Tom Pfleider and Joe share a common background in the medical field, not to mention a taste for hot & spicy foods. Tom’s generosity in granting in a few bottles of his amazingly good (and nearly used up) products for use in The Hot Zone Online’s kitchen lab is one that we’ll appreciate for many weeks to come. Thanks again, Tom!

Our trip to Las Vegas in October 2004 was a profitable one…and not because of how well we did at the slot machines. We attended the finals of the ICS National Chili Cookoff outside the Mandalay Bay casino. Underneath one of the bigger tents was located a booth for The Art of Chipotle, then known as Schizophrenic Chipotle. We greedily gobbled up samples of all their products, and made a mental note that we MUST get some for our own fiendish kitchen uses. With those in hand, we spoke with Tom Pfleider, philosopher-king of Pfleider Foods, about his delightful chipotle products….

When you first tasted the sauces that would become The Art of Chipotle products, did you have any idea how successful they would become?

I first tasted what is now “Sweet Heat Addiction” at a backyard barbeque and decided to start Pfleider Pfoods. I knew that this was a unique taste that I could use as a foundation for other products. When we sampled family and friends they all raved about Sweet Heat, but we knew we had something special after winning awards in our first competition (Fiery Foods Challenge) hosted by Chile Pepper Magazine. Since then we have assembled 20 awards in our first year and all our our products have been honored.

What is the most enjoyable aspect of your involvement with The Art of Chipotle?

I have been an entrepreneur my entire career. Pfleider Pfoods is the fourth company that I have started, but it has definitely been the most fulfilling since it began with a simple recipe. It gave me the opportunity to take a product and company from conception to the broad marketplace and control every aspect of product development, marketing, sales, distribution, promotion and everything in between. The highlight has been the response to our label which features my family depicted as pepperheads. I created these images using favorite family photos altered with Photoshop software. We won a Scovie with this design and continue to get acclaim from all areas of the industry.

Is there any one award you have received that you covet most, or one that you haven’t yet obtained that you would most like to have?

Two awards come to mind: Winning 1st and 3rd in the Medium Heat Sauce category of the Scovies and sweeping the “Chile Specific” category at the America’s Zesty Best Food Show. View image My company is focused specifically on chipotle products and a medium, pleasing heat, so these awards were particularly gratifying. I would certainly like to add a NASFT award in the future, since that encompasses the entire specialty food industry.

Anything new in the stable at The Art of Chipotle? If so, what?

I have several new products are planned for release in the future. Many of these a ready for introduction, but we are proceeding carefully to make sure that we control results and have distribution set up. Our goal is to position our brand as the gold standard for chipotle products. You can count on seeing a fruit based salsa that gets amazing reviews at our demos and shows. In addition, its likely you will see a bean dip, bruschetta topping and a Bloody Mary mix in the next phase of products introduced.

Awards

The Art of Chipotle products have won a bunch of awards, both regional and national. Check out their MEDIA ROOM to see their impressive list of accomplishments!

So what’s in all this stuff? An Ingredient List!

Crazzberry Fiesta: Raspberries, brown sugar, chipotle paste (dried and smoked jalapeno peppers, tomato paste, water, vinegar, salt, citric acid), water, cranberries, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, cilantro, salt, fresh garlic, chipotle seeds, xantham gum

Fresh Cream Indulgence: Water, chipotle paste (dried and smoked jalapeno peppers, tomato paste, water, vinegar, salt, citric acid), whipping cream, tomato paste, pineapple juice concentrate, unsulfered molasses, soybean oil, garlic, cumin, chili powder, salt, oregano, xantham gum

Smokey Red Sensation: Water, chipotle paste (dried and smoked jalapeno peppers, tomato paste, water, vinegar, salt, citric acid), tomato paste, unsulfered molasses, soybean oil, garlic, chili powder, cumin, pineapple juice concentrate, salt, xantham gum, oregano

Sweet Heat Addiction: Brown sugar, chipotle paste (dried and smoked jalapeno peppers, tomato paste, water, vinegar, salt, citric acid), water, fresh onion, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, cilantro, fresh garlic, salt, chipotle seeds, xantham gum

Gourmet (Chipotle) Paste with Adobo: Chipotle paste (dried and smoked jalapeno peppers), tomato paste, water, vinegar, salt, citric acid

Joe’s $0.02

Crazzberry Fiesta: I joke with people that I use hot sauce on everything BUT breakfast cereal. Well, this is one that you could use on breakfast cereal and not have the taste suffer one bit. The cranberries give this sauce a unique twist compared to other chipotle & fruit sauces out there, and it fits the bill for about a zillion different dips you can amaze people with. Also good as a glaze for chicken on the grill, although you will cry about every drop that spills onto the coals. Awesome stuff.

