Hello HSB, in the midst of all this controversy surrounding makers doing reviews I thought I would further support my argument by submitting yet another awesome and totally unbiased completely impartial review. Today’s sampling is Grumpy’s BBQ sauce; Not So Bold flavor.

Initial Impression: The jar I received to sample is pre-label change. The sauce is contained in a standard barrel jar and is wrapped with a fancy die cut label. This sauce looks like it has been in grocery stores forever. There is a label over the ingredients declaration. Hmm? Let’s peel it off and see what happens.

Ingredients: Brown sugar, water, tomato paste (tomatoes), apple cider vinegar (diluted with water up to 5% acidity), yellow prepared mustard (vinegar ,mustard seed, salt, turmeric and spices), liquid smoke (purified natural liquid smoke, water), hot sauce (peppers, vinegar, salt),honey, black pepper, spices, kosher salt, oriental hot mustard (mustard, turmeric), cayenne pepper.

The ingredient list is really nice and clean. There are no preservatives or artificial anything. I did peel off the ingredient label that covers the original declaration. It looks like the type of liquid smoke has been changed and that’s it, no nefarious goings on here!

Appearance: This is one rich, thick, and sexy sauce. It is reddish brown sauce and there are sparse but definite pieces of herbs and spices floating around. The consistency of this barbecue sauce lends it to many applications. It was super thick and brushes on and sticks to your meat nicely. It also makes a great dipping sauce since it won’t drip off of whatever you’re ‘queuing.

Aroma: Mouthwatering. I’m not sure what else to say. I popped the cap and took a whiff. It made my mouth water like crazy. Now that I calmed down I can tell you that this sauce has definite layers of aroma. At first you get a sweet tomatoey perfume, next the vinegar pops you in the nostrils and makes your mouth water. The velvety smokiness comes in for the finish and practically hypnotizes you.

Taste: Sweet, tangy, and smoky with emphasis on sweet. This could be a dessert sauce. Tasting it from the jar it has a definite tangy fruity flavor. There are some larger pieces of peppercorn in it. Like magic they appear in your mouth and add yet another layer of flavor. The pepper is pronounced but not overpowering or out of balance. I detect the ever so slightest zest, but not what I would call spicy. Not so bold is definitely the right designation for this flavor.

The Food Test: Since we were having some nice weather I decided to fire up the grill and throw some yard stroller on it. Well not the whole bird just some leg and thigh sections. I gave it a quick rub down with poultry spice and barbecue rub and fired away. Once the chicken was done I brushed the Grumpy’s on them. Since there is such a high sugar content I didn’t apply it until the last few minutes. The Grumpy’s takes well to heat and the caramelization of the sugars rounds out all of the flavors.

Conclusion: Grumpy’s Private Reserve Bar-B-Q Grumpy’s Private Reserve Bar-B-Que Sauce Not So Bold is ue Sauce Not So Bold is a thick and rich Kansas City style barbecue sauce. It has layers of flavor that include mustard, black pepper, and smoke. Not So Bold has very little detectable heat so it would be perfect for those in your family that prefer you don’t singe off their eyebrows. A Chile-head may require the addition of some heat or an upgrade to a spicier flavor of Grumpy’s. Overall Grumpy’s Private Reserve Bar-B-Que Sauce Not So Bold is a fine example of how a KC Style BBQ Sauce should taste.

Packaging 8/10 – Fancy Die Cut Label
Aroma 9/10 – Overpowering
Appearance 8/10 – Thick, Rich, Sexy
Taste 8/10 – Layered Flavors
Heat 2/10 – Barely Detectable.

Overall 8/10 – How a KC Style BBQ Sauce should taste.

Grumpy’s Foods
5183 East 126th Court
Thornton, Colorado 80241
www.grumpysbbq.com

Hello All, today’s sampling for HotSauceBlog is Sweet Sunshine Chili Sauce Atomic flavor. It’s been a little while since my last review and I’m excited to share my experience with this very interesting looking sauce. The label boldly states “FLAVOR BEFORE FIRE”

Initial Impression: I like the multifaceted bottle being used here, and I think it would have made a great statement if it were not wrapped with one of the most ADHD labels I have seen in a long time. There was so much going on here I almost had to take a Xanax to remove the tamper seal. While we’re on the subject of tamper seals, in my opinion clear is a bad choice for a clear bottle. The inside of the neck is always goopy and makes the products overall appearance sloppy looking. A complimenting color may have even toned down the label a bit.

Ingredients: Sugar, Water, Vinegar, Ripe Red Savina Habanero Peppers, Mustard Seed, Ancho Peppers, Corn Syrup, Cayenne Peppers, Habanero Peppers, Molasses, Modified Food Starch, Salt, Worcestershire sauce, Natural Flavors, Onion, Spices, less than 1/10 of 1% sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate.

