The Last Bottle of Inner Beauty Real Hot Sauce

[Cadbury]

Sadly, I am on my last box of "Fulcreem" custard powder, made in Western Australia until January last year. This was a staple for vanilla slice, sponge cakes, yoyo biscuits etc. Of course there are other brands but they just don't taste right. I will be miserable when this box is finished.

Edited to add that I've even seen wanted ads on eBay for this product.

Edited May 10, 2007 by Cadbury (log)

[cdh]

Just noticed another last-of-kind item I've got stowed away in the basement- I've got a couple of bottles of Rodenbach brewery's Alexander Rodenbach, a beer that is no longer brewed. I'm trying to brew a replacement myself, and have come close... but it is a very complex beer with fiddly microbes, and wood aging involved.

[prasantrin]

I just remembered, we have a small bottle of Tab (maybe about 10oz or less) from the late 1960s. I know they still make Tab, but do they still make it in bottles?

[Carolyn Tillie]

I just remembered, we have a small bottle of Tab (maybe about 10oz or less) from the late 1960s.  I know they still make Tab, but do they still make it in bottles?

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For almost 20 years I kept a bottle of Dr. Pepper - the kind that had the round logo with the 10 - 2 - 4 numbers on it. Lost it in the Northridge Earthquake...

[BarbaraY]

Not to gloat but I have a bottle of Inner Beauty in my fridge. Probably the only reason is that my daughter can't eat anything spicy anymore and I can't bring myself to consume it in front of her. My first taste was, "WOW!"

[KOK]

Not to gloat but I have a bottle of Inner Beauty in my fridge. Probably the only reason is that my daughter can't eat anything spicy anymore and I can't bring myself to consume it in front of her. My first taste was, "WOW!"

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I have a jar of Luzianne Creole Mustard in the fridge and two in the closet. I fear in a year or so I may have the only one left as it seems it is no longer made.

If anyone knows of a source, I'd be grateful

Thanks,

Kevin

http://www.outdoorhomegoods.com/product/0iiiilvdp8.html

Edited May 14, 2007 by KOK (log)

[DTBarton]

Chris,

I feel your pain. I got hooked on coyote cocina fire roasted salsa a long time back and then it disappeared from my local source. I mail-ordered for years after but felt ridiculous spending so much on jarred salsa and eventually gave up. Making your own is easier but there is something about that salsa I can't let go.

So enough of my problem. I found these links with the Inner Beauty Recipe straight from Schlesinger's desk:

http://www.seriouseats.com/2007/02/chris-s...gets-saucy.html

http://www.seriouseats.com/images/20070215schlesipe.jpg

If this doesn't match your ingredient list, maybe you could list what's on the jar and we can all help sort it out.

Good Luck on your quest!

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Well, I tried out the Schlesinger recipe yesterday and produced a product that is eerily similar to Inner Beauty as I remember it.

I used frozen habanero peppers from last year's garden and a tropical fruit juice blend that contained orange, pineapple, and papaya juice, among others. Had most of the other stuff on hand. I had to fiddle with the mix a bit, the first go was too mustardy (it uses a LOT of yellow mustard). I admit I wasn't fussy about measuring quantities, and I didn't know if his weight of peppers was before or after cleaning them. Hit it with more molasses and spices and ended up with a very good tasting thing. Has that Inner Beauty hot/sweet thing going pretty good.

Only other difference I noticed was mine is a few notches thinner than I remember Inner Beauty, but not a problem.

[Chris Amirault]

Did you heat it or just mix it?

[natasha1270]

Only other difference I noticed was mine is a few notches thinner than I remember Inner Beauty, but not a problem.

here the ingredient label listed on the chile gallery website:

Ingredients: Mustard, pineapple juice, papaya puree, scotch bonnet peppers, cider vinegar, orange juice, canola oil, spices, molasses, honey, and brown sugar.

The puree vs juice specified must account for the difference in thickness of the sauces. Also, some more clues re: use of canola oil and cider vinegar vs white vinegar in the original recipe.

N.

[GlorifiedRice]

Okay...

1/ I drove 200+ miles to buy Diet Sparkling Hawaiian Punch and hoarded a case. It was Aspartame Sweetened and went bad in a year...

2/ Oscar Mayer made these single serving sized snacks called Snackables, like a single tater skin, a mini hot dog or hamburger etc... I hoarded those from the Scratch and Dent (that was the same year I go a years worth of Toilet Paper for $2.49!!!!) They all got freezer burn!

