On May 7th the Chowhound visited his brother in New England. On his way he took a detour and stopped off at Dover New Hampshire to try his luck with Jalepeno Peppers. Although New Hampshire is known for it's cold and snow filled winters there was enough heat at the competition to insure that all contestants would have a guaranteed stop over at the nearest rest room. The Barley Pub hosted the eating contest in conjunction with Alternative Rock Station, FNX and sponsor Dos Equis. The contest began on Wednesday and competitors could come in during the day and eat as many pickled Jalepenos as they could in one minute. At contest time on Friday, the number had reached 26. As the Hound was nurturing a draft beer and waiting for the next heat to assemble, he noticed a young man requesting to enter while also proclaiming that 26 was no problem because he has eaten 30+ hibeneros (much hotter than Jalepenos). Although taken back by this guy's confidence, the Hound also pondered the fact that eating 30 Hibneros is no easy task. Also, his tattoos, shaved head and body piercings convinced the Hound that this guy might actually like pain...

This guy, who's name I found out is Ed Priestly and I converged on the plates of Jalepenos that were awaiting the contestants. After receiving our cue from the audience who was providing a count down we attacked the mean little peppers with intensity. After all was said and done, Ed Priestly (The tattooed, Head Shaven body pierced alternative Rocker) completed 31 Jalepenos while the Chowhound finished with 29. Although the crowd was primarily rooting for the local kid they were friendly and provided great cheer for the contest.

Hold on, the contest was not over yet. Contest rules allow any contestant to go again if they choose. The guy who entered the week with the lead at 26, Mike Kurakis (spelling could be wrong) was also in attendance. Not wanting to be outdone, Mike entered the next heat and improved his total to 30. Although the Chowhound threatened another attempt at the Jalepenos before the 7:00 PM deadline, he eventually declined and conceded victory to the two younger contestants.

The first lesson that the old dog learned regarding jalepenos is that you should always pre-coat your stomach with bread or milk.. The disruption in the Chowhound's stomach 20 minutes after was similar to the chaos currently being witnessed in war torn Iraq. I was thankful to the young lady who took mercy on my condition and gave me a Hot Dog roll for comfort; this did seem to help a little. The 2nd lesson learned by the Hound was his liberal use of water during the one-minute event was not a good thing. As you may know, water usage during the consumption of hot peppers only relocates the heat instead of reducing it. My suggestion to anybody entering a Jalepeno eating contest is to forego the water during the contest, especially if it's a one or two minute sprint. The 5-6 seconds the Hound used to swallow the two large sips of water could have easily translated to 3 additional Jalepenos and possibly the victory.

Although victory has again eluded the Chowhound, the contest was exciting, people were friendly and a good time was had by all. Congratulations to Ed Priestly who won a cruise to Nova Scotia and to Mike Kurakis who won the Chili Peppers CD collection for his efforts. All contestants received t-shirts, CD's and other giveaways.