Fresh Cream Indulgence: I tried this sauce last, and quickly wish I hadn’t waited so long. The creaminess of this sauce is understated, yet not too heavy. Mixed with a little salad dressing, it makes a condiment that makes almost ANY sandwich taste amazingly good. Not as sweet as the Crazzberry Fiesta, it was a sauce I found worked better IN recipes than lathered over food…about 174 different recipes, that is.

Smokey Red Sensation: This seemed to be the spiciest of the bunch, but palatable on a wide range of foods. The taste of the jalapeno peppers is a little more evident since it is somewhat less sweet. If this sauce were a tad bit thicker, it would be the perfect BBQ glaze, but I made it work all the same. It’s even just as good over cream cheese as its sweeter brethren products.

Sweet Heat Addiction: Sweet with a little spicy kick, it’s still mild enough to appeal to most people’s palate even if they are sensitive to heat. Great chipotle flavor, the smokiness is delectable. We did a side-by-side comparison at a cookout with this sauce grilled on chicken with another chipotle sauce, and there was none left of the SHA-laced chicken at the end of the day. Proof that there IS accounting for taste. Tasty.

Gourmet (Chipotle) Paste with Adobo: This is the base for all the above listed products. I have only ever used those chipotles in adobo that you can buy in a can at the grocery store. Then you have to mash ‘em, blend ‘em, or whatever to work them into a recipe. This paste is tons better, if only for that. Oh yeah…it tastes pretty damn good in its own right as well. For use in anything you might use chipotles.

Linda’s $0.02

Crazzberry Fiesta: What an amazing and versatile sauce. I loved playing around with this one and came up with a recipe that was a hit with virtually everyone I know. I took it to a party and served it at home and not only had rave reviews but little left. I have said in the past that I have a hard time working with things that are so sweet, but not this. I can’t wait for Thanksgiving to come around because I can think of a billion things that the cranberry taste is going to work with.

Fresh Cream Indulgence: For some reason I expected this sauce to be sweet, so it was a bit of a shock to find out I was wrong. However, that really led it in a different direction for use. I love chipotles so every one of these sauces was an extreme pleasure to try. This sauce is in a league of it’s own, though. Smooth, creamy and spicy. You don’t find this one out there much, folks. Try using this sauce in recipes that call for coconut milk; not in place of, but in addition to. Yum! For instance, Jamaican peas & rice. Just add one cup of the Fresh Cream Indulgence to make up part of the 4 cups of liquid in that recipe. Unbelievable!!!

Smokey Red Sensation: Trying this sauce by iteself, you will be able to pick out the cumin right away…it’s unmistakable. So, I’d say this would be a first pick add to chili. However, what I really like this sauce for is steak. No, not as a marinade. I love this for a steak sauce. It’s smoky, bold and not too complicated, unlike the processed taste of most other steak sauces on the market which have too many preservatives and sugar. Try this as a fresh alternative.

Sweet Heat Addiction: This is THE perfect barbeque chicken glaze. The smokiness of the sauce mixes well with the smokiness of grilling. On top of that it adds just enough sweetness to bring out the flavor of the chicken. My mother liked this sauce so much (and she doesn’t usually like a whole lot of sauces) that she asked if we could get it locally. Honestly, we served this at a barbeque and had none left when the day was done.

Gourmet (Chipotle) Paste with Adobo: I don’t know of any product that makes chili easier. I used to spend time buying chipotles in adobo sauce, then fishing them out and cutting them up for addition to my chili. Well, no more. Just pull out this convenient jar and spoon some right into the chili. Fabulous and time saving.

Don’t just take our word for it! Here are some online reviews of these products:

Hot Sauce Blog review

Give these reviewers a shout and ask them to review The Art of Chipotle’s products as well:

Alien Zombie
Carl’s big list
Feeling Saucy
Saucerater

Want to review The Art of Chipotle’s products for yourself? Go here and leave your own opinion:

www.rateitall.com/t-1125-hot-sauces.aspx
www.thehotpepper.com/viewforum.php?f=3

Recipe Ideas

The first one is our creation, and the rest are courtesy of The Art of Chipotle. Enjoy!

