Author: Scott Roberts

Billed as “The Premier Amateur BBQ Contest in St. Louis”, the Grillin Fools Backyard Bash is back in its fourth year and is bound to be bigger and better than ever.

This event will benefit the Maryville, Illinois Volunteer Fire Department. There will be a DJ from 11am to 4pm, and live music from 4pm to 8pm. Sponsors include Ferguson Brewing Company, Rockwood Charcoal & the St. Louis BBQ Society. There will BBQ served at the park by the firefighters and this is a kid-friendly event.

Are you into competition BBQ? You can register at backyardbbqbash.com with a $100 entry fee, and a 40 team max. Every nickel of the entry fee to benefit the Volunteer Fire Fighters of Marryville, Illinois….

Last time out, Jungle Heat’s Hottest We’ve Got Sauce faced Pepper’s Georgia Peach & Vidalia Onion Hot Sauce in an odd pairing of very different condiments. Even though Georgia Peach & Vidalia Onion is popular among foodies and chileheads for its sweet, delicious flavor, Hottest We’ve Got proved too hot for it when it came to drumming up support from fans.

Today’s duke-out is between the smoky Golden Toad Chipotle Pepper Sauce and the legendary Blair’s Original Death Sauce.

Which one will emerge the victor? As always, it’s up to YOU, the hot sauces fans, to determine the winner of this battle!

You have until the End of Day on Monday, Sept 30, 2013 to make your choice.

You can view the bracket as it currently stands here.

The very first Chile Pepper Extravaganza Hot Sauce, BBQ and Specialty Food Show is going on right now as I type out this post. The producers of this event have also forayed into the fiery foods  awards arena with their “The Chile Pepper Awards”.  Below, courtesy of the official Chile Pepper Extravaganza website, is the list of winners for these awards for 2013…

The Ultimate Hot Sauce Showdown returneth after a lengthy hiatus!

It’s time to get down to fierce battle once again, as we pit a pair of sauces against one another, based on nominations that you, our valued blog readers, made earlier this year.

Today’s match-up is between the genre-blending Peppers Georgia Peach & Vidalia Onion Hot Sauce, and their opponent this round, Jungle Heat’s most fiery entry in the hot sauce realm, their “The Hottest We’ve Got” Sauce.

Like many of the UHSS match-ups, these two are very different in flavor, so it’s up to YOU, the hot sauces fans, to determine the winner of this brawl.

You have until the End of Day on Saturday, Sept 28, 2013 to make your choice.

You can view the bracket as it currently stands here.

Most people online have, reluctantly or not, have signed up for their own profile on Facebook. If you have taken the social media plunge and have your own Facebook account, you don’t want to miss these groups for camaraderie and fun with like-minded individuals…

Fire Talkers – a chilehead destination to chat about hot sauce, growing and eating chile peppers, share food photos, share links, ask questions or just see what’s the pulse of spicy and intensely flavorful cuisine nowadays.  Both hot sauce industry folks and fiery foods fans will find themselves equally at home here.don’t want to miss out on these fairly new but growing discussion groups…

As show producer Rick McMillen mentioned in the most recent episode of the Firecast, the Chile Pepper Extravaganza is geared to take over New Orleans next weekend!

If you’re anywhere near southern Louisiana, make it a point to not miss this new fiery foods festival. As an incredible bonus, the you can get a free subscription to Chile Pepper Magazine per paid show ticket per household!

You can get all the pertinent details in the infographic below or by going to http://www.chilepepperextravaganza.com/ 

It’s another big chile pepper-related moment on the small screen. Brew Dogs, a TV program airing on the new Esquire Network, will feature San Diego, Caifornia native (and chile pepper grower extraordinaire) Jim Duffy as he teams up with the famous microbrewery Stone Brewing Company to concoct the world’s first Trinidad Moruga Scorpion Beer!

The Brew Dogs are James Watt and Martin Dickie – two guys from Scotland with…

As you might have guessed (or after found out immediately after reading a Facebook posting), ScottRobertsWeb.com has had a bit of down time. This effected more than a dozen sites during a recent move to a new web server.

Now this sort-of coincides with the commencement of a brand spankin’ new look for ScottRobertsWeb.com! I was planning on getting the new design pushed out after all the tweaks and bugs and things had gotten ironed out f it, but I figure this was a good of a time as any to debut it.

Therefore I’m doing what those in the advertising arena call a “soft launch”; an…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 12th, 2013

The New York City Hot Sauce Expo Announcement

New York’s own High River Sauces proudly presents the 2014 2nd Annual New York City Hot Sauce Expo on March 29th and 30th . This year’s Expo will host only the best artisanal sauce companies in the world. As we rapidly become more adventuresome eaters, we scream and long for spices that provide a boost of fire to satisfy our palates.

