Here’s a complete surprise I stumbled upon during the last family outing at our Fenton, Missouri Buffalo Wild Wings location… spicy ice cream! With my youngest son, Kevin in tow, we knew this was just something we had to try as soon as I spotted it in a special menu insert.
If you can’t find this frozen wonderment at your local B-Dubs, it’s in all likelihood that this is a test program that’s only available in select geographic areas…
Nearly two years ago, it was suggested on The Hot Zone Online by Joe and Linda Levinson that the chilehead blogging world was entering a slow-down period. At the time, I agreed with their assessment. And subsequently because of the cooling-off, it lit a fire under me to focus more of my little blog’s focus on my spicy food obsession than other topics (in hindsight, it proved to be a wise decision because previously my subject matter was all over the map).
Since then, newer blogs have burst onto the hot sauce scene. Sure, a few sites have already dropped off the radar, a couple are rarely updated and have grown stagnant (’tis the nature of the interwebs), but there are now more quality chile pepper and fiery foods-focused blogs than I can ever recall. As a huge fan of many of these web destinations, I am ecstatic, for I can feed my spicy cravings with more reviews, news, photos and commentary virtually every day without skipping a beat…
The labels may proclaim that these are “Where Angels Fear to Tread”, but I was more than willing to traverse the lands of Rippin’ Red Original and Hot Wing Sauces in search for buffalo wing nirvana. Produced by Rizzotti Foods LLC, the Rippin’ Red line was created in hopes to break out in an overpopulated wing sauce market. Is it capable of doing the job? Read on to see…
I’m currently in the midst of a well-deserved vacation in Branson, Missouri. This current jaunt is my first real personal or family break in three years, the occasional weekend getaway or hot sauce show notwithstanding. What’s there to do in
Johnny McLaughlin and Nicole Ramsperger of Heartbreaking Dawns shipped me their three hot sauces this past Winter and I was pleased overall with their offerings. While I wasn’t blown away by their efforts, I found something positive about each sauce and considered Heartbreaking Dawns to be an up-and-comer in the fiery foods industry to keep an eye on.
Some time after I had met Johnny and Nicole at the Fiery Foods Show in March, they had sent me another trio of products, this time out it was some dry spice blends. I am extremely pleased to report that while I thought their sauces were good, these dry rubs are even better. I truly believe they are hitting their stride with these seasonings.
Just reading the names of these products – Dr. Bird Jerk Blend, Memphis Belle BBQ Blend and Storyville Cajun Blend – will tip you off to their flavor and utility. Seeking to test these all out once, a uniform base of grilled chicken breasts seemed like a good candidate for a meat that would bring out the flavor of these. More on that in a bit….
Remember that photo I posted a while back of the BBQ grill shaped like a Smith & Wesson Magnum 500 revolver? It appears that the people responsible for that beyond-cool barbecue have been discovered thanks to ScottRobertsWeb.com blog reader Mike (MJE1979).
This smokin’ gun grill was architected and constructed by five welding students from Sandpoint High School in Idaho for a local firearms dealer.
If you click on the above link, you can see the five young welders standing with the nearly-completed 15-foot long grill before it was painted (I’ve also posted a thumbnail image to the right). You can read more about the project and more of what the students do at http://www.bonnercountydailybee.com/articles/2010/02/17/news/doc4b7b9c7cca614755102078.txt.
As an aside, I think that these gentlemen should consider beginning a career designing and building these types of grill and smokers. Could you imagine how rabid the marketplace would be for these?
Photo by RALPH BARTHOLDT
Chick-Fil-A’s Spicy Chicken Sandwich It all started with viral marketing. I don’t remember where I first heard of this online – Twitter, perhaps? Word spread and I was lucky enough to get caught in the knowledge flow. Don’t you hate it when some time sensitive promotion gets out and you don’t hear about it until it’s over? Thankfully I caught wind of it and was able to take advantage of it./
In a nutshell, the operation was carried out like this: Go to http://www.getspicychicken.com, find your local Chick-Fil-A restaurant, and fill out an online form to receive one of their new Spicy Chicken Sandwiches for free at the location you choose and at a specific date and time frame. You would print out a coupon, go in at the predetermined time and get what hopes to be chilehead gold…
Here’s another instance of fiery foods invading the mainstream. After noticing the Ghost Chili appearing in FarmVille, my wife also caught another spicy entry in another Facebook game. In Cafe World, one of the available gifts is a bowl of
Here comes Crazy Steve’s Pickles and Salsa, a young New Jersey company hatched at 11:49 am on July 17, 2009 (as each and every label clearly states!) after an extraordinarily fruitful harvest from a cucumber garden. Steve Zielinski borrowed treasured pickling recipes from his grandmother, branched off into making salsas, and only 10 months later has an extensive live of side-items and condiments.
