248 replies to this topic

[Schielke]

Most of the chilehead fanatic I know consider them to be pretty much just a diversion.  Entertainment if you will.  The main problem is that if one subtracts the not insubstantial heat, one is left with a flavor that has been likened to singed cat hair.  About the only versions I've had that had decent flavor were made by Jim Campell at Mild to Wild chile pepper company.  He grows his own chiles and mixes his own sauces.  My favorite condiment of his is the powdered apple smoked red savina habanero.

Wow, his stuff is quite affordable too! I expected to see price tags like 25 bucks and more for the really hot stuff. I wonder if the other super hot sauces cost that much more to make...

Ben

[Suzanne F]

Favorites I have not been able to find in a while:

Sontava
Batten Island (some versions not all that hot, but very tasty)
Trinidad (ditto)
Lingham's Chilli Sauce (very very sweet, but with a nice burn)

A brand I will never have to replenish, because I will never use up my one bottle: Jamaican Hellfire Doc's Special. Their 2 in 1 Hot sauce is pretty tasty, though.

[malarkey]

Real men put Tabasco Sauce on everything.

Here is what I suggest putting Tabasco sauce on:

Everything

If you happen to be sharing a meal with a Tabasco hating pussy, be sure to load it up with Tabasco and onions (they hate that).

This is damn funny! Why is it I keep finding all these old threads I haven't read yet?! Someone brings them to the top again and then I see it. *sigh* I just don't get to read egullet nearly often enough

[bjcohan]

My very favorite is a homemade sauce made with a modified recipe from a hot sauce cookbook. The recipe is called "F-16" because it calls for 16 fresh habanero peppers. I add rum and mango and other goodies, and it's wonderful.

However, I can't carry that around with me very well, so, for the bottle-in-the-purse, I prefer:

El Yucateco Habanero (green)
Marie Sharp's Habanero (from Belize)
and Busha Brown's Scotch Bonnet (from Jamaica).

All of these maintain the gorgeous fresh habanero taste without going all vinegary. Sriracha is good, but is based on the serrano (or similar) pepper and, while tasty, lacks the flavor of habanero that this particular fire-eater craves. Different strokes...

Don't leave home without it!!!

Barb

[Teague]

Tabasco is my first love. Mmmm, fermented goodness. I am also very fond of Red Hot for certain things, like marinating wings before frying (I recommend all night). We stray and buy others, but these two are always in the fridge.

[ruthcooks]

I have never been a fan of anything hot, but I read about Marie Sharp's on e-Gullet and tracked some down. Now I find myself putting it in things that I never would have dreamed before. My Tabasco sauce is out the door. By the way...those guys sweating and gasping from eating chiles? It's not a sign of being macho, poor things only have about 17 taste buds.

[KatieLoeb]

So many hot sauces - so little time...

The Yucateco sauces are great staples. I really like the new Green Tabasco on tacos and such. Sriracha is always on the refrigerator door for anything Asian. But my all time favorite is the Jump Up and Kiss Me sauce. It's a fruity, hot and curry-esque sauce that is great with a couple of drops in canned soups or stew to jazz it up a bit.

Barb - what do you need bottled sauce for? You have Adan to make you the killer table hot sauce from Paloma, you lucky girl! Man that stuff is good! Is that the "F-16" sauce you mentioned?

[=Mark]

A sprinkle of Jim Campbells ground apple smoked Red Savina habanero powder on some vanilla ice cream makes for a dandy treat. Frozen sweet and blazing hot, great contrast!

[pnapoli]

hey =mark, there's a cute hot sauce store down your way in red bank. you probably know about it--not a huge selection but the owners are really nice. got a good one called "gator" something or other there.

[sashae]

I actually just picked up a bottle of Lingham's Chili-Garlic-Ginger sauce, and it's quite good -- very sweet, as you mentioned. I'm going to try it out on some ribs today, as it's a bit sweet for me for my breakfast sauce. I like using El Pato sauce for breakfast, as it's fairly mild but with a nice vinegary flavour.

