I have the local news on, but I’m not watching it. They just had a cooking segment that mentioned Sriracha sauce. (I call it “chicken sauce” because it has a rooster on the bottle, and other people call it “rooster sauce” for the same reason.) The person on the segment said, “… a little Srirachi [sic], which is a Thai hot sauce.”
Hm. Sriracha is ubiquitous in Vietnamese restarants. The banner above the rooster is in Vietnamese. I also see it sometimes in Chinese restaurants. The lower banner is in Chinese. It’s made by Huy Fong, which definitely sounds Chinese. (Apparently, Huy Fong was the name of the ship that brought the founder to the U.S.) I don’t see any Thai writing on the bottle.
So it doesn’t really appear to be Thai. The cook on TV seems to have mis-spoke. Is Sriracha sauce of Chinese origin, or Vietnamese?
(FWIW, Sriracha sauce is made in Southern California.)
Sriracha is a city in Thailand. Perhaps the manufacturer named it after a Thai city to make it sound more appealing, like you might name a brand of cosmetics “Paris”.
There was an article on the company and founder in the LA Times many years back.
IIRC the founder was a refugee from Vietnam. His family made and sold hot sauces in Vietnam before the fall of the South.
When he came to the States he started a hot sauce company using the old family recipe.
The factory is located in the San Gabriel valley area of Southern Cal.
He has been told that he could make more money if he moved his factory to Mexico, but he has refused, since it was America that gave him freedom.
One of the small things that he credits with the sucess of his company is the fact that the factory phone number is listed on the label. This has led to many people who tasted his sauce in a restrauant calling for a phone order. (In the days before the internet)
Good sauce.
Another big fan here, I keep a bottle on hand at all times. A little sriracha and a little hoisin sauce are the two most common accompaniments to dim sum here in Chicago, they make shrimp dumplings sing!
My brother-in-law was born in Sriracha, IIRC. There are some famous peppers from there, but I don’t ever recall seeing this sauce in bottles in Thai restaurants. My wife claims it’s from Thailand, but maybe not as a brand name. The name is Thai but sounds like it comes from Pali Sanskrit (to me).
I really like it too. It has some real flavor, other than just hot. The garlic sauce (shown on the website) is also delicious but a little harder to find.
Speaking of which, I learned something new (to me) last night. There’s a chinese restaraunt in Albany that makes that rare thing, good pot stickers. The server showed me to take my fork and kinda gently mash the pot sticker before cutting it in half and adding the condiments. It loosens up the stuffing (pork, etc) and the sauce doesn’t run out.
Sorry, Johnny L.A., for the hijack. I just had to share.
Peace,
mangeorge
