A few years ago there was a thread here regarding a really good, hot salsa. I forget the name of the stuff, but when I went looking for it in the grocery stores I could only find the medium and mild versions.
Oh well, at least I still can buy Pace Hot Salsa. It was only available at one chain of stores, but I knew I could at least find it. Well, until now. They’re stopped selling hot, and only have mild and medium. I emailed them asking why, and apparently it just wasn’t moving so they discontinued it.
Other brands that do say hot, are not. Heck even Pace Hot wasn’t at my level, but it was decent enough.
Now, all I can find is shitty mild and medium salsas that don’t even register on the Scoville scale.
No shit. When I moved back from Texas I bought some tortilla chips and hot salsa. I kept thinking that there was some faulty salsa or something. The stuff that was sold here as hot would rate mild in Texas.
Don’t even get me started on the fact that you can buy extra mild salsa.
Not just Canadians. Here in my neighborhood in DC, neither of the two grocery stores regularly carry hot sauce. I have to drive down to Columbia Heights (shudder), or Maryland.
Pace Medium mixed with about 1/3 Mexican Hot Sauce is my perfect salsa. I like the taste of fresh salsa but it isn’t homogeneous enough to stick to chips.
If you need hot spicy sauces in Toronto, go to the Indian/Pakistani or Vietnamese sections of the city and try their grocery stores. You might even be able to find the odd jar of hot Mexican-style salsa.
Which reminds me, I really need to go back to Little India again.
The little tiny bottles about the shape and size of a Tabasco bottle, which usually have a person in traditional Mexican garb on the front. Basic ingredients of vinegar and red pepper. When you combine it with the thicker salsa, it creates an even more homogeneous, hotter, and more pungent (i.e. vinegary) chip-topper.
It fucking chaps my ass when people call spice-haters like me “wimps”. When you eat things that are hot, it’s like you’re saying “You know what would go great with this? A punch in the face.” and then when I disagree, you go on and on about how not-really-hot it is. That’s like going “Aw come on, it’s not really a punch. It’s more of a slap, really. Just a light tap on the cheek.” as if that really makes it better.
I have a fool-proof method for improving any spicy food. Make it not spicy anymore. Instantly better!
I realize that people have different tastes, but there’s nothing wimpy about not desiring to be in pain when I eat.
I love spicy food; the hotter, the better. Sadly, I may no longer partake; I’ll spare you the details.
Is there not a South or Central American stall in the ByWard market? Or some little hole in the wall way north off Bronson? I remember one of our Stage Managers took me along on a shopping expedition that included some odd out-of-the-way places where we got various things like salsa. It’s been 4 years since I was in Ottawa, but I’ll see if I can find any trace of specialty delis…
