The hot sauces from MyHotSauces.com were the first products we did a Feature on when we got this blog up & running, so we have a bit of a soft spot for Monty’s products. That being said, when he asked to give his picante sauces a try, it took us all of 1.2 seconds to say “Yes!” Thanks again, Monty!

This is a bit of different sort of cyber-Feature that we’re doing this time around for MyHotSauces.com. Normally, we’d give the “Joe vs. Linda” view on everything we tried. With soooo many picante sauces to try, we enlisted some help. We had a little “picante sauce-tasting party” where we invited some friends over and had them help taste all the different sauces and give their opinions. Check those out below, along with the official HZOB opinions as well.

Awards

Stunning. Positively stunning. Listed below is the grand list of awards that Monty’s picante sauces have won, and the list seems to grow longer by the year.

Monty’s Party Picante - Chipotle
First Place - 10th Annual Fiery Foods Challenge - Salsa: Hot
Third Place - 2005 Fiery Foods Challenge - Chipotle Salsa Category
Third Place - 2006 Scovie Awards - Chipotle Salsa Category

Monty’s Party Picante - Medium Hot
First Place - 2005 Scovie Awards - Hot Salsa Category
Second Place - 2005 NBBQA’s Awards Of Excellence - Salsa Category
Second Place - 2006 Scovie Awards - Hot Salsa Category

Monty’s Party Picante - Black Beans & Corn - Chipotle
First Place - 10th Annual Fiery Foods Challenge - Salsa: Beans
First Place - 10th Annual Fiery Foods Challenge - Salsa: Chipotle
Fifth Place - 2005 NBBQA’s Awards Of Excellence - Salsa Category
First Place - 2006 Scovie Awards - Chipotle Salsa Category

Monty’s Party Picante - Mild
First Place - 10th Annual Fiery Foods Challenge - Salsa: Mild
Fourth Place - 2005 NBBQA’s Awards Of Excellence - Salsa Category

Monty’s Party Picante - Black Beans & Corn - Mild
Third Place - 2005 Scovie Awards - Unique Category

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

Monty’s Party Picante (Black Beans & Corn - Mild): tomatoes, black beans, onions, corn, turbinado sugar, vinegar, jalapenos, garlic, salt & spices

Monty’s Party Picante (Black Beans & Corn Chipotle): tomatoes, black beans, onions, corn, turbinado sugar, vinegar, jalapenos, garlic, chipotle chiles, salt & spices

Monty’s Party Picante (Chipotle): tomato sauce, tomatoes, fresh onions, vinegar, fresh jalapenos, salt, sugar, hickory smoked peppers, garlic & spices

Monty’s Party Picante (Cranberry): tomatoes, cranberries, onions, turbinado sugar, vinegar, jalapenos, salt, spices

Monty’s Party Picante (Medium Hot): tomato sauce, tomatoes, onions, vinegar, jalapenos, salt, sugar, cilantro, garlic & spices

Monty’s Party Picante (Mild): tomato sauce, tomatoes, onions, vinegar, jalapenos, salt, sugar, garlic & spices

Monty’s Party Picante (Roasted Garlic): tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, vinegar, salt, turbinado sugar, roasted garlic, spices

Monty’s Party Picante (XXX HOT): tomato, water, garlic, jalapeno peppers, capsaicin extract, habanero, onions, cilantro, salt & spices

COMBINED REVIEWS

Monty’s Party Picante (Black Beans & Corn - Mild)

HZOB’s take: We didn’t find the sweetness too distracting, and it has a nice tomato-ey blend with little to no heat. A great sauce choice for those with sensitive palates. Not sure what other foods would be a good choice with this one, but it’s versatile enough to eat as a dip or use in recipes.

The crowd’s take: Most found this initially a little bit sweet & smooth. At least one person thought it was “too sweet.” The sweetness made it a little too saccharine for “chip & dip” eating, but the prevailing opinion was that this would be a great way to sweeten up bland foods, even with the presence of corn & beans.

Monty’s Party Picante (Black Beans & Corn Chipotle):

HZOB’s take: We wanted to say it was just a stronger heat version of the Mild variety, but we thought it just tasted a lot better. It still has that hint of sweetness as you taste it, but it has a little bit of cumulative heat which really compliments the mix of flavors quite nicely. Definitely a “chip & dip” fave in this bunch.

