Search & Destroy: Hot Sauce

I like spicy foods, but not hot sauces.

Yeah, I'm not so hot (no pun intended) on the original Tabasco anymore. Once you have a good punishing habanero sauce it's hard to go back.

Tabasco. IS TOO :) Seriously, the original unadulterated Tabasco has a taste you'll simply never find in any other brand because of the three years of aging. That's why everyone else adds mangoes and onions and crawfish and stuff to theirs.

Tabasco Chipotle, the best chipotle sauce I've had.

Louisiana brand hot sauce, especially cayenne and habanero.

Dave's Insanity, the garlic one. Too hot for most uses, granted, but one of the few tasty insanely-hot sauces, for those of us who haven't burned our taste buds off in endorphin rushes.

Jump Up and Kiss Me.

Melinda's, the mustard one. Good on hot dogs, sausages, burgers, in sauces for ribs.

Sriracha, as previously praised on other threads, especially the green-cap brand.

Destroy:

Endorphin Rush, which just doesn't have much flavor.

Crystal -- except Crystal Cayenne Garlic -- and Frank's, because they just don't have much flavor and have that weird xanthan gum texture.

This pomegranate stuff I had once, don't remember the name, that had no real flavor except a burnt -- not smoked -- habanero taste, and something like fruit gone sour.

Purple Haze, which is made with cabbage, I think.

Most of the gimmicky "Monica's Blowjob Sauce" type ones, except Bayou Viagra and Texas Viagra (if those count as gimmicky in the same sense), both of which are tasty and from a company which makes legitimate sauces, not just joke sauces.

Most of the "look at the ingredient we managed to use THIS time!" sauces. Often, a good sauce does have some notable ingredient besides the pepper and vinegar -- habanero sauces work well when carrot is involved, tropical fruit works well with most peppers, and so on. "New England's Hooha Hot Damn Wappa Wappa Maple Syrup from Hell" hot sauce, made from maple syrup and capsaicin, would be stupid. And a lot of the gimmick-ingredient sauces are precisely that.

I wanna go hot sauce shopping with Tep.

Crystal Cayenne Garlic is really, really good because that vinegariness comes out (the vinegariness is what I like with Tabasco; I do tend to reach for something else when I want a condiment and not just an ingredient or something for eggs, though). But the others ... the flavor isn't deep enough, so like you say, you gotta use a lot of it. If I'm putting it on a hot dog or something, that's not the best option.

(Crystal and Louisiana get major points for being dirt cheap, at least in LA -- like, 37 cents for a bottle cheap, c'mon.)

I am aware that I'm not quite in touch with the spirit of this thread, but I love sweet chilli sauces from Thailand, Vietnam and Japan.

Also, nam prik rulex0rs.

Vineg0r r0x0r.

The be-all and end-all.

this stuff immediately sprang to mind. it's a bit salsa-ish, so i'm not sure if it counts.

i love the flavor of chipotle stuff too.

Best jarred salsa: Joe T. Garcias. Yum.

I also have a bottle of El Yucateco Habanero Green and Huy Fung Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce that get used pretty frequently. Don't understand those who go for the vinegary sauces. The taste overpowers everything else. I only like that stuff on eggs, and I will usually use Cholua Hot Sauce, which has the vinegar flavor but doesn't make everything taste like vinegar.

a) buy the ones which aren't thickened with things like xanthan gum, so that when you use them on anything wet, or as an ingredient in a sauce or marinade (Tabasco makes an excellent marinade for ribs or lamb, and is a good ingredient in a heavily-flavored brine for chicken or ham), the flavor blends in more and the vinegar dilutes.

b) if you want lots of heat and don't want lots of vinegar flavor, go with habanero (the one problem here is that there are very few habanero sauces on the market which don't combine the habanero with various other ingredients, so unlike with Tabasco proper, you aren't getting a pure pepper flavor).

c) even given a and b, if you like and are accustomed to vinegary flavors, you're gonna like vinegar sauces more than otherwise; vinegar is one of those flavors like cilantro, chile heat, and red wine, where if you're not used to it it stands out more sharply.

I forgot a sauce I bought today at this odd little grocery -- Lemon something something Peri-Peri. Looks good, for cooking with if not so much as a condiment. Has xanthan gum in it, though :/

(And just as I start to eat the burrito, Olivia NEwton-John's version of "Ring of Fire" starts up...)

("... and it burns, burns, burns ...")

Actually, anti-confession time: I have never once -- not from Taco Bell, not from "what are these 'Scotch bonnet' things, anyway? Well, I suppose I'll put a bowlful in the chili to find out," not from burritos of questionable pedigree, not from undergraduate experiments gone awry -- had that particular problem.

Also, try that Toad-Sweat (sweet habanero syrup/sauce) stuff on ice cream. It's WEIRD.

