The Fresh Hot Sauce Blog

Panama Red Hot Sauce Review -- 2011 Scovie Award 1st Place and Triple Category Winner

2011-06-27T10:10:00.005-04:00

Today I am going to review the Panama Red Hot Sauce from Pan Cali Foods. Do you remember the song?

"Panama Red, Panama Red
He'll steal your woman, then he'll rob your head
Panama Red, Panama Red
On his white horse, Mescalito
He come breezin' through town
I'll bet your woman's up in bed with
Panama Red" -- from Panama Red by Peter Rowan

Luckily, this stuff is Orange. Otherwise I might be worried. Still, I couldn't hear the name, Panama Red, without thinking of the old Jerry Garcia/Pete Rowan song as played and recorded by both The New Riders of the Purple Sage and Old and in the Way so long ago. Also note there is an implied analogy to a particularly potent cannabis cultivar that had a rep for #$!!$@ing you up! But in a good way ... LOL.

Anyway, I've been waiting while this stuff for quite a while, and anticipation has been building -- I am glad to say, not in vain. This stuff is very, very good. Locally distributed in California in the San Francisco area, it is also available directly from Pan Cali Foods and is a good value at 8 bucks for 8 oz.

Winner of the 2011 Scovie Awards in 3 categories, 1st Place Authentic Caribbean, 2nd Place Habanero, and 2nd Place Specialty Chile (Aji Chombo -- I guess), the Panama Red certainly has the credentials to pique my interest. Due to shipment delays from, dare I say it, Panama, it took me over 3 months to get my hands on the stuff. When the package came in the door, I didn't even wait for a moment to do an objective review, just ripped open the box, yanked off the plastic cap, and poured a teaspoonful into my mouth. It has a big, intense, bright and complex flavor and I was happy to have my long anticipation satisfied.

So, I recapped the bottle and allowed myself the luxury of waiting 'til the next day for a proper review.

Panama Red Hot Sauce Ingredients:
Vinegar, Habanero, (Panamanian Aji Chombo), Onion, Mustard, Water, Garlic, Celery, Culantro, Salt, Black Pepper, Raw Cane Sugar

There seems to be some ambiguity over the actual peppers included -- variously on the website linked to above, the names Habanero, Scotch Bonnet, and Aji Chombo appear, and it isn't clear if all 3 are present or if, since Aji Chombo is a Habanero cultivar, only Habanero is present or maybe Habanero and Scotch Bonnet. Whatever. The point is also made by Pan Cali that the heat of the Aji Chombo does not persist as long or as brutally as that of the Habanero. OK.

I do have a bit of a prejudice against hot sauces for which the principal ingredient is Vinegar, since, in many cases, that means the principal flavor is vinegar, and to the exclusion of most of the other flavors. Happily, that is not the case here. There is still a strong vinegar flavor, however.

OK, to tasting.

The nose is of bright acid and spicy pepper, and that is the first note on the tongue as well, along with some salty sweetness, earthy mustard, and sweet spicy onion. As the taste fades, some sweetness remains along with a substantial and classic needle-like Habanero heat. The texture is chunky with discrete bits of the ingredients adding to the intensity of the flavor. Very pleasant overall and interesting from beginning to end with a robust and complex flavor -- great intensity.

Because of the amount of vinegar in the sauce, it might not be the best choice for foods already bright with acids such as lemon or vinegar, so certain soups might not benefit, nor perhaps would some delicate foods go well, for instance, scrambled eggs. That's not to say you won't like the combination -- I know plenty of people who slather Tabasco all over their eggs. Oh, well.

But for fried foods and hearty foods, this sauce is great. I tried it in Braised Short Ribs, on a Bacon Cheese Burger, on Deep-Fried Catfish in an Aioli made with Hellman's Mayo and this sauce, and loved it.

Very Highly Recommended. In spite of the fact, I think there is too much vinegar. IMO.

Yours in Heat and Flavor,

~Ted

PS Try the Panama Red mixed with Hellman's Mayo, say, 4 TBS to 1 cup mayo, or to taste.

Photo Credit: Pan Cali Foods

2 Homemade Srirachas -- One Fresh, and One Fermented

2011-06-26T13:58:00.003-04:00

Three 10 oz bottles of Sriracha

I know I promised these recipes a few months ago, but I have an excuse -- I wanted to post pictures of the fermented Sriracha, actually, well, fermenting, and it refused. Now that is weird, because, normally you put out organic liquid or wet material with sugars in it (covered) at room temperature, and within a week or so, it starts to bubble. PDQ. Sigh. Not this time. Makes you wonder how they get that coleslaw at the deli to go off so quick ... Anyway, I've got some photos now.

So, here are pictures of the Sriracha mash in a mixing bowl, with its plastic wrap cover removed, bubbling away. You can see the little bubble craters on the surface of the mash.

Fermenting Sriracha Mash

Cool, huh?

The only thing left to do is bottle it and adjust the flavor. What's that?? What do I mean, adjust the flavor?? Well, after the fermentation process, the relative sweet/salty/sour/hot balance may have changed, and it is perfectly legitimate to add rice wine vinegar, salt or sugar in small amounts until the flavor pleases you. Go ahead. Or ... if the Sriracha doesn't need it, don't.

So what is the basic recipe, you ask? I will give you the following list and amounts which are by no means written in stone, and you can begin your own fermentation experiment.

