While I never ate spicy food when I was young, over the years I have become a hard core chilihead. It all started when I began traveling to Korea in the mid 1980’s and expanded with my discovery of Buffalo Wings in the late 80’s. My first experience with truly hot wings (utilizing Dave’s Insanity Sauce) came in the early 90’s and from there, I just went for hotter and hotter!
These days I make wing sauce using a combination of Habanera peppers and whole Ghost peppers from Dave’s Gormet. I put them in a blender along with a little bit of Apple Cider Vinegar and turn them into a liquid. I’ll make up a batch of this and then use it a little at a time mixed with other seasoning and sauce. I’ll usually throw in some regular “Red Hot” or similar wing sauce and sometimes a bit of honey or something else to add a bit of sweetness to the sauce. On average I must have wings two or three times a week.
I’ve done the BW3 wing challenge and got my free T-shirt. You have to eat 12 “Blazin” wings in six minutes which is more a test of speed eating than heat tolerance. To me the Blazin wings are not hot at all. I’ve also done the challenge a Harvey Washbanger in College Station, TX (which I understand is no longer available) and got that T-shirt. Actually I did that one twice. This challenge was to eat eight wings covered in 4 oz of Dave’s Insanity sauce with no time limit. If you are familiar with Dave’s Insanity, the average person will be dying after putting a single drop on their tongue. Imagine eating 80% of a 5 oz bottle of the stuff in one sitting. I also did a challenge in Santa Clara, CA which as I recall was 12 wings. Those weren’t really hot but they were oily and ended up making me sick for the rest of the day… that was not a good experience!
I’m a big fan of the Dave’s Gormet products in general but there are a number of other sauces and extracts that I really like…
Mad Dog 357 Plutonimu 9 Million is a capsaicin extract. This is far hotter than any pepper and should be used as an additive only. It is basically pure capsaicin suspended in a waxy substance. Just a little bit goes a long way and it should not be directly added to your wing or other sauce as it will be very difficult to adequately mix with the sauce. Put a little of this in a table spoon of vinegar or other liquid and thoroughly mix it before adding it to the sauce. You don’t want to bite into a clump of this! I can put a bit of it on my tongue directly and not be overwhelmed by it but not many people can do this so be careful!
"The Source", another very hot capsaicin extract in a liquid form. This is a bit easier to mix but should be done the same way, mix it into a small amount of vinegar or other liquid first to make it easier to evenly distribute into your sauce.
"The Final Answer"... as to the hottest sauce in the universe. Well that's not really true, possible true when it was introduced but not now. "Rated at 1,500,000 Scoville Units. Not for direct consumption, use as a food additive only. Warning: Do NOT eat straight out of the jar!" Is what they say but I have been known to put a drop or two directly on a piece of chicken.
Dave's Insanity Sauce was my first experience with a truly hot sauce. While by today's standards it's really not that hot, it's still a favorite.