I've made hot sauces since, just not that way. Pureed pickled peppers or chipotles, vinegar as needed, roasted garlic, and so on. Comes out thicker, but it's tasty enough (and usually very strong).

(There's no hot sauce in the minestrone ... oh! But one of the Cheap Cooking Things I used to do with the ex was roasted a bulb of garlic and just cover it in Tabasco. Bam, you got dip, or sauce, or whatever.)

http://www.peppersofkeywest.com/images/product_images/psychosoy2.jpg

habanero soy sauce

this is seriously the greatest product of all time

wow really?

soy psycho

they never sell shit like this in london :(

Man, Tep had terrible taste in hot sauce (except for Sriracha).

I like that Rhino Peri-Peri shit, too.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2069/2173100189_d797eec488.jpg

no

hahaha

the other day i dipped a banana in some sriracha it was a shocking treat

you've become like me with sriracha -- a strict "why not" policy

http://foodjunta.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/sriracha.jpg

yes, that's a photo of it

good work

srireach & destroy

http://jessicam.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/sriracha.jpg

rox/hoos mindmeld snarking on dude posting sriracha.jpg is some k.i.neg shit

we're having a bad week

k.i.neg boy pato

</3

the other day i dipped a banana in some sriracha it was a shocking treat

― its gotta be HOOSy para steen (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver),

lol that's showing good initiative. First time I had sriracha and peanut butter was awesome, so I am imagining a peanut butter, banana, sriracha sandwich.

Sriracha is kind of scary because eventually you won't find food appetizing without it.

totally true, even though it loses its initial ZING

<img src="http://www.melindas.com/bottles/xxxxhot.jpg";> A Belizean style hot sauce, habaneros for heat, carrots and mangos for sweetness, key lime juice for acidity. Available by the gallon, which I've bought for friends.

Pretty comparable to the original, Marie Sharpe's:
<img src="http://www.drchilepepper.com/acatalog/hot.jpg";>

which is consistently rated among the top hot sauces on the planet by critics who collect hundreds of the things.

Now with BBcode:

http://www.melindas.com/bottles/xxxxhot.jpg A Belizean style hot sauce, habaneros for heat, carrots and mangos for sweetness, key lime juice for acidity. Available by the gallon, which I've bought for friends.

Pretty comparable to the original, Marie Sharpe's:
http://www.drchilepepper.com/acatalog/hot.jpg

which is consistently rated among the top hot sauces on the planet by critics who collect hundreds of the things.

Oh, on the Sriracha front:

Enjoying this a lot lately:

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/7425/imageuploadimage.jpg

chumps don't like valentina

can't handle hot sauce, even before reflux issues. masochists!

i don't really consider pickapeppa hot sauce, but it is good shit. the kind of sauce where i'll crave a steak as a delivery mechanism for pickapeppa.

I'm a fan of many of the aforementioned sauces, particularly Melinda's, Yucatan, Iguana, etc.

But for my $$, there's a local sauce in Portland called Secret Aardvark that is a mind (and mouth) blower:

http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/63/l_be85d9b805cc447ca38c9b60a4705f81.jpg

myspace.com/secretaardvark

I don't know if you can order it. I buy bottles at local restaurants. Yum!

just got hip to Sriracha, it's gone on almost every hot dish i've eaten in the last month. never liked pickapeppa. love red rooster (probably like it for the saltiness more than the spiciness)

I recently saw a bottle of "mild" Sriracha that has a Unicorn on it instead of a Cock? Can't find an image but it was nice and tangy.

Maybe I should start a thread, Search & Destroy: Mild Sauce Not Manly Enough for Hot Sauce Thread.

frank's red hot is great stuff. good on so many things.

I like a bit of tabasco or frank's on pizza, really brings the flavour out.

niche hot sauces are the only american food im jealous of, i pretty much have to survive on the thimble sized bottles of nandos peri peri you get here. anyone know a place in london with a good selection of this sort of sauce? incidentally my new favourite spicy sauce is the jack daniels chilli bbq which i dismissed as gimmicky idiot food but is actually fantastic.

you can get frank's in sainsburys.

I used to love the Cattlemens BBQ sauce but you never see it anymore, wonder did UK stores stop importing it.

