I chose Elijah's Xtreme Reaper Sauce because it won a first place Scovie for 2017 in the XXX Hot Sauce category.  On top of that, it just sounded really interesting from the ingredients list, which includes black cherries, cranberry sauce, Kentucky bourbon whiskey and vanilla.

I also grabbed it because the Carolina Reaper secured a Guinness World Record certification as the  hottest chili pepper in the world in 2013. 

Yes, I finished a third of the bottle before remembering to photograph it...
 You can immediately smell the cherries and vanilla as soon as you open the bottle.  The ad copy for the sauce proclaimed "tastes great on just about everything… even ice cream!"  So I immediately put it on ice some vanilla ice cream.  The flavor and aroma are so desserty that I'm actually having a hard time imagining putting it on anything else.  Maybe it would be good on some pork or chicken where the sweet, fruity taste might make a good complement.  But I definitely wouldn't add this to soup or a burrito.
Look at that beautiful texture.  You can see little chunks of cherry and cranberry.
It tastes pretty much exactly like it smells.  I don't detect as much tartness from the cranberries as I might have liked, but the cherry flavor tinged with vanilla is really prominent and quite good.

Iced cream, anyone?  With a little leftover birthday cake bonus.
And the Carolina Reaper heat delivers.  I thought it wasn't all that hot when I took my first taste, but it really built up on me.  I think the sweetness of the sauce masks the heat a bit at first, and that effect was probably enhanced by the sugar and milk of the ice cream I was eating it with.  I think I'd also hyped it up in my mind as the sauce that would definitely kill me due to the Carolina Reaper's world record heat.  But whatever my preconceptions, the sauce definitely packs a high, lingering spicy heat.  The end result is really exciting and delicious.

I recommend this sauce if you perk up at the idea of a very spicy, sweet sauce drizzled over ice cream.  But to my taste, this sauce's uses are somewhat limited by the desserty flavor profile, which makes this a little bit of a gimmick sauce in my book.

Very tasty, but I can't see using it every day.

Side note:  My wife had a bit of an allergic reaction to this sauce, which sucks because she found it really delicious, despite not being into super-spicy foods.  She has a really severe allergy to bell peppers, but she's always had good luck with jalapeños, habañeros, serranos, etc.  So generally the mildest of peppers makes her throat close, but hot peppers are fine.  This was her first time tasting anything containing Carolina Reaper peppers, so it's possible she's actually allergic to those.  None of the other listed ingredients are foods she reacts to, so it's either the Reapers or maybe there's a little bit of unlisted bell pepper in this sauce.


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YouTube is rife with videos of people taking the "Fire Noodle Challenge".  This is the common nickname for people's attempts to eat a serving of Samyang Foods' famously spicy Buldak Bokkeum Myun (불닭볶음면 - Hot Chicken Flavor Ramyun).  Many mortals absolutely lose their minds with distress and anguish over how spicy it is.  A few curiously shrug it off like it's nothing special.

Introduced in 2012 by Samyang Foods,  Buldak Bokkeum Myun is considered one of the spiciest commercial ramyun in Korea.




The usual gist of the challenge is to consume the spicy noodles as quickly as possible.  I guess this keeps people from trying to eat a bit of noodles every half-hour or so, taking advantage of plenty of recovery time between bites, and then claiming they "won" the challenge.  On top of that, who wants to watch a four-hour video of someone crying over noodles?

But I'm not really interested in wolfing noodles as fast as possible on video.  My question is, are these noodles spicy hot and enjoyable?  Will it burn my face off?  Will I die weeping in a puddle of sticky, spicy sauce?

Let's find out.

The packet on the left is a mix of sesame seeds and flakes of laver (seaweed).  The packet on the right is the sauce.

Buldak Bokkeum Myun differs from the standard ramen soup we eat in America in that the "soup base" isn't a powder that's intended to be mixed with water to make a broth.  Instead, you get a little packet filled with a thick pre-mixed sauce.  Instead of mixing the soup base into the boiling water with the noodles, you cook the noodles and drain them as though you're making spaghetti.

