Spicy Food
All about spicy food of all kinds - hot sauces, hot chile peppers, snacks, spicy dishes, hot wings, and more - and even bland food!
New! Spicy Food Reviews - Hot Sauces and Spicy Snacks
Review - Crazy Uncle Jester's AfterBurner Sauce Redux
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This is review is a long, LONG time in the making.
Some of you who closely follow the major hot sauce blogs know that I've had a dislike for Crazy Uncle Jester's AfterBurner Sauce, a spicy chocolate-flavored dessert topper that's similar to Hersey's Syrup but with a scorching chile-induced kick. Many of my fellow spicy food bloggers on The Hot Zone Online (not once but twice), Peppers and More and Taste the Fear absolutely raved about it, and the product was a 2009 Scovie Award Winner, a 2010 Golden Chile Award Winner, an Every Day with Rachael Ray Magazine's Big Bite: Hot Sauce Award Winner, and a Seriouseats.com's Editors Choice award winner.
I felt like the lone wolf by voicing my displeasure of AfterBurner. So what about this product turned me off? It was primarily an unflaggingly nasty, chemical-like flavor that dominated any sign of a delicious chocolate taste. To me it wasn't exactly like the bitter quality of a pepper extract, but it was still very off-putting with a nefarious odor to match. Last but not least, I found AfterBurner's consistency and appearance to be like a runny brown paint - not exactly appealing in my eyes as I would have preferred a lower viscosity liquid....
Are Chile Peppers Linked to Skin Cancer?
I've come across this interesting article from the Times of India website:
"A new study has linked capsaicin, a component of chili peppers, to skin cancer.
Capsaicin, widely consumed worldwide in foods that contain chili peppers, is also used in topical creams for pain relief and its role in cancer development is controversial.
Capsaicin has been shown to induce apoptosis (cell death) in cancer cells. However, research findings have also shown that it can also act as a carcinogen, especially at...
Directory of Brick-and-Mortar Hot Sauce Shops Being Built
Are you a customer looking for a hot sauce shop in your geographic area? Do you own a specialty or gourmet store that sells a wide variety of hot sauces and are looking to connect with more local fiery foods fans?
There's a new online resource that's being constructed as a solution to both of the above situations. It's called HotSauceStores.com, and its aim is to be the essential directory of brick-and-mortar hot sauce shops across the United States. It is planned to have a state-by-state listing of shops, as well as a searchable map that will display the nearest hot sauce selling locations to what a customer types in...
Weekly Firecast Episode 5 - CaJohns Oaxacan Hot Sauce and Scott's Favorite Seasoning and Spice Combinations
Subscribe to the Weekly Firecast RSS Feed to see new episodes as they're posted!
In the first segment, my friend John Nemec and I visit a local Chipotle restaurant to tackle CaJohns Oaxacan Hot Sauce on some soft tacos and a burrito. I've eaten the taco-style sauce numerous times in the past but this was Jo...
Mega Spicy Weekend: Hatch Chile Festival and National Buffalo Wing Festival
Labor Day weekend in America is not just for lounging around and perhaps enjoying some backyard grilling , but for truly savoring the burn and relishing the heat.
With a dual set of events in the East and in the West, this may be the biggest spicy food lovers weekend of the year in the United States. Both the Hatch Valley Chile Festival and the National Buffalo Wing Festival will simultaneously occur this coming September 4th and 5th, 2010. If you reside in close proximity to either one, be sure to make plans to attend one of these gargantuan celebrations.
Hatch Chile Festival
The legendary Hatch Valley Chile Festival 2010 which will be situated outside the tiny town of Hatch, New Mexico. An expected 30,000 hardcore chilehead fanatics will congregate in numerous activities including a parade, a chili cook-off, chile roasting, chile pod competition, carnival rides and contests galore, plus great...
FireTalkers: Interview with Doehne Duckworth of Deano's Jalapenos
One of the highlights of the 2010 Fiery Foods Show definitely had to have been Deano's Jalapeños Cheddar Jalapeño Chips. One taste of them and I know they were something special. Produced under the banner of the Ranch Camp Chip Company, owner Doehne "Deano" Duckworth developed these unique snacks at The Cactus Café, his restaurant in Stowe, Vermont. With a couple of hot sauce trade shows under his belt, as well as distribution of his snack chips to over 30 specialty food locations, Doehne is in position to explode in the fiery foods world.
Although these products were available in 2009, Deano's Jalapeños are an easy contender for my product of the year for 2010. And in addition to the Cheddar flavor, Deano's Jalapeños are now available in Ranch with Habanero chips on the way, as well as other possible versions and concepts that Doehne mentions below.
