Octopus Overlords

Its official now my town is the hot slaw capital of Tennessee. Not sure how that all came about but I know Ive grown up eating mighty fine hot slaws here on hot dogs and hamburgers and dippin chips into. Some local famous ones have come and gone over the years. One near me that me and my wife went to as kids even closed a few years ago.

We used to buy it by the bowl to take home for hotdogs and chips .It was Dari Kreme hot slaw.


The big deal hot slaw that you can still get here now is Fuzz's Hot Slaw . Its only sold in Food Lion and the like though. Across town from me and out of my reach until I get a car working. You can read its story of how it started at a local drive in picture show here in town called the Star-Vue. I actually went there as a small kid. It was right before it closed for good back in the late 1970s.

I've never heard of hot slaw, but the concept intrigues me. Do you have a newsletter I can subscribe to?

This seems like the thread for this - How the Jalapeño lost its heat :

https://www.dmagazine.com/food-drink/20 ... me-aggies/

Pyperkub wrote: Sun Mar 31, 2024 2:17 pm This seems like the thread for this - How the Jalapeño lost its heat :

https://www.dmagazine.com/food-drink/20 ... me-aggies/

It's a good read.

Isgrimnur wrote: Sun Mar 31, 2024 2:25 pm

Pyperkub wrote: Sun Mar 31, 2024 2:17 pm This seems like the thread for this - How the Jalapeño lost its heat :

https://www.dmagazine.com/food-drink/20 ... me-aggies/

It's a good read.

Agreed. I've been wondering, too, why jalapeños taste more like olives lately.

Interesting. I've wondered if there is any point to growing my own, given how cheap they are at the grocers. Turns out there is. I didn't realize I can partially control the heat by underwatering, although our climate is turning so wet that that's iffy nowadays.

Alefroth wrote: Thu Mar 28, 2024 10:44 pm I'll ship you some.

I will take you up on that offer once I finish this bottle and a few others I have on the go!

I thought I had just become acclimated.

I did wonder a little about jalapenos. Thai chili peppers are the way I'd go. The green ones.

poblanos > jalapeno

I was hoping they catch on more and places would offer stuff made with them over the plain old jalapeno

Daehawk wrote: Sun Apr 07, 2024 4:02 pm poblanos > jalapeno

I was hoping they catch on more and places would offer stuff made with them over the plain old jalapeno

They are popular in their own way. Dried they are ancho chiles and they are used in the perennial appetizer favorite, Chile Relleno.

Holy shit Conan O'Brien.

Conan is certifiable.

The most spicy item my mother ever cooked with was green pepper, and that was only in spaghetti sauce.

AWS260 wrote: Thu Apr 11, 2024 11:52 pm Holy shit Conan O'Brien.

That was certainly a spectacle.

When he went to the hottest sauce, I was like WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU DON'T HAVE TO COMMIT TO THE BIT THAT HARD CONAN. One of the best to ever do it.

Conan was absolutely brilliant...never seen anyone go that over the top with the sauce. Probably a toss-up between him and Dave Grohl for my all-time favorite Hot Ones guest.

Eel Snave wrote: Sat Apr 13, 2024 10:19 am When he went to the hottest sauce, I was like WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU DON'T HAVE TO COMMIT TO THE BIT THAT HARD CONAN. One of the best to ever do it.

IT'S NOT A BIT! THIS IS LIFE!!!

I lost it after he was screaming THIS IS NOT A BIT and then he asked for his "doctor" to come over and "check on my friend".

Smoove_B wrote:I lost it after he was screaming THIS IS NOT A BIT and then he asked for his "doctor" to come over and "check on my friend".

And the doctor checked Sean by putting the stethoscope on his tongue

I have done a Hot Ones challenge before and for Conan to keep the bit going throughout the shoot is fabulous. Da' Bomb gave him pause, but he powered on through. I do not even want to think how sick he was afterwards. Probably bedridden for days.

The fake doctor covering for the real one….

By Conan’s face, you could tell he was suffering.

Carolina Reaper is where I met my match.

I do like cooking with ketchup-based hotsauces, and Melindas has ghost pepper and habanero. I've made my own with tropical fruits and habanero (which is hot, yet fruity).

Just tried the Smokin' Marie sample pouch I got with my Sweet Maries's order and it has the same band-aid taste that I find in smoky Scotches. It's good, but I was surprised to taste that in something so different.

I was given a souvenir of Carolina Reaper paste from Spice Mountain, a UK spice shop. It is far too hot for me to put on food in a liberal, casual way. I can only dip a morsel of food into the paste just the slightest amount, and have to stop after about 5 bites. But it tastes great and pleasantly fills the oral cavity with heat. It's going to take me a long time to finish this small plastic tub of paste, but I'm going to enjoy it. Who but the Brits could make such spicy, flavorful food?