Linda’s Crazzberry Nut Craze

16 oz. tub soft cream cheese
1 c. Crazzberry Fiesta
1 c. chopped pecans

Blend cream cheese and Crazzberry Fiesta on low setting until blended then high setting until whipped consistency. Add nuts and mix until blended. Serve as spread or dip for bagels, crackers, or veggies.

Pineapple Sunburst Salsa

? c. diced tomatoes
? c. chopped onions
minced fresh cilantro
? c. fresh pineapple
? c. Sweet Heat Addiction Chipotle Sauce

Combine ingredients & serve with tortillas or chips. Great topping for fish, chicken, Mexican entrees, or use for pizza topping.

Black Bean Dip & Spread

15 oz. can of black beans
6 oz. Art of Chipotle sauce of choice

Mash to a paste with a power hand mixer. Serve as a side with Mexican entrees, inside tacos or burritos made with tortillas, or with egg dishes. Sprinkle with grated cheddar cheese for a dip or spread.

Green Apple Chipotle Salsa with Chicken

1 cup diced Granny Smith apple
? c. diced red ion
? c. diced red bell pepper
? c. chopped fresh cilantro
? c. apple juice
? c. red wine vinegar
1 tbsp. Gourmet chipotle paste
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

In a bowl, mix apple, onion, bell pepper, cilantro, apple juice, vinegar, and paste, then set aside. Grill or saut頣hicken until juices run clear. Serve salsa over chicken.

Popularity: 30% [?]

(Written by guest author Dustin)

I turned 32 today. What’s a chile-head to do?
Last year my wife took me sky diving. How would she top it this year? Running with the bulls in Pamplona?

Even better….

My wife invited a couple coworkers over this weekend to have a little cake decorating party. One of the coworkers has been doing this for a while, and brought all the tools of the trade. She also promised to teach Heather and the others all the tricks that she knew.

Little did I know my wife had spent all week scheming up the perfect cake for me.

Imagine my surprise when I walk up from my banishment in the basement to find this greeting me as my cake:

Thanks Heather for the wonderful surprise! You are very creative, and this was a perfect cake for any chile head.

My Review

Looked awesome! Not enough heat!
Can you believe that the hot sauce spilled on the top was only frosting? And it seems that sugar was used in making this cake instead of cayenne powder. I’m also still picking wax out of my teeth. Turns out that those weren’t real peppers, just candles.

Popularity: 24% [?]

The months of May & June this year are marked on my gastronomical calendar as the months I ate two bottles of Hot Sauce Extracts.

At work, I kept a bottle of Da’ Bomb that I used each day at lunch. At home, I had a bottle of Stupid Hot that I used for my suppers.

How to eat an Extract

Patience.
Lots of patience, young Jedi.
If a bottle of Tabasco is the 100 yard sprint, then a bottle of extract needs to be viewed as an ultra-marathon. At the rate of a drop a day, you could be looking at almost a year’s worth.

Be sure to disregard what it says on the side of the bottle!!

Serving size 2 Tsp (Servings per container: 10)

Refrigerate.
Having a hot sauce bottle open that long, you’ll want to make sure your sauce stays somewhat fresh. Although I doubt there’s anything in this world or the next that would want to live inside a bottle of extract, I just find it to be helpful to keep my sauces in the fridge. It will also add 0.001 seconds of coolness to your tongue before the burn sets in.

Cleaning the bottle.
About once a week I’ll take a napkin and clean the sauce out of the grooves at the top of the bottle. I’ll wash out the cap and dry it. Tipping the sauce up and down for weeks and months, you’re going to get some build-up at the top. I hate it when it dries out and crusts up at the top like that. Also, if you get too much at the top, you’ll end up having some squeeze out of the cap when you tighten the cap. This sauce will then get on your fingers each time you touch the outside of the bottle. And face it, this isn’t ketchup we’re talking about. This is a potential radiation leakage with a half life of 2000 years. If you’re lucky you’ll accidentally rub it in your eyes and immediately learn a valuable lesson. If you’re unlucky you’ll end up wiping it off on a towel that later gets used by your spouse who then gets a spec on her finger which ends up in THEIR eyes, and suddenly you’re sleeping on the couch for a week while your hot sauce collection gets sold on eBay.