The crowd’s take: [This one won’t have an opinion from “the crowd.” We liked it so much that we polished it off before the party even started. Judging by their reaction to the Mild version of this sauce, we guess they probably would have liked it as well.]

Monty’s Party Picante (Chipotle)

HZOB’s take: GREAT chipotle flavor with gentle licks of heat. One of the better chipotle flavors in this bunch, it’s WONDERFUL with chips and we found ourselves munching on this one quite a bit. Surprisingly good as a condiment with hamburgers, it also worked as a jazzy mixin’ for your morning egg dishes. Nummy!

The crowd’s take: A hit with the crowd as much as with us from the HZOB. Even though it rated as one of the hotter sauces by their palates, the cumulative heat was much to their liking. Moderately chunky, it was rated as one of those sweet-then-hot flavors with a strong, smoky Chipotle taste. As for uses, the universal choice was Mexican/Tex-Mex…whether it be burritos, enchiladas, or fajitas. One person even suggested using it as part of a marinade for chicken breasts. Sounds like a good plan to us!

Monty’s Party Picante (Cranberry)

HZOB’s take: Very, VERY cranberry. Can’t imagine that this would be good with chips for snacking, but this one begs to be used in recipes or poured over food. It’s fairly tart, but has the slightest hint of heat…but that seemed scarcely noticeable amongst the sweetness of the dominating cranberry flavor. Even the consistency makes it ideal for use in cooking.

The crowd’s take: Here’s one where the crowd differed from our taste. Most found this one not overly sweet with just a hint of spicy hotness. One described it a “jelly-like” in consistency. The best suggestion was to use this with turkey rather than the plain ol’ cranberry sludge most normally eat. Thanksgiving for Chileheads, indeed!

Monty’s Party Picante (Medium Hot)

HZOB’s take: The taste of black pepper hits you right away with this sauce and is a nice contrast to the sweetness of the tomatoes and the spice of the peppers. Enchiladas are screaming for this sauce or, quite simply, just your average chip. This will liven the most boring of tastes into a memorable experience.

The crowd’s take: This reigned as fave for the most people in the crowd, and for good reason. Like most of these picante sauces, it starts sweet and has a building heat…which suited the tasting masses quite nicely. Described as “nice and chunky,” “sweet and hot,” and “good hotness level.” It was felt to be perfect with chips, and one person would use it “as their basic salsa in all kinds of stuff.” The only criticism was really that it should be a little thicker, but still a solid effort and a star in this bunch o’ sauces.

Monty’s Party Picante (Mild)

HZOB’s take: We found that although the sweet hits right away, so does the fresh flavor of the tomatoes & peppers. This is another great sauce choice for those who like little to no heat at all. This would be a great topper sauce for omelettes or nachos for a crowd who likes things mild.

The crowd’s take: There was no middle ground with the crowd on this one…either it was panned or raved about. Those who liked it said it was “great, with lots of flavor,” ” sweet, with a mild tomato-ey flavor,” and “a good blend of mild…good for the spice-intolerant.” Those who didn’t like it said it was “like the roasted garlic, but with less flavor,” “too sweet and boring,” and “pretty standard.” This was another sauce destined for accompanying the chip bowl, but one person thought it might be good to enhance an otherwise boring marinara sauce. While it may be mild enough for the meekest of palates, it was felt to be fairly versatile. Moral of the story is that each must be their own judge for this one.

Monty’s Party Picante (Roasted Garlic)

HZOB’s take: We could sense the wafting garlic aroma as soon as we opened the jar. It has an “in-your-face” garlicky taste initially and finishes pretty smooth with no aftertaste that some garlic-heavy sauces have. With just a hint of heat, it has a surprisingly addicting flavor that we kept coming back to during the tasting with the others.

The crowd’s take: One of the hits with the crowd, at least one person indicated this sauce as their fave. Other descriptions were that it was “somewhat buttery-tasting,” “VERY garlicky,” and “sweet.” Suggestions for uses included mixing with steamed veggies, spicing up pasta sauce, or even spread over garlic bread. Most liked the consistency, although there was the tendency to want it a little thicker. Overall, a solid thumbs-up.

Monty’s Party Picante (XXX HOT)

HZOB’s take: The outside of the jar says “Ignorant Hot,” and ignorant we were for taking too big a bite of this…and then suffering for 15 minutes afterwards. Can’t say it tasted all that good, because I think our tastebuds melted off and needed to regenerate. Not for casual eating, but would probably do well to mix with another dish to spice it up a bit.

