Sorry for the lame title folks, Passow’s got a case of the Post Superbowl Drinking Monday’s. So to solve that problem I’m cracking open a product from the Buckeye State, Walt’s Spicy Barbeque Sauce. This hails from all the way down in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Walt’s Spicy Barbeque Sauce Ingredients: Ketchup, vinegar, molasses, brown sugar, citrus juice, Habanero, spices, liquid smoke.

This comes in a salsa type jar (which few places use) and for the type of sauce this is, makes dipping barbequed food into it a breeze! I do have to point out that ketchup is not expanded upon on the ingredients list which I believe is a requirement. The label is simple but stands out and has that “local” vibe to it which I so appreciate. Now let’s give her a taste!

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Want a good cheese dip that’s spicy enough for you and one to impress your football-loving friends for your Super Bowl party? Well, we put ourselves to the test this year to create one to fit just that purpose. Linda wanted to make something along the lines of that all-too-familiar Velveeta + Rotel dice tomatoes & chiles mix that we have all tried at one point or another. We wanted to make this one without tomatoes, so we decided to use tomatillos as our main flavoring addition. Try this one on for size:

Spicy Tomatillo & Jalapeno cheese dip

16 oz. container of Velveeta
16 oz. jar of tomatillo salsa (we used one from Santa Fe Seasons)
1/4 jar of Mexican Confetti Peppers
1/4 tsp Vicious Viper Toxic Mix by Cajohns Fiery Foods

Gather all of your necessary ingredients, as well as a medium-sized bowl for your dip. We were shooting for simplicity over the gourmet amount of ingredients, we opted for the above four as our basic list.

Cut the Velveeta into several large pieces and combine all ingredients into a microwaveable bowl. Microwave for 5 minutes on high, then mix until well-blended.

Serve with chips. Makes about 4 cups of cheese dip. We consider the heat level to be Hot. For a spicier dip, use more of the Vicious Viper spice mix. Enjoy!

Zane & Zack’s World Famous Honey Co.’s “I dream of Hot Sauce” is up for auction! Packaged in a gorgeous 1973 Jim Beam”I Dream of Jeannie” bottle, the top is covered in gold and silver wax and the bottle is numbered and signed by the whole Zane & Zack’s crew. There are only 25 in existence with several numbers left to choose from.

ALL proceeds from this sale will be donated to World Concern where 94% of each dollar goes directly to help the victims of Haiti’s earthquake. Zane & Zack’s will also pay for shipping in hopes of raising more money to help all of the victims in this horrible disaster.

PLEASE BE AS GENEROUS AS YOU CAN!

Thanks for looking!

Well, we failed again in our attempt to recapture our spicy chicken soup glory from 2 years ago. Despite this year’s recipe turning out far superior (in our opinion) to ones we have made before, it failed to gather support from either the judges or the crowd at hand. The reactions to the spicy soup, although not too terribly spicy, were quite entertaining. At least one person claimed it was the best soup they had ever tried and begged for the recipe on the spot. Others were merely complimentary. One woman, upon finding out that it was spicy, said “I don’t like anything spicy” and promptly went and dropped her sample cup in the trash can without even tasting it.

Entertaining, to say the least.

All that said, this is the 2010 version of our annual spicy chicken soup recipe. “Jewish penicillin,” we call it. Enjoy!

Spicy Chicken and Rice Pepper Pot Soup
By Joe & Linda Levinson

4 tbsp. vegetable oil
6-8 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
12 cups cooked wild rice
4 large onions, diced
12 stalks celery, diced
12 cloves garlic, minced
8 teaspoons fresh thyme
6 bay leaves
1 bunch fresh cilantro, stems removed
red, orange, yellow bell peppers, 1 each, diced medium
2 green bell peppers, diced medium
2 poblano peppers, diced medium
8 large jalapeno peppers, de-seeded and chopped
2 serrano peppers, de-seeded and chopped
1 habanero pepper, de-seeded and chopped
4 10-ounce packages of chopped frozen spinach, thawed
4 14.5-ounce cans diced tomatoes with green chiles
2 jars spicy salsa
10 32-ounce containers of chicken stock
3 tbsp. cayenne pepper
1 large container blackening seasoning
water, as needed

First, prepare the blackened chicken. Rinse and pat dry the chicken breasts. Rub blackening seasoning onto each side and blacken by cooking each breast a few minutes on each side in a skillet. Place the blackened chicken breasts into oven pans and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Allow chicken to cool and cut into bite-sized pieces and set aside.

Heat the oil in your large soup pot. Add the celery, onions, peppers, and garlic to the hot oil and sauté for 5 minutes on medium heat. Add the diced chicken and all other soup ingredients, except the rice, and cook covered for several hours on the stovetop on medium heat. As the soup cooks, it concentrates a bit, so add water to desired taste and spice level.

When close to desire serving time, add cooked rice to the soup and serve. This prevents the rice from getting too mushy over time as it cooks with the soup.

The spice level with this soup can vary with your use of the peppers. For a hotter soup, do not de-seed the peppers. The heat level of this soup, as listed above, should be considered medium.

Makes approximately 4 gallons of soup. Since this soup has a very Hispanic flavor to it, we say:

“Comer bien!”

Still finishing off my stock of stuff from the Weekend of Fire and this one is from the extremely friendly folks at Kentucky’s Smokin’ Grill. According to them, Too Hot For You! Extra Hot this is the hottest product they make. It comes in a 18 ounce jar with a simple yet attractive label and is described as an all natural meat specialty sauce/concentrate.

