We’re always up for trying new foods and flavors at Bullz-Eye.com, so we jumped at the chance to test out Heartbreaking Dawns hot sauces and found ourselves in a heatwave! Hot sauce dates back to ancient times and is believed to have medicinal and even aphrodisiac properties. Today, epicureans consider hot sauce a benchmark for culinary machismo, using pepper intensity to bring flavor depth and umami — that meatiness that brings a savory quality to dishes. Whether it provides gentle waves of mild heat or wicked lashes to the tongue, hot sauce is a home cook’s secret weapon that adds flavor and intensity to all things mixed, tossed, roasted, grilled or brined – essentially anything we eat or drink.

The below press release about Heartbreaking Dawns — a three-year old company out of Wyckoff, New Jersey founded by chef Johnny McGlaughlin, a fixture at Brooklyn’s food flea Smorg — provides novel approaches to incorporating the fiery condiment into food and drink, with equally satisfying results whether the dish or libation is savory or sweet.

Chef McLaughlin, founder of Heartbreaking Dawns, the award-winning hot sauce company, knows how to bring on the heat, from creating subtle waves of gentle warmth on the palate to unleashing fiery lashes on the tongue. “Hot sauce isn’t just for chili and its power comes in the form of building layers of flavors through pepper blends. Its image has changed dramatically in recent years as heat fans celebrate its powers of delivering potent umami or a deeper dimension of taste to dishes both savory and sweet,” said McLaughlin. “Hot sauce, when used properly, can lend a quiet, warm perfume of earthy and floral notes or ratchet up the ‘meatiness’ of any number of sauces, protein blends, dressings and even ice creams. Once you know how to use it, hot sauce becomes the home cook’s best friend.”

Heartbreaking Dawns Artisan Foods LLC was formed four years ago when the self-taught chef and his wife Nicole had a bumper crop of their backyard chili pepperbushes and blended them into an array of hot sauces for family and friends. Combining a variety of peppers possessing ascending heat levels, tropical fruits and spices, McLaughlin went commercial in 2009, aggressively developing three hot sauces which would quickly catch fire in the Hudson Valley community. Heartbreaking Dawns now has 11 varieties of hot sauce and as many sauces and dry rubs. Heartbreaking Dawns hot sauces, which start at $6.99, include:

· Jalapeno Pineapple
· Classic Gold
· Mango Habanero

“We use ripe fresh fruits to lightly sweeten some of our original hot sauces to provide subtle hints that compliment the featured pepper. Our Classic Gold uses a backdrop of brown sugar and tomato providing a delicious twist on traditional red hot sauce,” McLaughlin explained.

Here are Chef Johnny’s suggestions to kick up the summer heat in an ultra refreshing way:

Instead of monster burgers, try a wider assortment of sliders. Guests will be more likely to pace themselves and enjoy a wider variety of flavors. Be sure to use fresh cheeses, pickled toppings, fresh greens and more. Turn basic condiments into a wider spectrum with the addition of hot sauce, transforming flavors and regulating heat levels according to your palate preferences.

The word on pork: on a hot day, heavy barbecue sauce isn’t always the answer. Try thinning out fiery chutney with citrus juice such as orange or pineapple, a dash of mustard and diced scallion for a marinade. You’ll be amazed with the bright crisp flavor of the finished dish.

Need a side sauce? Soften up some onion and garlic and reduce with a fruit-based hot sauce. Finish it off with fresh cilantro and drizzle over dish.

· A wide assortment of hot sauces at the raw bar will be sure to spark excitement and conversation. Line them up with clams, oysters shrimp and more

· Remember, any hot sauce can be transformed into a wing sauce. It’s easy: 2 parts sauce, 1 part butter and 1 part cider vinegar (optional) to make a variety of sauces for your collection.

· Dessert: lose the sugar and substitute Heartbreaking Dawns Trail Preserves to toss those apples for a pie even grandma will love.

Chef Johnny’s Tips for Using Hot Sauce to Add Seduction through Heat:

· Blend Heartbreaking Dawns’ Tomato Based Classic Gold with some Ketchup followed by fresh basil and parmesan to top any slider.

· Add Jalapeno Pineapple to any mayo to make it sweet and spicy. Finish off the slider with shredded cabbage and goat cheese.

· Mix the Mango Habanero with mustard. Top this slider with kimchi and fried onions.

· Combine the 1542 Chocolate Habanero Sauce with some crème fraiche. Polish it off with some melted New York sharp cheddar and pickle.

· Perfect for brunch: get creative by adding various hot sauces to your favorite Bloody Mary mix.

· What better way to kick back than with Electric Lemonade? Add Heartbreaking Dawns’ pear and apple-based Ghost Sauce to bring out delicious bursts of flavor. Muddle in fresh cilantro for a finishing touch.

· Leave out the vermouth. Instead, try lining your next martini glass with a sweet, fruit-based hot sauce.

Hot Sauce Factoids:

· Primitive hot sauce evidence has been found on archeological digs and the dredging of sunken ships.

· It is believed that in ancient times, hot sauce not only had a culinary purpose but a medicinal one as well. For example, the Mayans used chili peppers to alleviate tooth aches.

· Considered by many to be a digestive aid by stimulating stomach secretions, hot sauce is thought to help combat depression by acting as an aphrodisiac and releasing endorphins.

Now we all know much more than we could have imagined about hot sauce, and when you’re ready to try the real deal, go to www.heartbreakingdawns.com