The Hot Sauce Topic

[lindag]

I love all kinds of hot sauce except for the regular Tabasco. The chipotle style Tabasco is a lot better.

I just got a new one that I was hearing a lot about, Secret Armadillo Sauce; so far it's my all-time favorite. Hot, but not too hot.

[rotuts]

Im a fan of green chili and vinegar. so its tabasco green for me. the chipotle is nice as a change-up.

[rx6006]

Perhaps I'm stubborn in clinging to old habits, but I'll never lose my love for regular old Tabasco. While I think siracha is being done to death at the moment, I think it still has its place, judiciously used of course.

[MasteringTheFlame]

I do like siracha on certain things. The first time I ever had it was at my work's lunch room. I put some on my hashbrowns and it was great.

For the most part my old standby has always been Tabasco, and I imagine that will more than likely always be the case. I do like trying all kinds of hot sauces, but always come back to Tabasco.

I have this hot sauce I use on my eggs quite a bit called Tapatio. It was cheap and in a 32oz. bottle. It's not bad, but nothing special.

Another one I have in the frig that I should just throw away is called Submission. It's made with Habanero, African Oleoresin, and Scotch Bonnet. The stuff is hot, but it tastes just awful. I don't ever use it because it tastes so bad and wreaks anything I add it to because of its flavor.

[rx6006]

I do like siracha on certain things. The first time I ever had it was at my work's lunch room. I put some on my hashbrowns and it was great.

For the most part my old standby has always been Tabasco, and I imagine that will more than likely always be the case. I do like trying all kinds of hot sauces, but always come back to Tabasco.

I have this hot sauce I use on my eggs quite a bit called Tapatio. It was cheap and in a 32oz. bottle. It's not bad, but nothing special.

Another one I have in the frig that I should just throw away is called Submission. It's made with Habanero, African Oleoresin, and Scotch Bonnet. The stuff is hot, but it tastes just awful. I don't ever use it because it tastes so bad and wreaks anything I add it to because of its flavor.

Sauces that are hot for the sake of being hot are just wastes of good ingredients. If you enjoy Tapatio, try Cholula...great smoky flavor with the vinegar/pepper bite.

[MasteringTheFlame]

I do like siracha on certain things. The first time I ever had it was at my work's lunch room. I put some on my hashbrowns and it was great.

For the most part my old standby has always been Tabasco, and I imagine that will more than likely always be the case. I do like trying all kinds of hot sauces, but always come back to Tabasco.

I have this hot sauce I use on my eggs quite a bit called Tapatio. It was cheap and in a 32oz. bottle. It's not bad, but nothing special.

Another one I have in the frig that I should just throw away is called Submission. It's made with Habanero, African Oleoresin, and Scotch Bonnet. The stuff is hot, but it tastes just awful. I don't ever use it because it tastes so bad and wreaks anything I add it to because of its flavor.

Sauces that are hot for the sake of being hot are just wastes of good ingredients. If you enjoy Tapatio, try Cholula...great smoky flavor with the vinegar/pepper bite.

I completely agree. Thanks for the Cholula recommendation, I'll have to see if I can find that one.

[pastameshugana]

I didn't see it mentioned - so I'll put a plug in for the yellow canned El Pato. I grew up with it on everything my mother made.

Now I use it for: Marinating chicken, on any kind of mexican food, and to dip potato chips in!

It comes in the little yellow cans for usually about 50 cents at the grocery store.

Of course, I like sriracha in scrambled eggs and in a few other dishes.

[chileheadmike]

I love El Pato. When I was a kid it wasn't available in KC. My uncle in Los Angeles would send it to us by the case. My first venture into chilehead-dom. Now it's available everywhere and there's at least one can in the pantry at all times.

[pastameshugana]

I love El Pato. When I was a kid it wasn't available in KC. My uncle in Los Angeles would send it to us by the case. My first venture into chilehead-dom. Now it's available everywhere and there's at least one can in the pantry at all times.

Yes! My wife and I spent 2.5 years with the first three mini-meshuganas in India, and cases of El Pato were on the 'must pack' list.

[andiesenji]

Check all IMPORTED hot sauces from Mexico and South America: Apparently some contain LEAD, not an ingredient that adds to the flavor or the heat.

The percentage of questionable products was only 16% but for some people this could be significant.

Of course one has to use good judgement. Since one uses very little hot sauce (as a general rule - I'm not talking about extreme chile-heads) a tiny amount of lead consumed occasionally - for normally healthy adults, is not really dangerous.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-hot-sauce-lead-levels-20130722,0,5156596.story

[nickrey]

I'm not sure if you can get this in the US but one of my favourite hot sauces is Sambal Asli. The sauce comes from Indonesia and contains the usual suspects (chill, vinegar, sugar, salt). It is a bit more textured than Sriracha and to my taste a bit hotter. It can be found on the tables in most Warung (cafes).

