By request: I rate and review hot sauce and fiery foods, I write funny, I look funny, I'm John Scrovak. AMA!

Your Morgan Freeman spoof proof pic made me chuckle.

You don't know how many doors I had to knock on to find someone with a leather couch.

Although you have experience with the hottest of all foods, heat doesn't really determine if a food tastes good. What would you say is your favorite hot food that balances hotness and taste?

Thanks for the AMA!

That's a damn good question. And difficult to answer. Are you looking for something that one can purchase, or something you can make at home? Personally, I'm a huge fan of Mexican food and hot wings. With the right sauce, you can have the perfect flavor and heat of hot wings for you. Not a big fan of heat, do it mild. Want to light your ass up, there's a sauce for that. In the end, it really comes down to how you flavor whatever it is you want to eat. And the not-too-widely-known gourmet hot sauce community has literally thousands of different sauces to achieve absolutely any flavor and heat combination you could possibly want. And there are new sauces coming out every day!

I'd like to know about both in-store and homemade ways to have a good taste with heat. So far, the hot sauce I use at home (Chinese chili sauce) seems to only add heat with very little of anything else.

Your first step to a good balance of heat and flavor is to stop buying hot sauce at a grocery store. The shelf fees for grocery stores are exorbitantly high for anyone but the most profitable companies that everyone knows about, i.e. Texas Pete, Franks Red Hot, Tabasco, etc. A truly great balance of heat and flavor comes from the sort of small batch manufacturing inherent to gourmet sauces. One site that's good for buying sauces is iBurn. It's a new startup, so of course they could use the patronage. Other sites like Peppers.com, or their location in Dewey, are good for finding some sauce.

As for in-store, the best thing you can do is look for the small-town hole-in-the-wall dive bar or family restaurant. They don't have the same corporate restrictions as chain restaurants, so they can afford to be inventive and unique with heat and flavoring.

What a random and fun AMA...I enjoyed it!

If you had to buy hotsauce from say Walmart, what do u choose? also, if your answer is neither of the following...Luisiana or Tobasco?!

From Walmart, I would go for Frank's Red Hot. Unless it's the holiday season. During the holiday season, they have a little suitcase gift with about 8-10 hot sauces 'from around the world'. It adds variety to your life!

If I had to choose, Tabasco

I like Cholula a lot, are there any other hot sauces that are similar to that which you would prefer?

Yucatan Sunshine or something like like is like a better version of Cholula

This guy's got it. Tapatio is close, too

What's your opinion on Sriracha?

Sriracha good. No sriracha bad.

Does it hurt every time you go #2 or does the butthole build a tolerance to this spicy abuse

At first, we refer to it as 'Johnny Cashing' it, or Ring of Fire. After a while, though, my cast iron gullet, solid stomach, and my poor poor poopshoot built up their own tolerances. Fun fact: I have never had heart burn.

Would you support a kick starter to build a milk bidet to help combat the ring of fire?

Only if it's called the cream shot

Damn you, man. I get heartburn from BBQ chips...

Dip 'em in ranch, man!

You're the man.

Nah, You da man!

Hi John! I made some hot sauce with Guyanese bird peppers recently, which will be ready in about two weeks. Can I send you a bit for your honest opinion?

I would be happy to! Are you an individual or representative of a company? I'm leary of surprise sauce from someone on the internet but, what the hell, only live once, right? PM me tomorrow (when my inbox isn't as flooded), and I'll get you my email address.

I can also send you a surprise sauce but I won't tell you the ingredients, interested?

The secret ingredient is semen, isn't it?

Horse semen

Giddyup?

What? It's not... I would never... that's just a load of...

Yes.

load

I make hot sauce, too, but I know it is safe because 1) I sanitize my equipment 2) it's salted enough to inhibit harmful bacteria 3) it's cooked after fermentation and 4) it's got vinegar in it. You should try mine, too! Here's a picture of the color: http://i.imgur.com/hQSEBdm.jpg

It's habanero, cherry bomb, and ghost pepper hot sauce.

Sounds fantastic! PM me tomorrow, we'll work something out!!

Thoughts on Sriracha?

Sriracha is a good, solid sauce. More importantly, their cult following is doing something glorious for the world of small-time hot sauce manufacturers by bringing other options to front that are not simple solutions of cayenne peppers and vinegar.

