Right. I like the taste of vinegar.
I like Sriracha because, spiciness aside, I like the flavour. I’ve found that I don’t much like the underlying taste of many kinds of hot sauces/peppers, and Sriracha is a pleasant departure from that. It also has a good level of spiciness for me (I’m not “into” super-spicy foods).
Si racha, like any chili sauce goes exceedingly well with the trifecta, meats, cheeses, and eggs! And everything else too!
Combined with Kechap Manis, sweet soya sauce, (from which we take the word ketchup!), on anything, is a perfect compliment of hot, sour, salty, sweet!
I like vinegar in lots of things, but to me it turns hot sauce into something sour that happens to be hot. Ideally I like a pepper paste that has maybe a couple of other ingredients like garlic and pepper…Srirachi is close enough, as the vinegar is almost unnoticeable.
Great, you don’t like vinegar. That doesn’t make it a filler. It’s a specific flavor profile picked by hot sauce makers because it makes an awesome product.
Huh…well, not that I have as strong an opinion as you, but I was thinking it was a cheaper way of providing body and acidity than, say, tomatoes. Tell me more about how hot sauce makers think about this “flavor profile” thing, please.
I love vinegar in hot sauces, but not tomatoes (except for salsa type concoctions.) To me, I grew always associating vinegar with cutting through heavy, fatty foods. So something like fried chicken wings or a heavy buttery dish demands some vinegary or lactic acidity. When I just want straight pepper flavor and heat, I go for a plain sambal oelek–don’t give me anything with taic even, just peppers and salt.
That should be “garlic,” not “taic.” That’s what I get for posting from my phone.
Anyhow, french fries, too, demand a vinegary hot sauce. (And I’m not sure I get your comment about it being a cheaper way of providing body–vinegar does the opposite. It thins out the sauce.) Different sauces for different occasions, but there’s nothing wrong with vinegary hot sauces and, in many application, I would say it’s desired.
By body I just meant filling up volume, but fair enough…there are lots of vinegar fans apparently, including the good folks at McIlhenny. I should have remembered how many people actually like vinegar in their barbecue sauce. 
Yep, you pegged me there. My favorite sauce for pulled pork is just cider vinegar with hot pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper, and a little bit of sugar, basically (East Carolina finishing sauce). Most commercial varieties of barbecue sauce I have to cut about 50-50 with vinegar for it to taste “right” to me. 
Whoa. Mind blown. I might actually make these.
The salt idea is a good one, too.
Why is it that difficult? Hot sauce makers want a very acidic pepper sauce. They also want the pepper flavor to shine through, without being overwhelmed by tomatoes (which aren’t as acidic as vinegar, anyway).
I make several quarts of hot sauce with vinegar every summer. I can assure you that it isn’t because I consider it to be cheap, or a filler.
I put it on everything, eggs, hot dogs, pizza, noodles, etc. I even add it to Bloody Mary’s: about as much rooster as Worcestershire.
Cheesy scrambled eggs with Sriracha!
Or scrambled eggs with sauteed onions and turmeric and Sriracha.
I tried Trader Joe’s Sriracha for the first time yesterday. I think I prefer Huy Fong. TJ’s is a little watery, and I believe less hot. Info.
BTW, Sriracha is equivalent to Anaheim and Poblano peppers. Not terribly hot on the grand scheme of things.
I cringe every time someone says something, “pass the rooster sauce.”
It’s good - not so hot as to overwhelm the flavour, and if you overdo it the burn doesn’t last long.
Hot? Now this is hot.
I love me some Sriracha. This Vietnamese sandwich shop near my work makes giant spring rolls with avocado and sriracha in them. They come with a sweet chili sauce that I add a little more Sriracha to and dip away. So good! It’s in my cupboard at home and I do love it on eggs, added to salsa, sometimes just sprinkled on chips or whatever, plus I have my own peanut sauce recipe that includes Sriracha. Mmmm.
Yeah, and, AFAIK, it’s currently being made with red jalapeños. It used to be red serranos, which were a wee bit hotter, but not terribly much.
Well, serranos are like 8x as hot as jalapeños (rounding), but I don’t know if that meant the sauce was that much hotter or they just used fewer peppers. Needless to say, I’m not a hotness nut and I do like sriracha for its versatility and tastiness. Although it is becoming internet-overrated, as in deserved, but stop obsessing over it. Looks like people are mixing it with that other internet trend, bacon. I fear that means that the stars are starting to align, and if they somehow mix sriracha, bacon, and kittens, then that means that we will be devoured soon.
It’s really hard to tell with peppers. In my experience, serranos don’t seem that much hotter than jalapenos, but it’s really difficult to tell. Jalapenos are about 3K-8K Scoville; serranos are 8K-25K.
At any rate, I could swear sriracha was a little bit spicier before, but I could also just have a higher tolerance than before (although I had a pretty high tolerance for heat then, too.)