When I started reading the ingredients I became a bit confused. Sugar is the most abundant ingredient on the label. There is also corn syrup and molasses, just in case your blood sugar starts to drop during your meal. The ingredients looked a bit more like a spicy barbecue or steak sauce.

Appearance: This is a thick one. Dark and rich looking, it still has me thinking barbecue. There are tiny red flakes, and light and dark colored seeds. Overall the sauce has a nice look and is fairly appetizing, but I just can’t help wanting to put it on ribs or brisket; maybe it’s the color?

Aroma: POW! Red Savina is definitely the first thing you smell, however I get the sense that this is a pepper mash that I smell. It has that tangy slightly fermented pepper smell you get from a mash. I left the bottle open for a little while to let it breathe. The pepper smell is so pungent I can’t really pick up anything else.

Taste: Straight from the bottle, I tried a small drop. The label says it’s ATOMIC, so I approached it carefully. There is even a caution warning across the label. Sweet, No, not “sweeeet!” as in awesome, just sweet as in sugary sweet. A little heat followed but nothing that I would call atomic. No hazmat cleanup crew needed to do tonight’s dishes people; it was a false alarm. Oh, and if the flavor that they were going for is sweetness, then you certainly do get flavor before fire.

The Food Test: I was hoping this sauce would be elevated by the right food choice. Since it was very sweet and close to a steak or barbecue sauce I thought steak might be a good choice. I dipped my first cut of juicy rib eye into a small puddle of Sweet Sunshine Atomic Chili Sauce. The juice from the steak mixed with the sauce and hit the back of my throat as if I had just swallowed a handful of thumbtacks. After I coughed up a lung I drank a little iced tea and tried it again. There is a lingering heat from the chiles, but the overriding flavor here is the sweetness. I don’t get any layered or flavor complexity during the consumption of this sauce but there is a slight smoky aftertaste after some time.

Conclusion: Sweet Sunshine Atomic Chili Sauce is ok. If you like sweet sauces and are a fan of red savina mash you will like this sauce. If it’s amazing flavor or incredible heat you are looking for this sauce might leave you wanting. For me, this will go in the fridge with the other 30 hot sauces I have in there, and I’ll give it another shot on something out of the smoker.

Packaging 2/10 – Hyperactive Label
Aroma 3/10 – Overpowering
Appearance 8/10 – Thick, Rich, BBQish
Taste 2/10 – Sweet and Flat
Heat 7.5/10 – Not Atomic.

Overall 5/10 – This much sugar is better suited for waffles

Gourmet Conveniences LTD
Sweet Sunshine
P.O. Box 998
Litchfield, CT 06759
860.567.3505

How do you celebrate your birthday? Some of us will throw a party, or be the victim of a surprise party. Some will go out for a nice meal with friends, and others simply take the day off work and do nothing.

Innuendo Enterprises LLC is celebrating their seventh anniversary by sporting some new duds on the World Wide Web.

This spiffy new attire was made possible by the very creative web designer Israel Levi at the Plexus Design Group (PDG) in Northern California. PDG worked hand in hand with Innuendo Enterprises LLC to provide a seamless, interactive Web experience that was both easy and enjoyable to navigate.

Some of the new features of the NEW Innuendo Enterprises LLC website include a URL update to their new home at http://www.innuendofoods.com , a product page that features pop-up information on each of the click able image links, links to a blog, a newsletter to which you can subscribe, and page that details events they will be attending. There is so much information packed into this new site you may not be able to get to it all in just one visit.

If you like hot sauce, barbecue sauce, marinades or anything to do with great food and fun, help them celebrate their birthday by visiting the new website. If you see something that interests you click on that Contact Us link and send them a quick note.

To me salsa is one of the four major food groups; Hot Sauce, Salsa, Wing Sauce, Dry Rubs. Clearly these are the foundation to any good meal. I would think if you are proclaiming to be the king of something as important as salsa, you had better be putting your money where your mouth is!

Initial Impression: Joy! All my favorite flavors all rolled into one delicious snack food. When I saw the Chipotle Black Bean & Corn Salsa I became giddy with excitement. Salsa is pretty much my favorite food group, and BB&C has always been my salsa of choice. Throw in some Chipotle and you pretty much have a perfect food. I am excited to be reviewing Salsa King’s Chipotle Black Bean & Corn Salsa!