The crowd’s take: Facts is facts…we can’t disguise the fact that no one who tasted this sauce liked it. The sweat & pain suffered by those who were brave enough to taste it dissuaded the others. Those who did try it said is was “thin” and had a “chemical taste” to it…likely from the capsaicin extract. The one positive was that it was felt that it could be mixed with something else to add heat, but was inedible as it was right out of the jar.

Want to review the picante sauces from MyHotSauces.com for yourself? Go here and leave your own opinion:

www.rateitall.com
www.thehotpepper.com/viewforum.php?f=3

Recipes

Monty has a few delectable ones located on his website and can be found HERE.

Coolness. The latest of Blair’s Reserves arrived on our doorstep today. It looks like this….

The fact is that gazing upon the latest addition to the collection is sorta like having an endorphin rush. An endorphin rush that costs a bit and gets more valuable with time, but good all the same. It now goes on the shelf with all our other Blair Reserves, which has nearly overgrown its space on top of the hot sauce display rack (called The Row of Blair) on which is has been for quite a while. Might need to do a little creative rearranging down in the display room. Woot!

Nick mentions in a recent HSB article about an upcoming Hot Sauce Issue in Chile Pepper Magazine coming soon to newsstands and subscribers’ homes. We here at the HZOB have a vested interest in that issue, but we’ll not say anything else until it’s printed. Keep checking back for more about that a little later.

In preparation for an upcoming Feature on the Defcon wing sauces, we decided to try and make a trial run of chicken wings to see if we could make them…and make them edible.

Every batch of buffalo wings needs good sauces, and we chose three. Shown in the above picture, we opted for these for our experimentation:

Iron Chef General Tso’s Sauce & Glaze
Lord of the Wings Gourmet Buffalo Hot Wing Sauce
Nate Dog’s Killer Wing Sauce - Hurtin’

General Tso’s was really a choice for the grandma, since we figured that she wouldn’t be able to eat the hotter stuff. The other two were fair game for us chileheads. The Nate Dog’s sauce says its Level 8, and previous experience with this sauce has given us a healthy respect for that heat level…and made us wonder what masochisic gastronome would really need as much in heat Level 10.

Next task was cutting the whole chicken wings into those bite-sized wings that we all know so well from our favorite wing joint. After consulting the HSB article on making buffalo wings, it looked to be an easy enough task. Now, either we have the crappiest cutting knives in the world (a possibility) or it just isn’t as easy as pictured, but we had to break out the electric knife to make quicker work of cutting those wings apart. As you can see, the end result was a bowl of wings just waiting to be made into heavenly goodness.

Thanks to some additional tutelage from John at Defcon sauces, we started the batches of wings going in our improvised deep-fryer. Since we don’t yet own a real deep-fryer, with or without a basket, we had to use a stock pot loaded with vegetable oil. Necessity is often the mother of invention, and cooking our batches at 8-10 minutes yielded wings that were slightly golden-brown.

Once the wings were done, the next task is the coating. We set up our three bowls of sauces and anxiously awaited the batches to finish cooking. Now, no one ever mentioned exactly how to coat the wings…whether it was the cover & shake method, use a pair of tongs to coat individually, or other kitchen magic.

So, we decided that the cover & shake method was best. We were amazed that once we removed the cover, that our wings actually resembled ones we’d eaten from our own fave wing establishments. Our reviews of the sauces go like this:

Iron Chef General Tso’s Sauce & Glaze: Didn’t try this one. Alright, I’ll submit we shouldn’t include this as part of the review unless we actually tried it. But hey, we’ve had General Tso’s chicken before and we know what it tastes like. For what it’s worth, Grandma seemed to like it. Never argue with Grandma.

Lord of the Wings Gourmet Buffalo Hot Wing Sauce: Our first comment after taking a bite was, “Wow, now that’s good.” A little on the mild side, it has just enough heat to make the chileheads smile, and enough taste to keep EVERYBODY ELSE wanting a little more. We can’t be sure, but we’re fairly certain that our bellies did actually cheer.

Nate Dog’s Killer Wing Sauce - Hurtin’: This was mostly Joe’s plate o’ wings. After one wing, he thought it had a little heat. After two wings, he commented on how the heat builds a little. After three wings, his forehead was completely wet with sweat. After six wings, he was calmly getting up to pour a glass of milk to put out the fire. OUCH! The taste is good, but you should really consider eating these as fast as you can, while your tastebuds are still unharmed, before the heat catches up with you. HEAT LEVEL 8?? Wow!

