|
Jungle Jim’s “Weekend of Fire” hot sauce convention.
08-06-07
What a weekend! For those of you that have lived in Southwestern Ohio, Northern Kentucky, or Southeastern Indiana, you probably have heard of Jungle Jim’s. If you love hot sauce, this place is a must visit with over 1,400 hot sauces available for purchase. On August 4th and 5th, Jungle Jim’s sponsored the “Weekend of Fire” next door to its megastore in Fairfield, Ohio, which is just north of Cincinnati. It was here that I found some fantastic sauces.
The event was great. The people working were cordial, and the sauce was hot. Well, at least some of it was hot. At first, I was not confident that I would find the types of sauces I like; excruciatingly hot but with good flavors. These can be difficult to find, especially when you have sauces that go overboard with extracts. However, I found a few sauces worth mentioning. These sauces will soon be added to our review section.
Redd Eye – 3 Skull Habanero Hot Sauce
This sauce was a great find from the Weekend of Fire 2007 in Cincinnati. 3 Skull Habanero has some kick to it as well as a very interesting flavor. It’s rather hot considering that it’s made without extracts.
3 Skull Habanero is created from a blend of jalapenos, habaneros, and cayenne peppers. It has more of a liquid consistency and a wonderful aroma. It’s flavor is full of fresh peppers, spices, and sweetness. This is a very good all around sauce that plays well as an everyday table condiment. This sauce has been a true pleasure.
Mild to Wild Pepper and Herb Company - Backdraft
I was able to meet Jim, who is not only the owner of Mild to Wild, he’s also a real life firefighter, which is exactly who you need after trying Backdraft. Here at Spicefreak.com, we are very careful about extract sauces, generally because heat tends to take precedence over flavor. Backdraft addresses that very concern.
This sauce is hot. More important, however, is the flavor. Backdraft is made from an aged habanero whiskey mash, leading to a rich smokey-like flavor. It has a nice, thick consistency and a wonderful aroma. Here we have an excellent example of using extracts to create a good concentrated heat without destroying flavor. We highly recommend Backdraft! Thanks Jim!
Hell’s Kitchen Hot Sauce – Core of Hell
This sauce is our winner from the Weekend of Fire 2007, and Hell’s Kitchen’s brochure pretty much sums it up; the core of Hell is Heaven, and the core of Heaven is Hell. I met two of the owners of Hell’s Kitchen, and we had a very good discussion. After trying “The Core of Hell” sauce, I now feel obligated to try every other flavor this company makes.
The Core of Hell offers complex flavors and strong heat rooted in pepper extract. It has black pepper overtones, making it a great complement to pulled chicken or pulled pork bbq. It’s also a great replacement for cocktail sauce, and I’m considering making a salad dressing from it.
The Core of Hell is a great blend of heat and flavor, which actually makes it useful as a condiment as well as a cooking additive. However, this is some really hot stuff, and I recommend putting it on your hamburger only if you truly know what you’re doing.
I will now work my way through the myriad of sauces that Hell’s Kitchen offers. If the rest are as intriguing as Core, I will be a happy man.
This year’s event was a large success, and I am looking forward to next year. Until then, I’ll be on the lookout for the next great sauce.
If you know of or are sponsoring an event that you would like to share, drop us a line. We’ll post it for you, and we can almost promise we’ll show up!
|