Ingredients: Diced tomatoes (tomato, tomato juice, tomato paste, salt, calcium chloride, citric acid) black beans (prepared black beans, water, salt, ferrous gluconate, calcium chloride), corn(corn, water, sugar, salt), tomato paste, green chilies (green chili peppers, water, salt, calcium chloride, citric acid), cider vinegar, chipotle paste (chipotle, water, citric acid), jalapeno puree (jalapeno pepper, citric acid), jalapeno pepper, onion, salt, dehydrated garlic, spices, lime juice (from concentrate), lime oil.

Wow, lots of stuff in here including some stuff I would prefer not to eat. What is ferrous gluconate anyways; rusty sugar? Also there is calcium chloride and citric acid in every other ingredient. My preference is to see a cleaner ingredient list. From the parentheses I can tell this junk is brought into the salsa from other ingredients. Perhaps some cleaner ingredients could shorten the list.

On the other hand the ingredient list was printed so small and over some graphics so you can barely read it anyways. I think I burst a blood vessel in my right eye trying to copy the ingredient list to this review.

Appearance: While I find the label to be a bit busy it definitely gets the point across. As in the ingredient list, some of the text is a little hard to read. The salsa however has an impressive appearance. It has a nice natural looking color and big chunks of stuff in it. Upon closer inspection you can see all the little bits of garlic and spice, and let’s not forget the black beans and corn; it’s all in there. It has a thick and chunky texture. There is a little juice, but I would not say this stuff was watery. This is definitely a sexy salsa. I’m getting excited about tasting it!

Aroma: Oh Yeah!! That’s the way a salsa should smell. When I uncap this jar to take a whiff my mouth instantly starts to water. You can smell all the different ingredients in the salsa. The first to hit the schnozzola is the smokiness of the chipotles, followed by garlic and onion and then the tangy tomato comes through. Can we Eat NOW!

Taste: Smoky, spicy, tomatoey; is that even a word? This is a great tasting salsa. There is not one element that jumps out at me or overpowers another. Everything seems nicely balanced and the heat is, well, pretty mild for my taste. But I remind you; this is a medium salsa. It is probably a medium in standard non Chile-head terms.

The Food Test: FOOD? Give me a break. I mean if you wanna put salsa on food go right ahead. I killed this jar with a bag of tortilla chips during the first half of the Sopranos. I’m sure you could put it on your eggs or omelets, or whatever else you like to put salsa on. This stuff is good enough to eat right out of the jar. As a matter of fact it is food all by itself. Ok, well, with chips it is!

Conclusion: If you are like me and love your chips and salsa; the Salsa King Chipotle BB&C Salsa is a winner. It is a medium heat salsa that is a meal on its own. The aroma, textures, and flavors are all balanced and delicious. There are a few ingredients on the list that I could do without; but this salsa is so tasty it probably wouldn’t stop me from buying it anyway. Get a jar and dig in!

Packaging 6/10 – A Little Busy
Aroma 9/10 – Fresh, Smoky
Appearance 10/10 – Chunky
Taste 10/10 – Balanced & Delicious
Heat 5/10 –Sort of Mild

Overall 8/10

The SalsaKing Fine Southwestern Foods
SalsaQueen@thehot1.com
www.thehot1.com
877-THE HOT1 (843-4681)
480-654-8407

I guess today is my lucky day. Worked my butt off; sold a ton of sauce and I have a nice big plate of left-over barbecue to eat for dinner. Thanks to Nick, I also have a few sauces to review. Off to the TBR (to be reviewed) Shelf to see what looks good. OMG what the “Hell” is this? Looks like today’s sauce du jour is Chuk Hell’s Magic Blend #2 Roasted Habanero Sauce w/ Whiskey, Honey & Ginger

Initial Impression: TERROR. Nick, is this a joke. I am afraid, very afraid. So many evil thought are running uncontrollably through my head. This is obviously not professionally packed. As another chilling wave of fear runs down my spine, the following thoughts occur to me; was the produce properly cleaned, jars sanitized, temps reached. What was the pH? Will I get botulism, e coli, or salmonella? OH Lord why did he send me this….Have the chili-gods forsaken me?

Ingredients: Habaneros, garlic, onion, carrots, lime juice, ginger, whiskey, honey, apple cider vinegar, salt, black pepper.

Ok so dramatics aside, this is a pretty nice list of ingredients. Since it is clearly homemade I did not expect I would find any preservatives or related nasty chemically engineered ingredients

Appearance: Where do I start? From the top I guess. The top is a standard jelly jar home canning doodad. What makes this one special is that there is a blurry picture of John Holmes roughly cut out and stuck on top. I think this picture was taken during his pre-porn days.

In place of an actual label there is a heavy paper tag. The limited information on the tag is clear and concise, however, being a label reader I felt a little lost without the nutritional data. On the bright side the tag is held on with some kind of leather hillbilly handcuff. I gave it to my kids; who tied it to the end of a stick and are outside gigging toads with it.

