Over here, Northern Piper expressed some curiosity about hot sauces and people who use them frequently. I started me think of my collection, and what gets used most often. The starting rotation looks something like this:
Crystal Sauce - My go-to sauce. I put it in all sorts of stuff. Better flavor than Tabasco - more round and developed.
Sriracha (Rooster) - If it’s remorely Asian, it gets this sauce. Or if it looks like an Asian might eat it. Or seen it somewhere. Nice and garlicky.
Frank’s Red Hot - The only true wing sauce. It also goes in my Chex Mix
Blair’s Death Sauce - When I need to kick the heat up in a big way. More flavor than the Mega-Death.
Everything else - I have over 100 sauces in the collection. Most are just for show, but I’m open to experimentation.
What’s your pantry look like?
I love hot sauce, but eschew most of the gimmicky sauces that you find in high-end cooking stores. Those are long on marketing and short on flavor. My list is short:
Crystal - good everyday sauce. I really like its flavor - it’s not just heat.
Cholula. Nice heat with a good basic but complex flavor.
Cajun Sunshine. Less heat, but a great and well balanced set of spices.
Whatever Habanero Puree sauce is the cheapest. Pure heat for times when ya need it. Currently(and for 3 more bottles worth(I buy by the case)) El Yucatecco XXX
Piri-Piri (generic Portuguese brand): it’s a perfect marinade for ANYTHING now that it’s BBQ season… I brush it on chicken as it’s grilling for a quasi-churrasco, soak pork chops in it for an hour or two, and have even done spicy shrimp with it.
Sultan’s Main Squeeze (Pepper Girl): a nice fruit-based hot sauce that goes perfectly with eggs in the morning, as a condiment for curries
Tibetan Hot Sauce (local Tibetan restaurant): a tamarind-based oily paste with a texture similar to curry paste - we use it for similar applications (stirred into stews/sauces/soups, or mixed into a glaze/marinade).
And of course, we’ve also got a full complement of the usual suspects for everyday seasoning… El Yucateco, Tabasco (various types), chili-garlic paste, and sriracha.
I use hot sauce fairly frequently, but I only have three bottles (all the 5-6 oz size).
Crystal - buy this about once a month
Tabasco - lasts a couple months
Tabasco Habanero - only buy this 2-3 times a year
I just kind of use them at random, but apparently Crystal’s my favorite, since I go through it the fastest. I’ve never tried that Tabasco chipotle or the Sriracha (garlicky sounds good), but I’m going to see if my grocery has them on my next trip.
When I lived in Rochester, I got to love the sweet - and - hot sauces used by Country Sweet, Sal’s, and Smitty’s. After i left, I found I could order the sauces by mail, which was good, because nowhere else seemed to have these things. Now I can order via internet, although Smitty’s seems to be gone. But I can still get: Boss Sauce – http://stores.bosssauce.com/StoreFront.bok
Tabasco. Of course. Goes great on eggs and all sorts of stuff. Always add to my tuna salad.
Cholula. Mostly for chicken dishes.
El Yucateco? (Is that the one with the Mexican guy with the hat on the label? I’m not at home to check the brand). Anyway, a nice hot flavor for variety.
Uncle Brutha’s orange label. Great smokey hot flavor.
Uncle Brutha’s green label. Great taste.
Some “Cowboy Cayenne” or something I got as part of a gift pack. Not especially hot although it advertises itself that way.
Frank’s red hot. For da wings.
Dave’s Insanity Sauce. A couple of drops in the clam chowder or chicken n’ dumplings and such perks these dishes right up.
I always have the basic stand-bys on hand – Tabasco (regular and chipotle), Franks Red Hot (for wings), usually one other kind of cayenne sauce (Louisiana or Crystal) and a big bottle of sriracha. Aside from that, I like to experiement with picking up odd bottes of this or that. I generally try to keep some kind of nuclear option on hand as well – Death Sauce or Dave’s Insanity or the like.
For everyday use, I usually just end up going with either a cayenne sauce or the sriracha, depending on what it’s for.
El Yucateo is definately the best habenero sauce I’ve tried.There was another habenero sauce called butterthorn bakery ,or something, that was very good,only had three bottles of it that I got in a gift pack a few years ago.Wsh I could find some more of that.
Like Franks or Louisianna on wings and on fried fish.
Ortega Taco sauce(not salsa) is fantastic,so is Taco Bell Fire Sauce.
I like Tapatio and Chalula. I don’t know if I prefer one over the other but I always try to have one in the house (usually Tapatio because it is sold at the market across the street and I have to go an extra block to get Chalula). Whenever I make anything mexican there is usually a bit of one of these in there, for the extra zing.
My go to sauce however, is Franks. Franks go onto or into almost everything that can take the vinigar. Cup o’ Noodles, add some Frank’s. Mac and Cheese’s, add some Frank’s. Steamed Veggies, add some Frank’s. I go throgh a bottle about once a month.
I also add a pinch of Cayanne to almost anything I cook fresh, but that is another thread.
I love Rooster sauce, but never think to buy any when I am at the store. I am going grocery shopping tonight, I think I will add it to my list.
I’m a big Tabasco guy, but when I was down in Sarasota in March I found this store that sells hundreds of different bottles and I picked up a bunch. These were the first to be emptied…
Crystal, Louisiana, Goya - These 3 are pretty interchangeable to me and they are my standard sauces. They are what I use to make and flavor any Cajun or Puerto Rican meals.
Cholula - For Mexican dishes when I don’t want something too spicy
El Yucateco - For Mexican dishes when I do want something spicy. Either red or green. We did buy their XXX sauce and it just sits unused as it’s too hot for dashing on food for either of us.
Sriracha - For Asian dishes, pho, eggs.
Frank’s - For hot wings.
Blair’s Sudden Death - For sauces or soups or stews, chili, etc., just a few drops give great heat and flavor. And a few drops in with Frank’s gives chicken wings a little more kick.
Chipotle Tabasco - When I want something different. I love the smoky flavor.
We have a bottle of Cholula at home and I keep some Frank’s in my desk. My all-time favorite is Trappey’s Chef Magic (green jalapeño sauce) but I haven’t seen that on a shelf in years.
I keep four on hand–Cajun Power Spicy Garlic Sauce, Frank’s Red Hot, Tabasco Chipotle, and Sriracha (aka Cock Sauce).
I also usually have a squeeze bottle of chipotle puree–just throw a can of chipotles in adobo into the food processor and blend it up. Keeps a long time.
I love all of Cajun Power’s sauces, including their regular garlic sauce and their Worcestershire. The Spicy Garlic is my favorite, though.