W
ho’d have
guessed
that one of the
best ways to make
blasé celebrities
interesting is to
have them consume
incendiary hot
sauces while they
answer questions?
On the YouTube web
series Hot Ones,
host Sean Evans sits
down with the likes
of Paul Rudd, Post
Malone, and Scarlett
Johansson while
they devour chicken
wings doused with
increasingly fiery
sauces.
The show, which
has already led to a
spinoff, Hot Ones:
The Game Show,
on TruTV, is now
becoming a popular
dinner-party theme.
“The reactions, the
competitiveness,
the torture—it’s
all part of enjoying
the sauce and the
show,” says Krysty
Pringle, a partner at
hot-sauce specialty
store Heatonist
in Brooklyn, N.Y.
The shop has a
section dedicated
to Hot Ones sauces,
including the show’s
most famous bottle,
the Last Dab XXX.
Powered by three
versions of the
scorching Pepper X
(said to be twice as
spicy as the famous
Carolina Reaper),
it’s usually the final
sauce sampled on
each episode.
Superfan C.B.
Cebulski, editor-
in-chief of Marvel
Comics, finds hot
sauce to be the
great uniter at a
dinner party: Group
tastings are a built-
in conversation
starter, an
instant source of
conviviality. It’s also
the rare personwho doesn’t like
chicken wings. (For
vegetarians, he
provides rice balls.)
Cebulski offered
a few ground rules
for those who want
to throw their own
hot wings shindig:- Order in non-
sauced chicken
wings or make your
own (recipe left).
Serve about a dozen
sauces. If you offer
too many, their
nuances get lost;
too few, and you’re
basically just eating
hot wings. - Have everyone
sample the sauces in
the same order, from
mild to hot; don’t
skip around. - Guests should
taste each sauce at
approximately the
same time; seeing
who can handle the
heat and how they
react is a major part
of the fun. - Sample hot
sauces from around
the world—you
might have picked
them up as a
souvenir, received
them as a gift, or
bought them on a
whim at a market. A
wider range adds to
the experience. - A mix of “flats”
and drumettes is
the classic way to
taste, but boneless
wings make for
easier dipping. - Cool down
properly. At an
unofficial 3.18 million
Scoville units
(jalapeños top
out at 10,000),
Pepper X is no
joke. Provide fatty,
creamy products
like ranch and blue
cheese dressings
and avocado
slices. Honey also
helps alleviate the
burn—as do salty
potato chips.
Bloomberg Pursuits
FUNKTOWN
CHICKEN WINGSRecipe from Andrew
Carmellini, chef-owner of
the Dutch, New YorkIn a shallow bowl, combine
⅓ cup all-purpose flour,
1 tbsp salt, 2 tsp ground
pepper, 1 tsp cayenne
pepper, and 1 tsp smoked
paprika. Working in
batches, lightly coat
36 dry chicken wings and
drumettes in the mixture.Fill a medium-size
enameled cast-iron
casserole halfway with
vegetable oil and heat
to 360F. Add about one-
quarter of the wings, being
careful not to crowd the
pot. Fry, turning once,
until golden and cooked
through, 5 minutes.
Transfer to a paper-towel-
lined plate and cook the
remaining wings. Serve
with hot sauces.FOOD STYLIST: MAGGIE RUGGIERO; PROP STYLIST: KODY PANGBURN