Hot sauce. It is one of those things most folks are not on the fence about. When I was a kid I can recall my dad eating hot peppers that had been canned in vinegar. He ate them on his mashed potatoes and told me that everyone in the Brown Family liked hot stuff. I recall an uncle who ate jalapenos right out of the jar, and when he was done, he’d drink the juice.

When I was a kid I tried to “out hot sauce it” with a Texan. We were on a school trip and the group stopped at a taco place for lunch. His challenge was simple. Nobody liked hot sauce like Texans. After a few tacos, with three packages of the local fire each, I felt like I had stood my ground. Half an hour later back on the bus I felt much differently. Thus is my relationship with hot sauce.