Feast Your Eyes on This Spicy Cooking Challenge 2013 Champion
Here we are ready to announce this year’s champion of our weekly spicy cooking contest. With so much at stake, it is never easy telling someone they didn’t win. This group of 8 contestants are arguably our best set we have had in the 3 years of doing these challenges. I want to thank them all for putting in all their time and showing off their spicy cooking prowess in our ever-growing community. This contest is far from perfect, but I hope we presented an entertaining enough format for people to enjoy, and for our combatants to feel comfortable in. We can’t make everyone happy because there can only be one champion, but everyone of our contestants deserve all the accolades they can get for bringing this contest to new heights with such delicious, mouth-watering spicy recipes. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving your all this year. Please give them all your support and go and visit their websites and show them your love and buy their great products.
To continue our thanks I have to really praise the great sponsors who let me organize a prize package valued over $3,000. For a small blog like mine that means I have a lot of great friends who really care. The overall winner of Feast Your Eyes on This Spicy Cooking Challenge will receive a free vendor booth from both the Houston Hot Sauce Festival & Zestfest Midwest. Plus, Chile Pepper Magazine will give an advertising package valued at over $2000. Cash prizes will also be awarded by Endorphin Farms & Refining Fire Chiles. Together, 1st place will receive an additional $300, the runner-up $150, and 3rd place $100. Plus, on top of all that good stuff, they will get one big ass trophy from yours truly. Without these awesome sponsors we would have no contest.
Our judges too get my admiration. I really appreciate their time in watching, evaluating all the recipe challenge videos, and getting me their results in a timely fashion over the last 6 weeks. Thank you so much, as well as all our weekly sponsors and guest judges. Starting with TATS Sauces & Marinades Shauna & Derek Jellsey who sponsored 2 rounds, Clement Bourg from Cajun Heat, Ann Simmons from Texas Creek Products,, and Johnny McLaughlin from Heartbreaking Dawns. Plus CaJohn Hard of CaJohn’s Flavor & Fire for coming back in the final round to be our 6th judge. I can’t thank you all enough for supporting our spicy challenge.
I also want to make note of one other special sponsor from the 1st round, Chef Denise Baxter of Mountain View High School’s Wildcat Cafe & Bakery donated the first ingredient to start our challenge off and it was made from the hard work of her students. Thank you so much for your contribution! Please show them some love as well, and support their High School Culinary Arts program by clicking on the link HERE and trying out some of their delicious goods.
Contestants:
Jennifer Reynolds of Sauce Goddess
Mike Isenberg of Wicked Cactus Sauces
Kevin Billings of High Octane Sauce Company
Sam Peters of Patter Fam Sauces
Bo Perkins of Addiction Sauces
Tina Tillman of Chesterville Pepper Company
Tracy Carter of JAC’s Tailgaters
Ricky Sanders of Madison Chocolatiers West
Our talented Judges:
Carol Borge
www.HoustonHotSauce.com
Judy Fuhrhop (now replacing Greg Bagarozy)
www.zestfestmidwest.com
Sir McMillan
www.chilepepper.com
Scott Roberts
www.ScottRobertsweb.com
Firehead Thomas
www.ILoveItSpicy.com
Feast Your Eyes Challenge Calendar: (All Videos will be posted at 9am est.)
February 27 Contestant Intro Videos were released LINK
March 6- 1st Challenge LINK
March 9- Midnight is the deadline for the 1st challenge
March 10- All Contestant Videos are posted LINK
March 13- 2nd Challenge LINK
March 16- Midnight Deadline for 2nd challenge
March 17- All Contestant Videos are posted LINK
March 20- 3rd Challenge LINK
March 23- Midnight Deadline for 3rd Challenge
March 24- All Contestant Videos are posted LINK
March 27- 4th Challenge LINK
March 30- Midnight Deadline for 4th Challenge
March 31- All Contestant Videos are posted LINK
April 3- 5th Challenge LINK
April 6- Midnight Deadline for 5th Challenge
April 7- All Contestant Videos are posted LINK
April 10- 6th & Final Challenge LINK
April 13- Midnight Deadline for Final Challenge
April 14- Finalist Videos are posted LINK
April 17- Winner is announced!
Congrats on your redemption, MI.
Congratulations Mike! Now you have no excuse not to do chile cooking vids in your kitchen! You handled the confined quarters well! Thanks to Mr’s Wicked Cactus Sauce for her giving you much love support and help finishing the construction on your basement. Thanks Buddah for putting this together. And thanks to all the contestants for sacrificing your free time to make this contest.
Congratulations Mike!!!! Love your food porn and vids. I look forward to having you at the Festival. I will get with Buddah for your contact info and get you setup for your booth.
Thank you everyone – Buddah, contestants and sponsors. This is a fun contest to be a part of. All the Chef’s did really well and there were some outstanding recipe’s by all.
Hugs, Carol
Congrats Mike and Kevin! This was so much fun. I really enjoyed the challenges and cooking like this. I expanded my fiery cooking so much. Loved checking out what everyone else was making. Nice job Mike every week your videos were good. Hope to see you at the shows anyway.
Jen
Hey Jen thnaks for taking the time to learn about Superhots. Now you know they are good!
Congrats to Mike! All of the contestants did great!
Congrats to everyone! Mike, Kevin and Jennifer, you guys did a stellar job! It was very difficult judging all of these rounds, and the last round was perhaps the most difficult.
Buddah, thanks for allowing me to be a judge again this year. It was a pleasure watching all these talented chefs and cooks create some amazing dishes. I apologize for the lateness and lack of input the last couple of weeks.
Congratulations!! I really enjoyed the “looking” at the food. 🙂 Seriously, I tried several of the recipes the very next week. You are some talented people and did a great job.
This week I’m making some bacon wrapped escargot. 🙂
right on mike AWESOME
Well Done to all the contestants and especial the finalists. Congrat, Mike!
Congratulations Mike. I knew you had it in you. our chicken dinner was a winner. . . as was everything else you cooked.
Oops! I meant your, not our, chicken dinner.
Great job Mike! What a great few weeks its been!