If you could only have one hot sauce to use on everything for the rest of your life, what would you choose?

You bastard, making me choose just one. Is death an option? Shit. If not, I'd have to say Rising Sun Pepper Farm 3 Pepper Garlic Hot Sauce Brian, I apologize in advance for the ol' reddit ddos of love

Just ordered a bottle. THIS BETTER BE GOOD

Oh it is. Especially if you make their beer dip, listed on their website!

[deleted]

I'll tell you what. They ship in cases of 12. if you can get enough interest for a case of 12, I'll talk to Brian. I'll see if he can sell me a case, and make it a personal package... Find me on Facebook and keep me posted. Facebook.com/johnscrovak

This is the best level of interaction I've ever seen from anyone doing an AMA

Thank you, I truly appreciate it. It's 2215 where I am, and I'm coming back just to respond to everyone because, as a redditor, I've seen some of the shit AMAs that come through. I always told myself if I get famous, I won't lose my level of genuine interaction and caring for people. Internet famous, apparently, but I'm a man of my word.

Seriously? I'm not even a huge fan of spicy food and hot sauce in general, but the level of dedication you're showing in trying to get people this sauce is making me really want to try it!

Completely serious. I believe in trade. I believe in international commerce. I have Canadian friends, and I love my sister country to the North. I say it now, with reddit as my witness. If Canadians want the sauce, and I can make it work through whatever customs restrictions exist, I WILL bring you guys the gift of this sauce. And by bring, I mean ship. Centralize orders, and PM me with numbers of cases. I'll figure out a way to perform monetary transfers, and we'll make this happen.

I really want to know how many bottles this guy sells at the end of the day.

Just ordered two.

I'll ask him next time I see him, and see what he says!

Do you think you'll try something that'll kill you? Or do you think you're totally hot-proof by now

If you're talking heat, I don't think I could possibly ingest something that hot. While capsaicin poisoning is a thing, it takes about 47mg/kg for a mouse to die. As a 190lb man who's been eating hat stuff for a while, I don't think it possible without eating large quantities of raw, pharmaceutical grade capsaicin. And that much would likely cause your body to reject it and save itself before you, for all intents and purposes, OD'd on it. The body is a beautiful thing!

Mmmm...hat stuff.

Touche!

How exactly did you start writing about hot sauce? I imagine you get paid for this work; how did you get to this point?

A few years back I was pitching ideas for Cracked.com, before I was published there. In that time, a guy noticed my pitches, thought they were great, and started looking up to me. When he started a Taco cart and firearm blog in Houston, he wanted my advice on how to make it popular. Eventually it became big, and he went on tour with a group called the Spicy RV, which traveled the country doing spicy eating challenges and going to hot sauce shows, as their official blogger/writer. Eventually a second trip came up that he couldn't take time off work for. Knowing I like hot foods, he submitted my name to the owner/operator, who got a hold of me. After one of the best, most crazy weeks of my life on that Spicy RV trip, the owner/operator, James, invited me to start writing reviews for Eat More Heat. It's all been spicy from there!

And no, I actually don't get paid to write these reviews. It's a labor of love that I do as a hobby, and to increase awareness of good, gourmet hot sauce and local manufacturers to people who want to spice up their life! My money comes from 2 day jobs.

Taco cart

firearm blog

Houston

I need this product and or service.

gunsandtacos.com

Tell jay I sent you

I respect that, not getting paid for something you're so passionate about.

Would you like to see what you do turn into a career?

Also, I have a little experience with hot stuff. As a military policeman, I've had OC sprayed on my eyes several times. It never gets easier, haha.

Reserve battalion out of MD? Or AD? I knew some guys out of Eastern Shore, worked with them a few times.

I would love to see it turn into a career, perhaps even a tv show or series, because all of the recent hot sauce and fiery foods shows on TV are absolute rubbish.

I've never been OC sprayed yet, but I'm trying to get it done...

There are several places you could go right now to increase your chances!

I've tried. Seems the women's locker room is all too receptive....

I am so full of shit lol

What is your best cure for burning mouth/tongue/lips/face from eating too much chilli?

It depends on the exposure. Bread helps absorb the oils, but to cure it, there is something in the enzymes of milk fat that break down the capsaicin oils, so your best bet is anything heavy in milk fat. Heavy whipping cream, whole milk, yogurt, sour cream, etc.

