A lot of people seemed to really like the “4N6BBQ Presents…” series. One reason is because it’s honest and truthful. Nobody has offered to send me free stuff to review, so there’s no sort of obligation to it. Sure, I’ll reach out and say “This is me, this is what I’m doing.. discount?” – but I’ll always preface that integrity comes first.
This vendor I found on Twitter (you aren’t following me? @forensicbbq) – small business, handful of flavors – and I thought, “Perfect”. Our first 4N6BBQ Presents post – Way Hot Wednesday – brought together friends over a pile of chicken wings, a couple beers, and some wholesome reviews. The second was an old friend – Red Hot Chili Sauce – so I already knew what I was getting with this one. We’re back for another saucy wing taster. Let’s see how it goes.
29 September Update: This post took a LONG time to write. As I finished out my confirmation testing, it became apparent.. these weren’t wing sauces per se. Some of you may read this and be like, “no shit, they don’t say wing sauces”. But that’s how we tried them, and that’s how we’ll continue to try them because we love chicken wings. But that’s also why I do a secondary confirmation.
Didn’t help I cracked a tooth on some Tyson Popcorn Chicken on the confirmation of BBQ’ers Valhalla. That pushed EVERYTHING back.
So we had just a couple options here. We have the pile of Spicy Gnome, but I also wanted to give my buddies here a taste at my new bird rub – NAME PENDING due to very unfavorable commentary ?. Since we had that Dragon’s Dust, I also threw a couple of additional dry rubs on there to get the pallet going – nothing that needs mentioned again, but let’s just say starting with the Dragon’s Dust was a hilarious Spicy Gnome Round One!
Quick Fired Bird
I didn’t have the ideal cook schedule lined up, but we were going to make it work. Skin was a little bit rubbery, but it was still bite through. I like to dust with a bit of baking powder, and stick ’em naked in the fridge for a couple hours. Kinda the method I’ve used that has worked out pretty well for me (See the Chicken Wing Day Post). This one was rushed a little bit, but still accomplished the job.
The plan was 275F until around 160ish internal temp. We were then going to slap ’em on the GrillGrates and quick char and see what we were going to get. After sauce #4 or so, we were already cooked through pretty darn well, so I threw them all on the Grates and we were all alright. These were intentionally naked as hell, as the sauces were going to be the only flavor (obviously minus the dry rub).
We had a little appetizer (Smoked Cream Cheese) – popped a pre-seasoned pork tenderloin in while we were waiting and had a little bit to get ready.. Doug brought a serious platter of fries to cleanse the palate between takes.. We were ready to go.
The Spicy Gnome
Visit them here! Try it yourself!! -> https://thespicygnome.com/
I’ll link to the sauces in their names and give you their description of the sauce. I did a better job this time around with pictures to show you what kind of spread we were dealing with. Purple text is what we thought after trying them at the Chicken Wing Taster. The normal black text is my confirmation tasters – mostly on mexican dishes.
Wing: This was far and away our favorite of the sauces we tried. This one had a solid flavor, thick and robust… really an outstanding sauce. I can’t wait to try this on something else. This was also the last sauce we tried, but we all agreed this was the winner of the taster.
Burger/Fries/Chicken: Hey, I don’t remember this BBQ sauce being that hot – but damn. I dumped a pile on a plate with some Tyson Popcorn Chicken (??) and some McCall’s Beer Battered Fries and got to dunking and eating. This thing was kicking my ass. I got me a palate for spice, but I was still losing this battle. That being said, the flavor was definitely on point. Gotta say, this BBQ sauce is going to be a mainstay in the ForensicBBQ refrigerator, and for good reason. Outstanding spice and flavor. Y’all nailed it on this one!
The Wing: This one put us out. In all fairness to Spicy Gnome, they said “ALL HEAT” and it was exactly that. I personally soaked my wing with the thing and it was good, and then the back heat hit… and kept hitting. Definitely ain’t for the faint of heart.
