim Duffy of Refining Fire Chiles had sent me a button in the mail and tipped me off to this bit of info.
The government of the Caribbean island country of Trinidad and Tobago is using the world's hottest chile pepper - the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion - as part of a tourism event held the weekend of June 30th - July 1st! It's very cool news for us chileheads to see something like this promoted, and for the island to embrace the fact that most of the super-hots of the capsicum chinese species - which include the Moruga Scorpion, the Trinidad Scorpion Butch T, the 7 Pot and the Bhut Jolokia - probably originated in Trinidad and Tobago.
The button features the name of the official T&T tourism website, with one of Duffy's photos of a ripe red Moruga Scorpion chile in the middle with the words "World's Hottest Pepper".
Hot Sauce Bible Deadline Submission Extended!
If you're a Hot Sauce Makeror Salsa Manufacturer, a Website Blogger, Internet Media Company Owner or a Fiery Food Show Manager, your chance to be part of history has now been extended until July 31, 2012!
The Hot Sauce Bible: Revised Old & New Testament by Dave DeWitt, Chuck Evans and Scott Roberts wants YOU to submit your story and your details for possible inclusion in the book.
Hot Sauce Makers and Salsa Manufacturers
If you're a product maker that makes hot sauce or salsa primarily, it does not matter if you bottle the product yourself or use a co-packer, you qualify for inclusion! Ones who don't qualify are part-time or weekend hobbyists who crank a few bottles in their spare time (and maybe only sell a few cases a year) or are making their products in unlicensed kitchens. But if you have had any impact on the industry, have had some longevity, have highly unique products, have a broad geographic outreach, and/or have a unique story to tell, we want to hear from you!
Please provide in an attachment concise (several paragraphs to one page unless more needed), neatly written with spell-check...all copy to be written in the submitter’s own words.
1. History of Business-how you started, # of years in actual production, what influenced you to produce spicy condiments.
2. Product line brand name
3. Product Uniqueness in the marketplace
4. Specific sauces that are favorites and/or products that have an interesting story.
5. A favorite photo of: your booth at a show with your company logo, a tasteful costume with you in it, a portrait of the company owners or founders, product(s) you make that you associate your company with, or a photo of inside your facility.
6. YOUR RECIPE(s) – maximum of 3 recipes please (one you do not mind sharing) of a great-tasting spicy or fiery hot sauce, salsa, marinade, sambal, curry, etc. utilizing 1 or more chile peppers. The recipe will be released in the HSB so it must list exact ingredients, specific instructions, cooking times, and finished quantity of sauce made with the recipe. Serving suggestions where applicable.
7. Business Address, phone, website, email.
8. IMPORTANT: Type your name, type your signature (type s/s and then type your name) of submitted information, and date.
Website Blogger, Internet Media Company Owners and Fiery Food Show Managers
1. History of your media address, how you started, why you started and what influenced you to promote spicy and fiery sauces and salsas.
2. Special interests or what makes your site different from all the rest.
3. Awards you have introduced and/or won and any industry recognition.
4. Your internet address/website address {The show location, show dates, etc. for shows}
5. A pdf file of your logo only.
6. IMPORTANT: Type your name, type your signature (type s/s and then type your name), and date.
Please submit all information to: montezumabrand@sbcglobal.net and carbon copy scott@scottrobertsweb.com. Thanks!
Disclaimer Notice: All information, files, and photos submitted may be used in a media publication authored by Dave DeWitt and Chuck Evans. Submission of any and all information is considered voluntary. Actual publication of information submitted is at the discretion of the authors. All submissions are considered voluntary. All submissions are made with no expectation of compensation or royalties.
Contest Winners
I realized many of you have been waiting in baited breath in the announcement of winners for not one, but two recent contests!
A total of three winners were randomly chosen in the Steve "The Machine" Smallwood Autographed Poster and Hot Sauce Contest, which just like the name suggests, features a Peppers at the Beach poster signed by World Record Holder Steve "The Machine" Smallwood and a bottle of delicious High River Sauces hot sauce going to each of the winners! The prize recipients are...