Finally, an excuse to cover myself in whipped cream.

Need a hand?

Hottest food you've ever had?

The Flame Thrower Pizza at Stevi-B's, in the Tallahassee area.

Seriously? Stevie-B's is the king of the heat mountain? I did not expect that. I thought it would in Asia or India somewhere.

I haven't been to Asia or India yet. I haven't left the country, and this is a spicy challenge you need to sign a waiver to attempt...

I had to sign one of those to buy Blair's hot sauce. Isn't it just a gimmick?

Nope. A restaurant was once sued because a waiter offered Death Sauce to a child. It's to protect from frivolous lawsuits.

Do you think your tolerance for the hotness of a food has improved with all your training? Did the way you taste things change at all?

Absolutely. I constantly find myself telling friends and family that this or that isn't too hot, it's mild at best, etc. only to have their red faces and gasps tell me that I need to recalculate that assessment.

I think all chilli heads get that. They eat something and say "Ooh that's a fairly hot meal" and my wife is looking like she wants to jam a fire extinguisher in her mouth.

As long as you make sure you wash your mouth out before engaging in intimate encounters with her.... I had some bad scratches on the back of my head from forgetting one day... I felt SOOOOOO bad

So I get spitting out the food, dancing around in pain, all of that, but what's with the induced vomiting?

That pizza, for example, is made with ultra-hot chilis, and a mass of extract sauces. So much so that professionals like myself consider it incredibly painful. It's the sort of thing you can feel passing through your digestive system every inch of its journey. That sort of intestinal pain, all at once, and following your intestines could cause some not-so-fantastic side effects, in addition to hurting like hell, and sitting on the pot shitting yourself so raw you bleed. Some of these challenges are incredibly stupid hot, and the poke-and-choke is occasionally the safest method for dealing with the food, especially in a situation where you can't handle the exodus.

tl;dr - I would be in a world of hurt if I didn't...

As somebody who did the Stupid Wing challenge at Caliente in Richmond, VA (loaded with extracts, similar to the pizza you describe), I wish I had done the poke-and-choke. It felt like a white-hot branding iron was passing through my intestine at a snail's pace. Your wisdom, I need it.

My wisdom, my friend, is earned through experiences similar to yours. A good kind of butthurt

Holy hell....everything about that sounds awful. Well to each his own and if anything it's at least entertaining for the rest of us, so thanks!

Oh it is. Absolutely dreadful!

I see what you did there in the proof pic.

Good. Thanks. Now let's get back to talking about Rampart.

I dunno, looks photoshopped to me lol. This must be John's publicist.

Note to self: I need a publicist. A free publicist.

I'll do it.

"Y'all got peppers? I know a guy who eats that shit!"

Love it! If you're super cereal, PM me tomorrow!

What is your favorite combination of food and hot sauce that is most likely weird for some people?

Definitely Ice Cream. There's a place in called Sunni Skies Angier, NC that has fantastic spicy ice cream, both Cold Sweat, and the hotter Exit Wounds. They are made with extract sauces, ultra-hot chilis, and the flavor is fantastic. I think I have a video from there somewhere...

EDIT Found it!

You ever been to Columbus? You can get CaJohn's sauces and salsas with Jeni's ice cream (best ice cream scientifically possible) in the same damn market. And it's both of their flagship stores!

North Market, right? They have a hot sauce show annually that I've been trying to make it to!

Do you think your taste buds have been affected by the spicy foods and sauces? Also how often do you put hot sauce on daily meals, or is it just for reviews?

I won't lie, there's a slight change in my taste buds. Since I first started eating hot sauce and fiery foods on the regular about 10 years ago, I don't taste things as hot as they used to be. Almost as if I've built up a tolerance to the capsaicin which, from my understanding, actually happens. As to your latter question, at least daily. I'm finishing my breakfast of shredded chipotle-seasoned chicken breast over baked potatoes with jalapenos and cheese. Yum!

Im too hungry for this thread

I'm too hungry for my shirt.

As a biochemist studying capsaicin, it's not so much a tolerance but the destruction of nerve fibers.

Well, I'm a big enough man to admit when I'm wrong. Could you PM me tomorrow with some sources or references? Possibly an interview for the site?

