Sriracha

[Okbrewer]

I always reach for the Sriracha when I fix scrambled eggs or omelets, and I even use it with roast beef or prime rib instead of horseradish. Of course, it is a must have ingredient with Pho. I have used it and mayonnaise to make a dipping sauce for sauteed scallops.

[annexk8]

Sriracha is my favorite condiment. I always have a current bottle in the fridge and a spare in the cupboard. As soon as the current bottle gets low, I go out and get a new spare. A Sriracha shortage would be a catastrophe.

It goes on almost everything: eggs (scrambled, omelets, fried egg sandwiches, egg salad), macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese, fries, hot dogs, stirfry, pizza, as others have mentioned. It gets stirred into the dipping sauce for spring rolls and vermicelli at the Vietnamese restaurant. Pad Thai. Bloody Marys. Tacos. Baked Beans. This winter, we've been making the lentil soup from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, which is great but immensely improved by a huge squirt of Sriracha. Sometimes I just put Sriracha on crackers and eat them.

I *gasp* hate Tabasco. Sriracha is where it's at.

[MarketStEl]

I don't like Sriracha.  Well, I guess it is OK, but Tabasco is a far superior sauce, and goes with so much more.  I think it is the vinegaryness I like about Tabasco, and Sriracha just doesn't have enough of it, it also has a weird sweetness in the back.  Also, Sriracha is just too damn mild to be taken seriously as a hot sauce.  I mean, I realize that not every sauce needs to peel away layers from your tongue, but sriracha has next to no detectable heat at all.

I'd beg to differ on your "no detectable heat" assessment, though I would agree that Sriracha's heat is toward the mild end of the scale. But I like the way it gives you a little kick at first, then gradually recedes into something a little more complex with a hint of sweetness. Most sweet hot sauces begin with a sugar rush. This one doesn't.

I wonder what the difference is between Sriracha and the Huy Fong Chili Garlic Sauce that comes in a little jar.  Now that stuff I really like for certain dishes.  I like to sautee up some tofu skin noodles (yuba sheet noodles) with some pickled bamboo shoots in chile oil, then dump in like a third of the jar of the chili garlic sauce, scramble in an egg, and finish off with a shot of dark sesame oil.  It tastes great, but it doesn't exactly leave the apartment smelling pretty...

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Guess I'll have to see if VIP (near me) or Wing Phat (on Washington Avenue) have this in stock.

In the meantime, I'm going to have to try making my next Virgin Caesar with Sriracha.

[NulloModo]

Eh, it might be possible that I've lost some heat receptors for good due to a little too much Dave's Insanity and Blair's After Death here and there, but hey, Alton says they grow back, so who knows.

[Jason Perlow]

I have a very high tolerance for heat and I'd defintiely say Sriracha has a kick. No, its not as hot as Tabasco, but as a condiment its a lot more versatile, I think.

[Ovenfrenzy]

I like it on salmon patties. It's great on sweet potato fritters, falafel, grilled pork tenderloin. As for the heat- I have to use small amounts- it seems fairly hot to my wimpy palate!

[bigbear]

When I'm making red sauce for pasta, I add Sriracha because it's got that garlic and a little extra zip going for it. For the same reasons, it goes well on pizza.

[reesek]

great topic.

1) equal parts with mayo for tater tots or hot thin french fries. i also sometimes mix it in equal parts with bbq sauce as a dipper...especially for onion rings or onion pakoras.

2) added to a little olive oil and salt as a marinade for chicken or shrimp

3) on sandwiches: bahn mi, falafel, grilled cheese - does lovely things to burgers

4) with mac and cheese to cut the cheesy richness

5) definitely for pho or other clear (non-starchy) noodle soups

6) with butter and black pepper in a well-baked potato

7) as others have said, it makes great spicy tuna with mayo and minced scallion

must try it with pulled pork - brilliant idea! maybe i'll add some to my next braise instead of dried chilies.

i bet it would also be wonderful in a compound butter for a steak or grilled salmon.

[Chris Amirault]

I like it on salmon patties.

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Barbara Tropp has a great recipe for salmon patties in The China Moon Cookbook that is immensely improved by the repeated addition of sriracha.

[jsolomon]

NulloModo, if you can't tell the kick in sriracha, you're buying ersatz sriracha...

[Chris Amirault]

Given (save for NulloModo!) the devotion and interest shown on this thread to sriracha, I think we should put our collective heads together and come up with a marketing campaign for the product.

What would be a good slogan?

...a billboard?

...a jingle?

"You're tongue'll do the cha-cha

With a mouthful of sriracha!"

[saskanuck]

I find sriracha very hot, hotter than Tabasco. I like it in small doses, but I'm a wimp when it comes to very hot spicy foods.

My husband uses it on everything, especially as a dip for the aforementioned tater tots, chicken strips, french fries, you name it.

We also have the Huy Fong chili garlic sauce in a jar, and it's even hotter than the sriracha.