So now we get to the inside; the sauce is nice and thick and pretty smooth. I see the occasional seed and little flecks of black pepper or chile roast, I am intrigued. But wait, is this the deal killer? I found a tiny hair in the sauce. Initially I thought I may have dropped an eyelash into it, but when I got the hair out I realized it was half black and half white, with a tiny black tip on the white side; most likely a dog hair. At this point I really considered abandoning the review. I continued stirring the sauce around with my spoon rationalizing the potential review. It occurred to me that the lid was really hard to get off, and it made a loud sucking noise telling me that there was a vacuum. To get to that point there must have been enough heat to kill any bacteria, and there is whiskey in it. Oh what the hell; I survived Taco Bell’s cilantro, and Salinas’s spinach. I doubt a little hot sauce will kill me. Let’s go on for the sake of the review!

Aroma: Yeeehhaaw! Get a snoot full of this stuff; it hits your nose with a wallop! The fumes coming from this little jar rivals those of the finest prison wine ever made. I can’t believe the intensity of the vapors, I cough with every sniff. It is very fruity with the whiskey being the dominant scent. I can’t smell much else; perhaps it needs to breathe?

Taste: Right from the jar, I tried a small amount with the spoon. Considering the smell, I expected the whiskey to take over but that was not the case here. The lime stood up to be the dominant flavor, followed by the honey and ginger. This is a very sweet and tangy sauce, with its moderate heat, the citrus is the defiantly the star with the whiskey flavor coming out in the finish.

The Food Test: Based on the ingredients I knew BBQ would be the right choice to test this sauce. Since the heat was moderate I figured it would make a decent BBQ sauce. I was seriously impressed with the way this sauce tasted on food. It has a richness that blended extremely well with the smoky BBQ’d meat. The whiskey came through a little sooner and the citrus cut through the rich smoky meat flavors. This is a standout that I did not expect. I proceeded to slather my ribs and tri-tip with magic blend #2. It was a truly unique and delicious sauce experience.

Conclusion: Chuk Hell’s Magic Blend #2 tastes out of this world on barbecue. While I do have some serious reservations about the packaging, and sanitation; that does not discount the fact that it is delicious. Even though fear was a constant shadow in the testing of this magical concoction; I emerged the next morning unscathed. Besides, what kind of a magic potion would it be without a little hair of the dog? I think this sauce is a winner. If you like a sweet, citrusy habanero sauce with moderate heat, you would love Chuk Hells Magic Blend #2. Packaged professionally and I would be a regular customer.

Packaging 2/10 – Homemade Appearance
Aroma 3/10 – Overpowering
Appearance 9/10 – Thick, smooth
Taste 10/10 – Sweet & Tangy
Heat 6/10 – Moderately Hot

Overall 6/10

Hello HSB, another product review coming your way! Today we’re sampling Brooklyn’s Best 1-Minute Marinade. I have been doing a lot of cooking lately; depending on who you talk to. It’s can be a good or a bad thing. My cooking is fine; it’s the heat level that I have to watch. I have to really hold back when I cook since I’m the only Chile-head in the house. The kids won’t eat anything I’ve spiced up; even the dog won’t eat off my plate!

Initial Impression: On first Impressions I’m not really sure what to think about Brooklyn’s Best marinade! There is nothing about the packaging, the label, or the appearance of the sauce that screams out its nature. I think if I saw this on the shelf at the store I would be confused; and I would probably choose something that made me more confident of what I was getting.

Ingredients: NATURALLY BREWED SOY SAUCE (WATER, WHEAT, SOYBEANS, SALT), SESAME OIL, GARLIC GRANULES, POWDERED GINGER, ONION POWDER, BLACK PEPPER, CAYENNE PEPPER, XANTHAN GUM, CITRIC ACID

Hey, this looks pretty good as marinades go; all natural and no funky chemically engineered foodstuffs. The list of ingredients looks very much like what you would find in an Asian dressing or Chinese chicken salad. I guess we’ll see as we progress.

Appearance: So I thought I was confused before, but now I am completely perplexed. What does two fat, bald, wiseguy looking Goombas in matching suits with power ties, have to do with an oriental style marinade. Are these guys Capos in the Brooklyn Chinese mafia? Don’t get me wrong; I like the label, it’s colorful and whimsical, I’m just not sure how it relates to what’s in the bottle. The marinade itself is brown with little black pepper flecks. It looks tasty and is quite viscous. It should stick to your meat quite nicely.

Aroma: Helllooo Chinatown! As I suspected this stuff is full of Asian influences. The first thing to hit your olfactory sense is the toasty scent of sesame oil. The layers of ginger, garlic, and onion seem to wash together in the mellowed soy sauce. This familiar fragrance is really making my mouth water!

