Hot Sauce

DEFCON SAUCE FREE SAMPLE DAY (and free wings :o) ) April 12th,2008

Yesterday, Del and I swung down to St. James Gate in Maplewood for all you can eat wings provided by the crew at Defcon. We arrived around one in the afternoon. The bar was packed with hot wing conneisseurs. I immediately shouted for a long trail draft and hit the wing stand hard! They had three grades of sauce for the public to sample (Mild, Medium, and Very Hot). Devo and I started with three mediums and one hot each. I found the mediums to be extra tasty, an excellent mix of that tang that I have come to expect in a good wing sauce, accompanied by a slow steady release of sting. Then it came time to try the hot….I didn’t really realize the intense heat of the sauce until I took a swig of beer, and then another and another, then I realized the lingering pain would not subside. Needless to say, we took a subsequent break from the VERY HOT (aptly named) and retreated back to the medium grade. At that point I couldn’t taste any heat in the medium grade wings (taste buds were totally burnt out) so I sucked down another Long Trail (or three???) and went back for some more very hots ( a machismo thing I guess). Anyway, I found them to be more tolerable the second time around, but it still took me almost ten minutes to eat three wings which is definitely a first! Some friends showed up, only one of whom had the guts to try a wing on wing day. She had one very hot and was runnin’ for the hills. The heat was so intense that she got three completely naked wings after that and would not try any more sauce. Apparently they had a little contest in which contestants had to consume ten wings in four minutes without drinking anything before having to sit and flail for another four minutes in order to win a prize (some sauce or a shirt I imagine). Needless to say there were no takers from our group.

Eventually, I introduced myself to the owner and handed him a bottle of Joe’s #1 Jalapa which he very much appreciated. I thanked his wife for warning me about the very hot, before purchasing a 16 ounce bottle of the medium grade sauce. When I asked them if I could get a picture, the owner (whose named I already zoned out on) insisted that he put on the gear which consisted of a full gas mask set up with the “hazardous” effects (see photos below).

I’m looking forward to their next appearance which is in Union, NJ some time next month. Cool people….kick-ass sauce!

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     Capsaicin is the active chemical compound that makes chili peppers “hot”. It is the plants natural adaptation for deterring plant eating animals. Capsaicin will irritate any part of the human body that it comes into contact with. Different chili peppers contain varying amounts of capsaicin (see Scoville heat scale). Capsaicin is mostly found inside the core of the pepper pod as well as on the external skin. It is therefore essential that latex or rubber gloves are worn not only when cooking with very hot peppers but also when harvesting and handling them. The chemical compound can produce a waxy
appearance on the outside of the pepper pod.

     If you find yourself in a situation in which you are experiencing the physiological effects of capsaicin overload, it is best to either consume dairy products such as milk or hard alcohol. The compounds found in milk block capsaicin receptor sites in the mouth while alcohol is effective in dissipating the capsaicin compound so that it can be swallowed. Drinking water will often spread the irritation, so try to avoid it.

     Capsaicin that gets on your skin will not degenerate significantly from washing with soap and water. I often use rubbing alcohol when I find that my hands are burning because of an accidental transfer of capsaicin. I would not recommend this for everyone, since some people with sensitive skin may have a negative reaction to rubbing alcohol.

     If you are one of those people who just can’t handle spicy food but wish you had more of a tolerance, try to slowly build a tolerance by consuming peppers with low grade heat, then gradually move up the scale (see Scoville Heat scale).

     Believe it or not, genetics, ancestry and cultural histories play a large part in determining whether or not someone may or may not have a tolerance to spicy food. Generally, Central and South Americans as well as people from India and North Africa have a higher tolerance for spicy food than Western and Eastern Europeans.

     Lastly, I would like to address the issue of ingesting large quantities of capsaicin. A good rule of thumb is: “Whatever burns on the way in, will burn on the way out”. This is because the mucus membranes and soft tissue that line your mouth are very similar to those found in your rectum. I know it is not the most appetizing thing to think about, but it is worth mentioning. I have personally noticed that consuming a bite of a fresh pepper (even a habanero or dare I say a Naga Jolokia (Indian Ghost Pepper >1,000,000 Scoville Units)) produces less discomfort than some processed artificially flavored hot sauce that contains synthetically altered or concentrated capsaicin. Also, take into account that the Scoville heat scale, as groundbreaking and informative as it is, is not an absolute. I have had roasted jalapeno peppers that were hotter than roasted cayenne peppers. I have also consumed cayenne peppers off the vine that were hotter than fresh habanero peppers.