Mike’s Hot Honey

In the Fancy Food Show’s Front Burner pitch competition, the “expert” judges choose Mike’s Hot Honey over No Evil’s Comrade Cluck. This irked me no end because how hard is it to mix two ingredients, chili and honey? But I grabbed a couple of packets to take home and the stuff is growing on me.

Mike Kurtz was a pizza apprentice who got a job at Paulie Gee’s pizza emporium in Brooklyn. He asked the owner if he could bring in some of the flavored honey he made at home, which was inspired by a pizza place he discovered as a student in Brazil. Mike’s Hot Honey was a big hit. Soon Mike formed a company to distribute to chefs and home cooks, both in pizza-friendly packets and squeeze bottles for the kitchen.

These days, Mike’s website makes little mention of pizza and does not include it in recommended recipes. He’s looking to expand his market. I like their idea of using the product on grilled salmon; it’s easy to imaging the presentation and flavor kick when a ribbon of the stuff is squirted on top in a wavy line.

As is appropriate when your secret recipe has only two ingredients, Mike is cagey with the details of his sourcing. (The honey comes from an apiary in upstate New York, but the peppers are an unnamed Brazilian strain.) No reason not to warm up some honey in your own kitchen and infuse some cracked red pepper. On the other hand, a 12 ounce squeeze bottle is only 10 bucks at Amazon and will last a long time, so why not let Mike make a little money? (Read the reviews while you’re there; they are over the top positive and include some good usage ideas.)