I love Encona hot sauces, esp the papaya one which is unfortunately a bit harder to find than the standard one.

straightola you just need to look in differnet ethnic grocers, they usually have good selections e.g sriracha, encona &c

encona is no problem to get, i used to get it when i lived in derry. its the more niche ones im after like melinda's or marie sharps but without coughing up a fiver a bottle online. helps if youve a big carribean population handy, tescos tends to stock the full encona range. i cant usually stomach the rotting fish smell of the actually carribean shops round our way

i went to a chili festival a couple of years back and dipped a small bit of bread into this sauce called something like "journey to the heart of the sun" which the guy selling it told me contained a chili-derived chemical that polar explorers spray their vehicles with to ward off polar bear attacks. i have never had anything like it in my mouth in my life. i vaguely recall scaring a young family by running around with sweat dribbling out my ears.

i had some amazing stuff in harvey nicholls in manchester one time but i think going all the way across london for overpriced niche sauces is one step beyond

I once put a drop of Dave's Insanity Sauce on a tortilla chip. It caused my lips to blister instantly. I was going to send a photo the company but instead I hid in shame with the curtains drawn until I healed.

My favorite food is Sriracha on Tostitos (hint of lime)

too bad I can get neither here

Why can't we just enjoy moderately hot sauce in moderation, guys?

My favorite food is Sriracha on Tostitos (hint of lime)

need to make this happen

http://www.cholula.com/

^obv a Search

Sriracha, Cholula, and Tobasco Chipotle is all you'll ever need really.

you will need franks or red devil if you plan on making BUFFALO WINGS.

that is true. however, for wings i just use a mix of jack daniel's bbq w/some sriracha.

^ this sounds excellent. The sweetness of each should combine perfectly.

Also, Tapatio > Cholula

Tapatio just tastes better, though it doesn't have the slight vinegary taste I enjoy in Cholula

Sometimes the standards are the standards for a reason: I'm one of those "hot sauce people," and I've sampled many over the years, but I always come back to Tabasco (original variety) and Sriracha. I also regularly seek out freshly made Thai chili sauce from Asian markets.

There's also a great sauce called Clancy's Fancy, which is made in Ann Arbor, MI. I used to have it on hand all the time when I lived there, but haven't run across it since. I highly recommend this delicious concoction, should you happen to stumble across some.

Also, Tapatio > Cholula

gotta fite u here

uh oh

i say that because i taste more actual pepper (flavor) in Tapatio whereas cholula is a slight acid taste and more heat
I also see them as direct competitors to each other on college campuses and cheap taquerias, both Mexican hot sauces (vs. salsa).
I think salsa Bufalo is better than either as far as the Mexi sauces go. Their chipotle flavor is actually well done as I also don't usually like the chipotle flavors.
None of these are also all the spicy, too, but I like them on quesadillas, chips, sandwiches, easy things like that.
http://us.st12.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/mex-grocer_2046_5596377

if a place has either of the 3 on hand (Bufalo, Tapatio, Cholula), i'm happy. I do have some Tapatio at home, but haven't had it in a long time. Need to do a Hot Sauce Challenge between that and Cholula.

El Yucateco>Cholula>Tapatio

I must insist that Pickapeppa has dramatically improved my lunch-time experiences.

My favorite food is Sriracha on Tostitos (hint of lime)

too bad I can get neither here

― lucked up (lukas), Friday, March 20, 2009 7:51 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

dude i dont know who you are but u should post to 1p3!!!!!

http://ibuygourmet.com/images/Extra%20Hot.jpg

do tell.

i am not picky or a snob when it comes to hot sauce. cholula or tabasco chipotle are my favorite of the widely available brands. i like to use sriracha as an ingredient in a milder sauce, like for a thai salad dressing with white vinegar and sugar.

its got a good flavor to it, almost fruity. it's real vinegary and hot. i love it!

how could you ever destroy a hot sauce

its got a good flavor to it, almost fruity. it's real vinegary and hot. i love it!

sold!

been kind of slurping up cholula like it's ice cream. shit is delicious.

I got me some of this:

http://www.chilefoundry.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/10-min-burn.jpg

and this:

http://www.chilliworld.com/i/p/255.jpg

The former is interesting because it literally builds up over 10 minutes. The latter punches you directly in the brain.

blair's: search and destroy

likewise 'dave's'

i enjoy this a great deal:

http://www.hotsauceemporium.co.uk/img/product_images/Holy-Jolokia.jpg

an unthickened vinegar-garlic naga jolokia sauce. great on vegetarian chili and ... all the other 'shit let's just cook a bunch of stuff in tomatoes' vegetarian scratch meals i end up cooking in the winter

that stuff is made by the Chile Pepper Institute of New Mexico State University, incidentally

I got a Holy Jolokia tshirt when I was there last year, didn't try the sauce.

you can visit? ahah, what on earth is it like?

El Yucateco Habanero sauce (either green or red) is my go-to sauce for most things.

xpost -- the Institute itself is an unassuming office on campus, looks pretty much like any departmental office, but the main room is big enough for sale racks of books, shirts, caps, hot sauces and chile seeds. The director, Paul Bosland, and his two assistants (one full time, one work-study) have offices off the main room. The demonstration garden, about a mile away, was more fun. I can't find my copy of the map of the garden -- I seem to recall they have 100+ varieties of chiles there -- they try to have one of everything there, including the bhut jolokia. I was with a Roadfood (Jane & Michael Stern) tour group, so Bosland showed us around himself. He picked a ghost chile and rubbed it all over his face and eyes to demonstrate how all of a chile's heat is on the inside.

