Ian got his love of hot peppers from cooking on his own and from his friend Ali.  Things escalated over time as Ian was introduced to hotter and hotter peppers.

MADD DOGG nick name and source.

Peppers are measured on the Scoville scale of hotness. Ian was at Ali’s house and decided to prove his metal and prove what a “Mad Dog” he was against a particularly hot sauce at 357,000 scoville units of heat.   He didn’t just take a small dip into the sauce but a whole spoonful, not once but twice!
He showed no weakness throughout… the first five minutes.   He then spent the next 6 hours alternately moving from the couch to the bathroom in an extremely pale state. Stating once when asked how he was through the door, “the tiles are so cool in here”.  Why the two D’s and two G’s?  You will have to ask Ali and Vince :).

The sauce is below, please note “DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS AT HOME”

http://www.hotsauceworld.com/357maddoghot.html

Sauces

He made his own sauce with Tim Marshall in two versions, the first “Marshal Bruno’s Wormburner” so called as it was so hot it burned you two times, first on the way in, second on the way out.

After publishing Survive Another Day he made a second version of the sauce called “Survive Another Sauce”

The Garden

Ian lovingly grew his own hot peppers in Windsor, London and in England.