Taste: First taste as always is right out of the jar. Yikes! I think one of those cicciobomba on the label just tried to whack my taste buds. This stuff is way to powerful out of the jar. Don’t bother subjecting yourself to that particularly bad experience. The salty taste alone is enough to make your blood pressure cuff explode. Once my tongue desensitized itself I could taste some of those flavors we smelled a minute ago. I guess that’s why it only takes a minute to marinate with Brooklyn’s best!

The Food Test: It just so happens some chicken thighs were left out to thaw for dinner tonight. Since I still love my Reveo tumble marinating machine, I thought this would be another great opportunity to play with it. The whole deal went into the marinator for 10 minutes then onto a sheet pan and in the oven to bake. MMMmmmm, Mmmm! This is some of the best chicken I’ve had in a long time. The flavors have melded perfectly with the chicken and the saltiness has completely dissipated. You can taste the layers of sesame, ginger, garlic and soy; each hitting a different part of your tongue. Partner this with the crispy chicken skin and juicy meat and you have heaven in your mouth!

Conclusion: Brooklyn’s Best 1-Minute Marinade will certainly impart flavor to any meat in one minute. For a little more intensity I would marinate longer and maybe even brush some on during the cooking. While this is not hot or spicy it does have plenty to offer in the flavor department. I found that a generous squirt of sriracha can add some desired heat to this delicious potion. If you like an oriental style marinade this would make a nice addition to your pantry.

Packaging 7/10 – A bit Confusing
Aroma 9/10 – Savory & Delicious
Appearance 8/10 – Smooth & Viscous
Taste 10/10 – Complex & Flavorful
Heat 0/10 – Mild Flavor N/A

Overall 8.5/10

All Food’s LLC.
860-829-8030

With the Fancy Food show behind us, I finally have the time to get back to doing some more reviews. It can be nice to stay in a fancy hotel and have meals prepared by a chef at a hoity-toity restaurant, but I find that both my budget and my patience are tested each day by the bland restaurant food, too soft bed, and the $50 a day for parking…It’s good to be home!

Initial Impression: I’m a big fan of Jamaican Jerk. When I saw this bottle I definitely smiled. I have not had a decent jerk chicken since the Caribbean Zone shut its doors years ago. Nanny’s looks like a quality product and I am excited to try it. I think I will break out the new tumble marinator I got for ChristmaKwanannukah; let’s not leave anyone out!

Ingredients: Organic onions, water, organic soy sauce, organic green onions, organic hickory smoke flavor, garlic, distilled vinegar, habanero peppers, allspice, salt caramel color, organic cane juice, thyme, chili powder.

Hey, there are a lot of organic ingredients in here. Do you think this stuff might be organic? Are the peppers organic? It doesn’t say. Hmmm? Well, the ingredient list looks great; no funky stuff, no fillers, preservatives or colors. Me Likey!

Appearance: Nanny’s has sort of a strange look for a bottled product. It looks like brown pulp in water. It doesn’t really stay together; rather the pulpy stuff settles together and sticks to the sides. This looks more like a homemade recipe than something you would expect to see in a bottle. When I poured it over the chicken in the marinating hopper I got the same results; the liquid went to the bottom and the pulp collected on the meat. Well, it’s nothing that bashing around in the marinating hopper under a vacuum for 20 minute won’t fix.

Aroma: Wow, when I opened the cap and inhaled the savory bouquet it was not at all what I had expected. Nanny’s Jerk marinade smells like a fine steak or BBQ sauce. It is rich and sweet smelling with hints of garlic and onion, and a smooth toasty finish. I was expecting the usual overpowering smell of clove and pimento that so many of these sauces have. I was pleasantly surprised.

Taste: As I expected an out of the bottle taste was not so pleasant. It was a little salty and the flavor was flat and oniony. There was not much else going on. This is not really an appropriate taste test for this kind of product since it needs the magic chemical reaction of heat to make it all work. We’ll have to wait for the Food test before we can really know!

The Food Test: Now that the chicken breast tenders are done flopping around in their Caribbean fun house, it’s time to cook! I opted for the indoor grill, since it is cold and raining here. These tenders cooked up nicely in this marinade. Some of the pulp that was on the chicken formed a savory and delicious crust where it hit the grill. The flavors defiantly developed during this process and the saltiness that we detected in the bottle was gone. The flavors of the crust, along with the onion, and the spices, came alive and were now a complex and pleasing blend; that happily dance on your tongue.