Whats your favorite pepper?

Honestly, the smoky flavor of the Ghost Pepper is fantastic. Granted, it's hot as hell, but it has a naturally pronounced smokey flavor, almost like a compounded chipotle.

This is the first time I've heard anything about the actual flavor of the ghost pepper, and now I want to try one a bit. Would the ghost pepper be good dried and ground like a chipotle seasoning do you think?

Absolutely! I use it when I make nachos and tacos!

I am growing the ghost pepper for the first time this year. Do you have a favorite recipe for it?

Recipe, not really. Just sliced up, or minced, and added to whatever meat you're cooking for tacos and nachos. DEFINITELY gives it a good kick.

Have you tried the Trinidad Scorpion?

Yes I have. In the video I posted above, that red pepper I end up puking all over the parking lot (after a day full of drinking) is the Trinidad Scorpion.

I would have probably done the same. I'm from the Caribbean (Trinidad) and I eat a lot of pepper, but if the ghost chili lit me up like it did, I can only imagine the Butch T. Thanks for the response.

Any time, keep on keepin' on, man!

Are ghost peppers so hot that you're unable to enjoy the taste? What would one eat ghost peppers with, like what types of food? Thanks!!

Me personally, I can eat whole ghost peppers raw. The flavor is good, and the heat takes a good 10 seconds to build, so you have this sort of calm before the storm effect, which exhilarates it with the anticipation.

You could eat them with whatever you like! I've used them with chicken, on tacos, in nachos, Indian food, filled with cream cheese and bacon. Be inventive!

So, in your opinion, Frank's Red Hot or Tabasco? And what is the best and worst hot sauces you ever had?

Between the two, Frank's Red Hot. Why? because it essentially spawned Buffalo Wings. It's the same stuff used at the Anchor Bar & Grill in Buffalo, NY when Frank and Theresa created the most beautiful American food I've ever had the pleasure of shoving down my gullet.

Best hot sauce is going to be a tie between a few, because it all depends on a flavor profile you're looking for, what peppers you like, etc. I think the worst one I've reviewed is some sort of diet, gluten-free sauce with a lady in a scratch-off bikini on the bottle. I can't remember the name for the life of me...

What is in your opinion the best all-around, most versatile hot sauce?

I love adding some heat to my food, everything from scrambled eggs to chicken to spaghetti sauce ... I love the smoky chipotle taste, so lately I've been adding chipotle Tobasco to everything...

It all depends. There are so many hot sauces that are both versatile and unique. Since you like chipotle, one of my favorite mild chipotle sauces is Who Gives A Rats Ass. It's definitely a versatile sauce, and tastes especially fantastic on pizza. There are plenty of others, depending on the pepper and flavor you're looking for.

What is the hottest sauce that exists and where can I get it? I feel like everyone has claimed that they have the hottest sauce known to man, which I claim is bullshit.

Well, that depends how you classify sauce. I've had drops from a vial of 6 million SHU solution, which was basically capsaicin crystals dissolved in alcohol. I'm not positive that's commercially available, but I know CaJohn's makes something called Mamba 6, which has 6 million SHU extract in it. There's also The Source, and a number of other extracts. I'm personally not a fan of extract sauce, though, because of the metallic taste it leaves in your mouth, similar to that feeling after licking a 9V battery.

So have you ever eaten any South Indian food? If so whats your opinion of them?

It's possible, but I'm not sure. Could you name some South Indian cuisine, hopefully jog my memory?

Which hot sauce gave you the worst shits?

Hot sauce really doesn't. Some other foods and such can, on occasion, but I haven't had a sauce give me the shits. Yet...

Do you ever purposely purge after eating something hot?

Yes! For safety and incredibly decreased discomfort. You can see some of them in the video I posted above.

What is the absolute worst thing you have ever eaten?

I don't want to embarrass her...

Not hot sauce, that's for sure...

What is your favorite food that you would absolutely never add heat to? (Savory please, desserts don't count!) Thanks for this AMA btw!

Wow, that's definitely a toughy. I'm sitting here trying to think of something I haven't put hot sauce on, but I'm at a loss. I think I can honestly say there isn't anything I haven't put hot sauce on/in.

What is your favorite hot sauce to use for not only heat but also flavor? Thanks for the AMA!!

