Another Weekend of Fire is in the record books. While there are always things that can be improved (more on that later), I feel the experience overall was a positive one for virtually all parties involved.
My own journey began on Friday afternoon. Shortly after my two boys came home from school, my youngest son, Kevin, and I hit the highway eastbound and down towards Cincinnati. It was rainy all day in Missouri, so I was hoping for a little break in the wet weather. We had no such luck, as torrential downpours followed us all the way through Illinois and Indiana. Right after we crossed the Ohio border, the rain slowed and ceased completely within 30 seconds. Kevin and I made our way to the familiar confines of the Holiday Inn Express in Fairfield (where we were sharing a room with Al “Buddah” Goldenberg of I Love It Spicy, just down the road from Jungle Jim’s International Market, and crashed.
Saturday
Our morning began with breakfast and a trip to the Jungle Jim’s store. 12-year-old Kevin was enthralled by the shear enormity and selection of the place. I stocked up on a few hot sauce items not sold at the Weekend of Fire Show in the Oscar Event Center upstairs, dashed out to my truck to grab my laptop bag, and went into the show. It was still T-minus one hour before showtime, so Kevin and I had ample opportunity to stroll around and view all the booths as they were being set up for the day and got to meet some of the vendors, both old friends and new exhibitors to the show.
Once the other bloggers – Joe and Linda Levinson of The Hot Zone Online, Marilyn Meagher of Hot Sauce Daily, and the aforementioned Buddah – trickled in to our Blogger Booth area, it was time for the show doors to open. Observing downstairs at the entrance, there was a fairly good-sized line of attendees waiting to come in for the first few hours on Saturday, and seemed to be slightly busier than in recent years (although I have no official numbers). This might have been due to the sunny and relatively pleasant weather outside that day (which was a stark contrast to Sunday’s colder and drizzlier gloom).
Kevin wanted to enter the kids’ contest, which was based around the concept of “Dirt Dessert”. It was his task to transport gummie worms out of a lumpy pile of “dirt” (crumbled-up Oreo cookies) and “mud” (chocolate pudding) from one bowl to another. The fun twist was the fact that they contestants could not use they hands to transport the candies – only their mouths! Kevin did not win, but still had a great time making himself a brown “goatee” of the faux-muck. I’m sure the messier children participating in this bout thrilled their mamas and daddies by damn-near getting covered from head to toe with pudding and cookies.
What’s New and Tasty
There was an outstanding assortment of new products from vendors this year. In no particular order…
Steve Seabury and High River Sauces debuted the blood orange and trinidad scorpion sauce named Rogue. It was both incendiary and tasty, and reminded me of an orange-flavored version of 1498 from Heartbreaking Dawns. Steve also let me sample some not-ready-for-production Grapes of Wrath hot sauce, a furious melange of grapes, berries and chiles. And speaking of Heartbreaking Dawns, head honcho Johnny McLaughlin had cooked up some yummy pork belly (aka quasi-bacon) in his new Strawberry Preserves for the public to sample. He had also partnered up with The Madison Chocolatiers West to bring another top-notch spicy chocolate product, and out of the two variations he had for sale at his booth, the one made from his HBD 1498 Cauterizer was my fave.
Captian Jim was a sauce maker that was new to me. His Molten Orange Oblivion was a savory and fruity hot sauce that he was serving with tiny scoops of ice cream in cups that were like spicy dreamsicle meteors. Mmmmmm….After a Weekend of Fire absence of three years, Jennifer “Sauce Goddess” made a triumphant return to Southern Ohio with her line of seasonings and grilling sauces and also debuted three kinds of fiery caramel corn; the one made with Moroccan spices was surprisingly scrumptious.
