After a childhood where I was raised in a house wherein any pepper except black was banned, I have been awakened to the joys of hot sauces and spicy cooking.
I have greatly enjoyed the Iguana brand sauces and treated myself to a bottle of “you can’t handle this hot sauce” this weekend that is just lovely.
Anyone have favorites? The store that I was at had a kind called Ground Zero that they said was the hottest ever, and I just didn’t have the nerve this time.
(Why yes, I do have a death wish towards my tastebuds.)
I got a bottle of D.L. Jardine’s Blazin’ Saddle recently and I think it’s goodbye Tabasco forever. Just a drop or two used discretely can change any dish. Great on eggs or in a cup of soup or mashed into vegetables. Has real flavour and zing without being overpowering even though its made with 285,000 Sc peppers.
My sister gave me a bottle of Dante’s Inferno mustard cayenne sauce in a stylish black bottle that I’m afraid to open for fear it will ignite my kitchen.
Try Dave’s Insanity hotsauce. In small doses, of course. I hear there’s a “sequel” that’s even hotter. There’s another brand I like called Pain Is Good, with various screaming people on a brown wrapper. Those ones have a very tangy flavor that you may or may not like.
check out mohotta.com, Mo Hotta Mo Betta’s web site. You can read a ton of descriptions.
As for me, I like Yucateca Green - Yucateca is a regional Mexican brand, and its green sauce was the hottest thing around before the whole hot sauce craze took off a few years ago. Now it seems hot, but not stupid, and it still tastes great. It is available on Mo Hotta’s site under Habanero Sauces…
[shameless plug]
Las Hermanas Habanero Sauce is very hot yet has a great flavor. It is made (very) locally to me in Alabama, always of the freshest ingredients. E-mail me if you’d like to try it. It may be available from Hot Sauce Harry’s before too long, but is not right now, alas.
[/shameless plug]
I used to be crazy about D.L. Jardine’s Texas Champagne hot sauce…I liked that it was as vinegary as it was hot.
But then I found out that Frank’s Original Red Hot Sauce (yeah, the stuff commonly available throughout the northeast and New England, in every grocery store) has a similar vinegar/pepper flavor ratio, and it costs about 17 cents a gallon.
So that’s what I keep around for shaking onto the tacos and burritos, plus a smaller bottle of Tabasco for when I want a more potent drop. And something called simply Caribee Hot Sauce, with a label that has no manufactrurer information or ingredient list, and is gloppy rather than smooth and full of scotch bonnet peppers, and which is EXTREMELY hot and used only on special occasions.
[sub]Also about a dozen bottles of other hot sauces that I’ve bought or received as gifts, but hardly ever use, and can’t bear to throw out, but we won’t talk about them[/sub]
Put me down as a Frank’s Original lover. It ain’t that hot, but is fantastic as the sauce for chicken wings, just Frank’s and butter, over top of cooked wings.
Dan T’s isn’t that hot. Howevah, they do a very nice chipotle pepper sauce that is just fantastic for dipping slices of pizza into. It’s like deeeelicious hot smokey vinegary ketchup. Mmmmmm…
Dave’s Insanity is very hot. Small doses only. I use it in a marinade for Goan pork vindaloo.
i like plan old Crystal’s Louisiana hot sause and Tabasco. Barely hot enough, but a real good flavor. I gave up on hot for the sake of hot a long time ago. I appreciate a good flavor now.
I went down the path of the Hottest Hot Sauce search when Dave’s Private Reserve was king of the hill then more folks started putting out pure capcasin sauces (PureCap, Blair’s 3am, etc) and it got kind of ridiculous.
I do like 'em hot though and am a fan of Dave’s Total Insanity - it has a bit of a garlic-y flavor that I like.