This year’s Expo will feature 45 different award winning hot sauce companies with free tastings, eating challenges, live music, spicy food vendors, cooking demos, and plenty of odd ball entertainment fun for the whole family.

Saturday, March 29th the Expo will present the highly anticipated Screaming Mi Mi Awards ceremony. Trophies in 13 categories will be handed to the winners in front of a live audience on the Expo’s Center Stage. The sauces are blind tasted and judged by the brightest names in the NYC food industry. The esteemed panel consists of celebrity chefs, food critics & bloggers, local chefs & restaurateurs that make the Screaming Mi Mi Award as one of the most pristine honors to achieve within the Hot Sauce Industry.

The 2nd Annual New York City Hot Sauce Expo

March 29th & 30th 2014

401 7th Ave

New York, NY 10001

www.NYCHotSauceExpo.com…

Hudson Valley’s First Annual Spice-Inspired Food Fest Comes to Provident Bank Park October 12, 2013

The first-ever Smoke-N-Fire Food Fest™ will open its doors to foodies and families in the Northern NYC suburbs on October 12 at Provident Bank Park in Pomona, New York.

At the Smoke-N-Fire Food Fest, attendees can sample specialty foods from hot sauce and spice
companies as well as food from area restaurants and produce from local farms. The event will
include contests, live music, activities for children, a fire juggler and other entertainment
throughout the day. Beverages, including beer and wine, will be available for purchase from
Provident Bank Park concession. Admission is $5 per person and the event will run from 11 AM
to 7 PM, rain or shine. Parking is free of charge.

New City resident and local business owner Kendell Brenner began planning the Smoke-N-Fire
Food Fest in 2009. “I’ve wanted to do a food festival in Rockland County for some years now,” says Brenner. “I had discussions with a number of towns about it, but after Provident Bank stadium was built I knew it was the right location for this event. It’s a first-class facility, easy to get to, with plenty of parking.”

Brenner’s goal for the Smoke-N-Fire Food Fest is to make it one of the best, sought-after annual food festivals on the East Coast. “Food festivals that have a focus on hot and spicy are fun and exciting, and they have done very well in other areas. Next year the Smoke-N-Fire Food Fest
will be a larger, two-day festival, with even more food, more entertainment and a BBQ competition.”

Kendell Brenner is the owner of Chefs2Be (chefs2be.com), a culinary learning center for children as well as a culinary instructor at the Rockland County Career and Technical Education Center in West Nyack, NY. Together with his nine-year-old son Jordan, he recently launched Jordan Brenner’s Hot-Cha WAA-Cha™ Sauce & Spice Co. (jordanssauces.com). KendellBrenner is an accredited chef and a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America who earned his MBA from Dominican College.

More information and regular updates on the Smoke-N-Fire Food Fest can be found online at www.facebook.com/NYSmokeNFire. Companies interested in participating may contact the
event organizers via e-mail at info@nysmokenfire.com or download vendor registration
materials at www.nyfoodfest.com.

Here are my ratings for the product reviews on tonight’s BBQ Central Radio Show (which aired 8/21/13):

Phil’s Honey Apple Barbecue Sauce
16 oz – $6.99
http://www.philsgourmetsauces.com/
Overall Rating……Oven Baker – 2/5

Trifecta Original Barbecue Sauce
13.5 oz – 4-pack for $30…

Calling all Master Grillers within drivable distances from Allentown PA, DC Area, Annapolis MD, Lynchburg VA, Wildwood, NJ and Asheville NC!

Premier season of a hot grilling competition for a major cable network is casting immediately for the barons and baronesses of the backyard banquet! If you’ve got the skills, show us your grills!

Episodes begin shooting soon and we are seeking the best of the best in the heat of the grill to compete for a cash prize and bragging rights as the best grill master ever to strike a match in your city! Culinary Professionals, Weekend Warrior Grillers, Competition and Award Winners all encouraged. Seeking candidates in the DC area, Annapolis MD, Allentown PA, Wildwood NJ, Lynchburg VA, and Asheville NC. Must have plenty of personality and a reputation as Master Griller around town…or at least in your neighborhood! If you feel you “meat” the requirements, please email the casting team at grilledcasting@gmail.com with a brief intro and a picture of yourself and pictures of your trusty grill set-up, then apply at the link below!

We are looking for masters of “high, hot and fast” grillin’, so you “low and slow” smokers can take the bench!
If you seem like a match, we will contact you immediately to set up an interview!
Don’t wait- casting closes soon!

APPLY NOW!