Sauce genius Chad Lowcock of Race City Sauce Works had more than a half-dozen new products, and none of them were subpar. Chad’s three taco sauces were all good. His new Hotober Mustard was a thumbs-up offering. I fell in love with his smoky taco sauce Deadwood, and when Kevin and I went out for lunch and had burritos the next day, you had better believe that I took this one along to savor. As good as Deadwood was, a strange concoction called Danse Macabre bested it. It’s flavor profile can only be described as an off-kilter blend of hot, peppery, smooth (almost “creamy”) and savory components. You can to taste it to fully understand it.
I finally met Todd of Todd’s Dirt seasonings after missing him at select East coast events over the past couple of years. While I still have to make the final verdict on his products by cooking them with food, straight out of the bottles his spice mixes “popped” with satisfying and intense flavors. CaJohn had a handful of debuting sauces for sale: the Reaper puree, his new ultra-hot Chupacabra sauce, and most notably of all, Quetzalcoatl sauce. This last one is a phenomenal step up in heat from his milder but beloved Oaxacan Mexican-style sauce while keeping the same delicious southwest flavors. Quetzalcoatl was so widely accepted as a “must-get” condiment that it was voted by the Bloggers as Best New Product.
A lot of buzz surrounded a company called Chili Rocks. I thought their hot sauces ranged from decent to downright bad, but their BBQ sauce was noteworthy. Bigfats thrilled both me and Kevin with Grownup KidStuff Hot! Chocolate Sauce, a thick and spicy dessert topper made in conjunction with the Grownup KidStuff company. Ahrun’s Famous featured some nice products, most notably Voodoo Magic – a delightful mix of brown sugar sweetness, chile pepper bluster and soy sauce. Although not technically new, Papi Joe’s Tennessee Pepper Sauce was a texurous and flavorful wonder to my tongue.
All in all, it was stellar year for new sauces and seasonings, along with loads of old favorites (much too many to name here).
Wing King Contest
The contests were once again fast and furious in the Arena of Fire. One thing that was sorely lacking was Defcon’s presence during the “Wing King” brawl (this time out, split into three separate rounds) on Saturday evening. Jeff Stevenson of Crazy Uncle Jester’s did an admirable job, but after emcee-ing two other WOF contests, you could tell that he was getting fatigued. Not only that, but John “CREATOR” Dilley of Defcon really knew how to work up the crowds into a frenzy. What was worse is that the judges did a poor job looking to see who a) chewed up all the skin and meat off of the bones, and b) seeing what contestants followed the rules and raised their hands when down when finishing each stage. A glaring example of this later gripe was none other than Steve “The Machine” Smallwood who was third to raise his hand in the second round. Apparently Steve was considered to have come in seventh place (!) and was eliminated from entering the final round. Highly disappointing.
Anywho, back to Saturday. A large group of us chileheads and sauce makers congregated that night for a late dinner at a BBQ restaurant called SmoQ. It was legitimately some of the best barbecue I’ve eaten in ages. My son Kevin attempted to prove his machismo by wolfing down half of a Heartbreaking Dawns Bhutta Brownie, but later regretted it by having the fiery sweet evacuate his young belly later in the bathroom.
Sunday
Sunday started off by a now-traditional Bloggers Roundtable where we record our discussion for posterity about many issues and topics concerning fiery foods. In years past, Brian and Marilyn Meagher performed the recording duties for their Hot Sauce Weekly podcast. This year, since Brian was sadly absent from the show, I took over hosting and recording for my Weekly Firecast.
Feeling much better after the capsaicin binge and purge from the previous evening, Kevin went full force tasting and sampling some of the milder fare provided by the exhibitors at the Weekend of Fire’s day number two. He was a Tasmanian Devil of activity and held his composure pretty well for a budding new chilehead. As I explained to many that day, “a (chilehead) monster was born”.
Sunday’s dreary weather (not to mention some key NFL football match-ups) keep the crowd numbers lower on Sunday, but it still seemed like a good day for many vendors.
