Kato’s Hot Sauces will be featured tonight on Food Finds, on the Food Network. Set your TiVo’s now! It looks like the episode will repeat on: 5/1, 5/7 and 5/8 - So you have lots of chances to record and watch.

TJF Management Co., the owner of the Tijuana Flats Mexican food chain, has closed a deal with Winter Park’s East Coast Flats LLC to develop and open at least 24 Tijuana Flats units in five years within Florida. Read More…

Any readers been to a Tijuana Flats? I might just have to go to Florida to try one out.

Gourmet food distributor Innuendo Enterprises LLC takes on the Smokin’ Joe Jones line of barbecue products for distribution to Northern California retailers.

Gilroy, CA (PRWEB) April 27th, 2005 – Innuendo Enterprises LLC, a distributor of shelf stable gourmet food products, completed arrangements to distribute “Smokin’ Joe Jones Mississippi Barbecue Sauce” to the Northern California, Nevada, and Oregon regions.
Innuendo Enterprises LLC was formed in September of 2000 with the purpose of producing and distributing high end specialty food products for retail markets. Innuendo Enterprises LLC has since grown to represent over fifty distinct products. These products are distributed to gourmet and specialty food shops, grocery stores, and meat markets.

When you consider how regional barbecue specialties differ, Memphis has dry rub, Texas has mesquite, and Mississippi has hickory and molasses. Mississippi also has an extraordinary ambassador in Smokin’ Joe Jones—a talkative gentleman with a Panama hat, gold tooth, and a nonstop spiel. If personality creates celebrities out of chefs, Emeril had better watch out. ”People have found out my barbecue sauce does exactly what I say it does,” Jones says. “It’s a meat tenderizer as well as a marinade, low in sodium no cholesterol zero fat no MSG no junk. It’s good on chicken pork rib beef rib tri-tip pork chops steak ham and turkey,” he intones without visibly pausing for breath. “It’s also good on fish.”
Smokin’ Joe Jones’ Barbecue sauces are now available, through Innuendo Enterprises LLC, in Original, Smokin’ and Blazin’ flavors as well as a No Sugar Added version that rivals all others.

For additional information (or sample, copy or demo), contact: Ron Levi at Innuendo Enterprises LLC, 8010 El Matador Drive, Gilroy, CA 95020 or email them at sales “@” chile-heads.com.

Has anyone else noticed the quality of thought that is going into hot sauce advertising? Of course the front runner was Tabasco, but a lot of the industry favorites are quickly following suite. So, after getting this months issue of Chile Pepper Magazine in the mail, I found a new ad from Blair’s Death Sauces, well possibly not new, but it was new to me.

Click to Enlarge

Another favorite of mine comes from CaJohns - They’ve got a great product line with the Magma and Frostbite Hot Sauce Series and this ad just shows the dedication that they’ve put into it.

Click to EnlargeHere’s a tip for Frostbite use: Dash some with a little tomato juice, vodka, worchestshire and you’ve got one tasty bloody mary.

And of course, the classic Chiptole Tabasco Ad.

Click to Enlarge

Peppers are popular vegetables and the wide array of types and flavors make them versatile enough for every dish and taste. Some are sweet and mild; others are spicy, warm and down right searing. Go ahead and pick your pepper selection and get them planted sometime between now and mid-May. Read More…

As I posted before, I pre-ordered my chile pepper plants this year from Chile Plants - They should be arriving sometime next week!

Yet another discovery from the 2005 Fiery Foods Show, Pilarcita’s Marinades and Authentic Mexican Seasonings immediately impressed me with their flavor. The major selling point for me was a sample of carne asada that the ladies had whipped up just for the show. Talk about tasty - so once our supply came in, I knew I had to try it out for myself.

I decided to use the Hot & Spicy Carne Asada Marinade first and was glad to see a recipe suggestion on the back of the package. The recipe suggests marinating some skirt steak for 8 hours before grilling, so in order to make the tacos I was craving I did just that.

Skirt Steak

I went to the butcher and picked up 1lb of skirt steak. When buying skirt steak, it’s a good idea to get at least a 1/2lb for each person. In this case, I should have gotten 1lb per person, since it turned out so tasty. Trim the fat off the skirt steak carefully.

Marinating

This is the hardest part of the process, waiting patiently for the meat to marinate. Putting the marinade together was simple, just add water to the Pilarcita’s dry marinade and enjoy the smell! I had to slice the skirt steak in half in order to make it more manageable.

Chipotle Sauce

While the skirt steak was marinating, I whipped up a quick chipotle sauce. All you need to do is mix some regular mayo with some Tabasco Chipotle Sauce. Yes, it may sound a little odd, but this mixture really adds to the flavor of anything you can find. This taco topping is so easy to make and so tasty, it never stays around long. I like making it in the AM with some fried potatoes. After making the sauce, I chopped up some white onions and fresh cilantro. I like to use white onions as a garnish and red onions when cooking. Just a personal preference and what I had on hand at the time.