Mixing the sauce.
I’m not Superman, I can’t just spread this sauce out with a butter knife on my sandwich and eat it. And yet at the same time I want to use this sauce every possible chance I can get so that I will finish the bottle before they take me away to an old folks home. For lunch, this is easy for me, because I almost always have soup. I get to pour my 6 to 8 drops in my bowl and stir it up. If I put in a lot of crackers, I can add even more sauce. If I order fries from our chef, then I get to make a batch of my heinous ketchup. A small bowl of ketchup mixed with yet another 6 to 8 drops of sauce.

When at home, if we eat hot dogs, brats, hamburgers - I mix up some up in ketchup. If we have chicken, I’ll mix up some mustard and extract, or maybe BBQ & extract. Macaroni & Cheese… I may be unique in liking ketchup on my Mac & Cheese, but yep… ketchup and extract. Hash browns, tater tots, scalloped potatoes? Ok, I should probably admit that I do buy the 64 oz. ketchup bottles and go through a lot of ketchup. I think I like condiments.

Mashed potatoes? Extract in the gravy! Just zoom in on anything liquid, and whip the extract into it!
Egg omelettes are the all-time cheat food. I have yet to put too much extract in a 5-egg omelette and actually taste any pain. I’m not sure how that works, but it either distributes the extract perfectly so you can’t taste it, or it’s neutralizing it somehow much like milk/cheese/ice cream would. Also, do you like ketchup with your eggs? I do!!! Put some extract in that ketchup! Now that’s double-dipping!

Eating your meal
You’re on your own, wimp! Just kidding. The first few meals you’ll want to warm up to the number of drops you can handle. You may be anxious to rip into your new sauce, but unless you’re willing to rip into your tongue, you’ll have to take it easy. The problem with extracts is that they can range from 50,000 scovilles to over 1.5 million. That’s a huge difference.

In a few days you’ll get into the swing of things and know about the range you can handle without dying. Unfortunately, pouring about “yay much” out of the bottle isn’t very scientific, and if you’re riding the fine line, you’re inevitably going to scorch yourself sometimes. ENJOY!

Quarantine
When I mix extract into my ketchup, I use a fork. When I’m done stirring, I rinse off the fork and put it in the dishwasher. What I don’t do is then use the fork to grab all the hot dogs off the grill. Or set it off to the side so that someone accidentally uses it to stir the Mac & Cheese. What I’m avoiding here is someone half way through their meal screaming out, “Why is my hot dog so hot!”, and then end up sleeping on the couch for a week while my hot sauce collection gets sold on eBay.

You have to pretend that everything you used to prepare your meal accidentally fell into the toilet.

After the meal you should really brush your teeth. Even though the meal is over, and your high is over, your mouth can still be a 7.0 on other people’s Richter scale. I can’t even fetch a kiss on the cheek from my wife until I’ve brushed my teeth. And believe me, there are much worse things than a ‘hot kiss’, too! I’m not going to go into detail here, but let’s just say that there are certain body parts that should NEVER have had to experience this type of tingling.

Couch. Ebay. Nuff said.

More Patience
You might think it takes a long time to see the hot sauce level go down the first 20%, but wait until you’ve only got 20% left! Psychologically, this will take forever. It is also inevitably the time you try to be a cowboy and speed things up by eating too much. Not going to happen. The only consolation at this point is that you’re tolerance has gone up and instead of 1 drop a meal, you might be up to 6 drops a meal.

Finishing the Bottle
You’re probably going to have about 5 “last days”. That’s the point where there is so little sauce left at the bottom, you tell yourself, “Tomorrow I get to finish this sauce”. Then tomorrow comes and you pour out a few drops and see that you still have more left for the next day.

Eventually though, you truly do run out. And much like Bluto from the movie, Animal House, smashing the empty can of beer against his forehead, I like to put the VERY last few drops of hot sauce on a spoon and eat it straight. This way, you get to enjoy the heat and flavor in its pure, undiluted form. I don’t know if it’s because capsaicin tends to float, or if the tolerance has been built up, but never fear, it never seems quite so hot on these last few drops. With the flavor lingering in your mouth, and the heat scorching your tongue, now is the time to write your review of the sauce.