For wimps like me, I wish there was a sriracha sauce with all the garlicky taste, but less of the heat. You definitely build up a tolerance for the hot stuff, because when I met my husband, he ate nothing spicy. Now even the hottest sauces don't faze him. My 10 year old seems to be following in his dad's footsteps, because he rolled a dab of wasabi around his mouth the other day and didn't find it that spicy at all.

[jsolomon]

Saskanuck, there's a sweeter chili paste that you can find that you could mix with the sriracha that ought to help cut the burn and suit your palate better. But, by all means, build up your tolerance. It's great stuff!

How about a billboard with an image of two sunburnt backsides covered by swimsuits (one male, one female) that says, "Sriracha, the only burn you need this summer"

[Jason Perlow]

Had burgers and dogs with mayo and Sriracha tonight. Its a great combo.

[Chris Amirault]

How about a  billboard with an image of two sunburnt backsides covered by swimsuits (one male, one female) that says, "Sriracha, the only burn you need this summer"

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Didn't Tabasco do something like that this past year?

[MarketStEl]

FTR, it's pretty good in a Caesar cocktail too.

And it just so happens that I added a dash or two to the cheese sauce for my homemade cheeseburger macaroni tonight. (Gary--whose cooking skills have atrophied since we became a couple but who likes watching Food Network when he's not tuned into C-SPAN--is fond of Hamburger Helper, but he's now on a restricted sodium diet thanks to being diagnosed with high blood pressure, so I'm making my own version from scratch.)

Let's try this for a slogan: "Make every day chili, no matter what the weather. Sriracha hot chili sauce."

[HungryChris]

My version of Shrimp Fra Diavolo would be lost without the stuff.

Cheers,

HC

[petite tête de chou]

My hang-over helper is a sriracha-laden bloody-mary with lots of celery sticks.

[Chris Amirault]

My hang-over helper is a sriracha-laden bloody-mary with lots of celery sticks.

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Now THAT is a great bloody mary idea!!!

[daniellewiley]

I have this idea in my head for a spicy tofu dish, and I just can't put it all together. At my favorite Japanese restaurant, I always get Spicy Tofu Maki (I'm allergic to tuna). It has tofu, the spicy sauce (sriracha and mayo, I presume), avocado and rice, of course.

I was thinking that it would be fun to somehow throw together a lunch dish that is eaten in a bowl, kind of like bibimbab. I'm picturing rice, cucumber, avocado, tofu chunks, lots of the spicy sauce, and....

Any ideas? I'm just wondering if that would all come together well.

It's all I can think about since this thread started, and I have a perfectly ripe avocado sitting on my counter.

[scordelia]

Love the stuff! Use in everything that calls for hot sauce. Makes a great Bloody Mary!

Sophie

[touaregsand]

I have this idea in my head for a spicy tofu dish, and I just can't put it all together. At my favorite Japanese restaurant, I always get Spicy Tofu Maki (I'm allergic to tuna). It has tofu, the spicy sauce (sriracha and mayo, I presume), avocado and rice, of course.

I was thinking that it would be fun to somehow throw together a lunch dish that is eaten in a bowl, kind of like bibimbab. I'm picturing rice, cucumber, avocado, tofu chunks, lots of the spicy sauce, and....

Any ideas? I'm just wondering if that would all come together well.

It's all I can think about since this thread started, and I have a perfectly ripe avocado sitting on my counter.

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I posted a recipe for mapo tofu in the tofu thread. You can make it without any meat. Instead of the chili sauce in the recipe you add sriracha. Or you can add both.

I like sriracha squirted into instant Korean ramen.

I think the rice dish would all come together. How about some baby greens and some Kaiware sprouts as well.

Chef morimoto does a kochujang aioli. I've seen some Korean-Japanese restaurants do a spicy mayo with kochujang and sriracha.

I've had "Thai Cob Salad" with a thinned down sriracha aioli at a local restaurant. It's pretty tasty. The dressing can get overwhelming towards the end, so I prefer smaller portions of it.

[tedwin]

In the summer, there's nothing better than an ear of corn smeared with sriracha and a spritz of lime juice!

[reesek]

I have this idea in my head for a spicy tofu dish, and I just can't put it all together. At my favorite Japanese restaurant, I always get Spicy Tofu Maki (I'm allergic to tuna). It has tofu, the spicy sauce (sriracha and mayo, I presume), avocado and rice, of course.

I was thinking that it would be fun to somehow throw together a lunch dish that is eaten in a bowl, kind of like bibimbab. I'm picturing rice, cucumber, avocado, tofu chunks, lots of the spicy sauce, and....

Any ideas? I'm just wondering if that would all come together well.

It's all I can think about since this thread started, and I have a perfectly ripe avocado sitting on my counter.

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danielle - bibimbop is a perfect "wouldn't be same without sriracha" dish!

i think you'd be set - as long as you don't forget the egg...egg yolk + sriracha + crispy bottomed rice = heaven.

[Chris Amirault]

In the summer, there's nothing better than an ear of corn smeared with sriracha and a spritz of lime juice!

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This is brilliant. I can imagine using this stuff for a whole host of things, esp meat tossed on the grill soon after being swabbed with it.