I'm predicting a big and bright future for Doehne and his innovative snacks, so when I was recently given the opportunity to interview Doehne I jumped at the chance...
Review - Chile Boys Mango Chile Jam
If you've never encountered a jelly or jam made with peppers, stop reading this and find some immediately, and you'll see that the combination of chile-injected fire and sugary goodness is a match made in heaven. Don't worry, I'll wait.
Back? Good. See what I mean? And even if you happened to have picked up a middle-of-the-road chile jam, chances are it was still okay.
Next up at the review table is Chile Boys Mango Chile Jam, made by a New Mexico outfit with roots in chile pepper agriculture dating back over 40 years. Jacob Gutierrez, owner of Chile Boys, had submitted a jar of the Mango Chile Jam to get my take on it.
It is proclaimed on the label, "Jam with a Kick! 100% Real Fruit. No Artificial Sweetners, Colors or Flavors". I'm no food snob who poo-poos chemicals and mass-produced products, but it's hard to go wrong with Chile Boys' "homestyle" process. The question is, does this jam have what it takes to stand apart from the rest? Read on to find out...
Austin Hot Sauce Festival This Weekend
Wow, has this event really been going on for twenty years?
It's the 20th Annual Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival, being held at Waterloo Park, in Austin, Texas, this Sunday, August 29th from 11:00 am to 5:30 pm. Even though I've never personally attended the Austin show (I swear it's on my to-do list!), from all accounts I've heard it's a great time.
If you reside anywhere in central Texas and love the spice, make it a point to travel to Austin and check this show out. Admission is free, but you are asked to bring three non-perishable food items (as a donation to Capital Area Food Bank [CAFB]) when you walk in.
Get the low down at the official website here: http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Market/HotSauce.
New 2010 Chilehead T-Shirt Designs Coming Soon!
If you haven't picked up one of the 2009 designs shown above, the by all means grab one now!
I'm also proud to announce that a new line of new 2010 t-shirts will be joining the previous ones in just a few short weeks at the Chilehead Tees store. I'm sure there will be something sweet for you or the hot sauce fanatic or the pepper lover in your life. Even if you don't get one of these so-awesome-it's-ridiculous t-shirts, there are aprons, mugs, bags, and more for a smaller budget! Get 'em while they're hot!
Link: http://www.chileheadtees.com/
Review - Rippin Red Hot and Original Wing Sauces
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...
Chile Letter From the UK - August 2010
This is my favourite time of year, the kids are on holidays and there are lots of chilli events and products pouring in to ChileFoundry HQ to taste, so please enjoy our review of the past 30 day in the UK.
Events and Visits
In the past month we have the biggest UK Chilli Event at West Dean, and you can see a photo review of the event at http://www.chilefoundry.co.uk/2010/08/09/images-from-west-dean-chilli-fiesta-2010/. Coming later we have a number of video interviews and a walk around West Dean video that are just waiting to be edited together.
The West Dean Chilli Fiesta had over 19K visitors this year and was extended to 3 days and with over 150 stalls; it is showing how fast the UK chilli market is growing...
New Product Review Rating System
In an effort to have a more standardized rating system across the internet, ScottRobertsWeb.com will join other blogs such as ILoveItSpicy.com and PeppersandMore.com in adhering to a universal grading scale for product reviews.
Each website will still review items as they see fit, with their own style and method that they had used before. The reviewers will still analyze the sauce, salsa, condiment, seasoning, or snack and give the any positives and negatives the product may have, and will have their own way of measuring aroma, appearance and texture, heat, packaging, etc., if they so desire to do so.
But when it comes to one final, overall score, each participating blog will use the following scale. The blogs will use whatever symbols in place of where I use stars, but the numbers that they represent from 1/2 all the way up to 5 will mean exactly the same...
Weekly Firecast Episode #4 - Weekend of Fire Report and BBQ Pitmasters Review
The Weekly Firecast is back with a vengence! This is installment, I report back from the recent Weekend of Fire Hot Sauce Show in the Cincinnati suburb of Fairfield, Ohio. I also give my thoughts on the first episode of BBQ Pitmasters Season Two, with it's revamped format.
The Burn Buzz - Spicy Food News 8/19/10
Happy National Hot and Spicy Food Day to everyone!
The following is the latest batch of hot n' interesting links about spicy food, hot sauce and chile peppers that have been floating around on the intertubes lately...
Subway Launches Turkey Jalepeno Melt
Scoville scale a 10 with pepper lovers
6 Ways to Build Your Spicy Food Tolerance...
Winners in the Newsletter Subscriber Contest
I am announcing the winners from the Newsletter Subscriber Contest!
As much as I would have liked to do a drawing of a name on video like I've done in the past, there are simply too many names on the e-mail newsletter to print and cut out.
