Fire foods sauce comp 08
Well! Friday the 7th of November started like any other day,,I woke up with a post party hangover , headed for Farnborough for a pre chilli night massage hit a pothole got a puncture limped home jacked the car up, took the wheel to garage left it there cos they don’t stock big enough tyres and I pick it up sorted today.
Then things got better! Chris and Jess arrived we got stuck into a lasagne, a few beers & a home grown SB and off to the Old Courthouse unfashionably early and starting to think that there had been a venue switch as there was no sign of woody..
A short time later a man arrived with a large sports bag, most people thought he was a burglar returning from a job we recognised him straight away.
A quiet corner of the pub was sought out and we got down to the important business of perusing the bottles of promise and I would have to say that every colour of the rainbow was covered there! (one of them looked suspiciously like chilli doctored Worcsester sauce and tasted damn better than WS).
Moments later the film crew arrived (cameraman and sound tech) they informed us that they were up to getting involved and around this time a load of locals showed an interest too.
On examining a particularly scary Bhut and 7 pot Woody, myself & Chris agreed that rather than trying these molten pods some drunken local would do the job suitably bribed by the researchers!
During the actual filming of the tasting, we couldn’t really take pics as the camera was a bit in your face lol and it was a little crowded/cramped to say the least! A notable moment during this process was a fingertips worth of sauce nearly flooring the sound guy! The researchers should be able to provide stills.
We tried all 16 (I think!) sauces carefully sometimes a good couple of spoonfuls each to get the flavours and assess the heat build up! It was the most delicious experience ever!
Like Woody said earlier all of the entries were of a really high standard so we had a bit of a task really! What we did was establish a shortlist then when we had four left we had a final eliminator! The jar that would have been fourth was in actual fact a relish which was delicious, not very hot but with a very pleasing after heat! I would have paid to have that in my fridge for BBQ days for definite!
It was difficult judging all as one category as you would look for different things in a sauce as you would in other products and I suspect next year there will be different categories.
Every few sauces Woody had a fag break while Chris and myself poured more Guinness down our necks and the locals had a try! The locals in many cases found the sauces too hot but really liked many of them which was pleasing for us as it’s like having some sort of totally independent bystander verify all of our work LOL.
Our ‘quiet’ corner proving quite a draw for people and being anything other than quiet! Some of the sauces were later tried as a coating on chicken wings!
The result as you know was:
1st Bradforlad (Bestest bestest! I wish you could all taste this one, lovely flavour lovely colour lovely heat)
2nd Me (The hottest on show I think! Heat in two stages, went down very well with Harry Hill)
3rd Pauley (Very well flavoured with a heat that sneaks up on you quite quick and looked hot just sitting in the bottle)
Woody correct me if I’m wrong on these descriptions.
Being the only one of the judging panel that had entries in the comp (shame on you chris LOL) I didn’t comment on mine (of course I’ll love it! I made it and altered it many times till it was to my taste).. and gave BLs sauce the thumbs up in my humble opinion as definitely the very best on show for a combination of flavour heat and even presentation!
We were indeed unanimous on the winner and I think we sampled quite a bit of it! Sorry Jock contingent but I’m sure there will be enough left LOL
The Cameraman was involved at the ‘last 4’ point as an independent sampler and all were agreed which means we didn’t need the Chilli version of Simon Cowell to put his foot down eh Woody? No need to go to deadlock..
One of the hardest things about the judging process & I think all present would agree that there is a use for all types and flavours and I can honestly say that there wasn’t an entry that I wouldn’t be happy to eat right now if I had a few poppadoms(sp) or a burger or ribs damn this is making me hungry! on my desk!
The other hard thing was getting the thick sauces onto the spoon from narrow necked bottles LOL, Jars are the way ahead methinks.
Hopefully we will be able to get stills of the actual judging process from the crew at some point!
Have they emailed you yet Nick? I tipped them off about the Scottish get together (‘Still Game’ on chilli springs to mind) Some pensioner eating a naga for a pint and a pie LOL The jocks will remember the episode about ‘Britain’s Hardest Boozers’ Apologies to anyone who hasn’t seen or doesn’t like Still Game.
