Extract

Oliver’s Ancho

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Happy tuesday again, everyone! It’s been a few weeks now since my birthday, so it’s about time we tried one of my more chilli-themed presents. Something that’s maybe a tad more mass market than I’m used to but still sounds rather exciting:

This is Jamie Oliver’s Ancho & Cumin Chilli Sauce and, while its celebrity nametag doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence, putting the pepper front and centre definitely does. Especially when it’s such a mild and flavourful variety as the mexican ancho.

Anchos aren’t nearly as well known as jalapeños, habaneros or chipotle, either. So this doesn’t just imply a specific heat but also some real knowledge of mexico’s chilli-based cuisine. Some genuine appreciation for what the region’s peppers can bring to a product, beyond their fire.

I’m genuinely excited for this sauce, despite its more mundane origins.

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10 Minute Birthday

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Alright everyone, it’s wednesday and I’ve just had one of the most disappointing reviews of my career but, today, it’s time for a different sort of suffering. Because it’s my birthday and that means extract sauce:

This is Ten Minute Burn. The original extract sauce from The Chilli Pepper Company, making waves long before their Hell Unleashed made headlines. So I’m not expecting quite the same level of stomach churning heat but I’m still going to be very careful with this one.

It has a reputation to it and I know full well what the company are capable of. So I won’t be underestimating it, despite my eagerness to see how everything began.

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A Fowl Fifth

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Hey folks, it’s that time of year again. The first thursday of september, on which I write my yearly homage to the Hot Ones YouTube show, designed to give you all an alternative and far more UK-friendly version of their ten sauce line-up.

Hot Ones

Last year, I went a little off the rails with the most out there product selection that I could but, for today’s fifth round, I want to be a tiny bit more down to earth. To still pull a whole host of delicious finds from out of my review catalogue, yet also stick a little closer to the real show and bring back a few old favourite producers, in the process.

So, with that in mind, I’m going to kick things off with one of my all time favourite companies and see how things go from there.

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Birthday Badgers

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So last week’s post may have had the word “present” in the title but today it’s actually my birthday. And you know what that means?

Yep, it’s time for me to suffer for my craft, once again. To push on through the pain of some of the country’s hottest sauces, far in excess of anything that Pembrokeshire Chilli Farm could offer.

Because, by this point, it’s a well-established tradition that I celebrate with something extract-based. A single product – Or maybe more – that defies nature’s limits, using pure, concentrated capsaicin.

This year, the company in question is one which I know all too well. The ever-enjoyable Badger’s Artisan Foods, whose extract offering caught my attention mere moments too late for the previous festivities but will be on full display today.

Here it is – Their Badger X:

A small, fifty mil bottle but, if it’s truly up there with the world’s hottest, those fifty mililitres are going to go a long way.

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Tom’s Triple Threat

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Happy tuesday again, everyone! This week, I’ve got another set of freebies from Tom’s Curious Sauces and one of them’s an old favourite of mine:

The blueberry and ghost pepper “Purple Pain” that I tried in 📽️one of last year’s christmas videos📽️. Now wrapped in a fresh new label to further emphasise its connection to the artist known as “Prince”.

But what are those behind it? A couple of christmas specials perhaps?

I can’t say for sure but that Cranberry certainly does sound seasonal and the Angry Ass has the appearance of a tacky gift sauce. Though, knowing Tom, I suspect that both will taste a lot better than the bargain bin products which his Ass resembles.

Yes, I have high hopes for this new pair and I’m really rather excited to test them out. Yet I’m also just as eager to see what the Purple Pain is like when I’m not all frazzled from a vile extract item.

Will it still be as delicious and mild as I remember?

All three of today’s sauces have high bar to live up to, so let’s get to the review.

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My Fourth Season

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Hot Ones

Happy thursday, everybody. As I mentioned in tuesday’s review, it’s now september and that means that we’re overdue for round four of my Hot Ones-style line-up. That set of ten sauces, that I update annually, designed to give you the best UK-centric replica of the show’s experience that I can.