Houston Hot Sauce Festival 2012 Later This Summer!
The 12th annual Houston Hot Sauce Festival will be held Saturday, Sept. 15, and Sunday, Sept. 16, at the Stafford Centre in Stafford, Texas.
The Houston Hot Sauce Festival excites the senses with hundreds of award winning products, from hot sauces, salsas, jams, jellies, rubs, marinades, wing sauces, pickled products, to soup mixes, and more....
Things I Hate About Wal-Mart
I have to preface this by acknowledging the amount of animosity towards Wal-Mart. Some people downright loathe Wal-Mart with a white-hot hatred for all sorts of reasons: its allegedly strong-armed business tactics in bullying producers to sell to the retailer for the cheapest price possible; it's reliance on China for a vast percentage of its goods; the fact that Wal-Mart does not allow unions; its outdated image of being associated with rural or redneck America; and the fact that when a big box retailer such as Wal-Mart opens in town, it makes it harder for small business in that community to stay alive.
Well, I don't hate Wal-Mart for ANY of those reasons. One, I applaud that they forbid unions. Two, while I like mom and pop businesses, people have to accept the fact that society and commerce change all of the time. While it's nice to be nostalgic about the "good old days", its ridiculous to think that things are going to stay the same just to make you feel warm and fuzzy. Adapt! And who knows, this current model of big-box superstores could change in 10, 20 or 30 years to a completely different paradigm...
Review - Volcanic Peppers Lava Chocolate Lightning Hot Sauce
Volcanic Peppers is a company owned by Timothy Bader and based in Omaha. They have made their name known with their range of chile powders called Volcano Dust, made from the hottest smoked and dried peppers.
Now the company also produces and sells Hot Garlic 'n Onion which is a new powder mix, plus Scorpion Stinger Caramels and two sauces: Lava BBQ Sauce which comes in Spicy and Hot Scorpion versions, and finally the one reviewed today: their first hot sauce called Lava Chocolate Lightning.
I discovered their powders last year and immediately became a fan of their awesome smokey taste and good heat, which can be very high if you dared to taste the Smoked Scorpion Dust or the 7 Pot Douglah Dust. Also, knowing that Lava Chocolate Lightning was made with a chocolate Habanero mash and a custom dust blend, I really wanted to try this hot sauce, and I have not been disappointed...
Rippin' Red Wing Sauce Summer Special
One of the most delicious and mouth-watering chicken wing coaters to come along in the past few years, Rippin' Red Wing Sauce, is now at a reduced price for the 2012 North American Summer!
Now all 12 oz. bottles are available for $4.00 each plus shipping. Rippin' Red is available in both Original and Hot versions. I'm not getting paid or compensated in any way by spreading this info along; I'm just wanting to get word out to my fellow chileheads and wing fanatics about a top-notch sauce and a great deal.
So go to hotsaucehome.com to order directly or rippinred.com to learn more about the sauces! And once you do get the sauce and love it, be sure to "like" them on their Facebook page.
Review - Red Robin Cry Baby Style and Fiery Ghost Pepper Style Burgers
As a few of you in the chilehead world already know, the Red Robin Gourmet Burger chain has introduced two new products this past week that contain the heat bhut jolokia AKA ghost chile peppers. This may be the first time a national, non-chicken wing chain use any type of ghost pepper sauce or condiment on one or more of their menu items.
Red Robin's "Red Royalty" promotional club members first got word of this in emails (as did I) which advertised not one, but two gourmet hamburgers. First is the more mild Cry Baby Style, with ghost pepper ketchup, pepper jack cheese and friend onion straws. Second is the slightly more blazing Fiery Ghost Style, with ghost pepper sauce, pepper jack cheese, plus both fried and fresh jalapeno slices. Both are double burgers.
Although the e-mail implied that a print-out of itself was possibly neccessary to take advantage of either of the spicy burger offers, I later found out that the availablity was for everybody would walked into a...
