Big Dawg Fire Department
Chipotle Dip MixFirst impression: This is actually the first time that I’m trying one of the 6 new Big Dawg dry dip mixes. I tried a couple of their salsa products in New Mexico this past year and they were pretty decent. But if I recall the dry dip mixes weren’t available then. Does anyone know if I’m correct on that? I read the back of the package where it’s suggested to mix the entire contents of the package in with 2 cups of sour cream. But since I’m not a huge sour cream fan, I decided that I’d try my hand at flavoring some cream cheese to go along with a yummy sun dried tomato bagel that I happened to have from the local bagel shop.
Ingredients: chipotle flakes, garlic powder, paprika, sea salt, MSG (Monosodium Glutamate), and other spices.
Appearance/Smell/Taste: Okay, since chipotle flakes were the first ingredient on the list. I was expecting a good deal of them to be mixed into this dry mixture. And yes, there were bountiful flakes of chipotle. It gives the overall smell a nice dry smoky aroma. There is almost a hint of sweetness in the odor, but after looking over the ingredients again I can’t seem to figure out what is giving me the impression of sweetness. The heat is on the lower end of the HSB heat scale, perhaps a 2 or 3 at most. Moving on down the list I noticed my least favorite ingredient MSG! OUCH! Big Dawg what’s up with the use of MSG! Well it’s there, so I must provide some links for those that would like to know more about this ever so present food additive. Now there is the Wikipedia version”¦
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monosodium_glutamate
Then there is the version from the people who benefit the most by using MSG in food production”¦
http://www.msgfacts.com/facts/msgfacts.html
What cracks me up about the previous link is that they actually say, ‘new studies show that MSG may play a role in the overall health and nutrition of people who need it most.’ Without providing a SINGLE link or any factual information regarding these supposed ‘new studies’! Am I just supposed to take this at face value?!? Of course you should not. That is what is great about the internet! The next and final link on MSG is from msgtruth.org.
I suffer from headaches when I eat foods that contain processed MSG as an additive. This is partly why I’m sticking with just adding the Big Dawg Chipotle Dip Mix to cream cheese. So without further ado I touch my tongue to the spoonful of dip mix to see what it tastes like straight up out of the package. YES! SWEET and smoky! It tastes exactly like what I was expecting after smelling the mix quite a few times. The garlic comes through really strong too. It’s that ‘dry’ garlic flavor that only garlic powder gives you. There is also a good deal of salt in there too, but I won’t come off and say it’s too salty until I mix it up and try it out in the cream cheese. Now I could have used this as a rub for a steak or perhaps mixed some into ground beef and made a few burgers. Instead it was time that I made some breakfast to review a hot product.
Prepared meal: Sun Dried Tomato Bagel w/Chipotle Cream Cheese
A dip mix is ultra easy to use. They are almost like ‘pre-measured’ spice combinations that could be used straight up to flavor almost anything. Soups, stews, meats, tacos, the list is almost endless and Big Dawg helps you out with a handy little hint on the back of the package. But like I said earlier I wasn’t a huge sour cream fan, so I opted for cream cheese instead. After allowing 8 oz. of cream cheese to soften to room temperature I mixed in roughly ½ of the Big Dawg Chipotle Dip Mix. Looking at the cream cheese it gave it a reddish hue with the large chunks of dried chipotle throughout my seasoned cream cheese mixture. I then covered the bowl with plastic wrap and returned it to the fridge to let it set for a full 24 hours. Coming back the next morning I spread my bagel with the flavored cream cheese. Smelling the chipotle flavored cream cheese actually made my mouth water. Let’s see what it tastes like on the bagel”¦
Complement to meal: Okay, after sitting in the fridge for 24 hours the flavors have totally permeated the cream cheese. I’m finding that the garlic powder is too overpowering! This is coming from a man who will eat an entire bulb of garlic with a meal or something that I’ll cook. I LOVE the taste of fresh garlic, but garlic powder has that ‘dry’ garlic flavor that just isn’t very appetizing to me. The heat has dropped from a 2-3 on the HSB heat scale to a measly 1, almost no heat at all in the cream cheese. But this mix is also too salty for my palette. I’m having a hard time eating the bagel. There is still a nice smoky flavor from the chipotle but the overt saltiness and high powered dry garlic flavor is killing the experience for me. Although to those that don’t mind huge amounts of salty garlic goodness, this just might be the dip mix for you! Try it with some sour cream instead of the cream cheese monster I ended up creating! -Lars-
Initial impression: 8/10
Ingredient quality/content: 4/10 (using MSG killed this score)
Flavor/textue/smell: 6/10
Heat: 2/10
Overall: 5/10
Big Dawg Fire Department
http://www.bigdawgsalsa.com/
P.O. Box 821623
North Richland Hills, TX 76182
bigdawg@bigdawgsalsa.com