Uncle Brutha (aka Brennan Proctor) hails from the D.C. area, very close to our own former stomping grounds in Maryland. That alone makes him cool in our book. The fact that he sent us some sauces to taste makes extra, extra cool. Thanks, Uncle Brutha!

Uncle Brutha’s hot sauces are the creation of Brennan Proctor, chef and hot sauce entreprenuer. We love to be able to experience sauces that are obviously on their way up the ladder in terms of success, and these sauces have all the markings of doing just that. If you should be so lucky, stop by the Eastern Market in Washington, D.C. and say hello to Brennan in person. We’re a little far away from D.C. these days, so we had to say hi via email. Here’s what we talked about….

Tell us a little about your humble beginnings. Not everyone goes from “family folklore” to successful hot sauce entrepreneur, so how has that been for you?

First, I think I should start out with pointing out the fact that the folklore is completely fabricated and has actually been dropped from the label design. Labels are being printed now that will list all of the awards that each of the sauces have won to date. As far as how this sauce adventure of mine all got started, back in the late 80’s I used to go to happy hour with co-workers about once a week or so and we would always order the hot wings but never found any that we really thought truly hot or all that great for that matter. When planning an office potluck, it was suggested that I make some which I had never actually done before. My co-worker told me how his mom made hers (which didn’t sound all that good either) so I came up with my own version which everybody absolutely loved. I must say, though, that with that very first version I did use other already prepared hot sauces. The next time I set out to make hot wings, I decided to analyze the various sauces I had used the first time and recreate the same end result using all original ingredients from scratch. That started the roughly ten year period I spent playing around with different combinations of chilies and ingredients that eventually wound up being Fire Sauce No. 10 (get it…. 10 years…. Heat level 10…. No. 10…. anyway….) By the late 90’s I was living in L.A working in the entertainment industry. I made my now somewhat “famous” hot wings for my business partners baby shower , once again they were a huge hit which resulted in her coming up with the suggestion that I bottle some of the sauce to give to our clients for Christmas that year. That next season, our clients were going nuts, constantly calling me with jobs so that I could bring some sauce along. Next thing I knew, folks were asking if they could buy some, by the case even, because they never wanted to run out. That lead me to taking the idea of maybe trying to get it in stores a little more seriously. But it wasn’t until the industry took a major financial hit due to the digital theft of music over the Internet that I decided to take the plunge and really go for it. Almost right at that moment, I got a call from a childhood friend telling me that she had gotten back into consulting for small business start-ups. Seemed like fate to me. The idea of marketing both my green and red sauces came from working with her to establish the company and formulate a business plan.

Your sauces have received quite a bit of critical success, along with the presumed commercial success that usually goes along with it. Which aspect of that for you makes you most proud, and why?

I don’t think that I can single out any one aspect of it all that I’m most proud of. It’s all still so amazing to me. What I mean by that is I’m still amazed when people, total strangers, come up and tell me “this is the most amazing sauce I’ve ever tasted!!” I’ve always liked them myself but never really expected them to be the “huge hits” they’re turning out to be. Don’t get me wrong, getting these products “out there” is truly proving to be quite a challenge. I had no idea what to expect and even feel like I’m a little late coming into the game. After all, there are so many sauces out there already. So if I were to single out any one aspect, then I would have to say that I’m extremely pleased with the “critical acclaim” and how it’s helping to draw the necessary attention needed to stand out in the crowd.

Being in the culinary arts as you are, how much of advantage do you feel this has been in your sauce-making creativity and experimentation?

I seem to have just been born with a natural ability for flavor combining. I can pretty much imagine in my mind how something is going to taste before hand (if I’m already familiar with a particular flavor that is.) When I was experimenting with the red sauce (for example,) there were some chilies I tried out here and there that I had never tasted before. I wound up not liking the end result so I never used them again. Then there are times that I’ll taste an ingredient used to prepare some other kind of dish and I’ll think..”hmm, I don’t like this flavor with this particular dish, BUT, I know it would be good with this other kind of dish over here.” So I feel blessed in that respect, I guess.

What’s been the most enjoyable aspect of being in the hot sauce biz, and why?

Seeing the enjoyment people are getting from the sauces. I get such a kick out of the look on peoples faces as they take a taste and their eyes light up as they exclaim how good they think it is. That’s probably the most fun for me. A pretty major part of it all for me too.