Naked ramyun.  NSFW.
Then you add the sauce.  It squeezes out of its little packet looking almost black, like thick crude oil sludge tinged with red.

Black gold.  Texas tea.
Stirring it up reveals the deep red-orange of the sauce.  Plenty of chili oil and chili powder in there.  Promising...and scary?  It certainly smells good.


I skipped the little packet of sprinkly stuff because of the seaweed.  My wife wanted to taste it with me and seaweed tends to trigger her severe shrimp allergy.  I'm also just not a huge fan of seaweed, myself.  It's like dried lawn clippings that taste like the wharf.  Pass.

The first thing that hit me about the sauce was a noticeable sweetness, which then faded to a savory flavor that I compared to a concentrated ramen soup base packet.  It's quite tasty, but it's intense.  Then the spiciness crept up on me.  I think the initial sweetness cuts the heat a bit, making it almost unnoticeable at first.  Maybe this is by design, like a tricky flavor special effect.

So here's where you're either going to be disappointed or super impressed with my spicy food-eating prowess.  While Buldak Bokkeum Myun is definitely quite spicy - definitely far spicier than most American palates can handle - I personally didn't get sent into paroxysms of agony and panic over it.  It had a nice, lingering, burning heat and I was left doing that little hissing, breathing-through-the-teeth thing I do when something really hot sticks with me for a while.  But I also found it completely tolerable and not too spicy to eat casually.

My wife, who proclaims herself not to be a huge fan of spicy foods, took a few decent-sized bites and declared that it wasn't way too hot for her, either.  She described how her lips burned afterward and definitely expressed some discomfort.  But she also didn't scream or cry or eagerly grope for something to drink.  And she went back for more.  If I'd bought more than one package, I think she'd have asked me to make her one, too.  Now, to be fair, she has been living with me for about 15 years, so her sense of what's way too hot is almost definitely skewed compared to the palate of the average Midwesterner.  But I typically can tolerate far hotter foods than she can and this didn't utterly destroy her.

All gone.
So, despite not gorging on these noodles as quickly as possible, I think it's fair to say I "won" the challenge.  I ate the whole thing (minus a few bites that went to my wife) and lived to tell about it.

Was it tasty?  Yes, despite a little bit of an over-processed undertone to the flavor of the sauce.

Was it hot?  Yes, but I didn't find it debilitating.

Would I buy it again?  Absolutely...probably a four-pack next time.


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I found the cup version of Shin Black, which is the less spicy, more flavorful cousin to Nongshim's Shin Ramyun.  I was excited to try it because I've enjoyed the original Shin Ramyun so much.


Shin Black's extra savory flavor comes from an additional broth packet.

Two packets is more flavor than one packet.


The additional packet is labeled "SUL-LONG-TANG" (설렁탕 - Seolleongtang), which refers to a traditional Korean broth made from slow-simmered ox bones.  The ingredient list on the package tells me Shin Black's answer to this is "beef bone extract".


Shin Black also appears to have more quantity and variety of dehydrated vegetables compared to the regular version.  I can clearly identify two kinds of mushrooms, scallions and little rings of sliced red chilies.

Spicy soup powder on the left, bone broth powder on the right.

When cooked, the broth smells absolutely delicious.  The flavor is less spicy, but deeper, richer and more complex than regular Shin Ramyun.  I was raised in America, so my palate is not finely tuned in detecting umami, but I'd be willing to wager this broth is umami as fuck.



Do I prefer Shin Black over the original flavor of Shin Ramyun?  No, not really.  Mind you, this is a really delicious instant soup.  But personally, I'm more fond of the spicier broth of Shin Ramyun and if given the choice, I'll reach for that.  But I'd still recommend Shin Black if you're in the mood for a deep, meaty, complex instant noodle experience.
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In-N-Out Burger is a much-fabled West Coast institution.  Formerly located only in California, they've started expanding to surrounding states only recently.  Because it's one of those burger places they don't have everywhere, people tend to elevate its reputation to near-mythical status.  People visiting California make a point to get In-N-Out and show it off on social media, inspiring the fierce jealousy of their friends.  From its inflated reputation, you'd think the burgers are made of magic and the fries cure genital warts.

