Category Archives: Hot and Spicy Food
A Texas Sized Podcast!! Check Out Ken’s Fiery World on the Latest Scott Robert’s Firecast!!
The Firecast with Scott Roberts: Firecast Podcast Episode #53 – Texas-Sized Edition Featuring Dan Arnold of Sucklebusters BBQ
This time out on The Firecast Podcast, we’re proud to feature an episode as big and as grand as the Lone Star State! Our core focus is on Texas, and for the Firetalkers interview segment, Scott talks to Dan Arnold of Sucklebusters from the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, makers of some mighty fine tastin’ BBQ sauces and rubs. For his Ken’s Fiery World piece, chilehead reviewer and blogger Ken Alexander chats with Scott about some of the things that makes Texas food so distinctive. The review of the week is Houston-based company SilverLeaf International and their Ghost Pepper Salsa, and Scott gives a quick tip about smoking big Texas-sized beef briskets.
Debuting this episode is a new segment from industry veteran Mike Greening of Mike & Diane’s Gourmet Kitchen, both the maker of Ring of Fire Hot Sauces and friend of the show. Mike will give some so-awesome-it’s-ridiculous advice on how sauce makers can cut costs and save loads of cash in their operations!
Links mentioned in the episode:
- Sucklebusters Official Site
- Sucklebusters’ Facebook Page
- Sucklebusters’ Twitter Page
- Texas BBQ Forum
- SilverLeaf International’s Official Page
Other Links:
- Mike and Diane’s Gourmet Kitchen
- Ken’s Fiery World Blog
- Scott Roberts’ Blog
- Scott Roberts Facebook Page
- Scott Roberts Twitter Page
Listen Instantly!
Click Above to Listen to This Episode Now!
Download this episode | 
Subscribe via iTunes | 
Subscribe via RSS Feed
MiMi is Screaming “The Award Goes To” at the NYC Hot Sauce Expo
Steve Seabury, owner of High River Sauces and Producer of the NYC Hot Sauce Expo, announced the Winners of the 2014 Screaming MiMi Awards during the first afternoon of the Expo! If you’ve been following my You Tube videos and Facebook posts this weekend, you already know that the show is a rocking success!!! Thousands of people getting their “burn” on kept 45 vendors from across the country crazy busy sampling, educating, and entertaining the crowd. Seabury has raised the bar for Hot Sauce and Fiery Foods Events, with Hard Driving Rock playing during the show, and the likes of Food Network’s Chris Santos, Trans Siberian Orchestra’s Chris Caffery, and Twisted Sister guitarist Eddie Ojeda doing demos and signing autographs!
But the real stars were the sauces, salsas, and spicy products of love being showcased all weekend. The Screaming MiMi’s were judged several weeks ago by a veritable Who’s Who of judges from Food Network, Bon Appetit Magazine, and other true experts in the culinary world! The complete List of winners is below!
I’m having blast at the show and I highly recommend all you to make the trip! Why would you make the trip to NYC for the Hot Sauce Expo! Because, Ladies and Gentlemen, It’s a Fiery World!
Screaming MiMi Awards 2014 Complete List of Winners
Louisiana Style
1st- CaJohns – Firehouse
2nd – Race City Sauce Works – Carolina Cayenne
3/rd – Culley’s Limited – Trinidad Scorpion Hot Sauce
Chipotle
1st-Hoboken Eddies – Home Grown Smoke
2nd – Pucketbutt Pepper Co. – Voodoo Prince Death Mamba
3rd – Dog Gone – Chipotle
Fruit Based
1st – Frankie V’s – The Serranos
2nd- Dirty Dicks- Dirty Dicks
3rd – Loud Foods -0 Sunshine Mango Sauce
Fruit Based Hot
1st-Hellfire Hot Sauce – Elixir
2nd- Volcanic Peppers- Lava Death by Douglah
3rd-Puckerbutt Pepper Co. – Pineapple Ginger
Jalapeno
1st-NW Elixirs – Verde
2nd-Queen Majesty-Jalapeno Tequila
3rd – Lucky Dog-Green
Habanero
1st-Dirty Dicks – Dirty Dicks
2nd-Frankie V’s-Habanero Classic Recipe
3rd-Freshies Food Corp.-Sweet Fire
All Natural
1st- Race City Sauce Works- Aleppo
2nd-Scotty O’Hotty – The Ghost Sauce
3rd- Heartbreaking Dawn’s- 1498 Apricot Scorpion
XXX Hot Sauce
1st- Race City Sauce Works- Cirque De
2nd- Grim Reaper Foods- The Raven
3rd- Tahiti Joe’s – Ulane’ Akai XXXX Hot Sauce
Pepper Blend
1st – Scotty O’Hotty – Premium Habanero Sauce
2nd- Born To Hula – Ghost of Ancho
3rd-Salvy Salsa – Boom Boom
Chicken Wing
1st- Defcon Sauces – Defense Condition #1
2nd Rizzotti Foods- Rippin Red Mild
3rd- Rozzoii Foods – Rippin Red Hot
BBQ Sauces
1st- High Octane- Peach Ghost Scorpion BBQ Sauce
2nd- Torchbearer Sauces-Chipotle BBQ
3rd Davis Sauces- 1929
Spicy Salsa
1st-Silverleaf International- Ghost Pepper Salsa
2nd Gunther’s Gourmet-Jalapeno Salsa
3rd.Apsara Foods, Pepper Salsa
Best Label Artwork
1st- Grinders Near Death
2nd- Cully’s Limited – No. 1 Hot Sauce
3rd – Puckerbutt Pepper Co. -Reaper Sauce
Who Said the British Don’t Make Westerns! “The Good, The Bad, & The Spicy”!!
