Food

Last week’s brawl involved Golden Toad Habanero going head to head with Hellfire Blueberry Hell. As predicted, it was a fierce battle with many loyal fans on both sides. Ultimately, Blueberry Hell came out on top.

What about today’s match-up? The big bad Evil Seed Big Evil BBQ faces off against Louisiana-born JAC’s Tailgaters Pineapple Orange Habanero Finishing Sauce. Like numerous other sauces in this contest, these are VERY different products.

As always, the decision is YOURS, fiery foods fans! Vote NOW!

You have until the End of Day on

Tuesday, August 6, 2013
to make your choice.

You can view the bracket as it currently stands
here.

In an upset of all upsets, Jungle Heat’s Madness trounced favorite Heartbreaking Dawns’ 1498 Trinidad Scorpion Sauce in last week’s round one bout. Jungle Heat was simply able to muster enough votes online to put it well over the top against HBD.

The next Round One battle will feature two sauces that I personally love. Golden Toad Habanero is a breathtaking sauce that’s almost like a “habanero in a bottle” (with a hint of garlic thrown in), while Hellfire Blueberry Hell is a wonderfully stinging and zesty product with incredible fruit undertones in it.

As always, the decision is YOURS, fiery foods fans! Vote NOW!

You have until the End of Day on

Tuesday, July 30, 2013
to make your choice.

You can view the bracket as it currently stands
here.

And now we have a return to hot sauce combat! When we last left off back in June, Race City Sauce Works Deadwood was duking it out Bonfatto’s Apple Pepper Jack Wing Sauce, with Deadwood winning the shootout.

The next Round One battle will have heavy hitter Heartbreaking Dawns 1498 Trinidad Scorpion taking on Jungle Heat Madness Sauce. Both spicy condiment makers have previously had dogs in the fight in this Ultimate Hot Sauce Showdown, but have not yet faced each other. These are two companies with potentially strong online fan bases, so it has the possibility of being another furious nailbiter of a bout.

As always, the decision is YOURS, fiery foods fans! Vote NOW!

You have until the End of Day on

Tuesday, July 23, 2013
to make your choice.

You can view the bracket as it currently stands
here.

Jerret Ulmer of HeadAddicts.com and I sauntered into the de.lish Cheesecake Bakery and Cafe in Florissant, Missouri a few weeks ago to see if we could conquer their Inferno Challenge.

The basics of the Inferno Challenge are this: eat an entire philly cheesesteak-type roast beef sandwich (the meat is cooked with ghost pepper powder, and is topped with pepper cheese, a thick, super-hot chile pepper powder-laden yellow-orange sauce, and liberally doused with large chunks of jolokia and scorpion peppers) within 30 minutes. No food or drinks or drinks are allowed within the first minute of the challenge, but after the 60-second mark water is allowed, as are the potato chips and dill pickle spear provided on the side.

Were Jerret and I able to handily defeat the Inferno Sandwich Challenge from De.Lish Cheesecake Cafe and win a free t-shirt and a photo spot on their Wall of Fame, or did this incendiary behemoth best us? Watch the video below to find out…

Greetings blog readers! This post is serving as a gentle reminder that my boys and I will be moving into a new house this weekend. Added to the chaos surrounding this is that we will not have home internet access until it is installed sometime next week. Because of this, as you can probably guess, there will not be any new blog posts for several days, no new Ultilmate Hot Sauce Showdown matches, and no new Weekly Firecast episodes arriving in your RSS feeds out this weekend. Probably most disappointing of all, we will be unable to make the trek to Columbus, Ohio to attend ZestFest Midwest (so I wish all of my compadres in the chilehead world a hugely successful and fun weekend there in the Buckeye State!). Life keeps rolling along, and we look forward towards the future and to bigger and brighter things!

Food Network Star Kelsey Nixon and host of Kelsey’s Essentials asked High River Sauces owner Steve Seabury to take her on a spicy adventure at the first annual NYC Hot Sauce Expo, one of the most buzz worthy food festivals in the country. Seabury charters an in-depth journey around the Hot Sauce Expo and provides insightful information to Kelsey about the different unique hot sauces styles, various peppers types used and how these sauces are used to enhance your savory and sweet food recipes.

The NYC Hot Sauce Expo highlights the best and most talented artisanal hot sauce companies from around the country and hosts the prestigious Screaming Mi Mi Awards. During the segment Kelsey stops by to discuss with a handful of vendors including Peppers Distribution, Puckerbutt Pepper Company, Defcon, Heartbreaking Dawns and others about the history of hot sauces, the characteristics and medicinal measures of the chile pepper and how the popularity within the mainstream has tremendously increased sales in North America the past couple of years.

After the Expo, Kelsey visits JoJo Collins who truly turns up the heat on her homemade Sriracha. Kelsey then gets started on her own hot sauce menu: Fresno Pepper Hot Sauce, Spicy Kale Caesar Salad and Spicy Roasted Chicken with a Hot Sauce Compound Butter.

Kelsey’s Essentials Season Premiere episode titled “Fiery Foods” will air on the Cooking Channel, Wednesday, July 3^rd. 8:00PM ET | 5:00PM PT

NYC Hot Sauce Expo – April 20^th & 21^st – Brooklyn, NY

For More Info Please Visit:
Cooking Network: www.CookingChanneltv.com
Kelsey’s Essentials: www.CookingChanneltv.com/shows/kelseys-essentials.html
NYC Hot Sauce Expo: www.NYCHotSauceExpo.com
High River Sauces: www.HighRiverSauces.com

 It was a relatively easy victory for Heartbreaking Dawns in last week’s duel between their 1542 Chocolate Habanero Sauce and challenger Puckerbutt Pepper Co with their extreme heat Voodoo Prince Death Mamba .

Today’s battle is ensuing between chilehead favorite  Captain Thom’s Thai Monkey Sauce, an Asian blend of teriyaki, soy sauce, peanut, wasabi and hot sauce, and their opponent this round, Jungle Heat’s  full-bodied frenzy of tart, sweet, fruity and oniony toned Caribbean Heat.

 

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 Wednesday, June 12, 2013 to make your choice.

You can view the bracket as it currently stands here.

Here are my ratings for the product reviews on tonight’s BBQ Central Radio Show (which aired 6/4/13):

FireQue Original Kentucky BBQ Sauce
15 oz. – $5.99
http://www.firebbq.net/
Rating: 4/5

Karma Sauce Sabroso Rub
$6.50 per 2.3 oz. tin
http://www.karmasauce.com/
Rating…