Another vote for Tapatio. Flavor and mild heat instead of one or the other.
Green Tabasco, Trappey’s Chef-Magic Jalapeño, or–for something different–Tropical Pepper Co. Mango Coconut.
And even then, that stuff is on the milder side, so even one shot per mouthful seems a pretty stringy application.
You can buy it from their website.
I don’t dislike Tabasco, especially it’s green sauce, but my go-to is Louisiana Hot Sauce. Cholula is good, too.
Ummm… Tapatio does have vinegar in it, it is listed as acetic acid, in the ingredients. Although not necessarily straight up vinegar, the “sour” component of vinegar is acetic acid, and acetic acid is usually distilled from vinegar. I don’t know how any one can claim that Tapatio is vinegar free with a working tongue, it is quite sour and acidic comparable to Valentina? If anything, acetic acid is a more concentrated form of vinegar.
The wider opening on a louisiana bottle would seem necessary because of the consistency of the sauce. On their website “Louisiana” touts, “Our Louisiana Pepper Sauces and Hot Sauces have the highest pepper solids content in the industry. That means great hot sauce!”.
I get great satisfaction seeing the pepper mash collecting in thick rivels on the inside of the Louisiana bottle and then having to give it a shake to mix it all back in. And it kind of behaves as a milkshake as you get down towards the bottom of the bottle, with the sauce getting thicker and richer.
Another vote for Cholula. Great on anything.
If I want hot hot sauce, I use “cock sauce”. It’s the Thai (I think–it’s from some Asian country) kind with the chicken on the bottle. Green cap, squirts out like a mustard bottle. Great on chicken, or if I’m making spicy tuna rolls.
For eggs, I use sweet chili sauce. (Once again, it’s Asian.) A combo of sweet and spicy. It’s good on raw veggies too. Makes a great snack.
That’s Sriracha, and yeah it’s good. Tabasco’s Garlic sauce tastes a bit like Sriracha, but Sriracha has a bit more heat.
The kind you’re talking about – I assume it’s this – is made in the good ol’ U. S. of A. You can certainly buy sriracha from Thailand, but the ubiquitous rooster sauce is American (and damned good, too.)
Ignorance fought. 
I would have sworn that it was actually made elsewhere.
The Thai brands I see at Asian shops are usually Shark brand and Sriraja Panich. They both taste a good bit sweetier than their American counterpart, as well as being a bit more watery (although still holding together.) The Shark brand actually has the exact percentages on the side:
35% chili
25% water
20% sugar
10% garlic
5% salt
5% vinegar
Is it really true according to that article that Rooster sauce is made with red, ripe, jalapenos? That just doesn’t seem quite right judging by sriracha’s heat and flavor. It reminds me more of a cayenne or thai pepper…
Hoy Fong really ought to do something about those damn green squirt tops, half the time I get a wonky top that doesn’t open properly. Anybody else seem to have that problem?
Oh, I see that jalapeno ingredient was subtly tongue in cheek and quoted from an enthusiastic customer on their answering machine. They also think garlic powder is in there.
I can tell you this.
Growing peppers has been a hobby of mine the past 7 years or so. Jalapenos being one of them. For awhile I always picked them green, because you, know Jalapenos, are supposed to be green. I eventually realize that if you left them there for much longer they eventually turned red. While I am hard pressed off the top of my head to give a coherent description of the difference between the two, there is one. I definitely prefer the red. I suspect green Jals are the norm mostly because its more time/cost effective for production purposes and thats what people expect.
Same goes for green vs yellow Habaneros. I like both of those, but again, there is a difference.
Oh yea, I know… I have always preferred my peppers ripe. I have also had homegrown jalapenos that were even hotter green, than some of my red cayennes. Ranking up there way past classical serrano heat.
Yeah, I’m still in Japan. And thanks for sending me the ineffable teachings of the universe, I think. There must be a different meaning of ‘aumrikyo’ that I’m not aware of.
But yeah, don’t get me started on hot sauce in Japan. Now, I loves me some Japanese kweezeen, but they couldn’t do a proper spicy if their honor depended on it. Oh sure, they can do hot, but a truly delicious hot sauce I have yet to find outside the foreign supermarket. In my experience, hot in Japan equals more chili pepper oil. No other peppers exist…grrrr…
They get points for wasabi though.
Cholula is the nectar of the gods as far as I’m concerned. It’s probably not the mildest of the national brands, but it’s by far the least vinegary. That is why it’s my go-to sauce for just about everything from pizza to chili to tacos. I’m no fan of Tabasco at all, it’s like red vinegar to me and the heat is somewhat flavorless. Cholula is the most complex of the sauces I’ve tried. Crystal and Louisiana taste like Tabasco wannabes to me and all share that one-note vinegary quality that I dislike.
I just bought my first bottle of Cholula Chipotle and it’s pretty much perfect. Milder and smokier than the regular and perfect condiment for Mexican food. I like to mix it with Ranch dressing and dip quesadillas in it.
I like Franks a lot and it’s mild and tasty but it’s wing sauce to me. It just wouldn’t taste right on a taco.
My all time favorite tasting sauce is El Yucateco Habanero sauce but it’s too hot to recommend in this thread. It’s wonderfully tasty and spicy but it’s usually a little too hot to use straight up on stuff. It’s at it’s best in soups and chilis and on ramen or other spicy noodle dishes. If I have Sambal or Sriracha available it’s probably better on ramen but I don’t always have it close by.
Hold it up close to your eye, so you can see inside the top. Look for a blockage, and give it a good squeeze.
Ha, that’s funny. I’m talking about a serious design or assembly defect in the tops. Seriously, about 50% of the time I get one that just doesn’t thread properly and won’t open to full flow.