Kentucky’s Smokin’ Grill Too Hot For You! Extra Hot Ingredients: Brown sugar, natural spices, pepper, garlic, salt, orange peel, onion, water, vinegar, honey or molasses, natural hickory smoke and hot pepper extract.

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We have some extra tickets to this event, so contact us via our CONTACT FORM if you want to attend this event and see if we can win it again with our hot & spicy chicken soup!

The Brotherhood of Congregation Beth Tikvah (in Worthington, Ohio)
Proudly Presents
Chicken Soup … and a Lot More!
On January 30

With the cold of winter upon us, it’s time for the two most popular Jewish comfort foods.

So join us for

Steamy-Hot Chicken Soup
&
Freshly-Baked Challah
&
An Evening of Fabulous Entertainment
at the
Souper Bowl Chicken Soup Cook-Off
On January 30 at 5:00 PM

It should be a great evening of good food & wonderful entertainment for you, your family and friends!

When
Saturday, January 30, 2009 at Congregation Beth Tikvah

Time
5:00 PM Soup & Challah Contest begins.
– Sample the entries & vote for your favorites!
– Silent auction and win raffle prizes
7:00 PM Outstanding Entertainment from “Take Two”

This Brotherhood project raises funds to send children from Beth Tikvah to Jewish summer camps. A portion of the soup and challah is donated to Holy Family Soup Kitchen to provide nourishment to families in need.

There will be a raffle and silent auction with some great and valuable prizes.

A reader asked about sauces out there which are low in sodium. Does anyone know of any sauces that have low or no sodium?

What are your thoughts on the sodium content of hot sauce?

Talk amongst yourselves.

We have a new logo, in case you haven’t seen it:

We decided to make it possible to get a groovy new t-shirt, hat, mug, and some other flair with our logo on it. There is certainly no shortage of cool chilehead-themed t-shirts and other apparel out there, but there is only ONE Hot Zone Online, so feel free to pick up something and show it off if you like…perhaps even at an industry show.

For those of you who might remind us of when we said, “we’re not in the business to make a profit from our blog,” we will still agree with that assertion. Given how many of these might sell and the minimal profit if they do, we will simply be funneling that money back into the blog’s maintenance costs. Let’s face it, sales from our t-shirts aren’t going to pay the mortgage. LOL Enjoy!

It’s time again for that perennial favorite here in central Ohio, the North Market Fiery Foods Festival at the North Market in Columbus, OH.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Fiery Foods Festival Schedule:

* 8 a.m. North Market opens, special vendors today
* 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., Face Painting by Rita
* 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. music by Eugene Beer
* 11a.m. – 2 p.m., Mark Wood Fun Show, cowboy tricks and balloon shapes
* 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., musical entertainment by the Piano Peddler
* 11 a.m. Free maracas, sombreros, balloons and chili-pepper shaped cookies for the kids (while supplies last)
* 11 a.m. Professional Chili Cook-off judging of local chefs (pre-registration required)
* 12 p.m. Amateur Chili Cook-off (pre-registration required) email info@northmarket.com
* 1 p.m., Hot Sauce Contest (pre-registration required)
* 1 – 3 p.m., music by Island Breeze
* 3 p.m., Hot Wing Eating Contest (registration on-site)
* 3– 5 p.m., music by the Gadabouts

Hot and spicy foods featured throughout the North Market all day

There will also be an amateur salsa-making contest, although this does not seem to appear on the official schedule just yet. We will post more about that when it becomes available. Many of the events are the same as they were last year…the two chili cookoffs, the Hot Wing Eating contest, the entertainment, etc. What’s new for 2010 is:

- There will be more hot & spicy food vendors this year. The upstairs kitchen area has mainly been used for people (interested or not) who wanted to eat their food in there, and the space has been co-opted to bring in some vendors especially for the event.
- Two new amateur contests to test your cooking mettle. If you make your own salsa or hot sauce, then contact CaJohn (cajohn@cajohns.com) or Mary Martineau at the North Market about entering one of those competitions.
- CaJohn will almost certainly ratchet up the heat for the wing contest. Again. Come for the food, stay for the freaks.

On an utterly cool note, there will be a special chilehead dinner after the show on Saturday. One of Columbus’ local Chinese food restaurants is going to cook up a special dinner featuring fresh super-hot chiles that should guarantee some gastronomic pain for those who partake. Space is limited, so send us an email through our CONTACT FORM if you want to reserve a spot or hear more about this event.

Also, judges are needed for the salsa-making and hot sauce competitions as well. In addition to the thrill of getting to be a high-falootin’ judge for an event like this, there is usually some other goodies in it for you as well. We will will serve as one judge for each of the contest, so there is a need for 2-3 more per contest. Again, send us an email through our CONTACT FORM if you want to help out for this event.

This review is long overdue and has been in the works since November. I met the fine folks from Crazy Uncle Jester’s at this last years Weekend of Fire where they proceeded to light me up in short order with their sauces. They were kind enough to donate a whole box of some of their products (and believe me, they have a big product line with some interesting sounding stuff). As usual, with large amounts of sauces to review, I’ll lightly touch upon each product with a taste run down, my thoughts, and heat description. Let the carnival of capsaicin commence!

Crazy Uncle Jester’s Jamaican Hellfire Ingredients: Pears (pears, water, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup), onion, Bell Peppers, brown sugar, sugar, Jalapenos, Serranos, Habaneros, honey, mustard, garlic, spices.

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