Mike's Hot Honey. Since its foodie founding in 2010, this food industry phenomenon has gone from being a little-known condiment one could only find in trendy Brooklyn pizza shops to practically a household name. If you've never heard of it, or simply haven't tried it yet, this sweet and spicy addictive condiment (a combination of high-quality honey infused with chili peppers), will catapult your eating pleasure to a new level of sweet, spicy and savory happiness.
So how did a humble two-ingredient condiment jettison from obscurity to cult classic? The founder -- Mike Kurtz, who as a child was a fan of sweet and spicy flavor combos. He got his inspiration to create his own brand of hot honey while studying in Brazil. While visiting a pizza shop, he was surprised to find a jar of honey filled with chili peppers on each table. After drizzling it on his pizza, the rest became history.
After returning to the US in 2004, he spent the next six years experimenting and perfecting a recipe that would become known in the food industry as Mikes Hot Honey. He started giving his honey away to friends and family as gifts, until six years later, Mike took a job as a pizza apprentice at Paulie Gee's Pizza Emporium in Greenpoint, Brooklyn -- a Neapolitan-style pizza shop. Kurtz brought his hot honey in for owner Paulie Giannone to try. After trying in on a slice of pepperoni pizza, the restauranteur asked his apprentice to start bringing in small batches of his honey to offer with their pizza.
This opportunity launched Mike Kurt'z career. The sweet and spicy pizza pies sold at Paulie Gee's were just the beginning of the fast-moving hot-honey trend, not to mention Mike's relationship between North American pizza shops and Mike's Hot Honey. That said, Mike's Hot Honey is great on all sorts of things besides pizza, and, his honey is available in everything from gallon-sized containers to single-serving to-go cups to squeezable packets so customers can get a Mike's hot-honey fix wherever they are.
My list of favorite things to drizzle Mike's Hot Honey on:
Pepperoni Pizza
Chicken Wings
Fried Chicken or Fried Chicken and Waffles
Chicken Nuggets
Batter-Dipped Deep-Fried Shrimp or Fish
Deli-Chicken & Bacon or Turkey & Bacon Sandwiches
Peanut Butter & Banana Sandwiches
Pancakes or Waffles
Buttermilk Biscuits
Cornbread or Corncakes
Sweet Corn or Sweet Corn Fritters
Deep-Fried Pirogies or French Fries
Baked Sweet Potatoes w/Butter
Phyllo-Wrapped Baked Brie or Nut-Crusted Deep-Fried Brie
Any Dry Nutty Cheeses, Blue Cheese or Fresh Mozzarella
Melon Wrapped w/Prosciutto
Grilled Pineapple
Vanilla Ice Cream
Steaming-Hot Tea w/Bourbon Whiskey
"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti
(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2023)
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