With the judging over and more and more liquid refreshment it was on to the pods…..We all had a try of the Particulary sweet smelling spiny angry Bhut LOL and felt the warmth!! Woody after starting out so sensible had a significant amount LOL as you can see clearly in a couple of the pictures.
However I think it would be fair to say that one of the stars of the show was a very nice young lady who on being bribed by the researcher ate most of the 7 pot in one go, she appeared very cool and calm and then it hit! Lynn had to rob my wallet and run to a just closing 1 stop to buy a couple of litres of milk for the poor girl (she managed half of the milk)!
We had brought a large bottle of milk with us but this had already been done! Chris, myself and I think Nick completely ignored the milk and stuck with guinness for it’s fire fighting properties!
I almost succumbed to the milk however, when Chris and I decided to give the Blair’s ‘Beyond Death’ a go! Personally I hated the immediate flavour and I admit it was fiercely hot, but as you know heat with metallic oily mess is not good. I can still picture you going scarlet Chris . I could barely speak at first!
On Behalf of all of us who were there, a big thank you to all who sent in entries and of course to Nick for organising what was without doubt the most fun I’ve had in a pub in a long time! And not forgetting the ‘old courthouse drinking fraternity and staff’ for their good humour fun and support in this evening.
I was offered a chilli on top of my pint instead of a shamrock LOL A couple of the locals were nicknamed Harry Hill and Keith Chegwin by Lynn and Jess! See if you can ID them from the pics..
Many of the locals have sworn to come onto the site as they were impressed with the firefoods products, we got em on the fire nuts, chutney and reserve! Besides they want to see their pics on the net!
I had to write down the site name several time, give away the FF business card from my wallet and the lid from the fire nuts so hopefully they will look in.
I believe the researchers were very happy with the material the got from the night and I hope they go to Scotland next weekend as they won’t be disappointed!
I think this competition will go from strength to strength and was delighted to be involved and look forward to all future events even when I am in Cyprus (Flights willing).
Well! Friday the 7th of November started like any other day,,I woke up with a post party hangover , headed for Farnborough for a pre chilli night massage hit a pothole got a puncture limped home jacked the car up, took the wheel to garage left it there cos they don’t stock big enough tyres and I pick it up sorted today.
Then things got better! Chris and Jess arrived we got stuck into a lasagne, a few beers & a home grown SB and off to the Old Courthouse unfashionably early and starting to think that there had been a venue switch as there was no sign of woody..
A short time later a man arrived with a large sports bag, most people thought he was a burglar returning from a job we recognised him straight away.
A quiet corner of the pub was sought out and we got down to the important business of perusing the bottles of promise and I would have to say that every colour of the rainbow was covered there! (one of them looked suspiciously like chilli doctored Worcsester sauce and tasted damn better than WS).
Moments later the film crew arrived (cameraman and sound tech) they informed us that they were up to getting involved and around this time a load of locals showed an interest too.
On examining a particularly scary Bhut and 7 pot Woody, myself & Chris agreed that rather than trying these molten pods some drunken local would do the job suitably bribed by the researchers!
During the actual filming of the tasting, we couldn’t really take pics as the camera was a bit in your face lol and it was a little crowded/cramped to say the least! A notable moment during this process was a fingertips worth of sauce nearly flooring the sound guy! The researchers should be able to provide stills.
We tried all 16 (I think!) sauces carefully sometimes a good couple of spoonfuls each to get the flavours and assess the heat build up! It was the most delicious experience ever!
Like Woody said earlier all of the entries were of a really high standard so we had a bit of a task really! What we did was establish a shortlist then when we had four left we had a final eliminator! The jar that would have been fourth was in actual fact a relish which was delicious, not very hot but with a very pleasing after heat! I would have paid to have that in my fridge for BBQ days for definite!
It was difficult judging all as one category as you would look for different things in a sauce as you would in other products and I suspect next year there will be different categories.
