“Heat Seekers” adds spice to Food Network lineup

There’s an old saying that says you should get out of the kitchen if you can’t handle the heat, and chefs Aarón Sanchez and Roger Mooking go to great extremes in Heat Seekers to prove they can handle that heat.

Premiering with Season 2 at 8pm ET, the Food Network program features the two gregarious chefs trying some foods that might be too cruel for the contestants on Fear Factor. Most people have trouble eating a jalapeño pepper, but that is considered child’s play in this weekly contest that sees which host can stomach the hottest dishes in the country.

• MORE: Aaron Sanchez brings the heat to Heat Seekers — and the zen to Chopped.

When we say hot, we are talking about recipes that include habaneros and ghost peppers, the latter of which is the considered the hottest pepper in the world and is reportedly smeared on fences and used in smoke bombs as a way of keeping wild elephants away. Some spicy peppers will create a burning sensation in your mouth; habaneros and ghost peppers will make your nose run, force your eyes to water, numb your tongue until you can barely speak, and make you perspire like you’re running a marathon in 120-degree heat.

All that said, Heat Seekers is not just some gimmick to see how much torture these two men can take. They are both accomplished and respected in the cooking field, with Sanchez owning and serving as executive chef of Centrico restaurant in New York City, and Mooking co-owning and serving as executive chef of Kultura Social Dining and Nyood Restaurant in Toronto. This duo likes hot foot, but they are also seeking out tasty cuisine and recipes from all ethnicities.

In tonight’s episode, Sanchez and Mooking make the trek to Dallas for a challenge of “Hotter than Hell” sliders, Texas style “Wangs” and Creole-style enchiladas with ghost pepper sauce. And if it’s true that everything is done bigger in Texas, somebody might want to have a fire extinguisher handy.

Photo: Food Network