Chile Pepper’s new columnist and pepper expert talks about his long-lasting affair with hot sauces.
Just a sampling of Vic’s extensive & mind-blowing
collection of hot sauces.
When I hear someone say, “I am passionate about hot sauce,” I always tend to smirk and think to myself, yeah, if they only knew. I’m not sure when my passion began, it’s kind of murky, but it must have been right around the time I was weaned off of breast milk. Like a lot of us, it began with the simple enough roots of Tabasco. I loved the zing it added and I doused it on practically everything I ate, seriously! Soon my tastes became more refined and I stepped up and away from the so strongly pronounced vinegar in a bottle. I began seeking more of the pepper taste to quench my thirst and need for hotter and hotter sauces.
I am much clearer on when my aforementioned passion turned suddenly and dramatically into what can only be defined as an obsession. There were two defining pieces contributing to what has now become such an integral and complex part of my life. The first was almost 17 years ago when I met this compact, fireplug, Florida cracker that I fell head over heels for and made my wife. Before Wendy and I were married, and for our very first Christmas together, knowing my love for hot sauce, she purchased 12 bottles, each filled with different flavors and heat levels wrapped with great labels for me. We had just recently moved in together and hosted family and friends over for the holidays in our new apartment. The bottles ended up adorning the breakfast bar counter and we all just giggled and laughed at some of the more comical and ruder labels. It was a defining moment for me; it was here when my collecting of hot sauce was born. Simply put, it was when I climbed into the car, slapped it into gear, and stepped on the gas. The second defining moment was when I innocently came across a tall narrow book with bottles of hot sauce pictured on the cover, I snatched it off the shelf at Barnes and Noble. The title blew me away and my heart was racing. I couldn’t believe someone would write an entire book about something I loved so dearly and had just began putting on a shelf unit a very good friend had built for me specifically for the display of my bottles.
It was The Great Hot Sauce Book by Jennifer Trainer Thompson. Yup, I just shifted into second gear and left a burn out nearly a half mile long! Obsession here I come. Jennifer’s book truly opened my eyes. I had no idea that there were that many hot sauces out there. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had my share of hot sauces in my day. I tried everything I could get my hands on, but when I thumbed through the simply illustrated pages, I realized the scope of what was actually out there. I called it my bible and what it introduced me to was a world I longed to explore. A world I gladly and eagerly jumped into headfirst, no questions asked. Every page of the book gave a picture of a hot sauce, a paragraph explanation and a short history. With three to four sauces highlighted on each page, the 100-page was pure pepper joy. I also have to give props to the design of the book. I found it was easy to slide it into my back pocket and in the glove compartment of the car because it was my companion, my map, my check-off list, my guide, my bible in the now never ending quest to search out and discover more and more hot sauce. I still have The Great Hot Sauce Book, she’s tattered and worn but still beautiful. Her pages are dog eared and I have pen and marker denotations for the sauces I have found. I get a sense of accomplishment when I complete a page or even better, both open pages together. To this day, some 16 years or so later, I still breeze through it, update it, and cherish it greatly. Without it, I can say honestly I might not be where I am today or maybe better put, I would not be as accomplished or reached the level that I am at today.
I believe it is this passion that has turned into an obsession and my perseverance to gain as much knowledge on the subject as possible that makes me stand out from my peers in this crazy chilehead culture. I have heard it said that if you have over three or four of a like item then it can be considered a collection. Many people collect many things; I collect hot sauce. “No! I really collect hot sauce!” One thing I have always found difficult was putting or assigning a number amount to it. You have to again step back and realize, this is not a hobby anymore and I consider myself a professional connoisseur of hot sauce. It’s not a passing fad or whim, I am engrossed in it and it’s catching.
What seems to happen is when I share it with friends and family, when people see it, they are swept in. It’s hard to explain but it happens. The wife and I get countless emails, texts and calls asking “Hey, do you have this sauce?” It’s great, though for the most part we already have it, but it’s the thought that counts, right? So now as an ever-growing army of supporters are out there with their eyes peeled just as much as mine are, my bottle count grows constantly. Once I set a number, it’s outdated before a week’s end. To keep it simple, let’s set it at just over 4,000 bottles and climbing right now (oh, I just got another one).
Where do you put 4,000 bottles of hot sauce you ask. First, I have to turn back to the wife. Without her love and support I wouldn’t be here telling you this. Ask yourself, would your spouse allow you to take over a major room in your home for something you love? I’m not talking a cabinet or a couple of shelves, I mean floor to ceiling, bookcases wall to wall, every workable inch of the walls covered in hot sauce bottles of every shape, color and size. Exactly, I married a saint. Wendy is the ying to my yang, but through and through she supports and allows me to go bigger and bigger, to push harder and harder and has set no limitations on what “we” want to accomplish. Oh, actually scratch that, she’s the accountant, I do have some limitations.
So as I am picturing your minds working and the questions are starting to stack up like planes ready to land at my hot sauce international airport, I have no end goal. There is no milestone I am aiming for. However, we have now reached a level to put us at the largest privately owned collection in the country, possibly the world, with no end in site. I can honestly say (and stick with me here; we’re going deep into my mind and philosophy of what I am doing and trust me it’s a scary place in there) that to me, the collection has now become more than just a collection. I started out throwing bottles on a shelf because I love hot sauce. It then became a game and then a quest to get more and more. I found tools and people to help me find my way along this journey. Now that it’s become what it is today, in my heart it’s more to me.
The greater amount of hot sauce makers and producers are small—it’s not their full time jobs, though many of them hope it turns to that. Of this large percentage of hard-working folks, most have full time, 40 hour per week plus jobs and/or make their sauce in their home on the stove after working all day. Then they spend their days off peddling their sauces and or products out of the trunks of their cars or pick-up trucks to anyone they can. Their weekends are spent at local farmer’s markets or festivals. These same folks spend their vacation time, packing up their sauces and products and traveling, many times long distances, to attend the hot sauce show circuit for usually a very small net profit after the expenses pile up. So why do they do it? Because they have the love and the passion, the same love and passion I have. But mine is for their products, mine is for what they have invested in with their heart and souls. So, in short, my collection now is a tribute, an homage if you will, to their tireless dedication and endless devotion to bring me and the rest of the chilehead brethren their incredible products. It’s one obsessed, passionate, loyal fan’s way of saying thank you. Thank you for what you do.
When Chile Pepper magazine approached me about doing an article with them strictly about hot sauce, I contained my excitement and in my most controlled voice said, “Sure, sounds cool,” but I really wanted to scream like a 13-year-old little girl at a Justin Bieber concert. (I know I’m going to catch heck for using a Bieberism in my first article, great!) But I do consider myself an expert in the field. I have tried literally thousands of hot sauces, I travel the show circuit, met hundreds of makers, and use hot sauce every day. What my intentions are with this reoccurring article is to share my experiences and vast knowledge of hot sauce and to give you recipes that are not only my all time favorites, but new and exciting ones that we can try together. From someone who literally has hot sauce running through his veins, welcome to my demented and obsessed hot sauce world. I hope you enjoy the ride!
Here is a great recipe for Shrimp & Lobster Bruschetta with Vic 5′s Habanero Hot Sauce!
Husband, father, chilehead and hot sauce fanatic, Vic is the proprietor of the largest privately owned hot sauce collection. He has vast experience and knowledge in the field.
