The pepper patch is looking nice and healthy with many exotic varieties of chile plants. One pepper that is kind of fun and a little unusual is the fish pepper. This pepper comes from the “Triple T Ranch’. They grow these peppers plants and transform the fruits into hot sauce. The description says these peppers are the best variety for when cooking with fish. Some of the leaves have white stripes throughout. This pepper will have a good home in the Chilebrown pepper patch.
Memorial Day is the unofficial opening of the BBQ season. Our grills and smokers are glowing year round. A smile formed on my face when the mailman delivered this sample of Dimples BBQ sauce. This smile was because I will get to do what I love. That is fire up the grill, cook some chicken and ribs and sample a new BBQ sauce. Dimples origin is from Raleigh North Carolina. It is made in small batches. Dimple’s claims that their sauce; “compliments anything you can grill into a beautiful blend of barbecue harmony”. Despite being made in North Carolina, Dimples is a Kansas City Style sauce. Sweet tomato’s and tangy vinegar is in the mix today. Gentlemen, start your grills.
Ingredients:
Be prepared for this long list of ingredients; Ketchup (tomato concentrate, sugar, salt, vinegar, onion powder), brown sugar, molasses, Worcestershire sauce, (Dextrose, salt, sugar, caramel color, silicone dioxide, garlic, spices, citric acid, natural spice extractives, annatto color, vinegar, water, mustard, water), mustard (water, vinegar, mustard seed, salt, tumeric), salt, liquid smoke flavor, paprika. Wow that was a mouthful.
Aroma & Texture:
Tomato ketchup aroma with a faint whiff of smoke will spiral through the open top of this bottle. This is a smell that is familiar and comforting. The smell will tease you about the barbeque to come. A dark thick smooth red sauce pours freely from its container. This thick sauce will spread nicely over our meats on the grill.
Taste:
This sauce has flavors of a Kansas City style sauce. Tomato based with some sweetness. The flavor is well balanced. It is not too sweet, spicy or smoke flavored. In fact it may be a little bland. This is a sauce flavor that I remember as a child. It should pair well with any grilled meat.
Heat;
N/A
Food:
Chicken and ribs on the grill are a welcome meal any day of the week at our household. A medium hot mesquite charcoal fire was built in our kettle bbq. The vents were open half way and we cooked our meats low and slow. Salt & Pepper was the only seasoning. When the meats were done we coasted them with Dimples BBQ sauce. We covered the grill and let the sauce set. (Four minutes). This was a good looking meal. Dimples BBQ sauce did a very decent job of flavoring our grilled/smoked meats. The sweet tomato based sauce was a comforting flavor that we all know and remember. These grilled and sauced meats were very good but they did not have pizzazz or a ‘WOW’ factor.
We also used Dimples as a dipping sauce for some bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers. Once again we were pleased with its mild non assertive flavor. It was comforting but not spectacular.
Overall:
Dimples BBQ sauce is a good bbq sauce with a flavor that we are all familiar with. It will do the trick for all your grilling needs. Dimples BBQ sauce does not have the ‘WOW’ factor that we are searching for. There are a lot of choices in the bbq sauce market today and Dimples is fairly ordinary in our book. We did like Dimples but probably would not re-purchase.. If you are looking for an everyday bbq sauce Dimples is made just for you.
‘Live life to its Hottest”
These words of wisdom are from Ashley Food Company the producer of “Mad Dog Ghost Fusion Oil’. This makes perfect sense to us. Ghost peppers and canola oil, a simple combination that is complex in flavor and very hot. One million plus Scoville units, Bhut Jolokia Ghost Peppers that are processed in small hand mixed batches. This oil promises to heat up the kitchen and your taste buds. Let’s give it a try.
Ingredients:
Expeller pressed canola oil and Ghost peppers. That is all she wrote.
Aroma & Texture:
This is a oil that has a beautiful pink pepper hue. The aroma is fairly neutral. I smell a canola oil type flavor but not much more.
Taste:
Straight out of the bottle is a challenge of heat. This oil is hot. Once the fire has subsided the flavor of Ghost peppers is very prevalent. The flavor is similar to a habanero. I believe it has a smoky component that makes this pepper complex. Wow, it is hot.
Heat:
This is very hot. I would like to repeat that this is very hot. The heat meter will swell to four stars out of five. This oil is definitely for heat seekers.
Food:
Our first experience was with some pasta and cheese. Fresh pasta was coated with several tablespoons of the oil. Cheese and fresh peas were tossed in. “BAM!!!! POW!!! TO THE MOON ALICE!!!!. This was a heat bomb extraordinaire. I enjoyed the heat and Ghost pepper flavor that just kept coming. The flavors and then the heat of the Ghost pepper almost made me into a Ghost. I enjoyed it but it was just too hot for my wife, Ms. Goofy.
Our next experience and I say experience is because the heat will leave an impression even with a hard core Chilehead was grilled asparagus. I used one tablespoon of Ghost oil and several tablespoons of olive oil and marinated some asparagus in a Ziploc bag. Salt & pepper were added also. A quick sear on a hot grill and we were ready. Now this was very tasty and more accessible to the masses. We got to really taste the wonderful Ghost peppers with out the massive heat rush. Don’t tell Ms. Goofy but I missed the rush.
Lastly we made a simple salad using just a tablespoon again. Mad Dog Ghost Fusion oil, olive oil, vinegar, salt & pepper was our dressing. This salad was a very warm and flavorful bed of greens. A warm smile of approval was given.
Overall:
Ashley Food Company has produced an oil to showcase the Ghost Pepper in all its deadly hot glory. Straight out of the bottle should only be experienced by practiced Chileheads. Using restraint with the addition of other ingredients like olive oil can let the hot pepper challenged enjoy and experience the wonderful flavor of Ghost peppers. This oil will transform any dish into a Ghost pepper heat bomb. Mad Dog Fusion Oil will be a proud addition to our pantry.
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