3/ I recently dumped out 6 cases of diet soda and diet Fruit 2O that I had in my laundry room NEAR the radiator and had soured! I felt like the biggest jerk about that.

Ive come to the realization that you should never hoard food. Buy only what you need and enjoy it. Look at all the waste hoarding cost me!

[DTBarton]

Did you heat it or just mix it?

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I just whizzed it in a blender, no heating involved.

I make several hot sauces each year with garden peppers. I've found thay keep almost indefinitely in the refrigerator in mason jars. I don't can it (i.e. boil the filled jars in a water bath), I just wash the jars real well and seal them up tight. Most hot sauce brews seem to have enough salt and vinegar to preserve themselves and there's no fat to go rancid.

We'll see how the non heated Inner beauty concoction keeps, all of the otheres I've done have been cooked.

I think I used about a dozen habaneros and 3 or 4 red jalapenos and that provided plenty of heat for about 40 ounces of sauce (I filled up two pint and one half pint mason jars).

Edited May 17, 2007 by DTBarton (log)

[Dr. Teeth]

Well, they are serving a sandwich called the Atomic Meatloaf Meltdown at Chris Schlesinger's place. The menu boasts that it comes with Inner Beauty Hotsauce and it tastes pretty much how I remember Inner Beauty.

You could always try calling them to see if they would sell you the sauce. Or just drop by for a sandwich if youre close to Boston.

Good luck with the search.

[Chris Amirault]

Well, it took a few months, but my habanero plant finally bore enough fruit to make a batch of ersatz Inner Beauty. Here's the recipe, which looks like this in the bottle with a few left-over chiles:

I've not yet done a side-by-side, but they're pretty darned close. I'd love comments on the recipe, particularly from those who've had the elixir that is the subject of this topic.

[Sony]

Never had Inner Beauty, but the recipe looks great and I think I'd like to give it a shot!

3 questions:

1. Yellow mustard- meaning prepared mustard? (like French's)

2. What is the flavor of palm vinegar like?

3. How do you store the sauce? If it's shelf-stable, I'm thinking about making a collection of hot sauces as holiday gifts and may want this in the lineup ......

[Chris Amirault]

1. Yellow mustard- meaning prepared mustard? (like French's)

Yup.

2. What is the flavor of palm vinegar like?

It's more round, less sharp than white distilled. You can use cider, which is closer.

3. How do you store the sauce? If it's shelf-stable, I'm thinking about making a collection of hot sauces as holiday gifts and may want this in the lineup  ......

This is just a guess, but I expect it'll keep in the fridge for a decade or two for sure and in the pantry for at least a few years.

[naguere]

As far as I can tell -- and, believe me, I've been working hard to disprove what I'm about to say -- this is the very last bottle of Inner Beauty Real Hot Sauce on the planet:

I became a fan of Inner Beauty two decades ago, when Chris Schlesinger brought his grillin' and BBQin' to Cambridge MA at East Coast Grill. After a while, this legendary hot sauce (mustard-based, with fruit, spices, and habaneros) started appearing in grocery stores throughout NE and became a big hit on the burgeoning hot sauce circuit. It was my go-to hot sauce, and I probably went through a bottle every couple of months during the heyday.

But then, for reasons that I've never understood (nor, honestly, been told), Schlesinger stopped making the stuff. It started disappearing from market shelves, so in the early oughts I bought all I could find and hoarded it. Well, until I ate it all, too quickly.

See, I was confident that I'd find little caches here and there if I looked hard enough, but for two years I came up empty. I also tried making it based on some recipes floating around, but, well, it's not the same. I gave up hope.

Two years ago, while on a trip to visit family in -- of all places -- Bisbee, Arizona, we ambled into a gift store to get a few cold Cokes on a blistering July afternoon. Lurking on the shelves of that tiny store, next to gew-gaws and bric-a-brac, were the last two bottles of Inner Beauty in the world.

It took me nearly two years to make my way through the first bottle, and I'm now into the second, and last. I don't know how to think about it.  How do you eat the very last of something in the world, something you've treasured for most of your adult life? Do you have little dribs and drabs, spread out over years? Or do you consume it with verve and pleasure, the way it was meant to be enjoyed? The whole concept puts me in an existential dilemma that I have faced, largely, with confusion.

Has anyone had a dilemma like this themselves -- or are you in one now? What did -- do -- you do?