Steve was gracious enough to send me four different products of his for me to test drive. I have to mention that while all of the salsas I reviewed are marked “insane”, a fourth heat level above mild, medium and hot, I though none of these contained extraordinary heat (I explain more below). I don’t know if this was a label mix-up or if the “insane” salsas are legitimately that mild, but if the later were true then even non-spice fans could handle these salsas with very little difficulty.
Lastly, I’d like to add that earlier today one of my co-horts in heat, Buddah of ILoveItSpicy.com, posted a multi-person video review of two Crazy Steve’s products done at the recent Peppers at the Beach in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. This is mere coincidence. Even though Buddah and I talk with each other several times a week, neither of knew of the other’s plans to post a Crazy Steve-related review. So I guess today is Steve’s lucky day! Seriously, here is my take on Cajun Cukes, Black Bean & Corn Salsa, Raspberry Mango Salsa, and Smokey Mesquite Salsa…
Simple, effective, and delicious. This buffalo wing sauce recipe is just what you’ve been looking for if you want a good, tangy and basic hot wing sauce for home use on chicken wings. It’s a bit more than just a “melted butter and hot sauce” combo, but the extra ingredients only compliment the base classic buffalo wing flavor. This hot wing recipe is intended for all audiences. For a hotter buffalo wing sauce, replace the hot sauce listed below with a habanero or ghost pepper sauce.
Original recipe makes 8 servings.
Ingredients
This snack has been heavily lauded by chilehead bloggers, mostly since the 2010 Fiery Foods Show transpired a few months ago, as one of the best new spicy snacks they’ve had the pleasure of chomping down on. I also sampled it at the FFS, made my opinion known that I liked it, and purchased a few bags from Ranch Camp Chip Company owner Doehne Duckworth for home consumption. I had already given his Deano’s Jalapeno Chips a notch in the positive column, but do I think it lives up to the immense hype bestowed upon it by my pepperhead brethren?
I would have to give an incontestable “yes”. Believe the hype, folks. Deano’s Jalapeno’s are insanely delicious and are sure to rapidly become a favorite among those who crave heat and cheddar cheese flavor in their snacks. I’m also predicting that in another five years, Deano’s will become a giant in the specialty food world or the concept and recipe will have been sold to a larger chip manufacturer to make its creator make mucho deniro off of this stuff. It’s that good…
With the hot sauce and barbecue markets cluttered with hawkers of crappy extracts and “me-too” products not worthy of a second purchase, it’s refreshing to see those in the industry who believe in the rock-solid principles of quality and integrity. Steve Burnham of Blue’s BBQ is one such person. He is an ex-pilot, BBQ caterer, musician and is now in the sauce business full time.
Steve believes in creating quality sauces that don’t fit neatly within one sub-genre of condiments or food-toppers; and in fact, they transcend multiple categories by being all-purpose table sauces (a topic we’ll get into later in the interview). His Blue’s BBQ offerings like Blue’s Carolina Pepper Sauce and Blue’s Habanero Reserve work with just about anything that’s currently in your refrigerator, freezer or kitchen cupboards.
Just released a few months ago, Blue’s Chipotle Mustard Pepper Sauce is an outstanding blend that delicately balances sensations of sweet, smoky, tangy and lightly spicy unlike most other sauces I’ve come across in the past few years. I absolutely love it and consider it to be an early candidate for my sauce of the year for 2010.
Anyway, Steve conversed with me a few weeks ago about his sauces, distribution of his products and his general thoughts on the fiery foods industry.
Scott: What did you do before you started making sauces?
Pork Barrel BBQ’s moniker originated from, according to their website, “two fatigued United States Senate staffers who were working late and dreaming of good BBQ while Senators were arguing the merits of Pork Barrel Spending.” Very clever. The pair of
I’m putting my foot down: I will NOT partake in the current bacon craze/meme/fad. If you’re unfamiliar with what I’m talking about, it’s the trend where seemingly everyone is going bonkers over bacon-flavored and bacon-themed everything. Just move two inches on the internet and you’re sure to bump into some website touting something as ridiculous as bacon-flavored Kool-Aid, bacon-wrapped bacon on a stick, or bacon-scented cologne with hordes of commentors and forum members applauding along in approval like zombies. Sure, bacon has its place in the culinary world, but there are numerous other foods and tastes I’d select any day over these cured strips of pork.
That having been said, I still wanted to give the new Captain Thom’s Slappin’ Fat Bacon Ketchup a shot. Captain Thom Edwards usually has a good handle on what makes sauces taste superb (his Thai Monkey sauce is one of my faves), so naturally I was intrigued with what he could pull off…
Ah, we have another Scovie Award Winner here; this one has snatched up both first and second place honors in the Mustard category. The name is NunDunBetter Gourmet Chile Mustard Sauce and Dip. I’ve confessed before that I’m not the biggest fan of mustards, but when a mustard is rich, bold, complex, balanced and a bit on the sweet side, there are very few condiments or sauces on earth that can touch them. Let’s see if NunDunBetter Chile Mustard can fit that description and please my humble ol’ palette…