I am, after all, a UK chilli reviewer. Which puts me in the perfect position to craft such a collection.

This year, however, I’ve been somewhat disappointed by the products showcased on First We Feast. They haven’t interested me nearly as much as those in past seasons.

So, instead of looking at what the real show does and trying to mimic it, I’m going to try and whip up the wildest collection of wing-friendly, ascending heat sauces that I can, this time.

But, if you are after a more traditional line-up, there’s always the Chilli Shop and Mojo’s Bar’s monthly 📽️Hot Ones challenge night📽️, here in leeds.

Hopefully, between that and today’s post, I’ve got all of the bases covered.

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Pineapples and Pain

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It’s monday, dear readers, and, while it might not be my usual blogging day, it is, in fact, my birthday. The day where I turn a year older and I mark the occasion with something stupidly hot. An extract-based sauce or two to make me suffer for your entertainment, as well as the entertainment of those who craft such fearsome concoctions.

As I mentioned, last week, this year’s post is dedicated to Dan Reed and his company, Chilli of the Valley. A company who kindly supplied me with one of their hottest natural products as an appetiser.

Yet I kind of suspect that that’s all that Dan meant for his Black Death to be. Because it may have been hot and tasty but it sure didn’t pack the unnatural punch of a sauce like this:

PhwoarBottle

His Phwoar Koff and Dai.

Not that it’s actually meant to be read as “Phwoar Koff and Dai” but, well, I do try to keep things family friendly on my front page. And I’m sure that we’ll all understand what it really means once we’ve tried it.

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Pedestrian Hot Wings

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What’s up fiery food fans? If you’ve spent any time on this site at all, you probably know that I’m a fan of the Hot Ones YouTube show but, as of this week, the brand are branching out.

hot-ones-game-show

Hot Ones the Game Show just dropped yesterday – A variation on the formula where, instead of interviewing celebrity guests over a shared meal of lightly-sauced (yet still very hot) wings, Sean Evans asks trivia questions of the general american public, while they suffer from something far more thoroughly drenched.

So, today, I want to take some time to look at that formula and give my thoughts on what it does right, what it does wrong and what it’s likely to mean for the future of the show that I love.

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Hot Ones Round Three

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Happy thursday, folks. Today, we’re back for round three of my Hot Ones-style line-up.

Hot Ones

Because, given the popularity of the show, I feel like it’s worth making an annual tradition out of. Especially when importing some of their actual sauces can be quite the struggle.

So here I am, yet again, to provide you with a more brit-friendly alternative, comprised entirely of sauces that are available in the UK. Sauces that I have featured on this very site and know will make for the most enjoyable and entertaining of challenges.

You can read all about last year’s choices in my previous post but, this year, I’m going to be refreshing most of the line-up, oncemore. So, as with the last time, read on to see which old sauces have stayed, what new ones have made my list and why I’ve made the decisions that I have.

Or watch 📽️ my YouTube videos 📽️ to see me tackle a line-up of real Hot Ones sauces.

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Hot & Bothered

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It’s my birthday again! Today, I turn twenty-seven and, like every other year, I rate some extract sauces. Ultra-hot chilli products that surpass the natural limits of my scale by using a chemical concentrate of chilli’s capsaicin.

So, while I would normally bring you a recipe post on a weekend, like this, I’m putting my cooking on hold for a bonus review of my annual suffering.

Yet I have something a little different for you, this year. A sauce that comes not from an artisan chilli company but from the garlic specialists of the Isle of Wight:

BotherBottle

The Garlic Farm’s fang melting “Vampire Botherer” – To my knowledge, the only ever craft sauce to blend green chilli and chilli extract.

It’s not going to be as insane as today’s other item, given that a mere tenth of a percent of it is actually capsaicin concentrate, but I feel like its uniqueness is worth addressing, before I dive head first into the real deep end of the Five Finger Death Punch.

FFDPSauce

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