So I went into this one without re-reading the description and put a heavy dose on the taco (you like how I threw a dab on there so I knew with one was which?). Also, look at the consistency on that. When you read on, you know that was our complaint on the wings. This one was HOT. But it wasn’t only hot, it was delicious. It’ll be too hot for some, but this is the hot sauce I’ve been looking for.
The Wing: We all said this one had a good kick. We tasted pretty much all habanero for this one – and any orange that was present translated into habanero. We all felt this one had a “too watery” vibe – but this one’s heat stayed with you for some time. We called it a “surface heat” – in that we felt it more on our lips than we did in our gullet.
The Fajita: She bites. Harder than it did on the original wing taster. I personally love the habanero flavor more than any other – and this was it for me. If I had to find a sauce that tasted good and hit that level of heat of comfort for me – it’s Viking’s Revenge. I splashed a healthy dose on half the fajitas. Tried the boring (unsauced) and the hot (sauced) – and my goodness did it hit. This is probably my favorite of the Spicy Gnome as I type this (BBQ sauce aside). What a great clean flavor. Thank you for this one!
Wing: I think this is is the one we were all looking forward to. We shook her up and dumped it on the bird and we all thought it could’ve had a more concentrated flavor. Seemed to be a little bit too thin, but the heat still grabbed you.
Taco: Had three simple soft tacos – beef, cheese, guac. Dumped the “usual” amount of sauce I’d put on a taco on each and ate one. I didn’t get too much of any hit from the sauce. Added another heaping helping and I got a little bit. Went with an absurd amount on the third taco, and got a little bit more. Our consensus earlier was that it was “thin, not enough concentrated flavor”. I can uphold this ruling. If you’re not a heat seeker like I am, this one will work for you. For the die hard spice hounds, you’ll want a harder hitter.
Consensus: Of the hot sauces, this one had our favorite flavor. We still had a “watery” review, but all agreed the flavor was on point.
Taco: Dragon’s Tears: I thought Viking’s Revenge was my favorite of the bunch, but it might be this one. I’m going to have to do another taster to find out my true favorite. What a delicious flavor.
Consensus: This one (I took hand written notes for all these) – “Easy clean flavor”. Salsa verde was a pretty accurate description, we saw it as a flavor enhancer. We thought it was a little weak in any significant flavor, but it did give the bird a refreshing feel.
Fajita: I put it on half of my leftover, reheated fajitas to taste the difference. Then I dumped on some more. and more. This is definitely an introductory sauce for those that aren’t pepper heads like I am. After I slathered the hell out of the meat (All of it actually) – it did enhance the flavor, albeit slightly. When I was done, I definitely had a very slight (pleasant) burn. I wouldn’t use this as a “hot” sauce, but more of a casual, light, flavor addition. Again, this coming from a guy who loves eating jalapenos like cucumbers.
Dragon’s Dust: This is 100% HEAT ALL PEPPERS. Made from some of the worlds hottest peppers combined to bring a nice CLEAN but SPICY HEAT
Consensus: This was great. I’ll type out my hand-written notes because it’s worthwhile: “Coughs. Awkward smiles & tears. Drool. Good blended flavor”. I was criticized for placing this one in the early rounds of the battle, but we went drys to wets. This dry rub delivered as described. She hurt, but it was a pleasant hurt. I think this and BBQ’ers Valhalla was our favorite – even though I had friends using ice cubes to calm themselves.
If you’ve read this far, you might need a reminder: https://thespicygnome.com/ Go get yourself some, and let them know we sent you! Since we had this taster, and since this went live – there’s some additional products that I KNOW you’ll enjoy: The Gnomie Grinder , Dragon Bites Jerky (Link was appropriate at time of posting, but double check), and Flamin’ Hot Salsa. Support your local business. If you have a solid product, it’ll speak for itself. Thank you again The Spicy Gnome!
09 December update: I’ve run these hot sauces for months now, and they’re still great. Gotten better with age, for sure.