Conclusion: Nanny’s Jamaican Kitchen Jerk Marinade is a wonderful change from the over sweetened and over perfumed jerk marinades and spices you usually find. This feels like the real deal. If you went to someone’s home in Jamaica and were served an authentic Jerk meal I bet it would taste just like this. Since this was the mild version there was very little heat to speak of, but they make a spicy version and I fixed mine with some Caribbean Red habanero sauce. “Dis ees a real winna mon!”

Packaging 9/10 – Looks Authentic
Aroma 9/10 – Savory & Delicious
Appearance 6/10 – Strange & Pulpy
Taste 10/10 – “It make everyting Ire”
Heat 0/10 – Mild Flavor N/A

Overall 9/10

Nanny’s Jamaican Kitchen
Yucaipa, CA 92399
909-790-1521
www.nannysjamaicankitchen.com
Certified Organic by Organic Certifiers

Hey HSB’rs Catching up on the many items I have to review is a task that I am enjoying. There is nothing better to a Chile-head than having an array of fiery foods to sample and share with you guys. Today I tasted Burning Asphalt Hot Sauce Jalapeno.

Initial Impression: I’m a little confused by this product. I’m not really sure if I’m supposed to eat it or pour it on myself and go into a Ricky Bobby; I’m on fire psychotic episode. Hang on while I strip down to my underwear and run around with hot sauce on me because the bottle says: racing is dangerous, but safer than burning asphalt hot sauce. Help me Lord! Help me Buddha! Help me graphic artist? Break out the Adobe Illustrator ‘cause someone need help.

Ingredients: Jalapeno Peppers, water, green peppers, ground mustard seed, vinegar, sugar, modified food starch, fruit juice for color, salt, sodium benzoate, spices.

When I first started reading the ingredients I was pretty happy, peppers were the first ingredient and that is always a good thing. There was an ingredient however, I always avoid; sodium benzoate. I’ll not go into detail of why I would want to avoid preservatives in food. You can do your own research on this ingredient and make your own decision.

Appearance: When I took off the wine capsule; I hate when packers do that! I saw something that both surprised and disturbed me. The surprise part came in the form of a metal cap. I have not seen a metal cap on a hot sauce before. The disturbing part came in the form of the rust on the metal cap. The doctor said I need more iron, not iron oxide! Apart from the rusty cap and the homemade appearance of the label the product in the bottle looks great. It was nice and thick yet still pourable and has some nice chunks in it, giving it good stick to your food qualities. Beside, there was no rust inside the cap!

Aroma: Bright and fruity. This is what I pick up when I take a huge snoot full of the delicious vapors coming from this bottle, mostly the smell of sweet green peppers with a hint of jalapeno. I feel like I’m getting some garlic and onion as well, but those are not listed in the ingredients. Perhaps they are in dry spice form, I’m just guessing? In any event a very pleasing aroma; it made my mouth water!

Taste: Straight from the bottle, I tried a small drop. The label says it’s a 6/10 so approached with a little caution. Hey, this stuff tastes great! I move to a full teaspoon. I could eat this stuff alone, maybe a nice jalapeno soup? Well, I gotta tell you, this sauce has great flavor, it is however more of a green pepper sauce than a jalapeno sauce. It is a little sweet and perhaps could stand to have the sugar taken out. I find myself chugging it right out of the bottle during this review, so I guess I like it! As far as the heat level goes it’s a 3/10 at the most. It barely warms the tongue. It’s gonna be hard to find a dish that wont burry this sauce.

The Food Test: What food will actually make a hot sauce seem hotter than it really is? Soup and I just happened to have made a nice big pot of meatball soup. This soup has sort of a southwestern flair to it so the jalapeno sauce should be the perfect accompaniment. As I suspected, this jalapeno sauce turned out to be a perfect match for my soup. The hot broth brought up the heat of the sauce enough to make it stand out, and the flavor profile of the sauce worked perfectly in the soup; giving it a spicy Latin flair.

Conclusion: Burning Asphalt Jalapeno Hot Sauce may be more dangerous than racing. But it’s like that because of the preservatives and rusty metal cap, not the heat. The flavor rocks the house down and I would be happy drinking this stuff right out of the bottle. It goes perfectly with soup and I have consumed over half the bottle in one tasting/meal. If it had a little more heat it could stand up to more challenging dishes and I would be a loyal customer. Errr, once the rusty thing gets taken care of!

Packaging 1/10 – Weak label, Rusty Cap
Aroma 9/10 – Bright & Fruity
Appearance 9/10 – Thick, Chunky
Taste 10/10 – I Drank it Straight
Heat 2/10 – Not Jalapeno Hot.