Review - Crosbie's Hot Sauce
Another "all-purpose" hot sauce coming your way, this time courtesy of Crosbie's Hot Sauce, based out of Philadelphia, PA.
The bottle's label makes the claim of this being the "World's #1 All-Natural Hot Sauce". I don't think anyone could prove or disprove that little fact, so we'll let that slide by. According to their company website, the Crosbie family was been doing this for 40 years. They go on to state, "we started manufacturing our sauce for everyone to enjoy using spices originating in Africa and the Caribbean Islands. It was hot and tasty then and still is today."
Since it's been a while from my last review of a straightforward pepper sauce, I couldn't wait to sample this one.
Review - Palo Popcorn Jalapeno Cheddar Cheese Popcorn
Just like any average joe-esque, red-blooded American male, I'm content with the salty snacks that have dominated the junk food landscape for decades. I do have to admit that I'm not a huge fan of cheese popcorn. I like the cheesed variety every now and then, but if given my druthers, I'd druther have regular popcorn - you know, the kind that drowning in enough movie theatre buttery oil to be equivalent to the fat quotient of 10 Big Macs. Mmmmmmm! But cheese popcorn? Sure, I can munch on some on occasion.
Palo Popcorn, a Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin-based popcorn manufacturer, send me one of their cheese-dusted varieties to review. They do offer Premium Cheddar Cheese and White Cheddar Cheese options, but since I'm a chilehead, they thought that I would appreciate their Jalapeno Cheddar Cheese Popcorn, and below are my thoughts on it.
Review - High River Sauces Top Fuel Verde Hot Sauce
This product is the brainchild of Steve Seabury of High River Sauces (I had previously reviewed his Tears of the Sun Hot Sauce and Hellacious Hot Sauce), Ratt lead singer Stephen Pearcy, and Chef Chris Santos. Seabury has hit pay-dirt with the aforementioned condiments so I was excited to put his latest, High River Sauces Top Fuel Verde Sauce, out on the culinary race track.
There at times are products that have somewhat of an identity crisis. Whether intentional or not, a sauce may be marketed or is implied to be for a particular usage but in reality may be better as something else. I find that in the case of Top Fuel Verde Sauce. When I think of a "verde sauce," visions of Mexican spin in my head. Yet this is NOT good for South-of-the-border fare.
Let me explain briefly that this sauce contains olive oil. Any number of varying types of oil in a pepper sauce are generally considered to be odd at best, and at worst forms an off-putting flavor and texture dynamic. There are a couple of well-known chileheads out there who have already expressed their displeasure with Top Fuel Verde Sauce because of that (and I'll let them identify themselves if they chose), yet I think this sauce works if used with the right food. What is High River Sauces Top Fuel Verde Sauce suitable for? More on that later in the review...
Blair on Hot Sauce Feature on CBS This Morning
It's cool to see this kind of stuff in the mainstream news. CBS This Morning did a piece on the expanding hot sauce industry, one that has "spiked 150 percent in the past 10 years," according to the report. And they've tapped our friend Blair Lazar to help explain what the craze is all about.
The Top Foods I Hate or That I Think Are Overrated
This one is pretty straightforward. Below are my picks for foods that I cannot stand or that I think are way overrated in standard Western cuisine. Unless stated as much, there may be exceptions to each one, so read my reasons carefully.
Chile Pepper Extract
With the advent of super-hot chile peppers like bhut jolokias (AKA ghost chile peppers), 7 Pots and Trinidad Scorpions, it's SO easy to get extract-level heat (as long as we're not talking about millions of Scoville Heat Units) in a hot sauce. Plus...those chile peppers can have an excellent flavor! Chile extracts are absolutely nasty, bitter, and chemical-like. Virtually all sauces that contain them are unsuitable for consumption. A note to hot sauce makers: don't add extract; that era is over!
Olive Oil
There's just the lightest touch of the bitter flavor of unripened olives that ruins this for me. Unless the flavor is buried in certain recipes and dishes, this taste gets to me.
Horseradish and Wasabi
Now I can to preemptively state that I like a little wasabi in my soy sauce when I'm chowing down...
