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The Judges

While the festivities may be getting more extensive, you can rest assured that this will remain a serious culinary competition. The Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Contest is a blind tasting conducted by some of the top chefs and pepper authorities in the country. They take hot sauce seriously and so do most of the people who enter. Several previous winners in the individual category have gone on to start their own hot sauce companies.

This year's final judges are:

Cheryl and Bill Jamison

The Jamisons are a husband-and-wife writing team who specialize in the foods of the Southwest. Their most recent book, The Border Cookbook, was voted one of the best cookbooks of the year (1995) by the New York Times Book Review and received both the James Beard Cookbook Award and the Julia Child Cookbook Award. The Jamisons teach at cooking schools and culinary seminars across the country.

Dave DeWitt

A founder of Chile Pepper Magazine and the Fiery Foods Show, and one of America's foremost authorities on chile peppers, Dave DeWitt is the author of the Whole Chile Pepper Book, The Pepper Garden, Hot & Spicy Latin Dishes, and The Habanero Cookbook among others. He has published hundreds of articles on peppers and their place in world culture and cuisine.

David Garrido

David Garrido is the exective chef at Jeffrey's, the only restaurant in Austin to earn two stars from Texas Monthly. Garrido formerly worked with Stephan Pyles at the Routh Street Cafe in Dallas. His father was a Mexican diplomat and he has traveled extensively in Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Europe.

Mark Miller

The owner and head chef of Austin's Coyote Cafe, Mark Miller is one of the chefs that first put Southwestern cuisine on the map. At Coyote Cafe in Santa Fe, Miller perfected his Modern Southwestern style and launched the revolution that put chile peppers into kitchens all over America. Coyote Cafe in Santa Fe has been called one of the best restaurants in the country by Nation's Restaurant News, and nominated for the James Beard Foundation as the nation's best Southwestern Restaurant.

Jay McCarthy

McCarthy, the executive chef at Central Market, grew up in Jamaica and is an expert on Caribbean cuisines. He is the co-author (with Robb Walsh) of Traveling Jamaica With Knife, Fork and Spoon from Crossing Press.

Park Kerr

W. Park Kerr is the co-owner of The El Paso Chile Company and the author of the best-selling The El Paso Chile Company's Texas Border Cookbook and Burning Desires.

Ricardo Muñoz

Mexico City chef Ricardo Muñoz is the executive chef for the president of the National University of Mexico. A Mexican food scholar, Muñoz has recently completed research on an encylopedia of Mexican cooking terms. He is also the author of a cookbook on chile rellenos to be released this fall.

Robb Walsh (Founder and Head Judge)

Austin food writer Robb Walsh won the 1996 James Beard Journalism Award. He is a contributing editor of American Way and a frequent contributor to the The Austin Chronicle. His food column, "A Matter of Taste," appears in Natural History Magazine. Walsh is also the co-author of Traveling Jamaica With Knife, Fork and Spoon (with Jay McCarthy).

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Preliminary Judges

Over the years, we have made a big deal about our famous line-up of final judges. This year we also want to thank the preliminary judges, the guys who do all the hard work. The preliminary judges open, sort, and screen every single bottle of hot sauce entered in the contest. Then they pass the best-qualified entries on to the finals. As you might imagine, this task sometimes involves the unpleasant experience of being the first to eat a salsa which is too hot for human consumption or which is made with such unusual ingredients as used coffee grounds. For their tireless efforts we wish to thank these preliminary judges in advance: (6th year) Carlos Contreras, Henry Alvarado, Fred Alvarado, (5th year) Dave Walsh, (3rd year) Jim Shahin, (2nd year) John Burnet, Marion Winik, Robert Bryce, (1st year) Patrick Earvolino, Joe Nick Patoski
-- R.W.