Does Uncle Brutha have any new products coming out soon? Can you give us a preview?

I’ve got a few new flavors in the works. All based on the two originals. A hotter version of both, a very very mild version of the green and some fruit variations as well. Hopefully I’ll have some of them ready for introduction by early March. I’ll keep you posted.

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

Fire Sauce No. 9: serrano chiles, garlic, vinegar, vegetable broth, kosher salt, ginger, cilantro, green onion, natural flavors, food starch, spices

Fire Sauce No. 10: habanero, red & green jalapeno, serrano chiles, garlic, vinegar, vegetable broth, kosher salt, ginger, cilantro, green onion, natural flavors, food starch, spices

Awards

Uncle Brutha picked up 4 Scovie Awards this year! Fire Sauce No. 9 and 10 were 1st and 2nd place (respectively) in the Hot Sauce Unique category making them the most unique hot sauces!! No. 9 was also 1st place in the Specialty Chile category and 2nd in Caribbean style. That gives us a total of 20 awards between the two in just over 13 months. Way to go, Uncle Brutha! Surely a sign of good things to come.

Joe’s $0.02

Fire Sauce No. 9: I remember reading the HSB review about this sauce and the mention of a smoky taste, and you do get a whiff of earthiness from glancing your nostrils past the top of the bottle. Looking at the consistency as it poured, I had a good feeling about it. Usually, serranos don’t taste quite as green as a tomatillo sauce would, but UB manages to cull the great taste of the serrano without the lethal heat. Don’t get me wrong, this sauce could have benefited from a little more heat, but I won’t quibble over that. I really seemed to taste the garlic & green onion, along with that dominant smokiness. Surprisingly versatile, I liked it best lathered over enchiladas and tacos. Good balance between heat & flavor, with flavor winning in the 15th round by TKO.

Fire Sauce No. 10: This is the hotter of the two sauces, but not by a lot. I guess seeing three different types of peppers (including the habanero) in the ingredients list made my tastebuds batten down the hatches, but they took suprisingly little abuse, heat-wise. The sauce reminds me of a BBQ sauce crossed with a habanero sauce, if someone like Bobby Flay made it. (Since its creator is a chef, I pretty close to dead-on about that…but I digress.) I was concerned about this sauce versatility, but it seemed to work well with a variety of different foods from veggies to meats to eggs. Where it shined most to me was on ribs. Boy howdy, this turned some ordinary baby back ribs into a meal that I left nary a drop remaining. In fact, I dare say it was one of the better sauces I’ve used on ribs in quite a while. I give this sauce a definite thumbs-up, and sigh when I see how little we have of it left to use. Solid.

Linda’s $0.02

Fire Sauce No. 9: While both sauces have that definite smoke aroma and flavor, it was a bit unique for a green sauce. I won’t stop there at the preconceptions, though. I looked at the ingredients and saw cilantro, which often gets lost in green sauce, or any sauce for that matter. That said, this sauce neither suffers from being too smoky, nor from hiding its cilantro-ness. It’s surpisingly more versatile in and on food than you think it’s going to be. It has a great medium heat level, awesome consistency and bold flavor. This is a fabulous sauce for pork, but not barbeque pork. If you have barbeque pork, move on to the No. 10 sauce.

Fire Sauce No. 10: This is the sauce that makes barbeque into super barbeque. Anything that has barbeque sauce just pulls every one of the individual flavors from this sauce and turns them into the most mouth-watering barbeque experience you’ve ever had. In fact, you don’t want barbeque without this sauce. This was particularly true of barbeque ribs. But I don’t want this to disuade you from using it on other things. Much like its green brother, the smokiness is not as limited as you think it’s going to be. The smoke dissapates quite easily and it leaves the complexity of the mixture of peppers behind with ease. Take advantage of the wonderful consistency and try this as a steak sauce as well.

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

HSB Review - Fire Sauce No. 9
HSB Review - Fire Sauce No. 10
Quick note at Peppers.com

Give these reviewers a shout and ask them to review Uncle Brutha’s products as well.

Carl’s Big List of Reviews
Alien Zombie
Virtual Hot Sauce Museum
The Hot Sauce Guide
Saucerater

Want to review Uncle Brutha’s products for yourself? Go here and leave your own opinion:

www.rateitall.com
www.thehotpepper.com/viewforum.php?f=3

Recipes

A great one here at DCist.