-s

[Jaymes]

I have never been a fan of anything hot, but I read about Marie Sharp's on e-Gullet and tracked some down.  Now I find myself putting it in things that I never would have dreamed before.  My Tabasco sauce is out the door.  By the way...those guys sweating and gasping from eating chiles?  It's not a sign of being macho, poor things only have about  17 taste buds.

I have a nice selection of Marie Sharp's always in the fridge.

I heard about it some years back when I took a trip to Belize with some other folks. As we were chatting about what we were buying there to take home, I noticed that every single one of them was planning on loading up on the Marie Sharp's.

Not knowing what the fuss was all about, but not wanting to be left out, I also bought a wide selection.

And Zowie!

Now, one of my favorite snacks is just a cracker of some kind - anything works - with a few shakes of Marie Sharp's.

A great many BIG shakes, if it's the mild habanero. One or two very SMALL shakes if it's the hot!

Edited by Jaymes, 26 May 2003 - 10:03 AM.

[jhlurie]

A sprinkle of Jim Campbells ground apple smoked Red Savina habanero powder on some vanilla ice cream makes for a dandy treat.  Frozen sweet and blazing hot, great contrast!

Geez, Mark. I eat SPICY food, but Red Savina dust is where I draw the line. Unlike Thai spicy peppers, or even most other habeneros, I can't seem to ever get ANY other taste through it. I mean I can deal with the heat--sort of--but I'm still enough of a foodie to want something else in my mouth as well.

Does this remove me from eligibility from the Chilihead hall of fame?

Ask Jason Perlow about some Red Savina Vodka and Tequila he made, by the way. You have to use it in single drops when you mix it into your drinks.

Edited by jhlurie, 26 May 2003 - 11:55 AM.

[jrinct]

For me, FRANKS is the best.

[Chad]

Hmm, Cholula is a perennial favorite, though Cajun Sunshine is right up there, too. Right now the stuff I'm splashing on everything is Blair's Death Sauce. Man, it's good. I've tried Dave's stuff, but it's just heat without a whole lot of flavor (aside from the chemical aftertaste). Blair's is plenty hot with a lot of flavor and a slow-build sort of heat.

I've also been playing with Blue Mountain Country, an inexpensive hot sauce that's pretty tastey but a little vinegary for general use.

Next on the list to try are Brother Bru Bru's and Busha Brown's.

By the way http://www.screamindemon.net/ has a good selection and really great prices.

I've got a couple of habanero, Carolina cayenne and SuperChile plants growing at the moment. Should be an interesting summer o' salsas.

Chad

[nervousnelli]

"Bad Girls in Heat" is my favorite -- not super hot but really tasty.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Cholula was for years my airline companion. I used to buy the tiny 2 ounce bottles by the case just for air travel. Sky Chefs hasn't invented a food perversion that Cholula can't mitigate, be it airline-omelet or seagull-in-the-sky. My most memorable Cholula sitcom occurred when my husband and I were seated A and C, with a stranger in the middle seat. When the meal was served, I pulled out my Chulula, tilted it and uncapped it, to have it torrent into my palm because of the pressurized cabin. With great steadiness, I set the bottle on my tray, licked the enormous glob off my left palm, recapped the bottle and ate my dinner. It was only after we were off the plane that my husband told me that precisely as I was juggling my Cholula, he dropped his bloody Mary into his lap, and was similarly trying to mop up the splash. I don't want to hear the stories the young man seated between us told whoever met him when we arrived! Hope it wasn't any of you.

[richw]

I found a great new Trinidad/Tobago hot pepper sauce in St. Maarten called Matouk's that I brought back with me. It comes in various heat levels, and is mighty tasty. They use it with ribs on the island as a condiment.

Jason,

Matouk hot sauce is quite common at caribbean restaurants in South Florida.

I like:

Huy Fong Chili Garlic
Cholula
good old Crystal Louisiana Hot Sauce (nice and vinegary and great for buffalo wing sauce)

[malachi]

I highly, highly recommend the Bello Hot Pepper Sauce (from Dominica). Incredible stuff.