So what I've done is taken an Excel spreadsheet of the subscribers, placed an incremental ID number by each person, and used Random.org to choose the random numbers for the winners.
And the winners are...
Review - Bull's-Eye Regional BBQ Sauces
I am not a barbecue sauce purist or regionalist by any stretch of the imagination. I enjoy a vast hodgepodge of styles and flavor profiles, and I'm always eager to test out new combinations of tastes and blends of components that BBQers and sauce companies conjure up. That having been said, I suppose that the "gun to my head" choice for a favorite regional BBQ flavor would the Kansas City type. Its rich, sweet and dense base in my opinion provides the best finishing touch for both slow-cooked and smoked meat and the more rapidly-grilled burgers, dogs and chicken pieces. Yeah, it's true I reside in the St. Louis metro area, but what is considered to be St. Louis-type barbecue sauce - a variance best typified by a strong tomato and vinegar bite with an overly runny consistency - is not really what I crave the most in a sauce...
Kevin's Side of the Dish - Defcon Wing Sauce Review
I went to Arby's for my dinner and I am reviewing Defcon Defense Condition 2. The food I got from Arby's was their 5 pc. Chicken Strips. The chicken is crunchy, juicy and great. The sauce looks like a glob of orange goo. The sauce is thick at first and a bit later it's drippy. When you first try the sauce, you sometimes cough. You get a kind of taste of spice, like your mouth lit on fire and then stopped. The Defcon sauce tastes spicy, a bit creamy and peppery. The burn lasts from 3-4 seconds and no milk or anything is needed for the sauce to drink...
Review - Brother Kane Hot Sauce and Jalapeno Potato Chips
My first product review of 2010 was Brother Kane Buffalo Wing Bleu Cheese Potato Chips, a non-offensive, middle-of-the-road yet smooth and creamy-tasting snack that I've eaten a few times since and which with I've been generally pleased. It stirred up a moderate amount of interest from not only people who had left comments but from folks who had actually called my phone number thinking that I personally had manufactured these! During this past Spring, it would not be exaggeration to say that I received at least one call per week regarding the Buffalo Wing Bleu Cheese chips, and I still on occasion will have someone dialing me up inquiring about where they can purchase "my" product.
But let's get to the review at hand. Brother Kane has a few more spicy-themed potato chips in their stable of munchies other than the Buffalo Wing Bleu Cheese, and they were generous enough to ship a large bag of each to have me try them out. They are the Brother Kane Hot Sauce Potato Chips and the Brother Kane Jalapeno Potato Chips. Both are made for and marketed towards a broad, general demographic, so for the most part I'm going to take that perspective to see how they hold up as an all-around spicy snack for the masses.
Yelp's Endless Summer BBQ, Pool Party and Salsa Competition
I'm not much of a Yelper, but when I got recently invited to be a "celebrity" judge at a St. Louis salsa competition they were hosting, you know that I couldn't resist.
This shindig was held this past Monday night atop the rooftop at the Mansion House Apartments, complete with a large swimming pool (for those guests who brought their suits) and a stunning view of the Gateway Arch. Complementary food and drinks were on hand for the dozens of attending Yelp members; ribs were served by Pappy's Smokehouse, and sub sandwiches were provided by Blues City Deli, plus plenty of beer and Vitamin Water were available.
Review - Danny Cash Fallen Angel Jolokia Ghost Wing Sauce
Danny Cash Fallen Angel Jolokia Ghost Wing Sauce has been weighing heavily on the minds of many online hot wing fans lately, including yours truly. It got rave reviews from Firehead Thomas, Steve Smith and Mer & his buddies on their respective videos on I Love It Spicy as being one of it not THE very best wing sauce they've ever eaten. Sam McCanless of Zane and Zack's World Famous Honey Co gave it a huge thumbs up as well. Chileheads like Buddah and Parker have been excited like little kids on Christmas Eve with their desire to taste some of this.
Danny knows how much I love most of his products, and with all the prior buzz I thought to myself, could he have come out with something that could top even Defcon's excellent wing sauces?
Alright, it was time to come back down to Earth. As stellar as some of the recommendations might have been, it's totally unfair to any company to have to face such stratospheric hype, even if it indeed turn out to be a good sauce. I attempted to squelch as much anticipation as I could and tried to review this product as if it was a blind submission from a brand new sauce manufacturer.
With all of this having been said, after using this sauce and mentally wrestling with my opinions of it somewhat, I honestly cannot recommend it. Fallen Angel is certainly not a terrible product, but it lacks the quality flavors and addictiveness to become a go-to wing coater and even has some negative attributes that clashed head-on with my taste buds...
Spicy Food Reviews - Hot Sauces, Spicy Snacks, and more.
