[CH] Texas Fiery Foods Show report (long)

David Cook (zeb@austin.rr.com)
Mon, 21 Aug 2000 17:30:40 -0500 

Well, the 4th Annual Texas Fiery Foods Show has come and gone and my wife
and I survived, so I thought I'd post a report. It took place over the
weekend here in Austin (current home of that Bush feller whose character
will remain unremarked upon for the rest of this report). The show ran
Saturday and Sunday, open to the public, at the local town auditorium.

First, I'd like to thank the D'Oni people (Janis and David) for letting us
be semi-official hangers-on and local guides. They are ocassional posters to
this list but being good citizens speak barely a word about their own
sauces. I will testify they make a fine roasted habanero sauce, Burning
Desire, and a habanero-honey mustard, Bold As Love, which won them an award
at the show, amongst other things. The usual not associated with them but
they do make good products, etc.

Friday night started out with a party down on 6th Street, hosted by Chile
Pepper Magazine. It was really nice to get a chance to talk to some of the
folks who make sauces we enjoy and the publisher of the magazine. He talked
about the future of the magazine and how he wanted to expand it to include
the "chile-head lifestyle." I wonder if that means Nekkid Twister pullouts?
Dave DeWitt was there too, but I didn't get a chance to talk to him.

At the show, we got to sample more than a few hot sauces, which I have been
paying for in the days that followed. For a lot of folks this was their
first show, so it was a chance for us to try some things we'd never seen
before, while it was exposure for them. Some of our personal favorite
moments included:
        Feeding people cheesecake: My wife got ambitious and made her
lime-habanero cheesecake which we smuggled in and fed to various vendors,
chefs, and even the Food Network! They were taping bits for their Extreme
Cuisine series and there might even be a shot of her cheesecake in the show.
She's pretty taken by that.
        Joe Ely: The fest had Trish Murphy/Joe Ely for an outdoor show
Saturday night. Missed the Trish Murphy part. It was hot (Austin's been
running about 100+ degrees lately) and the music was too.
        Other sauces of note (at least one's I felt compelled to buy):
Hongryhawg's "Bayou Passion" hot sauce with garlic and butter flavor -- this
one surprised me when I tried it because I hadn't read the label first. Big
Papa's "Fire & Ice" BBQ sauce -- including cayenne, mint and bourbon.
Hector's "Smoking Habanero Sauce". Adorno "Texican Medley" pickles -- the
closest thing the Chicago giadinera I've been able to find around here.
Loltun brand Sliced Pickled Habaneros from Mexico, imported by Del Baijo
Jalapeno and Sauces. The CaJohn's folks were there, too. My biggest
disappointment was finding the Banana-Habanero jam after it had sold out.
        I apologize for the length and again I've got no affiliation with
any of these people, but they're not mega-corporations with big budgets, so
they deserve all the plugs they can get. If anybody wants more info on these
or any others that might have been there, email me privately.
        Oh, and a thanks to Shiner Bock for having the beer.
        Next week, it's off to the local paper's Salsa Contest!

David Cook