In the open, indoor-outdoor space of the Brooklyn Expo Center in Greenpoint, dozens of independent purveyors of hot sauce, barbecue sauce, hot jams and other assorted condiments gathered together to celebrate and sell their homegrown spicy wares at the NYC Hot Sauce Expo. The spectrum of sauces ranged from mild to “why am I doing this to myself,” and I’ve never chugged milk with such reckless abandon before in my life. One of the coolest parts of this expo, besides a deep passion for ghost peppers and Carolina Reaper peppers (which are as scary as they sound), was the extreme variety and myriad of flavor profiles that can exist in one seemingly singular area of the condiment landscape. The hot sauce-slathered food eating contests (tacos, pizza, wings, and burritos) were also extremely entertaining. I’ve also now learned a significant amount about the Scoville scale, which ranks peppers and hot sauces alike in terms of heat.
Here were some of our favorites:
A former chef from Australia named Chris Cullen is committed to using the best, freshest ingredients, whether he’s cooking or crafting hot sauce recipes. His goal when he created Culley’s was to move away from the vinegary qualities of most sauces and add savory notes of onion and garlic to make for a well-balanced product. He certainly succeeded there, and his No.1 sauce was one of the best I tried all day.
With a strong collection of accolades under his belt, Aaron “The Hoff” Hoffman and his team are making something really special in Chattanooga, Tennessee. These sauces range from the mild Hoff Sauce to the off the charts Smoken’ Ghost, which utilizes the ghost chili, popular among chili heads across the globe, and chipotle chili peppers. Ghost chilis rank at 1,000,000 Scoville heat units, which is spicy AF. Despite the intensity of these sauces, Hoff’s products retain a strong commitment to flavor. Inclusive of both BBQ sauces and “dirty dust,” a spicy seasoning salt, Hoffman’s product line casts a wide net of offerings, and his online store is approachable and informative
To be completely transparent, I started off with this one and it nearly destroyed me. Evil Bastard is comprised of Ghost peppers (1 million SHUs), Scorpion peppers (1.5 million SHUs), 7 pot primo peppers (1.4 million SHUs), Jack Daniels Fire Whisky, and a multitude of spices. Personally, I found the heat here outweighed the flavor. This is not for the faint of heart, and make sure you have milk on hand and food in your belly before attempting it.
Butterfly Bakery of Vermont/Heatonist No. 3 – Pink Peppercorn Gin
This collaboration between The Heatonist.com and the Butterfly Baker in Vermont was for sure one of the best sauces I tried at the expo. The sauce I loved was called Pink Peppercorn Gin and the notes of juniper and the delicate heat from the peppercorns meld nicely together to give the sauce a flavor that outshines the heat. It’s definitely on the milder side, so if you’re looking for something that won’t burn your face off, this is for you.
High River Sauces – Tears of the Sun & Cheeba Gold
I wound up purchasing both of these sauces because I enjoyed them so much. These were one of the last tables I hit, and I was so glad I left them for last. High River was a sponsor of the NYC Hot Sauce expo, and the caliber of their products make it easy to see why they’re so successful. The Tears of the Sun is a medium level sauce made from a blend of habaneros and tropical fruits like papaya, mango and pineapple. The fruit gives it a tangy sweetness that distracts from the kick at the end of each bite. Alternatively, the Cheeba Gold is a curry-based sauce that uses Scotch Bonnet peppers (which I had to google while writing this), which fall from 100,000 to 350,000 on the Scoville scale. Some mustard rounds it out to give it a fuller finish.
Whether you’re a chili head or just enjoy a bit of heat to your food, you may want to consider checking out next year’s NYC Hot Sauce Expo. It’s a raring good time.
