I know this has been done before, but I wanted to do it again. I have just discovered my favorite hot sauce ever, and you guys are going to laugh. Cholula. It could be 4 or 5 times hotter, of course, but it has great flavor, almost like chili powder. I can’t get enough of this stuff. I’m eating it right now mixed with salsa in about a 1:3 ratio of cholula to hot salsa.
This stuff is amazing. Does anyone know of a hotter sauce that still has good flavor? Something like Blair’s 6 AM Reserve is probably a bit out of my league, but I can’t stand Tabasco/Louisana because of the vinegar. Blech.
Tabasco now makes a chipotle-based hot sauce that is delicious. Much thicker than the typical vinegary Tabasco, the chipotle sauce is smoky and spicy and perfect on everything. Cholula is great too–I have a bottle of both of those in my fridge.
Sriracha seems to be a favorite around these parts, an Asian (Vietnamese?) chili sauce that comes in plastic squeeze bottles with a picture of a rooster on them. My friends call it “Cock Sauce.” It is thick like ketchup, and has a pleasant chili-garlic flavor. Spicy, but flavorful and not overpowering. You can pretty much use it like you’d use ketchup on anything.
My favorite hot sauce might actually be Quizno’s Batch 81 Three-Pepper Sauce. You can buy it from Quizno’s in flask-shaped glass bottles, or just be sure to squeeze a ton of it out into several to-go condiment cups when you go there for subs. It’s not too hot at all, but it’s very thick like a barbecue sauce (corn syrup-based), and wonderfully sweet to counterbalance the light heat. It would actually make a fantastic barbecue sauce, but I will put it on anything and everything.
Bippy the Beardless sent me a parcel containing a variety pack of ‘Dave’s’ sauces, including the infamous ‘insanity’ variety; they’re all really good, he also sent a big bottle of Tabasco Chipotle, which I like.
I like the green Tabasco too, but my favourite was something called Sweet Chilli Jam - it had the general look and texture of thick red marmalade, but was made from red chilis - really REALLY nice!
Mangetout reminded me of my most recent impulse buy, a round jar of jalapeno jelly from the jams-and-jellies section of the supermarket. It is the thick consistency of a “normal” jelly like grape, translucent orange, sweet, not spicy at all like I was hoping for. But it’s good on toast with cream cheese, just the same.
Yucatan Sunshine - made with habaneros peppers, lime and oddly enough carrots. It isn’t nearly as hot as you would think but it gives you a good idea of the flavor of habaneros without having your tongue scorched. I think the citrus does something to counteract some of the fire.
I don’t know if it is hotter than Cholula, but my favorite hot sauce is Sriracha. You often find it on the tables at Vietnamese or Thai restaurants here in the Bay Area. It is hot, but not at all vinegary, so I think it goes with more dishes than a Tabasco-type sauce would. My fairly Southern husband would probably disagree with me on the relative merits of vinegary and non-vinegary hot sauces.
Oh yeah, I opened this thread specifically to mention this stuff. It isn’t even all that hot, but it sure is yummy. I like to bring those little 6" frozen quiches from Trader Joe’s to work for lunch, microwave 'em till the edge is almost burned, and drench the top with chipotle sauce.
On Googling for confirmation, it turns out the provenance is rather more complicated than I thought. Apparently the stuff is made by a family whose Cantonese patriarch lived in Vietnam for a while and then came to Los Angeles, which is where he started the business after noticing how crappy the local products were. The sauce is named after a Thai province but has Vietnamese influences and should probably best be described as “pan-Asian.”
That’s my favourite too, most days anyway. The carrots give a little mild flavour, just a bit of sweetness, and the lime juice is much nicer than vinegar. The company makes two or three other kinds, all, I think, named ‘<whatever> Sunshine’.
I like Sriracha with Asian food too, and Cholula is good (besides being nearly as common as Tabasco in the restaurants I’ve noticed here in DFW).
I never got into the super-hot kinds; I prefer flavour.
Okay. First you go to Bellevue, Washington, and find a place called Dixie’s BBQ. It’s right under the I-405/520 interchange. Go there during lunch and tell Old Man Porter that you want to meet The Man.
Sriracha seems to be a favorite around these parts, an Asian (Vietnamese?) chili sauce that comes in plastic squeeze bottles with a picture of a rooster on them. My friends call it “Cock Sauce.” It is thick like ketchup, and has a pleasant chili-garlic flavor. Spicy, but flavorful and not overpowering. You can pretty much use it like you’d use ketchup on anything.
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I’ve seen that many times. Is that a brand or style of sauce? I never see any other kind of bottle.
Maybe a good BBQ sauce, but it’s too sweet for me. I do like the chili flavor, though.
My god, too many people to quote.
Looks like results are:
Tabasco Chipotle - 6
Sriracha - 5
I’ve heard a lot of good things about Dave’s Insanity. The three that I think I’m the most apt to go buy right now are the tabasco chipotle, the Yucatan Sunshine, and some Dave’s. I’ve got a Mo Hotta, Mo Betta catalog in my room, I just haven’t had time to study it yet.
I couldn’t remember the name of this one earlier but I figured it out. Go check out the Pain is Good! website. I have the Jamaican Jerk hot sauce and the Southern Style BBQ sauce at home. They seemingly have an endless array of products. The stuff is really good, but if they say it comes in at 9 out of 10 for heat, I can testify that they aren’t joking. Some of these are fierce.
Cervaise linked to a fascinating article all about Sriracha: http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Island/3102/huyfong.htm . I didn’t know any of that stuff! But apparently Sriracha is the kind of pepper sauce, and Huy Fong is the brand name. It really is terrific. You don’t even need an Asian market close by–I’ve seen it for sale at Super Target.
Another Sriracha devotee here. I use it on lots of things…especially pizza. It is fabulous on pizza. One place I’ve noticed that I don’t like it though, is on eggs. I find the stuff overpowers eggs. On eggs, I usually go for regular Tabasco or Cholula.
