When we first started in this crazy business there were four distinct products that were known as the hottest of the hot. Dave's Insanity Sauce, Blair's After Death Sauce, Mad Dog Inferno and Endorphin Rush. Back then people's tolerance for heat was measured by a well known brand of Louisiana hot sauce or the odd Caribbean sauce brought back from holiday. People were absolutely blown away by the heat and intensity of these new super hot sauces. To most serious Hot-Headz! nowadays these original trail blazers, whilst given the utmost respect, no longer evoke the fear and sense of foreboding prior to sampling that they did years ago - the game has moved on!
What I loved about Endorphn Rush! was the fact that it had such an amazing flavour as well as some serious heat. Now many people bang on about flavour AND heat but it's a very difficult thing to balance. Endorphin Rush! was right up there in terms of heat but it certainly had (and still does) a wonderful depth of flavour. I remember sampling it on a barbequed sausage for the first time. The flavour worked so well with barbequed food - the slight sweetness of molasses, the ketchup like texture from the tomato paste base with the hint of soy really brought out the flavour of the food....momentarily.....until I was engulfed in the flames of the Endorphin Rush!
Probably one of the best names in the hot sauce world but where did that name come from? When you eat hot sauces false pain messages are sent from the tongue to the brain which then floods the body with it's natural pain killers, called endorphins. A large, fast release of this can lead to a rush or high similar to that of morphine - if you take enough - and that's called an Endorphin Rush!
Rumour has it that long distance lorry drivers in the USA were using this sauce to keep them awake on long journeys! I know that the recipe has been kept exactly the same since it was first made and the manufacturers purposely didn't increase the heat to compete in the hot sauce heat race. A good move in my opinion as the flavour and heat balance is still wonderful.
If you haven't tried this sauce then you really are missing out on a piece of hot sauce history and also on a damned fine condiment!
Ingredients: Tomato paste, water, pepper extract, vinegar, sugar, molasses, soy sauce.
Here's a review which you can see on our website - I think it speaks volumes!
Taste Sensation: I've been using Endorphin Rush in my cooking for more years than I care to remember, probably from about the time Hot Heads started! And though I have tasted a wide variety of super hot chilli sauces, I always come back to old faithful. Try it, it will blow your socks off
Over the coming weeks I'll be taking a walk down memory lane with Dave's Insanity, Blair's After Death Sauce and Mad Dog Inferno as well as a few other original super hots that are still around today.
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