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Just beautiful.

Thank you chris'

[Special K]

I believe I have the last bottle (actually the last gallon jug) of Alligator Soul Chipotle Mayo. The restaurant's bottler recently told them they were not going to bottle it any more, and they sold them the last of their inventory. I surprised the chef so much with my request (or was it my charm?) that he sold me a couple of gallons before he could stop himself. But I think that was the last time they'll do that.

[natasha1270]

Just an update: About a month ago I saw a couple of ebay listings for unopened bottles of inner beauty hot sauce go unclaimed when searching completed auctions. Unfortunately, they were never relisted.

N.

[Cadbury]

Sadly, I am on my last box of "Fulcreem" custard powder, made in Western Australia until January last year.  This was a staple for vanilla slice, sponge cakes, yoyo biscuits etc.  Of course there are other brands but they just don't taste right.  I will be miserable when this box is finished.

Edited to add that I've even seen wanted ads on eBay for this product.

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Thankfully another Western Australian company has started making this product, no thanks to the multinational that originally discontinued it.

[Chilehead]

Chris, I worked at a seafood store in OP, KS. We sold it back in '94. I believe we had some IB in the store when we sold it. Now I can't say for certain, but my friend who bought the store went out of business shortly after. It's possible he may have some IB laying around. I will contact him today and find out.

One thing about IB that I recall is the exotic taste which makes my tongue think scotch bonnet rather then habanero, or perhaps a mixture. Any thoughts on that?

We used to have so much fun eating hot back in that KC fish store. The IB label inspired us to create a saying for eating something very hot:

"It opens the Godhead up!"

I guess you'd call it 3rd eye culinary philosophy

[Chris Amirault]

Welcome, Chilehead! Clearly your chile palate is more refined than mine: I couldn't mark a difference between habanero and scotch bonnet, period, much less in an elixir as complex as this one.

Update: the IB/homemade comparison suggests that the recipe above is a pretty damned good approximation. I suspect for fruit complexity in the IB than in my version.

I will also note that a Caribbean friend going through chemo right now reports the sauce's curative power. Godhead, indeed!

[Chilehead]

Welcome, Chilehead! Clearly your chile palate is more refined than mine: I couldn't mark a difference between habanero and scotch bonnet, period, much less in an elixir as complex as this one.

Update: the IB/homemade comparison suggests that the recipe above is a pretty damned good approximation. I suspect for fruit complexity in the IB than in my version.

I will also note that a Caribbean friend going through chemo right now reports the sauce's curative power. Godhead, indeed!

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Thanks for the warm welcome from a fellow New Englander Chris I am glad you tried to use the scotch bonnets. I find them to have a flavor more suited to fruit then the habenero. Both are so hot though, it's hard to tell sometimes!

I hope your friend recovers. Nothing is better then lots of hot stuff and laughter!

I messaged my friend. I am waiting to hear back from him. Will keep you posted.

-Jim

[Taylor]

I joined this forum because I saw this thread while googling Inner Beauty. After years of looking for either Inner Beauty or a suitable replacement, I have decided to just try to make it myself.

Your thoughts in the initial post is exactly how I feel about Inner Beauty, except I haven't had it for about 7 years now. I have yet to find a hot sauce I like better. My favorite at this moment is Lottie's Yellow but it is not as good as the joy that was Inner Beauty.

Chris, how close is your recipe to the actual Inner Beauty? Is it nearly as good? And, do you think it is best to use 1/2 white vinegar and 1/2 palm vinegar instead of just all white vinegar? Lastly, I notice that you didn't use OJ, pineapple juice, or honey. Do you think those ingredients would make the sauce better?

Thanks Chris.

[Chris Amirault]

Welcome, Taylor! I wouldn't want to say that it's identical, but I don't think you'd be able to choose one over the other in a blind taste test. I also think that, in the world of hot sauces, better is in the tongue of the taster, and you'd have to fiddle around a bit to get it just to your liking. Having said all of that, the palm vinegar idea sounds like a very good one.

[Taylor]

Welcome, Taylor! I wouldn't want to say that it's identical, but I don't think you'd be able to choose one over the other in a blind taste test. I also think that, in the world of hot sauces, better is in the tongue of the taster, and you'd have to fiddle around a bit to get it just to your liking. Having said all of that, the palm vinegar idea sounds like a very good one.

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Thanks for the welcome. I'm going to try to make it in a couple weeks and I'll post how it is.