The Illinois-Wisconsin border is a culturally permeable one, but the Chicago phenomenon of the gourmet hot doggery has yet to truly penetrate Wisconsin. Where the Windy City’s inimitable Hot Doug’s has spawned countless imitators in its own zip code, we haven’t seen much of the fancy-pants hot dog in our own market.

Maybe it’s because we already have our own firmly-entrenched sausage culture in the form of the bratwurst, which most dyed-in-the-wool Wisconsinites do not consider to be a “hot dog” per se. There are places for the customary Chicago dogs and chili dogs in the area, but Bison Jack’s in Middleton is the only place around that’s trying to really broaden the spectrum of sausage-on-bun dining beyond the combinations and toppings with which we’re all familiar.

The result is something like a slightly upscale Subway for hot dogs: a place where you can build your own bespoke meal from a selection of sausages, buns and condiments that range from the familiar (ketchup) to the surprising (green chili-jalapeno salsa; Fritos).

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The Hot Sauce Bible: Revised Old & New Testament

by Dave DeWitt, Chuck Evans and Scott Roberts

The authors are seeking worldwide manufacturers who make spicy sauces & salsas with chile peppers as their primary occupation to submit their story for a book abut the history of the hot sauce manufacturing industry, to be published at a later date. The book will supplement pepper sauce and salsa manufacturing and is a follow-up to original The Hot Sauce Bible (1996) Crossing Press, which went out-of-print in 2001. The Hot Sauce Bible: New Testament will provide a history of the industry from 1996 to present, coupled with a revised Old Testament for a historical record of hot sauce and salsa manufacturing as has been pieced together by Chuck Evans.

Co-packer manufacturers are welcome to submit information for inclusion as long as the co-packer has their own in-house labeled product line.

Hobbyists, week-end chileheads, and manufacturers making products at home or part-time do not meet the criteria for inclusion as manufacturers.

Private Label products are excluded under all circumstances.

Please provide in an attachment concise (several paragraphs to 1 page unless more needed), neatly written with spell-check…all copy to be written in the submitter’s own words….

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ZZ Top frontman Billy Gibbons has introduced his very own line of zesty sauces to spice up your next barbeque or Tex-Mex meal. The guitar legend debuted his BFG brand condiments, #44 BBQ Sauce and #44 Sauce Piquant, over the weekend at Lambert’s Restaurant in Austin, Texas, during the South by Southwest festival, Noise11.com reports.

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If you were around back in the heyday of the Hot Sauce Blog, then you’ll remember Eric “Eman” Nanista quite well.

Well, Eman is putting some hot sauce baskets together for a silent auction to benefit Cystic Fibrosis on April 15th for some local Missouri kids with this disease.sta quite well.

If you’re a product manufacturer, please consider helping out! It doesn’t matter if you make hot sauce, BBQ sauce, wing sauce, seasonings or whatever…your contributions will be greatly appreciated! So if you would like to have your brand represented or would like to just donate something, please email Eman at eric_nanista “at” yahoo.com and he will get you his shipping address. Thanks again! Continue reading →