As I've said before, it's incredibly tough to say. There are dozens, hundreds that are great in the balance. If you're looking for advice, the site I write for, Eat More Heat posts reviews of various sauces all the time, and you ccan search based on heat level and flavor level!

I'm a huge BBQ fan. Pulled pork, ribs, chicken, brisket. I love it all. What are some of your favorite dry rubs/sauces that add heat and flavor?

I'm still experimenting with dry rubs, but I have a hotter chipotle seasoning/rub from Coal Junction. Also, Texas Choice beef, steak, burger seasoning is fantastic. There was also a rub I loved from Fat Kid Sauces, but they discontinued it :-(

This is awesome! Thanks for doing this.

How did you come about wanting to push the limit with what you can handle?

Did you have a "training" of sorts?

I have been trying to increase my tolerance for sometime. I have done the diablo wing challenge in Vegas and failed at 17 out of 20. I hope to one day be on your level!

Happy to!

I'm a natural adrenaline junkie. I can't afford sky diving or some of the bigger activities, so I chase the easier, cheaper highs: the endorphin rush from Capsaicin in hot foods, the exhilaration from riding a bull, etc. I'm not one to take kindly to 'You Can't', so of course I'm a natural limit pusher.

When I'm preparing for a spicy eating challenge, I try to increase the quantity of ultra-hot peppers and sauces I eat in the week before hand, to build up a peaked tolerance, and help make it easier.

You flatter me, my friend. I have been to Vegas, but have not heard of the Diablo wing challenge. Do you have any links or details?

What are the hot sauces you recommend that straddle the border between being tasty and being painful?

There are dozens, if not more. What flavor profile are you looking for, any particular pepper?

Hey John. I too am a big fan of hot sauce and hot foods. From what I've learned about reviewing hot sauce it can be broken down into 3 parts: the attack, the evolution, and decay. Would you agree that this is a good way to think about it or do you have any other suggestions?

This is a good way of looking at it, but it makes an assumption: that whatever sauce you're going to try is going to have all three. Some sauces have all three rolled into one, some lack evolution, but are fantastic all the same! It's a bit of a scientific way of looking at it. I like to sit back and feel it as it comes, rather than havign a pre-disposed expectation, does that make sense?

For someone who can't handle hot things but wants too, what's a good way to build up tolerance?

Also, how can I get rid of the hot feeling besides dousing my mouth with milk?

To build up tolerance, if you want a mild sauce, our site has an ability to search reviewed sauces based on heat level. We have 5 levels: Mild, Medium, Mean, Madness, Meltdown. I would recommend picking something at a Mild, with a description or flavor profile you think you would enjoy, and and running with it! Then slowly increasing it, and adding more and more to your food.

If not milk, try whipped cream, yogurt, or sour cream! Though bread can absorb it too, water and alcohol are actually worse than sitting there and letting the burn fizzle out.

can you teach me how to eat hot food

Eat mild food. Take a mild hot sauce, add a little at a time, build it up. Eat it often. Then slowly escalate your heat level, and repeat!

How many times have you been to Asia? And what is the hottest thing you have had in an Asian country?

Unfortunately, I've never been outside the United States. Yet. One day, though...

At what point does a hot sauce lose the ability to have flavor and just becomes heat?

It's hard to draw a specific line in the sand, but I'd say the 6 million SHU capsaicin and alcohol solution is definitely at the painful side of that line.

Personally, when you get to extracts, I think that's a line, because extracts have a metallic taste that distracts and eliminates most flavor you would have in an extract.

As a budding chili and hot sauce enthusiast, I want to thank you for your blog. It's very fascinating to read through. I've recently even started creating my own hot sauces, my most recent with 13 habaneros that has just a surprisingly wonderful flavor.

My question, what did you do to begin to prepare yourself for some if the truly hot chilis out there? Habaneros have been my mental limit, but I'm so curious about others!

Thanks for the kind words!

First thing you have to do, as difficult as it is, is to get rid of that mental block. I look at hot sauce with a pretty laissez faire attitude. No fear. No expectations. Let it hit me as it does. Aside that, in the days or week leading up to a challenge, I tend to eat hotter hot sauce, and hotter peppers, in order to build up an albeit temporary resistance.