Also, the original Tobasco's goodness is not directly proportional to its popularity.

― Ian Johnson (elmo oxygen), Saturday, July 12, 2003 2:12 PM (8 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

post makes me furious every time this thread comes up.

D'Elidas is my favorite. It's a Panamanian habanero with mustard.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3477/3301255655_e6211a42a2.jpg

el yucateco on a tuna melt mmmm

just got this shark brand sriracha (medium) and it is fantastic. miles better than the ubiquitous rooster sauce

http://importfood.com/sash0709.html

put some on tortilla chips mmmm

http://i47.tinypic.com/25flg2h.jpg

^ feelin' this. papaya & pickled scotch bonnets

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bQd53m0ihVs/Tn1IC5kXUjI/AAAAAAAABEA/hECU6kwwNa0/s320/Tapatio%2BMan.gif

I noticed a few months ago what a handsome guy the Tapatío guy is. Seriously, take a close look.

Been into El Yucateco, too – I like how impossibly green it is.

http://www.elyucateco.com/imagenes/productos/salsas/verde.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ECKGk.jpg

the place near me is always sold out of green!

lol abbbottt

green el yucateco is especially excellent with goat!

Oh man, that sounds fabulous.

I recently bought this kind of gochujang because I liked the wrecked crying guy on it. SO HOT!

http://austinmodhouse.com/images/march12/amh5824.jpg

I tried it today and it's good and pretty hot though I did not die like the man on the label. It made me miss my old gochujang, which tasted like bbq sauce.

http://cjfusa.com/thumb_img/05.jpg

plastic tub gochujang is where it's at. thin it with some sherry vinegar and you got yourself a dip

or a thin sauce, whatever

i love this stuff now -- don't know where to get it really, but a friend brought some back from panama

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3477/3301255655_e6211a42a2.jpg

d'elidas is the best! i think it can be ordered online but i've only had it in panama or as a gift from someone returning to panama.

and now i see that i posted that same picture upthread. if you're in the u.s.: http://www.delidasusa.com/shop

i top my burgers with a mix of d'elidas and dijon mustard (or english mustard when we're out of dijon) and it is the best.

Yeah, I had missed this thread but d'Elidas is great as is el Yucateco. But my favourite sauce I've had in the past at least 7 years was bought from a woman who had set up a pasting table to sell from in Birmingham. She had a few things that were good but her hottest sauce (which she wasn't advising most people to try) is astonishingly good. Will post the details tomorrow.

oh man clancy's fancy.

I noticed a few months ago what a handsome guy the Tapatío guy is. Seriously, take a close look.

― Word of Wisdom Robots (Abbbottt), Tuesday, May 15, 2012 9:48 PM (10 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://i1354.photobucket.com/albums/q686/tinyservants/Screenshot2013-03-19at83251PM_zpsb95e324f.png

loooooooooooovin this shit

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41%2BngHoeLiL.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a48/jasoncatalanello/yucatansunshine.jpg

sunshine for your mouth

Cholula won one of those readers vote gizmodo things recently and I realized I had never tried it before. I am not a loyalist to any type of hot sauce and as long as it's not sweet I usually like it well enough. I do prefer certain hot sauce on certain foods though:
tabasco on bagels
franks or petes in pasta, pizza, chicken or eggs
valentinas, sriracha or trader joes green dragon sriracha on eggs
sriracha with soy sauce or ketchup mixtures
garlic red chili pepper with rice or raw fish things

Trader Joes has a new fresh ghost pepper salsa and it's probably one of the hottest products that they have carried.

yerac, did you ever go here and do the tasting?

https://heatonist.com/pages/nyc-hot-sauce-stores

Search:
Jock's Smoked Habanero & Garlic Hot Sauce
East Coast Chilli Company - Caroline Reaper & Honey Chilli Sauce "Midnight 21"

These two are the gold standard of hot sauce for me. I don't add these sauces to meals, I make meals for these sauces.

xpost, no I haven't, have you been? I have time this week to go to wburg so maybe I should check it out. Although spending over $10 on any hot sauce is not my thing. When I worked at s0undf!x on bedford awhile ago they bought the coffee shop next door and tried to overhaul the space into a bar/venue. We were making savory waffles and we got this really really good blyn based hot sauce for them. I was buying it at cost for my own personal use. I thought it was called Petro or something but can't seem to find it online.

oh, derp. it was called Petro.

https://i.imgur.com/avuzmVx.jpg
from a roadside greengrocer / eatery near Dixon, CA, where we got some awesome tamales

I want something with just heat and nothing else which I can add to meals which are otherwise fine but not spicy enough, everything I buy has other flavour or is too strong, any ideas?