Well, I checked, and they don't.

But In-N-Out makes really decent fast food and sells it for really cheap.  Part of how they do that is by having a very limited menu.  There's no $8 Ghost Pepper Aioli and Parmesan Double Bacon Burger.  There's no Southwestern Teriyaki Squid Bowl.  You can get a burger, with or without cheese, with one or two patties, some fries and a soda or shake.  Period.

Yes, there's a whole "secret menu", but the secret is they can mix the same ingredients in various ways and then give those creations cute names.  For example, a burger ordered "animal style" has all the usual stuff, plus some mustard on the burger patty and some grilled onions mushed into the cheese.  But it's the same onions, meat, cheese, etc. that you'd get on their regular cheeseburger, just with a little flair added to the preparation.

I enjoy In-N-Out.  Aside from the usual fake-cheese-itis that seems to be a universal fact of life at fast food places,the ingredients are fresh and of high quality.  And the limited menu actually lets you know what you're getting every time.  Consistent quality at a price that doesn't break the $4/item mark in most areas.

So why am I talking about a fast food place with a very limited, traditional burger joint menu on a blog about hot and spicy foods?  It's because of these hot little peppers you can get on the side.

A little Internet research tells me these are probably Cascabella peppers.

These pickled yellow peppers are surprisingly hot considering the other generic American fare available at In-N-Out.  Definitely hotter than gringo hot. Just a really respectable burn.  They're very similar in flavor to a typical pickled banana peppers or peperoncini, but far spicier.

You can ask for them chopped up on your burger or you can get them on the side.  I highly recommend them.

One warning:  Since they stopped handing these out in little cellophane-wrapped packets and started insisting you fish them out of a little trough at the ketchup station, I've encountered a few batches that are WAY too salty.  I don't go to In-N-Out very often, so I can't swear to how often batches of peppers get oversalted.  But the last time I went, they were just fine.

I should also note that in spring of 2016, there was a shortage of the peppers at the source, so In-N-Out locations were forced to ration them or even deny them to customers.  But on a recent visit, they were sitting at the ketchup station in abundance, so I think the shortage has passed.
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After I bemoaned the complete lack of spiciness in the Sriracha ramen I tried recently, a friend recommended I try Shin Ramyun (thanks, Cindy!).  Not to ruin the ending, but I was not disappointed.

Ramyun is Korean for "ramen".
Shin Ramyun is made by Nongshim and is the most popular instant noodle in South Korea.  It's exported all over the world from plants in South Korea, China and the United States.  The version I'm eating was manufactured in the U.S.

Shin Ramyun is a big step up in quality compared to the average $0.25/package ramen that's a daily staple of so many American dorm-dwellers and stoners and the price tag reflects that.  I found a four-pack at a nearby Wal-Mart for under $4.00, but you can expect to pay over a dollar per pack at most stores.


The noodles come in a cute bowl- and pot-friendly round puck unlike the usual square blocks of cheap noodles we all know so well.  Along with the usual soup/seasoning powder is a separate pack of dehydrated vegetables and beef.

When cooked, the noodles are springy and have a really nice texture.  The beef-based broth has a rich, deep flavor and you can see little beads of fat shimmering on the surface. 



And compared to the weak, apologetic heat of most "spicy" foods on the American market, this product has a really respectable heat to it.  I find it by no means overpowering, but it builds up nicely as you eat it.  You definitely know you're eating something intentionally spicy.

When my wife first tasted some of from my bowl, she said she could barely taste any flavor in the broth except for spicy.  But later, she asked for a serving of her own and made "yum" noises all the way through.

Of course, I'm a savage garbage person who craves even more heat, so I usually add some Sriracha and a dash of whatever habañero-based sauce I'm in the mood for at the moment, as well as some accoutrements such as sliced onion, peas and an egg.

...plus some sliced roast beef.  Why not?  I'm fat.
I highly recommend Shin Ramyun.  I've already gone back to buy more and my second round of it is already gone.  I'm probably consuming too much sodium, honestly.


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