Like the Wing King Contest from the previous night, also problematic was the next day’s show-closer contest, the “Feast of Fire”. This was posed as the ultimate spicy eating challenge in the form of a four-course meal borrowing elements from other Weekend of Fire contests: A fresh ghost pepper “appetizer”, 5 scoops of Bald Eagle Foods Buck N’ Rut Horseradish on kielbasa, a ghost pepper brat topped with scorpion pepper relish, and a Heartbreaking Dawns Bhut Brownie topped with a scorpion pepper. The food proved to be WAY too intense for every participant as not a simple soul could make it past the second course. All of a sudden, one contestant was declared winner leaving many in the audience wondering, “was that it?” Methinks that Jungle Jim’s should rethink the intensity of this contest for next year.
That evening was the now time-honored tradition of gathering at Pappadeaux seafood restaurant for the post-show dinner. Some cups of spotted dick (English bread-like dessert) brought in by Buddah covered by Madison Chocolatiers West’s spicy chocolate sauce and Grownup KidStuff Hot! Chocolate Sauce became the running joe of the evening, and we even got our waiters to partially get in on the fun. A great time was had by all.
Cajun Island Open House
Monday was a travel day for most, but a few of us made our way up to Columbus for the open house at Nick Key’s Cajun Island Restaurant, but not before both Buddah and Kevin & I made quick stops up at CaJohn’s Fiery Foods facilities in the suburb of Westerville, Ohio (where Kevin got to autograph CaJohn’s now famous “Wall of Flame”). Nick was a cooking fiend and provided an AWESOME spread for the few attendees. We were such spoiled people as Nick generously brought out plate after plate of delicious food for us to consume, from dirty seasoned rice to BBQ smoked ribs sandwiches to his famous blackened chicken & bow-tie pasta to beef brisket to seafood & pasta…the feast never ended. I want to thank Nick again for his hospitality; the guy has one of the biggest hearts in the world. Stuffed and nearing food comas, we said our goodbyes and headed home…
The Arena of Fire
Contests every hour on the hour
Kevin beneath the Bloggers Booth banner
Ole Ray Greene
Jeffrey Stevenson, AKA Crazy Uncle Jester
Doc Cordray of CaJohn’s gets surprised.
Karen and Bob of Black Swamp, and Allen of Ahrun’s Famous, get prepped for the show
Deano’s Jalapenos presents…Deano’s 7 Pot Jonahs!
The Bloggers Best Awards
Kevin anticipating the Dirt Dessert Contest
Bowls of Oreo Cookie “Dirt”
Kevin’s getting a goatee just like ol’ dad
HBD’s Bhutta Brownies
Some the ghost scorpions Johnny is planning to use for the bhut jolokia brownie brawl. Bwahahaha!
The Round Three Bhutta Brownie
Sue Hard of CaJohn’s holds up a bhut jolokia that contains a “Happy Cock” inside.
Johnny McLaughlin’s Hamburger-Shaped Birthday Cake
The birthday boy blows the candle out
Crazy Uncle Jester before the wing contest
Steve “The Machine” Smallwood
The wings for the Wing King Contest
Wing contest contestants
Catching a little relaxation by the hotel pool
Bloggers Roundtable from left to right: Al “Buddah: Goldenberg, Joe Levinson, Linda Levinson, Marilyn Meagher, Scott Roberts and Kevin Roberts
A shot from outside the room. Am I always doing that thing with my hand?
Awaiting the Feast of Fire
What horrors do these sadistic “waiters” have in store?
The Feast of Fire, with only the appetizer portion (bhut jolokia) eaten
Cajun Island Restaurant
Nick’s Wall of Flame
More of the Wall of Flame
Nick has a photo of the very first Bloggers Roundtable
Nick with the Bloggers Booth banner from the 2012 show. Sandi Kraft owns the banners from 2008, 2010 and 2011, while I kept the one from 2009.
Nick keeps a lot of good sauces on every table
Can you spot the human?
Group shot at Cajun Island
My haul from the Weekend of Fire