If you’re a hot sauce fanatic or a spicy food lover, you can help out with the Haiti earthquake relief by purchasing a special, limited edition bottle of hot sauce from Peppers and More. 100% of the money generated from the sales of this will be donated to the American Red Cross. Peppers and More is incurring ALL the manufacturing costs. The price of each bottle will be $10.00 plus $5.00 shipping. Click here to learn more.
Purveyors of some of the mightiest wing sauces on the planet and mainstays at hot sauce trade shows, Defcon Sauces owners John “The Creator” Dilley and his wife Maggie “The Createss” have racked up an impressive array of awards for their fiery products and have become a cult chilehead favorite. Eat some wings with a generous coating of one of their unique Defense Condition sauces and it’s highly likely they’ll become one of your favorites, too.
I recently asked John some questions and he didn’t disappoint as he responded in his usual humorous and eloquent way about a variety of topics.
Scott: How did you get started making wing sauces?
John: It all started in the late 1980’s. I had wings for the first time at a restaurant. They were no where near as popular as they are now. I really liked them. I had grown up learning how to cook from my grandmother as well as my mother, and really enjoyed experimenting in the kitchen. Well, the wing things were tasty, and I figured I could make them myself…
Like a great many BBQ sauces, Walt’s Spicy Barbeque Sauce originates from a namesake restaurant (technically, there’s now a trio of locations in the Cincinnati, Ohio area). I was impressed with what I had tasted in Walt’s milder sauces, so I acquired a jar or two of their fieriest version for review at home to see if it was able to stand up to the same high standards. It received a 5th place finish in the 2009 NBBQA Awards in the Barbecue Sauce: Tomato Spicy category, so perhaps I had a winner on my hands. Or not?
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.
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.
If you know me well then you know I ain’t a soup fan. While I like chunky chilis, stews, and ham and beans, I believe typical, thin, brothy soups lack the adequate substance to be any part of a meal. Well, here’s a recipe for a buffalo bean soup that’s anything but run-of-the-mill and watery. Using Ott’s Wing Sauce, this is a thick, hearty delight that would please the palette of both chileheads and soup lovers…
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.
That’s right guys and girls it’s that time of the year again. Peppers and More is proud to be hosting its second annual “Super Bowl Box Contest”. The entry fee will be the same as last year – one bottle of hot sauce or any one product that is spicy. This will entitle you to get 2 boxes in their pool.
Prizes will be divided into four baskets and given away at the end of each quarter. In the event of someone winning multiple quarters they would ask that you donate your second prize to our troops overseas. This is not required but what better way is there to help out the men and women that sacrifice for us everyday. They will have the boxes set up on the old forum so that it will be much easier to keep track of. Please click here for more details.
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.