Peppers Spicy Foods Tailgate Party at the Beach set May 18-20

The third annual Peppers Spicy Food Tailgate Party at the Beach promises to be hotter than ever as Peppers owner Chip Hearn joins with Mountaire Farms and Roger Marino to host a weekend devoted to spicy foods Friday through Sunday, May 18-20.

The event will takre place all three days from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Midway Galleria Shopping Center Peppers parking lot, 18701 Coastal Highway (next to the Roadhouse), Rehoboth Beach.

Using thousands of Juicy Jumbo Party Wings donated by Mountaire Farms, local restaurants and more than 65 champion chefs from around the country will join individual challengers to compete for the 2012 Mountaire National Championship and 2012 Delaware State Wing Championship in five different categories.

Judges, including notable media personalities and people chosen from the audience, will name the first- through third-place winners for the most unusual wings; best restaurant-style wings; best Buffalo-style wings; best smoked wings; and best presentation. There is no entry fee for the contests, which are open to everyone, restaurants and individuals and chefs.

Without charge, people attending the event will have the opportunity to meet and speak with dozens of product creators, and award-winning chefs, see their demonstrations, sample their cuisine and obtain some of their recipes. Chefs featured on The Food Network include Blair Lazar, also featured on The History Channel and The Discovery Channel; Texas Rib Rangers Bob and Barb Milroy, winners of over 500 major awards and competitions; Defcon Sauces creator John Dilley, winner of 37 international awards since 2006; Chip Hearn, recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as owner of the largest collection of hot sauces in the world and also featured on The History Channel and Good Morning America; Page Skelton; and Johnny McLaughlin of Heartbreaking Dawn.

Renowned food author Jennifer Trainer Thompson will appear to speak, present recipes and autograph copies of her new book, “Hot Sauce! Techniques for Making Signature Hot Sauces, with 32 Recipes to Get You Started.” Recognized by the Associated Press as “The Queen of Hot” and appearing in hundreds of broadcasts including Live with Regis, CNN, and Good Morning America, Thompson is an exciting and entertaining source of information about everything relating to hot sauces - from the peppers used to create them to the final recipes that showcase them.

“This is the most amazing line-up imaginable,” says Hearn. “This is the only event on the entire East Coast where people can meet, talk with, and sample the recipes of so many of the biggest chefs and hottest personalities in the field, in one place at one time.”

Two wing-eating contests will focus on the heat instead of unlimited gorging.

Delaware State Wing Championships & Guinness World Record Challenges Start at noon, Saturday, May 19. In the Best Super Hot Wings Eating Contest, the winner will be the one of 12 contestants who eats 10 wings the fastest.

Applying the same standard, the Russian Roulette Wing Eating Contest adds an element of chance to the competition as contestants face the challenge of knowing there are two super hot wings in the mix, without knowing when one of those wings might be the next one they bite.

Eating challenges also extend to peppers. Chef James Wreck and his EatMoreHeat.com team from Houston, Texas will be filming live as chile head superstars and wannabes  try to set the Guinness Book of World Records for eating the most Naga Jolokia Ghost Peppers in a minute and the most fresh green Jalapeno peppers in a minute. Guinness is also expected to recognize the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion Pepper as the hottest pepper in the world.