That's a question you don't see every day.

Hipolito wrote: Sun Nov 03, 2024 8:21 pm I was given a souvenir of Carolina Reaper paste from Spice Mountain, a UK spice shop. It is far too hot for me to put on food in a liberal, casual way. I can only dip a morsel of food into the paste just the slightest amount, and have to stop after about 5 bites. But it tastes great and pleasantly fills the oral cavity with heat. It's going to take me a long time to finish this small plastic tub of paste, but I'm going to enjoy it. Who but the Brits could make such spicy, flavorful food?

I tried Carolina hot sauce and once and could taste nothing but pain. It was like tasting molten iron or something.

We’re going to a new breakfast place that asks if you want hot sauce with your eggs. When I went to my default “yes please” the server asked me what kind. “What do you have?” sez I, like the hot sauce connoisseur I’m not. “Name it,” she says. My mental database flags Cholula as its most exotic entry and of course, they have it.

So without going into challenge-level obscure, what are some other popular hot sauces I might enjoy with my brekky? Beyond Frank’s and Pete’s and sriracha, I mean.

I like cholula just fine, if that helps.

I don't use hot sauce at breakfast, but if you're inclined towards ketchup-based sauces, Melinda's has an assortment. I have their jalapeno, habanero and ghost pepper, depends on the flavor you're looking for. I consider Cholula as, pardon the expression, weak sauce and frustrated a waitress in a Mexican restaurant when she couldn't produce something spicier.

Tabasco is an old standard that comes in many flavors now. I wish I could remember the hot sauce I had at the oyster bar the other day, I liked it better than Tabasco, it also came in flavors. I'll make a note of it next time

Secret Aardvark, Tapatio, Valentina, Crystal for a different LA style, Marie Sharp's Habanero for a less likely to have option, Nando's Peri-peri sauces.

Bonus points for names I can remember, like Tabasco.

I mentioned before, check your local Walmart. The stores here have a display of $1 hot sauces and they have a good variety. You can sample many that way...and depending on your consumption, that might be a better deal than investing in a $7 bottle of something that is good, but rarely used and turns funky gray before the bottle is empty.

I’ve never been in a Walmart and won’t spoil my perfect record for a hot sauce flight. I just want to give my server a suave response that doesn't sound pretentious. Bonus points if it tastes good on eggs.

I mentioned the ketchup-based sauces as many have a history of putting ketchup on eggs. I never understood this, but it seems a logical leap for those who have.

You should get over your fear of Walmart. They do, contrary to popular belief, have some good stuff there at prices that can't be beat. You just need to know what you're looking for. For example, they have crawfish tails. They have Chinese (bad) at $10 a package, but Louisiana farmed (good) at $15. Specialty seafood stores sell the latter for as much as $30. Most things, their prices on named brand stuff is close to, but usually less, than other grocery stores. They don't run sales though, that can sometimes make a difference (wine boxes are $4.99 there, but today at the supermarket they were $4.49, usually $4.99). Do yourself a favor and give them a thorough check out (and I don't mean check out the check out girl, which is hardly an option at many Walmart now that are mostly self-checkout). The stigma that once was really doesn't apply anymore -- unless you exclusively shop at upscale places, most other big stores are sourcing their stuff from the same places, in many cases identical brands.

Melinda's Amarillo or Baron's West Indian Hot Sauce

Both are mustard based which might be odd with just eggs (but good) and breakfast potatoes.

Kraken wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2024 12:41 am I’ve never been in a Walmart and won’t spoil my perfect record for a hot sauce flight. I just want to give my server a suave response that doesn't sound pretentious. Bonus points if it tastes good on eggs.

I've found that Louisiana Hot Sauce is pretty good on eggs. I consider it about on par with Cholula. Though the intertubes tell me that Lousiana Hot Sauce is only ~450 scovilles while Cholula is ~3600. So it may be that it's a lot less heat. But I do like the flavor.
https://louisianahotsauce.com/

Edit: A different article put Cholula at ~1000 SHU.

I seem to like the ones not super liked and dislike the famous ones. I like Tabasco red and green, Franks(it really is good on anything) and Louisiana is ok. I dont really care for sriracha or Cholula

Madmarcus wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2024 8:40 am mustard based

TheMix wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2024 12:22 pm
Edit: A different article put Cholula at ~1000 SHU.

Yeah, I wouldn't think Cholula would be rated all that hot since even my wife (who is very much a, "Hoo, this mayonnaise is a bit spicy" type) can handle small amounts of Cholula.