If you’ve seen the show Styled, then you know Nicole Babb has a keen eye and passion for design. From turning once drab spaces into stunning fabulous areas in the home, Nicole does it all. In fact, her creativity goes beyond interiors. Nicole loves food and cooking, so she’s created her own food company, Rich & Pour, with a new hot sauce line. We recently chatted with Nicole about the hot sauce, her inspiration behind it, her favourite meals to cook, how to incorporate spice daily and how to build your spice tolerance. She even shares how this sit-down is a full-circle moment!
A few years ago, while Nicole was living in New York, she pitched an idea with a friend to a major food network. Now, she knows how to combine all of her passions, such as design, food and travel.
“We’ve started a blog, just travelling to cities and countries around the world, trying to live like a local and incorporating meals that we like to make with local ingredients. So this is just another avenue to be able to incorporate all the things I love to do.”
Read on for the full interview.
Related: Pamela Anderson on Why Her Food Network Show Is a Dream Come True
Can you tell us more about your food company?
“This is a passion project of mine. I am [of] Guyanese background and food is just the centre of everything that we do. So I love cooking. I’ve been told I’m a good cook and I bottled some of the things that I create, like jerk sauce or jerk marinade and hot sauce. So basically, it’s Caribbean food or condiments in a bottle.”
What inspired you to start a hot sauce line?
“I was doing catering. Anything that I would cook, people would be like, ‘What did you use?’ And I [thought] this is a good opportunity to bottle it. It’s just my entrepreneurial spirit to create things that I love to do, so it doesn’t feel like work. I remember the first time I heard that, I felt that’s the life that I want to live: To create beautiful things that people would want part of.”
You’re a designer of course, do you find any similarities between designing and cooking?
“Absolutely! It’s like adding a little bit of this or taking away something [and] finding balance. Playing with palettes, [seeing] what works [and] what doesn’t work. So there’s definitely a correlation. Even for me, I eat with my eyes first and I think a lot of people do [too]. But the design of how the bottle looks and the branding, all of that stuff coincides with design and food.”
Related: Catching Up With Nicole Babb
Rich & Pour hot sauce in “I’m Hot” and jerk marinade in “I’m a Jerk”
What is your favourite hot sauce from your line?
“It’s called ‘I’m Hot.’ The peppers that we use [are] called Wiri Wiri peppers and they’re native to Guyana. So, it’s a very unique flavour profile. I would say it’s tomatoey and garlicky. Then, we add green mango, garlic, vinegar, salt, and pepper. It’s just very simple but absolutely delicious. So [it’s] one of my faves.”
How can you incorporate spice into your everyday life?
“I would say try a little at a time. You don’t have to use it as a condiment, you can cook with it. I love using the hot sauce in something like pepper shrimp where you’re frying up onions and bell peppers [and] garlic and you add a few dashes of the sauce [then] your shrimp. It’s so delicious. It’s a great appetizer and it’s fast.”
Do you have tips on building up your spice tolerance?
“I like to add it to food that is already cooked, like spaghetti sauce. If you want to make it a little bit spicy then try a little at a time, it’s so much easier to add than it is to take away. It’s so interesting because I think that people think Caribbean food is just spicy, but we actually use pepper to flavour. I would say if you are really intolerant, just take the seeds out of a pepper before you add it to a dish. And travel. When you travel, you get to really see [and] have the local experience and understand why, like [for example] in Vietnam, they have soup in the morning — it’s to cool you down for the day.”
What are your favourite meals to cook?
“Some of my favourite meals are curries [and] stews. I love oxtail stew. That’s where I use ‘I’m a Jerk,’ which is one of our other marinades. I think because of all of the ingredients, it takes up the flavour profile a notch, especially when you’re marinating for at least 24 hours. So yeah, definitely like an oxtail stew is one of my favourites.”
Related: Jordana Hart on Eating Colourfully and Why She Uses Olive Oil Every Day
What are some of your favourite foods?
“My mother is half Chinese and I love Asian food. She always has this unique way of making Asian food spicy. I guess [it’s] her Caribbean roots mixed in with the Chinese. So I would say absolutely any Asian dish that’s influenced by Caribbean influence, like Guyanese-Chinese food is so underrated. I think everyone needs to try it.”
You May Also Like: Annie Murphy Shares Her Favourite On Set Snacks and Canadian Restaurants
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Styled, Season 2 finale airs Tuesday, August 20 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV Canada and STACKTV.