Overall 6/10

Jeffrey Furash
Burning Asphalt Sauces, LLC
P.O. Box 500
Forestville, NY 14062-0500
1-877-9SAUCES (972-8237)
www.BurningAsphalt.com

Tags: hot sauce, jalapeno

Mornin’ HSB’rs, Welcome to another frigid 36 degree Northern California Morning. I know its warmer here than at Uncle Big’s place, but dammit I moved to California to get away from this shit! Well, I’m gonna need something spicy to get things started; so this morning I’ll be tasting Denzel’s Dangerous Goods. I hope it’s the antifreeze I’m looking for!

Initial Impression: When I picked up this bottle I was not to sure what I was in for. The mostly black and brown label is somewhat elementary. The label resembles a packing crate and it says Dangerous Goods on the label, but it’s not really scary. As a matter of fact I think I didn’t believe that the contents were dangerous at all. I was however, pleased to see the gold foil Scovie sticker in the label, but I had to move it to access the ingredient list. I noticed that the English ingredients were covered. Hey Denzel, you’re not gonna move to Quebec and try to become your own country are you?

Ingredients: Vinegar, onions, habanero peppers, garlic, salt, basil.

Short and sweet with no complicated words that I can’t pronounce, that’s the way an ingredient list should read! Well, I take that back; the ingredients are written in French directly under the English list, and I can’t pronounce most of those words! I like to see an all natural product with no colors or preservatives added.

Appearance: Denzel’s Dangerous Goods comes in the standard 5oz woozy bottle that you see most hot sauces packed in. The brown label almost matches the color of the thick and chunky potion inside the bottle. There are visible pieces of vegetable and herb matter suspended in this sauce. In fact it’s so thick and chunky it sticks to the sides of the jar; you could almost make a small mound on your plate.

The chile perfume hit my esophagus like a box of tacksAroma: When I uncapped this sauce I expected to get hit with the vinegar tang, after all it was the first ingredient listed. This was not the case. Habanero is the dominant scent that hits your nose, and hits it hard. I took in a large whiff after shaking and uncapping the bottle and found myself coughing as the chile perfume hit my esophagus like a box of tacks. Totally unexpected! I backed off on the enthusiasm and a more reserved smell confirmed the initial finding; this is definitely a habanero sauce. With the overwhelming habanero scent it was hard to pick out any other aromas.

Taste: Out of the jar you taste peppers and garlic. It is an extremely clean flavor; uncomplicated by a lot of herbs and spices. The fundamental design of this sauce makes it taste like it is home made. This is an unadulterated pepper and garlic sauce.

The Food Test: This morning I was pleasantly offered a nice California breakfast; No, not granola and redwood bark, an egg scramble with turkey, tomato, broccoli, and cheese. A few pieces of sausage to go with the eggs and a little cottage cheese with fresh berries. So my typical modus operandi is to slather my eggs with hot sauce. Having just tasted this sauce I probably should have known better. The delicate flavors of the egg scramble didn’t stand a chance! The heat of this sauce completely trounced my breakfast like a squirrel on the interstate. Fortunately; Dangerous Goods taste great, because I have no idea what the scramble tastes like. I would rate the heat at about 8 out of 10, and the garlicky flavor comes through more when paired with food. Next time I will be sure to pick a dish that can withstand the bold heat and flavor of this sauce.

Conclusion: Denzel’s Dangerous Goods definitely warmed my chilly bones this morning. It also made my brow sweat and my nose run. This is a great sauce that features the clean flavors of fresh roasted habanero and garlic and that’s it. It is brilliantly designed in its uncomplicated nature and provides plenty of heat and lots of pepper flavor. If you are looking for a simple sauce that puts peppers up front and will make you sweat this is the sauce for you!

Packaging 7/10 – Label is a Bit Dark
Aroma 9/10 – Habanero Kick
Appearance 9/10 – Thick, Chunky
Taste 9/10 – Pure & Clean
Heat 8/10 – Habanero Heat

Overall 8/10

Denzel’s Gourmet Foods Ltd.
Box 398
Enderby, BC
V0E 1V0
Meet Your Maker: Denzel

Tags: habanero, hot sauce

Catherine and Pappy Bosley bought the Moonlite for $50,000 from Sonnie and Sadie Bertram and J.C. & Betty Stinson. The Bosley’s used the 5,000 dollar profit from selling their house to make the down payment, moved in with Catherine’s mother and entered the restaurant business with no experience, and little formal education. Then, the Moonlite was a fourteen year old barbecue joint with 30 seats including stools at the counter. He was 48 and she 42, they had five children.

Pappy drove a cab for Veterans Cab Company, and worked at Fleischman’s Distillery. Catherine was a foreman at Glenmore Distillery. It was Pappy’s layoff from Fleischman’s that caused them to reexamine their opportunities. The owners of Moonlite were ready to sell, as they were looking to retire. The restaurant had been around then for 14 years and was well known to the Bosley’s being near Catherine’s mother’s house. Their five children grew up working next door to the Moonlite at the Big Dipper (a local hamburger joint).

