Food

Proprietor Gregory Epstein runs BIBBQ, which is short for Bainbridge Island Barbeque, and is named for the picturesque swath of land that is a stone’s throw from Seattle, Washington across the Puget Sound. With BIBBQ, Greg aims to treat those in the Pacific Northwest with some down-home barbecue in an area not typically know for low n’ slow, smoked n’ grilled meats. Greg had shipped me two of his BBQ sauces, Chipotle Honey Barbeque Sauce (a past Scovie Award winner) and Bainbridge Habanero Barbeque Sauce, along with a quartet of hot sauces: Cranberry Star Fruit, Asid Reign, Devil’s Blood and Sour Apple…

Need something that will identify chile peppers on the go? Well, Stefan Wallington sponsored by the South Devon Chilli Farm (SDCF), both from the UK, have whipped up an iPhone app that contains a small database containing information and photos on various chiles plus loads of recipes. Called Chilli Farm, it sells for 99 cents in Apple’s App Store.

I admittedly have not personally bought this yet, and my pre-purchase take on this is that since iPhones can internet access wherever there is coverage, you can simply surf to various websites to obtain this information (especially The Chileman or my own Scoville Scale). Still, the convenience of having all the data in one place coupled with the fact that this most likely leaps and bounds faster than reaching the web with 3G speeds probably outweighs the one dollar price tag.

To get it, just search for ChilliFarm made by SW Comms Ltd or click here.

Thanks to The Chile Foundry for bringing this to my attention.

“Video” is a word you’re going to be hearing a lot of in the online chilehead world over the next couple of weeks. A few days ago I mentioned that James Beck (of EatMoreHeat.com and Dave DeWitt’s right hand man) had something up his sleeve regarding the subject. In addition to that, there’s going to be a brand spankin’ new video project I’ve been working on very closely with one of the most well-known online chilehead/reviewers. It’s really close to be being complete, and should be one of the most fun and informative sites around. Stay tuned; I’ll keep you abreast of things on all the various channels: Twitter, Facebook, etcetra.

One of my “guilty pleasures” in sauceland is Buffalo Wild Wings’ Mango Habanero sauce. It’s sticky sweet similar to honey, pours thick, has a dynamite taste and packs some chile pepper heat.

I’ve tried out a few honey-infused hot sauces in my day, but to me that Mango Habanero has remained the quintessential “honey”-type sauce. However, I have been and will continue to be open to any syrupy or honey-esque hot sauces on judge them on their own merits.

Along comes Bee Sting Honey n’ Habanero Pepper Sauce produced by the Half Moon Bay Company. Although I admittedly have never tried anything under the Bee Sting line, Half Moon bay has a good track record of sauces and salsas (I love a few of their Iguana sauces in particular), so I was chompin’ at the bit to see if this worth any buzz…

My buddy James Beck of Eat More Heat has been dropping little hints as of late about a BIG announcement coming soon. He posted this message on his Twitter account yesterday:

“BIG announcement hint: me, donkeys & lasers, total mayhem, possible jail time, w/ @psedillo getting it all on video”

Whatever could this mean? Follow his @EatMoreHeat Twitter to find out!

Here’s my first 2010 edition of the Burn Buzz, where I list hot n’ interesting links about spicy food and BBQ that have been floating around on the intertubes lately…

Chick-fil-A Spicy Chicken Sandwich Coming Nationwide

Locally Made: Bill Hutchison Solves the New Mexico Pepper Debate – Helping to Answer the Question “Red or Green?”

The Great New Mexico Chile War – More on the Red vs. Green debate, plus a mishmash of other subjects.

Building A Better Pepper – Chile pepper farmer Ed Curry and growing chiles in Arizona.

Nestle’s Hot Sauce Heats Up – The food company introduces a new hot sauce in Malaysia.

Hot times in the city: Farmers process hot peppers on Saginaw ‘assembly line’ – Growing chile peppers in Michigan

New celebrity diet pill Capsiplex hits the UK streets – Capsaicin-based diet pill is claimed to burn as many calories as one would burn in 90 minutes of a brisk walk.