Uncle Brutha has a few delectable ones located on their website and can be found HERE.

Things are going to get awfully interesting for us here at The Hot Zone Online Blog.

The fact is that we’ve been unahppy with our previous blog designer for several months now. So…to quote Donald Trump, “They’re fired.”

We have a new designer on board and we’ll be completely re-vamping the design and platform. Gone will be Movable Type and in will be Wordpress. Lisa from E.Webscapes will be working at making our blog shinier, spiffy-er, and much more functional.

Stay tuned! We should have the changes in place sometime in January, 2006.

Here’s a special treat to those loyal HZOB readers out there…at least, we hope that are out there. Blair Lazar’s products have always been held in high regard by us, whether they be the tasty hot sauces or collectible items like his Reserve sauces. There are few names more recognizable in the hot sauce biz than Blair, so we are glad that he took a little time to answer a few questions about himself, his business, and how he likes to make chileheads FEEL ALIVE.

Tell us a little how you got started in the hot sauce biz.

While in the bar business, Death sauce was born. Demanding hot food and fun, the late night drunks never wanted to leave. So I made them a deal. If they could eat just four of my Death Wings, they could stay all night. To make a long story short, everyone always left. Little by little the word got out and I had found my passion. I saved up $600 in bartending tips to buy the very basics (and I mean very basics)…….and Death sauce was born

If you were gonna try to hook someone on your products, which single one would you give them and why?

Death Sauce…..no brainer. It has so many uses. It has a wonderful full balance of flavors, while still providing ample heat for even the most seasoned chilihead.

Most people (your fans, anyway) know the story of why you made the first Reserve sauce. What inspired you to make more of them, and is there a limit of how many/what kinds you’ll ultimately make?

When my passion and excitement leaves me, it is over. But since 1989, when I started, my passion and excitement has only grown each and every day.

How shocked are you by the monetary value that your Reserve sauces reach nowadays? I think the 4 a.m. Reserve, which we bought from you back in ‘01, now sells regularly for ten times its original price.

Of course I am proud to say that my Reserves have returned people higher profits than all major indices. However, that is really not what I focus on… hours and hours go into these bottles (more than I think people realize). They are unique and handcrafted by me personally. The Reserves keep me very focused on not losing sight of how I started (ie burning my hands, getting spice in my eyes, going home with battle scars). Definitely not a desk job…that is very cool. So, as for the market…let it go where it may.

In the world of hot sauces & spicy fare, you have a bit of a cult following…which can only be good for business. How is your relationship with your fans & customers?

Great question!! My relationship with my fellow chiliheads could not be better. They are, in many cases, like family that I share trials and tribulations with. Not customers. Never customers. That is what this is all about, and why it works. It is real. No fancy business plan or complicated rule of mathematics.

Aside from monetary success, what goals have you set for yourself & company in this biz?

Honestly…and I mean honestly, I have never focused on monetary success. My focus since I started Death Sauce is, and has always been:
1.) Making people happy. 2.) Enjoying what I do. 3.) Showing other people how to make money. The rest will follow.

What direction, in terms of new products and collectibles, do you see your company going in the future?

I am not, and have never been a long term planner. No one can say what the future has in store. I believe that passion and karma will steer the way for the direction for Death Sauce as it has since 1989.

Quest for Fire: Nashville’s Hot Chicken

It all started last spring. I read an essay about a little place in Nashville called Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack.

The writer went to great lengths to describe the experience of eating hot chicken at Prince’s. Supposedly this stuff was real, REAL dang hot. To paraphrase what I remember: the mild is what most people call ‘hot’ and the medium is ‘unreasonable’. The hot, well, that’s supposed to be a near religious experience. Then there is extra-hot; for maniacs only. Hmmm..I thought.. I’ll be the judge of that.

I just couldn’t stop thinking about this hot chicken. Sure, I’ve had spicy fried chicken, extremely spicy barbequed chicken and brutally hot chicken wings, but this Nashville specialty is truly a bird of a different feather. They fry it up to order in heavy iron skillets and serve it on a piece of white bread with a couple pickle slices. I knew my travel schedule wouldn’t take me near Nashville until the fall. A plan formed in my head. I vowed that I would make a pilgrimage to Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack!

In the meantime, I couldn’t get the hot chicken out of my head. I decided to try to make some myself.