I got an email this morning from a Chillihead from the UK! Notice the different spelling from our Chilehead! I just think that is majorly cool! Shows how far reaching the community of hot sauce and spicy food lovers really is, while still being a family, of sorts! So this is a link to an article from Appliance City in the village of Bunny, just outside Nottingham, England. How many U.S. appliance stores post articles about super hot “chillies”?!
The Good, The Bad, & The Spicy is a fun piece giving you a little education on some of the world’s hottest “chillies”, including the Carolina Reaper, Various 7-Pot varieties, Moruga Scorpion and more! So if you think that folks across the pond just eat fish and chips and Scotch Eggs, and nothing with any spice or fun flavors, think again! I’ve reviewed some British hot sauces for I Love it Spicy, and man oh man, can they turn on the heat!!!! I think Clint Eastwood would be proud!
Click here and enjoy some worldly adventures of a spicy life! Because, Ladies and Gentlemen, It’s a Fiery World!!!
Cast Away But Not Forgotten…Sweet Heat Gourmet – The Lost Sauces!!!
Sweet Heat’s Lineup-Almost gone but not Forgotten!!!
I think everyone knows the Tom Hanks’ movie Cast Away! You know….Fed Ex guy in the plane crash who is on a small island for 5 years hanging out with some volleyball named Wilson! Everyone thought he was lost forever, but NO! He turns up, not really any worse for wear, and resumes his life. Well……..I have a kinda sorta similar story about Sweet Heat Gourmet, Michelle Mierwald’s State College, Pennsylvania’s work of love, who sent me sauces to review a looooong time ago. How long ago, you ask? Well, I ain’t sayin’, but it’s been a while! Not Tom and Wilson’s 5 years, mind you, but long enough. There’s a genuine back-story that comes with the delay – but that’s no excuse, and I am dutifully ashamed and embarrassed, and publically ask forgiveness. So here’s where I attempt to make amends!
Right after I received a generous sampling of her creations, I used them, abused them, played with them, made notes about them, enjoyed them, and never finished my formal review of them! Kinda like when, in Cast Away, packages never made it to their final destination…except one, at the end of the movie! Just like this post! (I know it’s a stretch, folks, but work with me a little, okay?!)
Sweet Heat has a great lineup of products. I thought it was especially cool that she sources some of her local ingredients in her online product descriptions, much like Tom gave credit to his ol’ straw headed buddy Wilson! So what was in those lost packages? What’s Sweet and what’s the Heat in the Gourmet?
Pineapple Ghost-my personal favorite!
I received the following: Honey Jalapeno BBQ Sauce, Habanero Peach Hot Sauce, Pineapple & Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce, and Moruga Scorpion Hot Sauce. I have a little left of all of them (testimony that I was saving some for the formal write-up), and they all still have a great fresh flavor and complex profile. Not a bad sauce in the lot! I found my notes, and here’s where it gets eerily similar to Cast Away…..just like Mr. Hanks was creative, ingenious, practical, and opportunistic with the ingredients he had to work with, so goes Ms. Mierwald and Sweet Heat Gourmet!
A Jalapeno BBQ sauce with nice heat!
The Honey Jalapeno BBQ Sauce is fresh, and actually packs a little heat which is unusual for a jalapeno sauce. It has just enough soy and Worcestershire to give it some pop without being salty, a wonderful use of the pepper which you can feel and taste, and a spice compliment that worked well with pork, beef, and chicken.
The Habanero Peach played the cumin and ginger card nicely, creating a unique flavor profile to accompany the peaches and habs, a pleasant medium heat, and the black pepper created a nice earthiness that I really enjoyed. Think fish, veggie medleys, and a Sunday brunch frittata! The Pineapple & Ghost Pepper made a mean salad dressing, with that slow crawling, back palate bhut jolokia burn (but not too much!), and totally faked me out with the raisins, which added a fullness to the flavor profile! I really liked that one…a lot! And the Moruga Scorpion sauce was no-nonsense, front end hot! But not mind numbing hot…just a nice hot! A polite hot! A Tom Hanks nice guy, but tough as all get out to survive 5 years on a deserted island hot! I’m not a big scorpion pepper fan, as I find it a little harsh, but Sweet Heat blends the scorpion with other unnamed red peppers, tomato, a little sugar, and spices to create a Scorpion sauce I could use in chili, spaghetti, meat loaf, and on chicken. I’m sure it has veggie uses if you think about it. After all, Tom tied a raft up with VHS magnetic tape, for goodness sakes!
2nd Annual NYC Hot Sauce Expo March 29&30, 2014
Short and Sweet – these are great products! They all get 4 Fiery Worlds, except for the Pineapple Ghost, which earns itself 4 1\2 Fiery Worlds!!!! After being lost in the back of my frig, my Sweet Heat Gourmet sauces are still very much present and accounted for! So go to their website and order some today! Or catch Sweet Heat March 29 and 30, 2014 at the NYC Hot Sauce Expo! Why, you ask? Because, It’s a Fiery World!
It's a Fiery World 