If you wish to keep your bottle for your collection after you finish it, you’ll have to wash it out. Be prepared for the biggest ball of flaming gas to burn your nose hairs, especially if you use hot water. Be careful of the label, some of the cheaper paper ones might not survive too much water soaking into them.

Congratulations!

Hot Sauce Reviews

The time you spend with your extract hot sauce is kind of like moving in with someone you’ve been dating. You really get to know them intimately. You see them on their good days, and bad days. And they get to see you on your good days and bad days. Pour a little too much on your food, and suddenly your eyes are welling up with tears, snot running down your face, and your mouth locked open as you try to vent cool air in.

Here are the two sauces I started in May and finished in June:

Da Bomb: Beyond Insanity

Each drop is a bomb to the mouth!

In this city, Da Bomb is quite well known thanks to a local Mexican restaurant that carries all 3 varieties. When you ask the server for the hot sauces, they bring over a huge wicker basket full of different hot sauces. Many you can taste. Others, like Da Bomb, you eat one drop at a time at the dares & heckling from your friends.

Da Bomb series is unique in the fact of its exact & odd scoville unit rating. 119,700 for Beyond Insanity. I wish more hot sauce makers would do the same. It’s a good warning system, not to mention the question on most people’s mind when eating something hot. The only downside I can think of about this series is that it’s almost impossible to remember which is which. Beyond Insanity and Ground Zero look almost the same, but one is twice as hot.

The ingredients on this bottle says it has orange juice in it. I’m sorry, but with something this hot, I think maybe orange juice might not have been enough. Maybe some powdered Tang. Maybe even some orange extract! Fight extract against extract!

The sauce is slightly chunky, and almost black in color. When taking the final teaspoon test on this sauce, I couldn’t really taste that much. There was a hint of smoky flavor, probably from the chipotle peppers, followed by a small amount of chemical taste from the pepper extract (Which for some reason is NOT listed in the ingredients). Then 2 seconds later it’s a moot point as the heat kicks in.

Due to the mild taste, it mixed well with soups and ketchup, packing a lot of heat without changing the flavor too much. Lunch was always Russian Roulette with this sauce. A few drops too few, and you’d want to add more. Too drops too many, and suddenly it took twice as long to eat lunch!

One of the joys of finishing a sauce is getting to clean it up before setting it on the shelf. At the restaurants, I had always thought that Da Bomb hot sauces came in a smoked colored bottles. Turns out I’ve just never seen an empty container until now! I guess the sauces at the restaurant last a long, long time. Only a drop or two by the occasional brave soul. Here, it lasted a month of lunches.

Stupid Hot

Every day this month, you can see me standing on the corner of Sucker Street and Moron Lane sticking my tongue on a frozen pole.

There’s something diabolical about a simple, white, innocent label that simply has 1 cartoon figure with his tongue stuck to a pole. The words “Stupid Hot” couldn’t describe the activity any better. This stuff is hot, and more than once I put too many drops in my soup, ketchup, or other foods.

When I finished the bottle last night, I put a large amount on my fork and tried it straight. I really couldn’t put my finger on any particular flavors before the burn came. I then read the ingredients, and thought yes, maybe I could taste the onions. It’s probably all in my head though. The burn itself is a nice, full & strong burn. None of this tip of the tongue stuff, and very very little chemical taste. Definitely a great sauce to use to spice things up and not ruin the flavor. The sauce itself is a nice smooth brown color, with no chunks. Just a thicker than runny paste.

As a collector I notice strange, pointless things. One is that an almost all-white label is easy to get markings on. Actually using this sauce for the last month, it was hard to keep this label in mint shape. It got a few dings, and a few stains. I did a good job considering. If you want to put this sauce in your collection, try to go for an unmarred label, and keep it that way.

Where to next?

At work I have a bottle of Blair’s newest sauce: Jersey Heat.

At home, I’m slowly working on CaJohn’s: Z…Nothing Beyond

Popularity: 39% [?]

Blogging…the other white meat.

Food blogging about spicy food…now that’s good eating.

We have brought a “newbie” into the fold to lend his opinions and views of the hot & spicy food world to our humble blog. His name is Dustin, although he sometimes goes by the nom de plume of Terrabyte. He will be posting a few times per month here to keep the flow of reviews, news, and features flowing as much as we can. You can see his first post on the blog HERE.

Keep coming back to our blog! More to come!

Popularity: 45% [?]

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