Every few sauces Woody had a fag break while Chris and myself poured more Guinness down our necks and the locals had a try! The locals in many cases found the sauces too hot but really liked many of them which was pleasing for us as it’s like having some sort of totally independent bystander verify all of our work LOL.
Our ‘quiet’ corner proving quite a draw for people and being anything other than quiet! Some of the sauces were later tried as a coating on chicken wings!
The result as you know was:
1st Bradforlad (Bestest bestest! I wish you could all taste this one, lovely flavour lovely colour lovely heat)
2nd Me (The hottest on show I think! Heat in two stages, went down very well with Harry Hill)
3rd Pauley (Very well flavoured with a heat that sneaks up on you quite quick and looked hot just sitting in the bottle)
Woody correct me if I’m wrong on these descriptions.
Being the only one of the judging panel that had entries in the comp (shame on you chris LOL) I didn’t comment on mine (of course I’ll love it! I made it and altered it many times till it was to my taste).. and gave BLs sauce the thumbs up in my humble opinion as definitely the very best on show for a combination of flavour heat and even presentation!
We were indeed unanimous on the winner and I think we sampled quite a bit of it! Sorry Jock contingent but I’m sure there will be enough left LOL
The Cameraman was involved at the ‘last 4’ point as an independent sampler and all were agreed which means we didn’t need the Chilli version of Simon Cowell to put his foot down eh Woody? No need to go to deadlock..
One of the hardest things about the judging process & I think all present would agree that there is a use for all types and flavours and I can honestly say that there wasn’t an entry that I wouldn’t be happy to eat right now if I had a few poppadoms(sp) or a burger or ribs damn this is making me hungry! on my desk!
The other hard thing was getting the thick sauces onto the spoon from narrow necked bottles LOL, Jars are the way ahead methinks.
Hopefully we will be able to get stills of the actual judging process from the crew at some point!
Have they emailed you yet Nick? I tipped them off about the Scottish get together (‘Still Game’ on chilli springs to mind) Some pensioner eating a naga for a pint and a pie LOL The jocks will remember the episode about ‘Britain’s Hardest Boozers’ Apologies to anyone who hasn’t seen or doesn’t like Still Game.
With the judging over and more and more liquid refreshment it was on to the pods…..We all had a try of the Particulary sweet smelling spiny angry Bhut LOL and felt the warmth!! Woody after starting out so sensible had a significant amount LOL as you can see clearly in a couple of the pictures.
However I think it would be fair to say that one of the stars of the show was a very nice young lady who on being bribed by the researcher ate most of the 7 pot in one go, she appeared very cool and calm and then it hit! Lynn had to rob my wallet and run to a just closing 1 stop to buy a couple of litres of milk for the poor girl (she managed half of the milk)!
We had brought a large bottle of milk with us but this had already been done! Chris, myself and I think Nick completely ignored the milk and stuck with guinness for it’s fire fighting properties!
I almost succumbed to the milk however, when Chris and I decided to give the Blair’s ‘Beyond Death’ a go! Personally I hated the immediate flavour and I admit it was fiercely hot, but as you know heat with metallic oily mess is not good. I can still picture you going scarlet Chris . I could barely speak at first!
On Behalf of all of us who were there, a big thank you to all who sent in entries and of course to Nick for organising what was without doubt the most fun I’ve had in a pub in a long time! And not forgetting the ‘old courthouse drinking fraternity and staff’ for their good humour fun and support in this evening.
I was offered a chilli on top of my pint instead of a shamrock LOL A couple of the locals were nicknamed Harry Hill and Keith Chegwin by Lynn and Jess! See if you can ID them from the pics..
Many of the locals have sworn to come onto the site as they were impressed with the firefoods products, we got em on the fire nuts, chutney and reserve! Besides they want to see their pics on the net!
I had to write down the site name several time, give away the FF business card from my wallet and the lid from the fire nuts so hopefully they will look in.
I believe the researchers were very happy with the material the got from the night and I hope they go to Scotland next weekend as they won’t be disappointed!
I think this competition will go from strength to strength and was delighted to be involved and look forward to all future events even when I am in Cyprus (Flights willing).