Out of all of the things you've tried, what is one that you absolutely WOULD NOT try again?

I'll try anything once; twice if I don't like it, just to be sure. So nothing, yet...

Have you ever done the cinnamon challenge?

Nope, not yet.

Do you know / hang around with / double dog dare Scott Roberts?

Scott and I have a love/hate relationship. Nah, but seriously he's a good guy, and I'll give him a plug over at Scott Roberts Web because anyone that helps promote the hot sauce community is ok in my book.

I hope I'm not too late! Mr. Scrovak, I have much appreciation for what you do! I'm a wimp for heat, what are a few peppers that could help boost my spice tolerance over time? Edit:spelling

Never too late, my friend. I would start out trying some poblanos, and pickled (jarred) jalapenos. The jars of jalapenos tend to be a bit milder than raw jalapenos. Graduate from jarred to fresh, and incrementally increase your heat intake!

Good luck, my fellow chilehead

How do you go about preparing your body for some of these extremely hot and dangerous sauces?

More hot peppers and sauces. Build up an increased consumption rate of high-end heat and help build a tolerance, to make it far less painful.

What's the spiciest cuisine you've ever encountered ?

Are you talking single food, or variety of food?

Let's go with variety

I have to say Thai has been consistently the spiciest cuisine I've encountered.

Does your asshole ever stop burning?

It actually doesn't really burn much at all, anymore. At least not from hot sauce. When I put hot sauce in my whiskey on a weekend whiskeyfest, though, that's another story.

What is your favorite commercial hot sauce brand if you have one? Mostly asking flavor wise not about the heat.

Define commercially. I assume you're talking about in grocery stores, and wouldn't apply to Blair's Death Sauces or Dave's insanity stuff? I'll go ahead and say Franks Red Hot. While I may love heat, I also enjoy traditional buffalo wings every now and then, and you can't really have them without Franks.

I love Blaire's sauces. Have you tried his reserves? What did you think ?

I have not tried his reserves. I've met him in person a few times, Blair's a great guy. That said, I'm a bit of a poor guy myself, so I can't afford to buy any collector's edition sauces, as much as I'd love to.

Did you write an srp on hotsauce? What did tatnall do?

lmao I did not. My SRP was on The Use of Music as Pro- and Anti-war Propaganda From the 20th Century On

Would you consider giving me feedback on my homemade sriracha if I send you some?

I'm not usually into accepting food from the internet, but shoot me a PM tomorrow after my inbox dies down, we'll work something out!

What do you think is the best hot sauce you could buy at the store?

Depends on the store, but I'm partial to Frank's Red Hot for the buffalo wings

When did you first realize that Tabasco brand Chipotle Pepper Sauce is the greatest hot sauce ever made?

I still haven't

I've got two...for you truly are a legend.

What do you think about Jamaican scotch bonnet peppers?

And thoughts on the "Pain 100%" Habanero sauce? It's been setting my asshole afire but i'm falling in love.

You flatter me. I am but a man who loves hot sauce, and has a way with the written word.

The jamaican scotch bonnet pepper is fantastic. A sauce I'm a fan of has a picture of a heavy set hispanic guy on the front wearing a devil outfit. it's a yellow sauce that combines Scotch Bonnet peppers and mustard. An interesting twist on a hot great!

I wish i could give you my thoughts, but I haven't yet had the pleasure of trying that sauce...

What is your favorite hot sauce to eat with chicken that can be bought in stores/online?

You can buy ANY hot sauce online. Well, most any. There are a lot of manufacturers, the majority of which sell from their own websites! Check out a reviewing site, find a sauce you like the sound of, and find their website! I'd love to recommend something, but steering your own boat in an exploration of the industry is an experiecne I loved, and would love to share.

I eat super spicy stuff and I have a "ring of fire" bathroom break within a couple hours. Is my metabolism hyperactive or is this the case with you too?

How many is a couple? Remember, your body is constantly extracting nutrients from your food from the moment it enters your mouth to minutes before it exits. Capsaicin does get pulled out earlier, and often processed through liquid waste. I have had more than one instance of cockburn after a fiery food challenge.

That said, if you are truly concerned about your health and bodily functions, I would speak to your family doctor.

Is the school you love still west nottingham?

That it is ;-)

........who the f*** are you?

I am become heat, destroyer of anuses.