Cooking the Steak

Using our new grill pan, I cooked the skirt steak for about 5 minutes on each side. You can cook it a longer depending on your preferences, but I wanted to ensure that the meat remained juicy and maintained the flavor of the marinade. If you don’t have a grill pan, Lodge Cast Iron pans run about $25.oo and will last you a lifetime if properly maintained.

Adding some flavor


I tossed some fresh green onions in the marinade and added them to the grill pan while the steak was cooking. The green onions serve as a wonderfully colorful garnish and also taste great in the tacos.

Finished Product

Slice the skirt steak with the grain of the meat. This will ensure that your meat maintains all the juices and flavor that you’ve been waiting for. The seasonings from the marinade have remained on the skirt steak throughout the cooking, even though I only marinated the steak for 4 hours. I couldn’t wait the entire 8 hours as recommended.

Finally!

Now, I know someone is going to ask for a picture of the tacos, but your out of luck. After plating the meat and the garnishes, we were so hungry the camera got forgotten. Use your imagination and stop drooling on your keyboard. I’m going to try the Pollo Asada Marinade sometime soon!

Kato Productions, run by Mick andRita Pinckney, recently sent me a sample of their spicy products and in the one week since I’ve opened the bottles I have only about 1/2 a bottle of each left.

Kato’s Meaner Greener Habanero Sauce - Now, I’m not much into green hot sauces, but the garlic and green habaneros in this sauce are outsanding. I’ve tested it on eggs, ground beef and salad - it’s the real deal. This sauce tastes great on everything!

Kato’s Island Sauce Habanero & Mango - With an good mustard base, this island sauce reminds me of an excellent indian curry that I once had. With the habanero & cayenne peppers in this bottle ensuring that Kato’s Island Sauce is hotter then most curries I come across. With such a unique flavor I was hesitant to try this on anythin major at first, so I tested it on plain rice, which of course turn out great, even the wife was eating it. Since then I looked up the recipes on Kato’s site and whipped up the grilled chicken breast. The smell was incredible as the chicken was cooking. My taste buds were drooling and after I finished my forehead was sweating a little bit.

Kato’s Habanero Chocolate Bar - Now, I’m not a fan of chocolate usually, but this one I had to try. This habanero chocolate bar was much better then the Vosges Chocolate Bar that I tried previously. The heat is not as hot as I was expecting, but it did gradually rise as I ate a little more. The flavor of the chocolate and the heat of the habanero balance each other out in a way that I haven’t tasted before. If your a fan of hot foods, hot sauce or gourmet foods - try this chocolate bar!

AVONDALE, Ariz., (April 21, 2005) - Since joining the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series in 1999, Tony Stewart has always been one to provide a flavorful quote regarding any and all topics. Now, Stewart is providing some flavor of a different sort with his signature Smoke Bar-B-Que sauce. Read More…

You can get Smoke BBQ Sauce directly from the smoke20.com website. If anyone trys it, be sure to let me know how it tastes. I like the logo & the models!

Blair’s 16 Million will be shipping in the upcoming weeks and hot sauces fans everywhere are going to be seeing a whole new side of the Reserve Line. The new 16 million reserve & those reserves still in production (2 A.M. & 3 A.M) are getting the hot new logo you see below.

Roughly 3 inches in diameter, this foil logo will definately stand out on your hot sauce shelf. (as if Blair’s Reserves needed anymore help with standing out on your shelf) The new logo fits perfectly atop the protective cases that each Blair’s reserve comes in.

Blair, Good stuff man. Keep it up and keep it hot!

Everyone else - You saw it here first!

An aphrodisiac is a food, drink, drug, scent or device that can arouse or increase sexual desire, or libido. When looking at the list of foods that have traditionally been considered “foods of love,” it’s apparent that Italians traditionally enjoy these foods on a daily basis. In additional to the potency potential, these foods are delicioso.

As usual, there is science behind every old wives’ tale. Eating these foods regularly won’t necessarily make you a Casanova, but you’ll surely benefit from their good nutrition. Come to the table with a firm and toned body, and that will also enhance desire, for both parties. Mangia!

Chili Peppers: Spicy foods are thought to be aphrodisiacs because they increase body heat and heart rate, somewhat similar to what happens in the bedroom (we hope!). Chilies contain capsaicin, good for lowering high blood-pressure, and are high in vitamins A and C, and bioflavinoids (all necessary nutrients for healthy cell growth). Order Fra Diavalo… that means “spicy” in Italian.

Read More…