I put red pepper flakes or a little bit of red curry powder on things a lot. You can also infuse olive oil with red pepper flakes or fresh peppers.

red c

ugh. indian red chile powder i mean.

Yeah, thinking about using chili powder, for some reason I imagine it won't mix evenly, but won't know until I give it a go

we've been experimenting using it in things like making poke (when we don't have jalapeno or the red pepper flakes aren't doing it). It might depend on the type of chili powder you have but so far it's been surprisingly fine.

If you do the olive oil thing, it's super easy. It's the base of a spaghetti recipe we make but you just heat up olive oil and dump in a bunch of red pepper flakes (plus garlic and fresh basil for the actual recipe) and then strain. It's really delicious. I should try to use some fresh peppers in the same manner.

Valentina black label is my favorite Mexican hot sauce and probably the one I would pick if I could only pick one.

Cholula chipotle is the best overall hot sauce imo, followed by Valentina & Culichi.

Crystal is my go-to

I want something with just heat and nothing else which I can add to meals which are otherwise fine but not spicy enough, everything I buy has other flavour or is too strong, any ideas?

no idea if this is along the lines of what you desire but i sure as hell am getting some! xxposts

https://www.amazon.com/Reaper-Puree-Net-Wt-FL/dp/B0097YI480

Sounds to me like you want to be using capsaicin extract of some kind like this:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00P9P65WI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_MmAACb91A4CQY

el yucateco green imo

classic. tried the black label (smoked version) once but don't recall if i felt a preference. marie sharp's is some finefine hot sauce, too

tapatio or die

local schwarma place makes delicious schug that i make sure to grab enough of whenever i eat there to last a month at home. the local acme carries on brand of schug that is not hot at all and kinda crap tasting :( - if u can find it good tho i prefer it almost 100% of the time over any hot sauce

i am not super into hot sauce as a rule but two things i know:

i do not like cholula
i fucking love crystal truly madly deeply

People talk about crystal a lot but I just looked up the bottle and I don't think I have ever seen it.

Although, when I lived in the south any type of hot sauce made my mouth swell up and then one day in my early-mid 20s it stopped happening.

trying to try more peri peri sauces now
tried so far: nando’s, African Rhino brand

gbx otm about el yucateco

best chili paste is the homemade one at my local vietnamese restaurant

*fistbump w VG* Crystal is the best value product in America

anybody try joe perry's "boneyard brew" or whatever

I like all the varieties of Yucateco that I’ve tried: red, green and Xxtra Hot. That’s probably my favorite widely distributed sauce. For Asian food I usually go with Sambal Oelek but it would be better if it was a bit spicier.

Crystal tastes good and is not very hot, it's pretty much a Tabasco style hot sauce. Some people also like it as it has no preservatives in it's recipe. Never seen the 'extra hot' version, but it and other products in that line are supposed to exist somewhere. Crystal is pretty ubiquitous, you can get it at discount groceries all the time.

I've got a bottle of Crystal, Yucateco Red and Rooster sauce myself. Yucoteco Red adds up the heat, it can have a bit of kick, depending on what you eat it with.

Crystal is far better than Tabasco imo

yeah crystal has more vinegar and pleasant heat -tabasco is v harsh imo

I dislike ketchup but love ketchup mixed with sriracha.

I once forgot the dressing for my salad and only had a bottle of tabasco in my desk. i tried it but would not recommend.

tabasco and a little oil maybe

Another vote for green El Yucateco here. I don't use a lot of hot sauce at home, but that's the main one I always have around.

Also, extremely hipster voice: secret aardvark

and tbh the hot ones house sauce, Los calientes, is also good

I live in NO,LA, the home of Crystal, and I don't like it. If I want a pepper flavored vinegar, I could concoct one pretty easily.

Tabasco is overpriced.

"Louisiana" brand hot sauce is all the aged-pepper flavor of Tabasco, without so much vinegar as in Crystal. It's cheap. It's my go to.

The best hot sauce distributed from Louisiana remains Melinda's, a Belizean/Caribbean style hot sauce where the peppers are sweetened with carrots and tartened up with lime juice. Made in Costa Rica, distributed from a warehouse near the New Orleans airport. It's not the right sauce for Monday red beans and rice. But its the right hot sauce maybe 30% of the time.

I keep Huy Fong Sambal Oelek, Huy Fong Sriracha, La Costena chipotles in adobo, Melinda's XXX, and Louisiana brand hot sauces in the house at all times. They're all good. The sambal oelek is the most useful in general cooking and Mediterranean dishes like hummus bi tahini, the chipotles in adobe in Latin dishes, the Louisiana brand in Creole dishes, the sriracha in dishes that want heat/sweet/garlic, and Melinda's at the table.

