The Habanero Hamburger
Jack Curry, owner of The Prince of Wales Pub and longtime chili cook, began reading about the Habanero Pepper as he researched chiles for his award winning chili. After a panel of sixteen “tasters” confirmed the legendary heat level was for real, the Pub’s “Habanero Hamburger” was first created in September 1992. Billed as the “World’s Hottest Hamburger!?” (submitted to the Guinness Book of World Records) the Prince of Wales Pub requires each customer to first fill out a “release form”, but afterwards they receive the coveted “I Survived The Habanero Hamburger” bumper sticker. Those not finishing the burger are part of the “Perry Percentile”, named after the first customer not to finish the burger (a whimpy Texan). Those eating all of the burger can join the ranks of Richard “King of The Habaneros” Whiteley and Joe Recto, who each consumed five Habanero Hamburgers at one seating.
The Habanero Hamburger begins with a generous 1/3 lb. patty marinated with “Windsor Burger” sauce, grilled to your liking. Massage in Jack’s Habanero Sauce (fresh and/or powdered Habaneros) and served on a large garnished toasted bun. Have a cold beverage and remember–No whimpering!
Jack developed the sauce back in 1992. In a 2004 newspaper interview after the Food Network shot an episode of Top 5 there, Jack said of the sauce, “I make it at home, and I use a snorkel when I make it.” Understandable, since the sauce is 90 percent red savina habanero chiles, the hottest chiles in the world. The other 10% consists of chile oil–to make the burn cling–and horseradish.
Habanero Facts & Lore
Habanero means “from Havana” although it is not now grown in Cuba (the Dominican Priest Francisco Ximenez wrote in 1722 of a chile from Havana so strong that a single pod would “make the bull unable to eat.”). It is widely grown in the Yucatan and throughout the Caribbean where it is known as the “Scotch Bonnet” or the “Bahama Mama” in the Bahamas.
Small and Innocuous looking, the habanero is uncontested as the hottest pepper in the world, the mother of all peppers. As one habanero lover puts it, “When you chop, it smells good, and it entices you to eat.” But when you do, “It feels like your lips are going to fall off.” Afterward you feel good (hot peppers are though to trigger the release of endorphins, powerful chemicals in the human body that elicit a feeling of well being. One food writer calls it :culinary skydiving”. It is said that you go temporarily deaf after eating a habanero so that you cannot hear your own screams.