In this time of large chains and merged companies Moonlite has grown as a family business. Hugh and Catherine, along with four children and several grandchildren work together to keep things going and growing at a slow, steady rate that now requires a staff of over 120 dedicated members working various facets of the business. These areas now include a 350 seat restaurant, a U.S.D.A. inspected processing plant, an extensive catering department (capable of serving 15 to 15,000 with unparalleled quality and professionalism), a wholesale division serving the region with Barbecue and related products through distributors in a four state area, as well as a busy carryout department.

During our visit to the Moonlite I had the opportunity to spend some time with Pat Bosley. He was more than happy to take us on a tour and show us his operation. Part of the tour was his schpeel about the process; it was obvious that he had told this story more than the one time. It went something like this;

“Our Bar-B-Q is slow cooked over a Hickory log fire in our custom built pits. This method of cooking imparts a distinctive flavor to our beef, chicken, mutton, pork, and ribs. Real Bar-B-Q, according to government standards, must be cooked to lose at least 30% of its original weight. This can be done in many ways, but the only way we do it is with our slow cook method, our pit cooks dipping (basting) each piece several times during the process. We don’t even put sauce on our meats until after it’s cooked. Most places are afraid to let their Bar-B-Q be tasted unless it’s swimming in sauce. (At this restaurant, you put the sauce on at the table.) When we started we had 30 seats, today we BBQ and average of 15,000lbs of meat a week.”

“Our Burgoo is a thick hearty soup made with lots of mutton, beef, chicken, and vegetables. In this part of the country, early settlers made a stew that consisted of any meats and vegetables available. That often meant game meat such as deer, squirrel, raccoon, rabbit or quail. As time passed, each cook fine tuned his or her recipe by adding special ingredients that made their Burgoo the “best”.”

Now that you know everything there is to know about the Moonlite BBQ Inn let’s talk about the food a bit. I wanted to try as many different things as I could so I opted for the buffet; a steal at $8.75. It was hard to focus on what should be a simple task of getting a plate of food. I have never seen a BBQ buffet of this magnitude before, come to think of it, this may be my first BBQ buffet ever. There was every kind of slow cooked meat you could imagine, and equally as many side dishes. Know the limitations of both my plate and stomach I realized I would have to be somewhat selective in my sampling.

Since we were in Kentucky; famous for BBQ Mutton and I had never had mutton before, I know this was where we would have to start. I also added some chopped beef and sliced pork to the plate. On the side was some bread dressing, green beans and ham and beans. Oh I threw in a tiny bit of mac and cheese, out of curiosity.

So let’s start with the sides; the green beans were sweet and tender with just a little vinegary tang. The dressing was moist and flavorful with little pieces of celery and onion; it was better than most dressings I’ve had on a buffet but maybe not as good as Mom’s. The mac’n’cheese was good as well, again better than most buffets. The bean’s and ham were awesome. The beans were tender but not mushy, the broth was sweet and salty at the same time and the chunks of country ham melted in your mouth. These were without a doubt some of the best I’ve had.

Onto the meat; I found the chopped beef to be just that, chopped beef in BBQ sauce. I was tender and it tasted just fine, but to me it lacked excitement. I think perhaps it may have been chopped down to fine for my preference and I found it to be a step away from pulverized. The sliced pork should was very good, it was minimally seasoned with just salt and pepper and barbecued to perfection. It was tender and juicy and took to the sauce quite nicely. The mutton was definitely the star of this show; having been unimpressed with the chopped beef I selected the sliced mutton. The sliced mutton was fantastic; also minimally seasoned it was barbecued to a moist and tender perfection. It was extremely flavorful and surprisingly not gamey as I thought I might be. There was the perfect amount of caramelized crust on the outside pieces that created the slightest crunch. I also tried the mutton dip; this sauce is basically an au jus for the meat. Its purpose is to add a little moisture and bring out the natural flavors of the mutton. I found the dip to be a winner. If you were to taste the dip alone you might be disappointed, however it truly comes to life when applied to the meat. There were other sauces on the table to help enhance your meal; a sweet barbecue sauce for the meats other than mutton, and a hot cayenne pepper sauce; which I would have like to have it hotter. It was definitely a pleasant upgrade from the typical Tabasco you usually find on tables.

Overall I give the Moonlite Bar-B-Que Inn a two thumbs way up! I truly enjoyed the food. The dining rooms and buffet areas were well maintained and clean, and the staff and owners were extremely hospitable and friendly. If you are ever in Owensboro, KY make sure you go there. If you are anywhere nearby it would be worth the detour.