I think they’re all fermented, but Tabasco’s the only one that does an extended year-long fermentation.
That’s all I can think of; the ingredients are pretty basic (as they are for all of them), and for Crystal and Tabasco, are identical (aged cayenne peppers, salt, vinegar).
It’s something to do with the processing, I’m sure, and I suspect it’s in the fermentation.
At any rate, Tabasco has a weird bitter, spoiled taste that the others don’t.
I bought a bottle of Crystal tonight and did some side by side taste tests with Louisiana (One Drop Does It). FWIW, the L is a large 32oz, the C 12oz. As I recall, the prices were $1.99 & 1.49 respectively, very minor outlay. I tried the two back and forth about ten times this evening in and out while grilling and, with the drinks, I feel I’m something of an authority.
They’re nearly exactly the same sauce except L has a ton more salt than C. The sodium stats are 135mg vs 240mg / serving. Overall, I prefer L but is this just due to the sodium content? I cannot say but I do think the chile flavor is a little deeper.
[Gets up, tries both again]
The most notable difference is that L is indeed a lot saltier.
The distinctive flavor of Tabasco is mostly from the chiles. I grew tabasco chiles a few years ago and found I couldn’t use them for much as they taste exactly like Tabasco Sauce.
Please don’t tell Cook County, Illinois that these sauces may be fermented. They’ll assess a huge tax on the alcohol.
I really dislike Texas Pete’s. If it’s Louisiana-style, they might want to change their name ;).
I use Tabasco rarely. But there’s one key use that nothing else will work for. When I was fresh out of high school I worked in a bakery/grill, and another cook there always ate her french fries dipped in ketchup mixed with Tabasco. I got hooked on that, and nowadays I always ask for Tabasco with my burger, not for the burger itself, but for the fries. I’ve tried other hot sauces, but nothing else works.
It’s also fantastic on hash browns and on fried fish. Other than that I don’t use it much.
I like the others for wings but, I choose Tabasco because its really a specific flavor when you just want a few dashes.
I use sriracha mostly.
I use Crystal on almost everything.
I find Tabasco to have an odd taste that I dislike. I guess it’s just the flavor of the tabasco pepper that I don’t like.
It certainly is what I’d call “Louisiana style,” name not withstanding.
Thank you, thank you and thank you for making me feel not crazy. No one ever mentions this, but for me, it’s a big part of my fondness for Tabasco. I had really begun to wonder if it existed only in my head.
(Also, who the heck mentioned Franks? It’s not even a hot sauce, it’s a red vinegar sauce. I could drink that stuff neat. (Ok, I could drink Tabasco neat too, but I’d actually sweat a bit.)
Why is Frank’s not on this list? Their original style meets your requirements, just cayenne peppers, vinegar, and salt.
It also has garlic powder. (It’s also not made in Louisiana, or anywhere near Louisiana.)
I chose Crystal, which I picked up from my Louisiana friends. I’ve never met anyone from Louisiana who prefers Tobasco, which they seem to regard with a certain amount of disdain.
I also use a lot of Texas Pete, which is from my home state of North Carolina. I’m not sure I’d pick it in a taste test, but I grew up with the stuff.
In all honesty, the three (or 4) sauces are so simiar that I would’nt care one way or the other.
Holy shit. I never noticed it had garlic in it. (I didn’t realize you were only talking sauces made in Louisiana, but rather “Louisiana-style,” so I withdraw Texas Pete’s.)
I have tried all three but I prefer Tabasco. Then again Tabasco wouldn’t be my first choice of hot sauce. But the other two varieties are too cloying for some reason: they taste too sweet, even if they don’t have any sugar in them.
I don’t know how many sauces have only red peppers, vinegar, and salt as ingredients. I didn’t want to have a poll where someone said, ‘Well, what about this brand?’ The three brands in the poll are ones I’m familiar with and have on-hand, and they are all from Louisiana. If Texas Pete’s is Louisiana-style as described, then it would be a legitimate option – if it were a choice on the poll. Tabasco, Louisiana, and Crystal are all widely known; while I (for one) have never heard of Texas Pete’s.
But speaking of ‘widely known’, it’s interesting that some people here have not heard of Crystal or Louisiana. Tabasco is winning the poll two-to-one over both of the others, and part of that seems to be that it’s the only Louisiana-style hot pepper sauce some people have heard of.
Correction: Tabasco is winning 4:1.
Texas Pete is a much more popular hot sauce than either Crystal or Louisiana. I wouldn’t be surprised if it outsold both, combined.
I voted Crystal, but it really depends on what I’m eating. If I want to slather something with sauce, Crystal’s my usual choice, but if I just want to add some extra heat without ramping up the vinegar overmuch, I’ll turn to Tabasco. I think Crystal yields more flavor per Scoville unit; sometimes that’s a good thing, sometimes not. I’m actually not sure I’ve tried Louisiana; I probably have run into it at a restaurant sometime, but I don’t recall it. I’ll have to pick up a bottle and try it.
Better than either Crystal or Tabasco, though, is Louisiana Gold. And for greens (collard, turnip, etc.) I prefer those little bottles of vinegar with peppers soaking in them to the red sauces.
What kind of communist would serve greens without a bottle of pepper vinegar standing by?
Texas Pete has a good flavor, but for all but the totally uninitiated it’s so mild it’s practically undetectable. I consider it to be little more than red food coloring.
I chose Louisiana, but really Crystal’s on the same platform. Red Rooster, Louisiana, Franks and Crystal will do it for me every time.
Texas Pete is 750 scoville units. Tabasco is 700 and Franks is 450. I use it primarily for the pepper falvor, since heat is easy to add.
ETA: That’s not right for Tabasco. The site I was on just said “Tabasco”, but I think they meant the sweet one.