Death By Salsa Recipe

My buddy Chad visited a Pepper Palace location in Myrtle Beach when he was in the U.S. over the holidays and brought me a jar of Death by Salsa.

Here is the description from their website:

"This ridiculously hot salsa is sure to push the envelope of pain for all but the “tongue dead.” It has a phenomenal sweet flavor for all those who can endure the heat. The Habaneros, Jalapenos, tomatoes and onion supply the flavor while pepper extracts supply the fire If your taste buds must die let it be Death by Salsa"

Needless to say, this salsa is ridiculously hot and painful. Perfect for a chili-head like me.

The one drawback to it, though, is that, because of the intense and over-the-top heat it delivers, most people can't really do more than dip an edge of your chip into it and then eat it.

But with salsa, don't you really want to scoop up a nice big chip-full? If the average person (even one who likes hot and spicy food) did that with this salsa, they'd still regret their boldness. Having watched more than a dozen people try it, there were only 2 or 3 people who didn't gasp and get a panicked "oh no, what have I done" look on their face when trying just a tiny bit on the end of a tortilla chip.

I solved the issue yesterday by mixing Death by Salsa with a couple of other ingredients adding a different flavour to it but allowing the opportunity to dip and scoop and really experience the dance of taste buds that ultimately lead to the nasty tongue and throat-burning sensation the salsa delivers.

I took three equal parts of Death by Salsa, spaghetti sauce (Francine's home-made sauce with lots of chunks and flavour) and Kraft Three Cheese Ranch Dressing & Dip and mixed them together. The sauce cut the heat a bit and added a bit of chunky flavour and the three cheese dressing further cut the heat and added a cheesy sort of tang.

This blending allowed me to scoop up generous portions but it still delivered a painful blow of pain.

You could easily substitute spaghetti sauce for a mild or medium salsa and the three cheese dressing for sour cream or a plain yogurt to offer a similar cutting, chunk adding effect.

And for those less adventurous, I would strongly suggest you don't go with 1/3 of each, but rather 1 teaspoon of Death by Salsa mixed with a full cup of sauce of salsa, and adding perhaps a couple of tablespoons of the cream sauce. Trust me - most people will still find THAT too hot.