[CH] FoodTV Show stuff
jim@wildpepper.com
Mon, 05 Aug 2002 10:05:59 -0500
Yup- it sure was neat seeing all the chileheads again. Quite a nights'
line up they had, what with the chili cook off first and all. I was
busy scanning the booths as well looking for stuff I'd recognize :-)
Saw CaJohns' Adam & Eve fancy glass set and one or two other sauces that
I do for folks. Didn't see mine though. Have to watch a little closer
I guess. Looked like quite an event in SoCal! The rest of the world
now gets to see what those of us who've met them have known all along-
Curt & Susie Snyder are top notch folks! I know the excitement you'all
feel, watching along for glimpses of identifiable stuff :-) Fun!
Now that the show has aired, I can let you all in on a few things :-)
The 'title shot' that they used of the pile of chiles was mine. I'd
frantically ran around to every supermarket on the NW side of Indy
looking for chiles (by February when they filmed, mine were LONG since
gone). They especially wanted Red Savina(R). Needless to say, THAT
took some creativity ;-) I ended up with a box of the biggest orange
habs I could find, a can of fire engine red enamel paint, pliers, and a
heat gun from the FD shop. An hour before filming, I'm in the shop
dipping the habs in paint and quick drying them with the heat gun. We
got a good laugh out of it. The film crew commended me on the efforts-
one of them stating "hey, TV is all about reality and sincerity & as
long as you can fake that, you've got it made". That Red Savina(R) they
show me dicing was actually a Fresno. The paint would have flaked off
if I tried dicing one of the doctored ones, so we just arranged the
dupes on the board with a chunk of Fresno for cutting.
Prestidigitation, is the fancy word I believe ;-)
The chili the firefighters were eating also wasn't all THAT hot. The TV
crew wanted me to make something that would peel paint, but I wasn't
keen on the idea of tossing out $75 worth of chili that no one could
eat. I made it pretty hot, but got around it by spiking several of the
bowls (layered them with Backdraft on the inside bottom) and then
picking and choosing who got those bowls, unbeknownst to the recipients
of course :-)
-Jim C
Mild to Wild