[malachi]

Oh...and here we go (cribbed from Robb Walsh):

Hot Papaya Pepper Sauce
Heat 1 teaspoon canola oil in a saucepan. Saute 2 medium diced onions until soft. Add 6 diced carrots, 2 peeled and diced chayote, 12 allspice berries, 10 whole peppercorns, 4 sprigs thyme (cleaned) and 1 ounce diced fresh ginger. Cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup sugar, 2 ripe papayas (skinned and seeded) and 12 scotch bonnet chilis (stemmed and seeded). Once the sugar becomes syrup, add 1/4 cup cane vinegar and cook until carrots are soft (5-10 minutes). Blend to smooth consistency and bottle to cool.

[davepress]

One word... Inner Beauty Hot Sauce.

Uh..I mean two words.

[stagis]

Inner Beauty is excellent. It went off the market for a while several years ago and I was just crushed. It does seem to change a little now, though, on a batch-to-batch basis.

[T. Brooks]

Ass in the Tub Hot Sauce...

or what is it... Blake's? for chili and large batches only, by the dropper.

[awbrig]

Speaking of hot sauces, went to Heaven on Seven on Saturday. Have you seen their wall of hot sauces, talk about cool!

http://www.heavenons.../frameset2.html

While ordering, I asked how was their Angry Shrimp dish was...our waitress highly suggested not getting it since it was soo spicy and not many peoploe could eat it. I took this as a challenge! I ordered the Angry Shrimp.

It was hot. Very Hot. I need to find out what was in it to give it so much heat - but I loved it and ate 3/4 of it. My waitress was surprised that I did so well...I took the rest home and ate it later that night. Great dish that Angry Shrimp!

Heaven on Seven is great. You have to love a place that places so much emphasis and selection of hot sauces...

[baruch]

I am hooked on Texas Pete and I have been even before I knew it was manufactured right here in my home state of good ol' NC.  It's not as hot as some of the hot sauces, but it has more body than Tabasco and there's a saltiness to it.  I put it on just about anything - popcorn, grits, hard boiled eggs.  mmmmm

love texas pete also!!! the best

[Xanthippe]

I am hooked on Texas Pete and I have been even before I knew it was manufactured right here in my home state of good ol' NC.  It's not as hot as some of the hot sauces, but it has more body than Tabasco and there's a saltiness to it.  I put it on just about anything - popcorn, grits, hard boiled eggs. mmmmm

love texas pete also!!! the best

I order this stuff four bottles at a time (we can't get it out here), so I'll always have a couple extras on hand when the revolution comes. Texas Pete rocks!

[baruch]

does anyone know the orgin of the name "texas Pete"?? the company info states that pete is for the son's name, but very vague on "texas"!! btw, originated & made in north carolina.

thx

[sladeums]

does anyone know the orgin of the name "texas Pete"?? the company info states that pete is for the son's name, but very vague on "texas"!! btw, originated & made in north carolina.

thx

The 'story' is on their website:

click here, sit a piece and learn the legend of Texas Pete

[baruch]

thx pardner, but it doesn't the question i posed

[sladeums]

thx pardner, but it doesn't the question i posed

did you scroll through the rest of that story (the little up down arrows)?

the last paragraph:

"...The brothers struggled to name this mighty sauce. The three brothers had a consensus agreement on the name "Mexican Joe" and were satisfied until their father insisted that it should be an American name..."maybe Texas...," but "Texas what?"...At that moment Samuel's eyes fell upon his son Harold who was nicknamed "Pete". And that was how "Texas Pete" became legend...."


I dunno, I thought that's what you meant.

[baruch]

[quote name='sladeums' date='Jun 5 2003, 12:46 PM'] [/QUOTE]
did you scroll through the rest of that story (the little up down arrows)?

the last paragraph:

"...The brothers struggled to name this mighty sauce. The three brothers had a consensus agreement on the name "Mexican Joe" and were satisfied until their father insisted that it should be an American name..."maybe Texas...," [/quote]
LOL that's what those arrows are for?????????????

then why not "TarHeel Pete" ?? no wonder north carolineans are so backwards??