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Chile Pepper Magazine Presents: The Fiery Food Challenge

Posted by Gretchen VanEsselstyn, September 14, 2008 at 8:00 PM

Your Spicy Food To-Do List: Part 1

Every year in Fort Worth, Texas, culinary professionals and hot food aficionados gather to judge the longest running and most prestigious competition in the zesty food world: the Fiery Food Challenge. Hundreds of products are blind-judged in a grueling three-day process until only the finest, fieriest foods emerge victorious as winners of the Golden Chile.

As editors of Chile Pepper, we can't judge—it's too likely that we'll recognize the flavor of a product we know, and skew the results. But we did drop by the judging last weekend just in time to see one taster jump to his feet. "There's something on my leg!" he exclaimed, "and it burns!" Sure enough, the product in question, Nasal Napalm by Pepper Palace, had burned through the Styrofoam cup as the judge held it over his lap. Just think of what it'll do for your sinuses.

Here are a few of our staff favorites from the list of winners.

Category: Barbecue Sauce, Smoked First Place: Danielle’s Sauces Smoke & Spice BBQ www.daniellessauces.com A mouthwatering addition to anything you throw on the grill, this sauce is pure, smooth perfection, with just a touch of campfire.

Category: Cook-Off Food
First Place: CaJohns Jolokia Fiery Smoked Sausages Hot
www.cajohns.com
If you think you’ve had hot sausage, you’re wrong. Your mama’s pasta sauce will never be the same. Made with bhut jolokia, the world’s hottest pepper, it’s super-hot, super-good.

Category: Condiment, Asian Stir Fry
First Place: Intensity Academy Chai Thai Teriyaki
www.intensityacademy.com
This new sauce combines classic teriyaki umami flavor with smoky, floral and bright notes, plus a late kick of heat. We’re pouring it on everything.

Category: Prepared Sauce
Second Place: My Favorite New Mexico Foods Red Chile Sauce
Third Place: My Favorite New Mexico Foods Hot Green Chile Sauce
www.mfnmfoods.com
We’re not saying they got robbed, but we’d give this company a gold star for any one of their products. Both of their chile sauces are authentic, zesty and flavorful.

Categories: Specialty Sauce; Marinade; Grilling/Finishing Sauce
First Places: Doc Tim Foods Amazing Maple Chipotle Sauce
www.doctimfoods.com
This Burbank, California-based company won top honors in three categories with their mysterious, yet straightforward blend of sweet maple and smoky chipotle.

Category: Wing Sauce, Extra Hot
First Place: Capt. Spongefoot Meleguta X
www.captainspongefoot.com
We love sauces that exploit underused types of chiles, and this slightly sweet, robust mixture is a unique fave.

Category: Horseradish First Place: Pepper Palace Nasal Napalm www.pepperpalace.com Yup, this is the stuff that burned a hole through the cup. Killer, yet truly tasty if you use some restraint.

Category: Logo
Third Place: Hungry Punker Gringo Bandito Hot Sauce
www.hungrypunker.com
Dexter Holland of the Offspring is one of the brains behind this Mexican hot sauce, and his logo always makes us want to jump in the mosh pit.

Stay tuned for our next post, where we’ll spotlight some of our favorite winning salsas and hot sauces!

For the complete list of results, check our website at chilepepper.com

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Tags: Chile Pepper magazine, Fiery Food Challenge, spicy, spicy foods