I searched around the internet to get some ideas. I purchased about 5 ounces of habanero powder and 5 ounces of chipotle powder to use in the breading. I also planned to use a lot of cayenne, which seems to be the main spice they use at Prince’s. I marinated the chicken overnight in buttermilk and DAVE’S TOTAL INSANITY SAUCE.

When the chile-covered chicken hit that hot oil in my iron skillet the air became impregnated with capsaicin ‘tear gas’. Anyone who passed through the kitchen became stricken with coughing fits. A good part of the house was soon rendered uninhabitable. Of course I was having a party at the time. This resulted in much mayhem and scolding from my wife.

Well, it’s the end results that count. Was it hot? Oh yeah, it was real hot…but edible. I’m not too experienced at frying chicken so some of it was a bit underdone. I enjoyed it but it wasn’t the sublime culinary experience of pain/pleasure that I was looking for. To taste the real deal I would have to wait until October.

Hot Chicken has been a culinary phenomenon in Nashville going back at least 60 years, if not more. There are several places that specialize in this fiery fowl but the most authentic seems to be Prince’s, run by Andre Prince. They trace their lineage back to Thornton Prince, who is said to have ‘discovered’ hot chicken when an angry girlfriend poured hot pepper all over his fried chicken to punish him for alleged philandering. Instead of punishment he decided he liked it and so did a lot of other folks. The rest, they say, is history.

I was lucky enough to have a contact in Nashville who agreed to host me. Tom is someone I met on an internet message board. He was really gracious to put me up and take me to Prince’s to boot. Tom, if you read this, thanks man!

Well, after I got to Tom’s house we headed out to Prince’s. It was hell trying to find the place. Ever try to find a place using Mapquest? Then you know what we went through about an hour of driving around but getting nowhere. Finally we ended up at some sketchy truck stop where the security guard, who was decked out in full SWAT tactical gear (a security guard at a truck stop?!) knew exactly where Prince’s was and told us how to get there.

There’s nothing like the real thing baby!

We finally got to Prince’s at about 8:30. The place is pretty non-descript, in a little strip mall. The joint was busy but not jam-packed. We only had to wait about 10 minutes to place our order. Tom ordered the medium. I had been debating whether to get the ‘HOT’ or the ‘EXTRA-HOT’ for quite some time. I had been training over the course of the summer, ordering ‘atomic’ chicken wings at the local wing shop, eating tons of hot sauce and my own little hot chicken misadventure. What the hell; I decided to go for it. “Extra hot” I told the lady. “I had you pegged when you walked in the door” she said, like she could some how tell I was a chilehead. Maybe it was the way I dress? I don’t know.

After we placed our order we sat down for about a 20-minute wait. Tom got his order a little before I got mine. Finally they called my number. The nice lady held the hellishly deep orange-red colored, piping hot piece of chicken out to me and with a devilish grin said “enjoy.” That look really said it all.

The aroma was delightful. The chicken, as you can see, was just thick with crispy, greasy spices. The cayenne was very strong but I also detected celery pretty up front. It seems safe to assume this is pretty similar to cajun-style seasoning with an assload of cayenne.

I have to mention the fries. Yeah, fries. Usually not something to write home about but they were so hot and crispy and they sprinkled them with that spice mixture. Incredible! Some of the best fries I’ve ever had.

Now the big question. How hot was it? It was hot. Real dang hot but never so hot it was hard to eat. In fact I would say it was perfect. While eating it I had that sublime experience that chileheads are always trying to achieve. There was a little bit of sweat running down the sides of my head. The endorphins kicked in and it was hot chicken nirvana. It was fantastic!

I had to tell the cook (Andre herself, I think) how much I loved the chicken. I told her I came all the way from Texas to try their hot chicken and she seemed pretty happy about that.

My only regret is that I don’t know when I will make it back to Nashville. I’ve got to have some more of that hot chicken!

Some links to follow for chicken-y goodness:

Here’s some of the fine artwork that adorns the walls of PRINCE’s HOT
CHICKEN SHACK:

http://static.flickr.com/26/60304321_fac816c00f.jpg

Here’s my friend Tom and his order of MEDIUM hot chicken:

http://static.flickr.com/33/60304232_73d81c414a.jpg

Here’s another shot of my order:

http://static.flickr.com/26/60304271_2f86ca0fe6.jpg

K, here’s a few links with more information on Nashville’s Hot Chicken:

http://www.tennessean.com/entertainment/restaurants/archives/05/03/
67655588.shtml

http://www.hotchickens.com/history.html

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