I have become a hot sauce locavore. I like to use a lot of Uncle Brutha’s (https://www.unclebrutha.com) in my cooking, and the annual editions of the Number One Sons’ Chili Bears (http://number-1-sons-kimchi-pickles-kraut.mybigcommerce.com/2018-full-chili-bear-lineup/) are important things because that is my source for travel hot sauce, a key item in my operational man bag.

The only non-DC area hot sauce I use is that Spicy Chili Crisp stuff that online people never shut about, because it’s really good with ramen and basically anything else, I just resent not knowing exactly what the hell is actually in it, just like every other American who finds themselves relying heavily on a product from China.

I've bought six hot sauces from Heatonist (the latest Hot Ones season's mellower 3 pack, 3 others earlier) and pleased with all of them. The Heartbeat and Hippy Dippy Green sauces are standouts on eggs. The mild to medium sauces add a nice flavor without tilting to too much heat, for me. Plus, it's fun to watch the Hot Ones interviews and know the tastes of some sauces.

Second Secret Aardvark, too. Will try the Serrabanero and Spicy Mayo versions, when I see them at my usual stores.

I love sambal oelek

I just learned what sambal oelek and spicy chili crisp is. I always just called them red chili garlic paste. Love those on poke.

oh, i like Melinda's too. currently have their naga jolokia version in rotation
xpost to Sanpaku

Melinda’s Naga Jolokia is in the fridge next to Uncle Brutha’s No. 9 but I rarely break it out because the Chili Bears are more fun

I live in NO,LA, the home of Crystal, and I don't like it. If I want a pepper flavored vinegar, I could concoct one pretty easily.

like good for you but honest to god between work parenting trying to move all this shit i'm not gonna spend time making my own inferior version of something i can buy a big bottle of for $1.50

louisiana is a good hot sauce will investigate melinda's

Now mix that Louisiana with some lemony tartare sauce. Lovely tangy sauce for fish and chips.

I haven't been able to find Louisiana Gold around here. Is it worth ordering online to try it?

I kind of would want to start making my own hot sauce just to know what is going in it. And to manage the hot and sodium level.

I have a nephew who regularly grows cultivars of absurdly hot peppers (bhut jolokia, red savina habanero, scotch bonnet). When he drops off a bag I'll make my version of a Belizean hot sauce, and give my nephew a couple jars of the product. Honestly, less hot supermarket habaneros work better.

If you have ripe (red) jalepenos, a Hoy Fong-style sriracha (just 5 ingredients) would be pretty simple, too.

Creole style hot sauces require aging the peppers, sometimes in staved barrels, so are less of a lazy afternoon project.

This is my fav. Hot, but not crazy hot like Dave's, and loaded with flavor. Hell hath no fury ...
https://i2.wp.com/majormike.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/2014-09-05-17.39.32.jpg

el yucateco green imo

― gbx, Sunday, February 17, 2019 11:34 AM (two weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

classic. tried the black label (smoked version) once but don't recall if i felt a preference.

original is much better. black label obscures the charm of yucateco.

lol my mother in law (who is not a hot sauce fan) had a bottle of Scorned Woman in her fridge for what seemed like years, until I used it up and replaced it with Tapatio (which has now been there for quite a while itself)

also cosign this:

Seriously, the original unadulterated Tabasco has a taste you'll simply never find in any other brand because of the three years of aging.

el yucateco xxxtra hot

otm about tabasco. I use it for very specific things, and nothing else is similar.

I was also very listless at work once and started eating my almonds with one drop of tabasco on each. It was pretty satisfying.

and tbh the hot ones house sauce, Los calientes, is also good

― gbx, Sunday, February 17, 2019 5:45 PM (two weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Haven't had that one but did have their Fiery Chipotle and it was very good. Also tried Queen Majesty Scotch Bonnet & Ginger which was featured on Hot Ones. Terrific flavor tho atypical for a """hot sauce""". Ginger gives it an Indian feel.

tabasco on jambalaya is excellent imo

cholula is great but the bottle design makes it dribble down the side of the bottle and that makes a mess.

