Dealers of pain. Purveyors of The Source
A brave soul prepares to taste the source, cameras at the ready:)
The best way to kill the burn, or at least simmer it down to a dull roar--sugar + ice.
A lady was handing out shots of this stuff and telling people to put it in their beer. I did, and was pleasantly surprised. It was like a michelata or beery mary maybe, but more like a margherita...maybe. I would like to try more and may buy some.
The crowd left a mess of this booth--the Aztexan is a popular sauce. I love the color.
Winston Hot Sauce--a good sweet Jamaican with just enough heat. Not my favorite to put on a chip (I'm not a fan of sweet hot sauce) but it would be killer in a chicken dish.
Lines, lines, and more lines.
Black Joe Lewis and the Honey Bears
The Pecan Smoked Brisket from Matt's El Rancho is delicious!
A nice downtown mural, snapped from the car.
Among others, I tried what was being popularly referred to as the clown salsa, because the vendors were dressed up like creepy, flame-eyed clowns. Its actual name is The Source, and supposedly it's the hottest extract in the world at 7, 100,000 Scoville Units! To give you a frame of reference, the woman told me that the other hot sauces at the festival ranged between 30,000 and 70,000 Scoville Units. They gave it to you on the tip of a toothpick with warnings not to get it on your lips and not to try to wash it down by chugging your beer--you'll only spread the heat. It was really hot. Really. But it wasn't so bad I wouldn't do it again. The endorphins hit just a second or two after the pain really kicked in--which took a good 60 seconds or so, and then I was burning and floating and sweaty and cold and a little tingly all over. A top-drawer experience, if you are into setting your mouth on fire.
As for more typical hot sauces, I liked the Aztexan Habanero Supreme. I didn't get to try most of them though, and I purposefully left out ones I had tried years before. The lines were just too long, and I got there kind of late. I learned two important lessons. One, get there early, like ten minutes before they open, or you will stand in line for HOURS if you want to go through the main tasting lines. Two, snow cones are better than beer or water for quelling the heat. Sugar is the reason--sugar is a great heat neutralizer. Milk is ok too, but who wants to drink milk in 105 degree weather along with beer and hot sauce??? I remember Two Hot Mamas was really good in '06, and they appear to have won a lot of the awards, but I missed them this year. I had some fabulous pecan smoked beef brisket tacos from Matt's El Rancho though, and I had fun taking pictures, people watching, and drinking beer.
0 comments:
Post a Comment