Congrats! You found the secret page! Here’s a picture of some wings as your reward:  

I don’t think I’ve had quite a wallop of pure flavor such as this in a long, long time; perhaps not since I reviewed Jake’s Mesa Breeze Basil Lime Marinade have I encountered a sauce that possessed bold, amazing taste notes and also was balanced and delicious. The sauce I’m talking about is the wonderful chile verde, garlic & ginger-based Uncle Brutha’s ALLSAUCE No 9, one of two condiments (the other sauce being a multiple chile pepper-dominated red sauce) devised by successful music industry sound technician-turned hot sauce maker Brennan Proctor.

Many of you reading this had received the inaugural issue of Blair’s Extreme News yesterday. Blair, of course, has blasted out e-mails to subscriber fans for years. But they’ve never been sent out on a regular, recurring basis until now (these promise to be weekly).

Now in my personal profession as a web developer, I’ve been heavily involved with broadcasting e-mail newsletters for whatever employer I happened to be working for at the time. This type of marketing when executed correctly had proven itself to be highly effective – at that time, that is. With the emergence and wide-spread influence of social media, namely Facebook and Twitter, is e-mail marketing as powerful as it once was? I happen to think that it still has a bit of life left in it. Where the medium will be in two or three years, who knows, but I believe it’s still a great way of touching base with your customers (both actual and potential).

Hot sauce manufacturers in general haven’t pursued this brand of marketing. With limited budgets and limited staff – monthly e-mail newsletters can require at least a part-time person who is well-versed in basic web and graphic design – it’s easy to understand why. Many of our favorite sauce makers have a full-time job to contend with in addition to concocting and producing spicy food products, and a lot of them have to reply on co-packers to bottle…

Not much to write about tonight – the evening consisted mostly of helping my boys with their homework, light web surfing on my laptop and catching the season one finale of BBQ Pitmasters on TLC. But I did want to mention that many fiery foods events, hot sauce shows and chile pepper festivals for 2010 are already scheduled. I’ve compiled most of them on the Hot Sauce/Chilehead Events Calendar. I urge everyone to look it over the list to see if you can take the time out of your busy schedules to attend one of these events. Some of them vary in function and have different focuses, but almost all have good & spicy food and great comraderie with fellow fiery foods fans. Be sure to check out their descriptions and click on the web links for more information.

Oh, and if you know any that I might have omitted, or have any important details I may not have posted, please contact me and let me know the details!

Here’s Round Two of analyzing the new Louisiana Gold Hot Sauce line. In the previous episode, I considered Red to be so-so with a pungent vinegar & salt pairing, and Green to lack heat but still have a delicious flavor. Now up to the plate is Louisiana Gold Wasabi Hot Sauce.

Now this is something I was both very eager and hesitant to test out. This is Bruce Foods’ (Louisiana Hot Sauce’s parent company) very first wasabi-infused food offering so the curiosity level was high in that regard. You don’t see the “big boys” – Louisiana, plus Tabasco, Frank’s, Crystal, et al. – exactly diluging the market with wasabi products, and Louisiana Hot Sauce…

As all chileheads know, capsaicin is the chemical compound found in chile peppers that makes them taste hot. This sweet tee showcases a capsaicin molecule on the front along with the actual chemical formula (C18 H27 NO3).

Okay, so you’ve seen capsaicin molecule t-shirts elsewhere before. What makes this one different from the others is that it sports an ultra cool Scoville Scale chart of hot chile peppers on the back. Coming or going people will know you’re hardcore about your passion for heat…

Zane & Zack’s World Famous Honey Co., makers of some of the finest sweet and spicy products this side of the Equator, are doing their part for Haiti relief by offering an “I Dream of Hot Sauce” bottle up for auction on eBay! Packaged in a gorgeous 1973 Jim Beam “I Dream of Jeannie” bottle, the top is covered in gold and silver wax and the bottle is numbered and signed by the whole Zane & Zack’s crew. There are only 25 in existance with several numbers left to choose from.

ALL proceeds from this sale will be donated to World Concern where 94% of each dollar goes directly to help the victims of Haiti’s earthquake. Zane & Zack’s will also pay for shipping in hopes of raising more money to help all of the victims in this horrible disaster.

PLEASE BE AS GENEROUS AS YOU CAN!

Auction Link: click here.