I adore this stuff but the local deli which carried it has run out! WHY
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59849fd086e6c0f72196ccfc/598a8c1d7131a5274bd727cf/5c6454df104c7b924b9a6d60/1550079764293/h1.jpg

I picked up a few of these at the airport in Mexico city. I haven't seen it States-side yet, but the one I've tried so far is good:

http://pikabanero.com.mx/

everybody who loves hot sauce should visit Hot Sauce and Panko when they are in San Francisco

I was going to visit the Heatonist store when I was in NYC but got sidetracked :/

been pondering the history of hot sauce speciality stores, their appeal, and whether the clientele has changed. back in the 90s there was such a place in the Mall of America and it was 50% hot sauce and 50% t-shirts, cooking aprons, etc declaring how badass the wearer was

pretty sure the stores of yesteryear were for edgy dads, but... maybe that hasn't changed

i've been to that store, didn't buy anything because the vibe was still very much 'PETA PEOOPLE EATING TASTY ANIMALS LOL' and the aforementioned 'badass' shirts

valentina is my go to nowadays. good every day hot sauce. then i like cholula chipotle if I'm looking for that smokiness

i actively dislike sriracha now i think. too sweet

and too much garlic?

It's hard to find a sriracha without additives these days.

I'm partial to Bajan sauces. Windmill or Aunt May's.

sriracha is amazing, it's not too sweet but it is perfectly hot

also I really love sambal oelek

Cholula is delicious and I like the feel of the wooden top, but I go through a tiny bottle in three days so I switched to Valentina's.

Generally though I think chili crisp and sambal oelek are my favourite choices for every day hot sauce, kind of not Mexican/American but they work well with everything, I've found.

I don't like regular begular Korean hot sauce or sriracha because I find them too sweet.

Tabasco gets dunked on a lot but I love it, Crystal is it's thicker cousin and I love Crystal as well.

All this is to say that hot sauce doesn't agree with me like it once used to and I've switched to Maggi or Bragg when I need to live a little

The garlic chili (of the same brand) is basically the same as sambal oelek but just +++ garlic, right? I was in the grocery store today and had a moment of deep contemplation.

I also bought some cholula for the first time ever.

I don't think the garlic chili sambal oelek is as good as the regular version, but I wouldn't say no to it

our table arsenal includes:
- Cholula Green Pepper
- Melinda's Garlic Hot Habanero (white bottle)
- El Yucateco Green
- Dave's Insanity Black
- Valentina
- Huy Fong Sriracha
- and usually this excellent spicy Jamaican-style hot sauce that our local store was sold out of last time we went to buy, but they assured us they were getting more soon.

i am not as much a fanatic as my partner, but we use a fair amount of hot sauce

I go through so much hot sauce. The hot sauce situation is dire in Chile, oddly enough.

I would make my own, but the hot pepper situation is also dire.

that is strange!!

we also make our own, but most of the time it is a roasted habanero paste that is more for cooking purposes than sprinkling on food purposes.

they hate spicy here. It's kind of ridiculous.

Last night I had some crawfish cakes that were almost upstaged by the bed of greens, dressed with tabasco + cane syrup + butter. I gotta get some tabasco.

wow, that sounds amazing.

i’ve tried making things with a hot sauce/paste base and I always underdo it on the sugar or fat

It's a brilliant approach to vinaigrette, can't wait to try it at home.

Tabasco is underrated. There is nothing that approaches tabasco for certain things.

I know I posted upthread but I once brought a salad to work but forgot any kind of dressing so I just put tabasco on it. It was only ok. Interesting about the cane syrup+ butter.

I really like Tabasco

Good old Frank's Red Hot really hits the spot

I currently have three unopened bottles of cholula in my hot sauce estate but still have not tasted it.

I had the new sweet habanero Cholula tonight, not something I thought I would go for but it's great

They do a Frank’s Red Hot ice cream at lake effect in buffalo :P

omg (in a bad way). have you had it? how was it? I mean, I like hot sauce on cream cheese on bagels but...

Tobasco has a bunch of specialty sauces I learned recently though they’re hard to find for some reason.

Tabasco's chipotle one is commonplace at.. Chipotle restaurants. I've had a couple of the others but they weren't that memorable.

My current lineup: Cholula on my desk at work, Trader Joe's Habanero hot sauce on my kitchen table; Huy Fong Sriracha, Frank's, and TJ's Green Dragon in the kitchen, and there's a bottle of the xxx Yucateco around the place somewhere

The chipotle here has several “speciality” Tabascos inc the chipotle flavored one and I like them

Our local hot sauce scene has great options. I think we still have some cholula and trader joes stuff in the fridge but I use local almost exclusively now.

Great gift: https://number1sons.com/products/chili-bear-hot-hot-hot-trio

My go-to for cooking with: https://www.unclebrutha.com

there is a near full bottle of tabasco chipotle in the fridge of the rental I am in for 2 months, but the color is so off putting, I don't want to touch it. Like, I know that is the color it's supposed to be, but it just looks old.

So, I have learned that I don't like to use mystery hot sauce bottles.

Tabasco is underrated. There is nothing that approaches tabasco for certain things.

