Posted by Gretchen VanEsselstyn, September 2, 2008 at 6:45 PM
Editor's note: Spicy thrill-seekers have been getting their fix from Chile Pepper magazine for more than 20 years. Editors Gretchen VanEsselstyn and Andrea Lynn, plus a team of intrepid tasters, testers, writers, and photographers, put together the bimonthly print magazine, temporarily paralyzing their taste buds by working through the newest hot sauces, salsas, and more. And now you'll reap the benefits, as they'll be sharing thoughts and observations from the fiery food world with Serious Eats readers. Check out their posts for the hottest products, recipes, events, and news around.
Events
If you live the zesty life, and you're in the Dallas–Fort Worth area, check out ZestFest 2008, Chile Pepper's red-hot food show, taking place September 5 to 7 at the Will Rogers Center in Fort Worth. For more info, visit zestfest2008.com.
Salsa Scoop: Tasting Notes
In every issue, we taste between 15 and 25 salsas that highlight a particular category of jarred salsa. Tastings are all done blind, so we're not influenced by packaging or brand knowledge. We stock up on water, chips and sour cream, and gather 'round the conference table to put the jars to the test. Only a few survive, and we bring you the best of the bunch.
The Theme: Chile-Specific Salsa
Sometimes you want a salsa that highlights the essence of a chile in all its glory. These favorites focus on robust chile-infused flavor from piquant deárbol to smoky pasilla to fiery bhut jolokia. After the jump, our notes.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, August 25, 2008 at 8:30 AM
For the eighteenth year, Austin celebrated peppers and all their tongue-burning glory yesterday at the Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival 2008. This year, over 600 hot sauces (compared to last year's roughly 350) arrived in Ziploc bags, recycled jam jars, and Tupperware buckets, vying for hot sauce royalty. As one of the judges at the event, I volunteered my health to dunk countless tortilla chips into unknown spicy potions.
You Call that a Hot Sauce?
Judges were shipped off to a private room at Serrano's Tex-Mex restaurant across the street from Waterloo Park, the site of the event. Seated around a long table, we passed around hot sauces, designating a "Yes" or "No" to each. Once a contender earned three Yes's, it advanced to the second round, and if three No's—instant demotion to the loser's table. Even if other judges didn't get a taste, three No's meant see ya.
Categories were divided by: red, green, and special variety. In the last group, anything went. Mango, mole, peach, shrimp, curry, beets—really, anything. Excellence here goes to the best for what it is, purist hot sauce philosophies aside. The shrimp one was more of a ceviche, yes, but it could be a hot sauce wannabe here.
"Be careful, this is when people start passing out," Houston Press food critic and one of the festival's founders Robb Walsh warned as he distributed scoops of vanilla ice cream, hoping the creamy dairy would work its tongue-calming magic. That's because Habanero-based sauces could creep into this "special variety" round since the deadly orange peppers don't fit into the red or green categories.
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Posted by Sarah Wolf, June 25, 2008 at 10:30 AM
Photograph courtesy of The Kitchen Sink
Corn, okra, baby spinach, cherry tomatoes and jalapeño—a summery side dish from Kristin of The Kitchen Sink that's as pleasing to the eye as it is to the palate.
Posted by Erin Zimmer, May 5, 2008 at 11:00 AM
How do you like your salsa? Fruity? Garlicky? Roasted and smoky? Spicy enough to pack a punch? Garrett, the blogger behind Vanilla Garlic, embraces all of the above with this chipotle-tomatillo salsa. It's adapted from a recipe by Rick Bayless in his cookbook Mexican Kitchen. Garrett entered it in an office salsa contest, but somehow did not win! We want more intel on this questionable other salsa conquistador.