[Ttogull]

Check all IMPORTED hot sauces from Mexico and South America: Apparently some contain LEAD, not an ingredient that adds to the flavor or the heat.

The percentage of questionable products was only 16% but for some people this could be significant.

Of course one has to use good judgement. Since one uses very little hot sauce (as a general rule - I'm not talking about extreme chile-heads) a tiny amount of lead consumed occasionally - for normally healthy adults, is not really dangerous.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-hot-sauce-lead-levels-20130722,0,5156596.story

Noooooooooo! One of my go-to sauces is first on the list of highest lead concentration (and several of my others are the same brand). Unfortunately I eat it often enough that I should throw it all out. I'm ready to quit eating and hide in a cave.

[pastameshugana]

I just grabbed this on a whim at the local Hispanic meat market. It really is wonderful. Tastes of avocado, chile and lime. A touch of garlic and salt.

What really interesting is all of the kids and Mrs. Meshugana all said it reminded them of something from India. No one could place it exactly...

[Toliver]

Check all IMPORTED hot sauces from Mexico and South America: Apparently some contain LEAD, not an ingredient that adds to the flavor or the heat.

The percentage of questionable products was only 16% but for some people this could be significant.

Of course one has to use good judgement. Since one uses very little hot sauce (as a general rule - I'm not talking about extreme chile-heads) a tiny amount of lead consumed occasionally - for normally healthy adults, is not really dangerous.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-hot-sauce-lead-levels-20130722,0,5156596.story

Thanks for posting this. I always have a small yellow can of El Pato in my cupboard. Not anymore! I know the story was about hot sauces, but it's likely they use the same lead-contaminated salt & pepper in the rest of their sauces, too. Better safe than sorry.

[phatj]

I just grabbed this on a whim at the local Hispanic meat market. It really is wonderful. Tastes of avocado, chile and lime. A touch of garlic and salt.

What really interesting is all of the kids and Mrs. Meshugana all said it reminded them of something from India. No one could place it exactly...

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1374804715.374102.jpg

This reminds me of when I was on vacation in Mexico with my brother and sister-in-law, and we stopped at this roadside taco stand for lunch. They had squeeze bottles of sauces on the table, and my sister-in-law thought the green one was guacamole. Whoops.

[davidkeay]

I recently picked up a few kinds of portugese piri piri and am loving them. One is made in NJ and pretty expensive - Mazi's. The other, I picked up in new bedford, MA, and is very similar for about 1/8 the price. They're moderately spicy, oily, and very salty. It tastes like a fermented pepper sauce with capers in it. I haven't had nando's for years, but I don't remember it being anything like this... perhaps the south african and portugese recipes diverged a lot over time.

I'm going to have to buy a few bottles next time I'm in MA, since the first one I got there didn't last long.

El Yucateco is definitely my go to sauce, though lately I've been using salsa habañera chimay de tabasco black and enjoying it a lot. I buy it online from a guy in texas who imports it. Black (mild, according to that seller) is the only jar I have open, and it's heat is easily on par with el yucateco.

[Shel_B]

Perhaps the hot sauce aficionados here might like to know about Heat, a relatively new shop in Berkeley that specializes in hot sauce (they carry about 300 varieties from all over the world plus local-made sauces) and other fiery foods.

 

http://heathotsauce.com/ - main page

 

http://heathotsauceonline.com/ - shop on line

Edited March 31, 2014 by Shel_B (log)

[Joe Blowe]

Now if people would only get a clue about Huy Fong's far superior Chili Garlic Sauce...

[Norm Matthews]

Last week in the grocery store, I noticed Kikkoman is selling sriracha sauce.

 

[Shel_B]

Now if people would only get a clue about Huy Fong's far superior Chili Garlic Sauce...

 

It is good stuff ...

[heidih]

I maybe posted this before but 12 pages!  i have recently become re-enamored with the Huy Fong chili-garlic. Forget sriracha - that is nice but like catsup. In am fond of many different hot sauces but this very fresh tasting one has reinserted itself into my kitchen.  

[chromedome]

It's a longtime staple of mine. I don't use it so much any more, because my GF has been losing her taste for chili heat, but I still love it.

[BeeZee]

I tried some Cholula Chipotle hot sauce at a local Mexican place and it was a nice blend of sweet and not too much heat. I'm not into super hot sauce, it was just a nice little extra flavor on some chips/guac. Bought a bottle at the local supermarket.

[Edward Dekker]

I keep returning to two hot sauces:

Mad Dog Liquid Fire

Cajun Sunshine 

 

Mad Dog Liquid fire is a very hot Peri Peri pepper sauce with a fantastic taste but I use in small quantity due to the heat.

 

Cajun Sunshine is a sauce I use in larger quantities. I describe it as a cayenne pepper sauce with seeds which is hotter than Tabasco 

[kayb]

I love Pickapeppa. I don't like a lot of heat, and Pickapeppa is a very complex blend. Fine stuff.