"Good old Frank's Red Hot really hits the spot"

not what I expected to hear on ilx, but I thoroughly agree!

had some habanero + squid ink hot sauce at a seafood restaurant in cdmx yesterday, p dope

xp nothing like a hot sauce party with old frank

I had Frank's before and didn't like it much, no tang and not spicy enough. just got a bottle of encona extra hot and it's the closest I've found to what I want so far, still not perfect of course

the idea that frank’s has no tang is... delusional

frank’s chilli and lime rules

there is a near full bottle of tabasco chipotle in the fridge

what is up with these animals refrigerating their hot sauce

I've had some that say to refrigerate after opening. There's vinegar in them but I assume just not as much as a tobasco type sauce?

the Frank's wasn't tangy, what can I say, it was just sort of vaguely sour, like it had a dash of cheap malt vinegar in there somewhere.

was going to post about valentina but see i did so 6 months ago. never buy anything else anymore

I would never under any circumstances put cold hot sauce on anything

hmmm. I refrigerate all my hot sauce at home. But I don't refrigerate things like soy sauce (that freaks me out to see it in the fridge). My hot sauce at work I am fine to just keep in the desk.

are you concerned that it's going to go bad?

you have always otherwise struck me as perfectly sance, non-demonic person

SANE

on the soy sauce bottles it says after opening: refrigerate and use within blah blah.. I always thought that was crap.

I didn't say this earlier, but I avoid habanero-based hot sauces. There is something astringent about that pepper, it tastes poisonous instead of delicious.

The combination of Tabasco and cheddar cheese (on nachos, for example) is pretty divine imo

I guess i just automatically put condiments in the fridge at home to keep everything in the same place. All my hot sauces are in the door with all the mustard.

Soy sauce, if you grew up in an asian household it's a huge ass jug of soy sauce that is never in the fridge.

I have never refrigerated soy sauce either, that would seem equally wrong.

where do you all store your opened bottles of hot sauce? In a cupboard?

I also haven't lived in a place with central ac since maybe around college. So the kitchen will get super hot in the summer. My rental with the suspicious chipotle tabasco has central ac but we turned it off and leave the terrace doors open all day. It's mostly tropical here so I wouldn't leave any food out for multiple days (bugs). The soy sauce is in a cupboard here though.

i put frank's on everything. sometimes the simplest is the best

I have some encona west indian hot pepper sauce at the back of my fridge I'd forgotten about. Yes I keep them in my fridge as well! But doesn't that mean they retain their potency and flavour for longer? I don't know the science behind that theory, but it seems to make sense! Also nothing wrong with putting cold hot sauce on food that is piping hot or getting grilled anyway, surely?

xxp yes in a cupboard, on a dedicated shelf with soy sauces and vinegars and harissa etc.

In my experience this has no bearing on potency/flavor retention..,these things are so locked in by acids and salt. Hot sauce does seem to me thinner and more absoptive/"penetrative" to food at room temp than when cold.

I guess for cooking the temp doesn't matter but as a table condiment at the table I just don't like putting cold liquid on hot food.

hot sauces we eat the most are chopped jalapenos in white vinegar, prik nam pla, and trader joe's jalapeno sauce. Keep them all in the fridge. I wonder how much heat is required for a vinaigrette to be considered a hot sauce.

the chunkier the hot sauce the more likely I want it to be in the fridge. I put harissa and chili garlic in the fridge. But I also can't be bothered looking at the contents of all the small batch new hot sauces to figure it out.

I don't mind putting cold hot sauce on hot food. it's usually with guac or a cold veg or a raw fish thing. Or for my eggs I have to usually wait for the eggs to cool off a bit anyway.

My brother brought me back a couple of bottles of Lombok Kuning from Makassar, Indonesia. It works pretty well in places where I would use Yucateco - a similar heat level.

I forgot about Melinda’s Naga Jolokia. This is the go-to for when I want to actually sweat

bought some kimchi-based hot sauce and it's salty but I really like it. Also bought some gochujang, it's really good

just had a lazy improvised fryup with onions, garlic, green bell peppers and chestnut mushrooms, cabbage and some Encona hot pepper sauce. i'm not joking it was the fucking biz!

going to do the same tomorrow with some egg fried rice on the side for dinner.

made my own

seems pretty good !

was pretty easy too - takes a bit of time fermenting the peppers but after that was a piece of piss

the encona extra hot is very good, not taken with regular encona though.

The Rancho Gordo Rio Fuego is really good. Not insanely hot, but a ton of depth.

Ordered some stuff from Heatonist (store that is connected with Hot Ones youtube show) and holy shit that garlic reaper sauce is so hot. I don't know why I keep wanting to eat it again! It's tasty for the few moments you can taste.

I got a bottle of this for xmas as a stocking stuffer, just broke it open recently and GOT DAMN it is the saltiest hot sauce I've ever had. Good garlic flavor but the salt almost kills it.

https://garlicworld.com/product/the-pepper-plant-chunky-garlic-hot-sauce/