Fresh and Fermented Farang Sriracha

2 to 3 lbs ripe, red Fresno peppers, or other full flavored ripe, hot pepper, stems removed
1 to 2 pints peeled garlic cloves
4 to 8 TBS fine sea salt
10 to 16 oz, or to taste, rice wine vinegar
1 to 2 cups, to taste white or light brown sugar, about 1/2 to 1 cup for the fresh recipe; I like the brown
1 or 2 large peeled and rough-chopped sweet onions, optional -- not traditional, but good

Note that I am not using ripe jalapeno peppers as Huy Fong does, since the essential bitterness of the jalapeno, though diminished by ripening, remains even when nice and red. The Fresno pepper is a nice compromise. Other possibilities are the cherry pepper, a mixture of red peppers, including some jalapeno.

Chop it all up in a food processor or a powerful blender or a food mill, until the consistency is that of the Huy Fong Sriracha you may be familiar with or for that matter, Heinz Ketchup. If it's a little looser and wetter than that, it's OK.

Once it's all chopped up, you are nearly done for the fresh version of the Sriracha, but just beginning a 3 month or so journey for the fermented version.

For the fresh version, just bottle it in mason jars or in a carafe and let it sit in the refrigerator for 2 or 3 days so the flavors can meld, and use it as you like.

For the fermented version, keep it in a container of some kind that you can cover and observe for 5 to 6 days in a cool dry place, under 60 degrees F. Even if it still hasn't begun to ferment by that time, remove it to the refrigerator for 3 or 4 weeks or even longer until the telltale bubble of fermentation begin to pock the surface of the Sriracha, and let the bubbling run its course, which may take a several weeks or a month or more. At that point you can taste and adjust the flavor. I leave mine in the fridge after that point until I am sure fermentation is absolutely done, up to 3 or 4 months.

You may also find that after a couple of months of sitting in the fridge, the sauce has separated into 2 layers, a clear liquid on top, and an opaque layer underneath. I keep the clear layer on hand as a fermentation starter for new batches of Sriracha, but I pour it off the actual Sriracha I intend to bottle.

As much as I like the HF Sriracha, and I do, I prefer the fresher, less sweet, less bitter, less salty and more complex flavor of this Sriracha, and I like it on everything from scrambled eggs to chicken sandwiches. And there are times I prefer the fresh, non-fermented Sriracha, too.

By the way, for those of you interested in the fermentation process, which radically enhances and intensifies the flavor of the Sriracha, and other fresh hot sauces for that matter, check out Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods, by Sandor Ellix Katz, which will hook you up with everything from kimchi to kombucha.

Bon appetit!

Yours in Heat and Flavor,

~Ted

Photo credits: me

Reviews of Spittin Fire and Papa Jack's Buffalo Hot Sauces -- 2011 First Place Scovie Award Winners

2011-03-10T12:00:00.002-05:00

Spittin Fire and Papa Jack's Buffalo are two very good, interesting and similar Hot Sauces from Sizzlin Sauces in Conway, NH. They won the latest 2011 Scovie awards in their categories, which are Habanero and Louisiana Style Hot Sauce, which may be, I guess, because that's how they were entered, but categories can be misleading. They are both great sauces, and I like 'em a lot, but they are more similar than they are different, and I wouldn't call either of them a classic Hab or Louisiana style hot sauce.

These are 2 complex, very fresh tasting, almost fruity sauces, medium hot, thick and a bit chunky in texture, which are assembled in an apparently modular way from the manner in which the ingredients are listed. Two of the major ingredients listed are ... Ketchup, and ... Hot Sauce! They put Hot Sauce in their Hot Sauce! Both have Cayenne and Habanero Peppers, but while the Spittin Fire has a more classic Caribbean Carrot, Lime. Mustard base, the Papa Jack's Buffalo goes a darker, spicier way with Molasses, Worcestershire, Anchovy, Raisin Paste and Orange Puree, and you can taste that difference, but still, they are more alike than not.

The Spittin Fire has a nose of lemon, herbs, tomato and mild pepper and is lemony, with almost berry-like fruit initially to the tongue, with a tiny bit of salt, and after a few seconds begins to develop the classic Habanero needle-like heat, which remains for several minutes before fading and during which time there is a subtle background of tomato and garlic and herbs. The flavors are not super intense but they are very good. I tried the Spittin Fire on a Pork Burger Wrap, a BLT, a Chicken Sandwich, Scrambled Eggs, on Shrimp with Angel Hair Pasta, and on home-made Lasagna, just for the hell of it. It was good on everything, except maybe the eggs and the lasagna, and I did not really expect the fruitiness of the sauce to complement those dishes. The balance between heat and flavor is very good and I was able to use a goodly amount of sauce on most of the dishes without changing the essential character of the food. Except for kicking it up 4 or 5 notches. Highly Recommended.

Papa Jack's Buffalo has a nose like the Spittin Fire, that is, of lemon, herbs, tomato and mild pepper, but with spicy orange and raisin with some worcestershire, and orange/raisin/tomato/worcestershire/lemon and herb is what hits the tongue first (Wow, that's a lot of flavors!), followed shortly thereafter by the Habanero heat, which fades slowly over a couple of minutes with a pleasant raisiny, herby tomato background. A little more intense flavor-wise than the Spittin Fire, Papa Jack's Buffalo fades a bit more slowly as well, and tastes heartier and meatier, and seems more suited to heartier and meatier dishes, which was the case with same dishes above -- great on the Pork Burger Wrap, BLT, Chicken Sandwich, and on a steak and in Beef Stew, not so great on the pasta, eggs, and shrimp. But really great on those dishes it is suited to. Highly Recommended.

The PJB is the more interesting sauce with stronger flavors and the SF is the more universally useful -- if I were to make one criticism of the sauces it would be that the non-hot flavor could be a little stronger, or more intense, and that it fades a little more quickly than I would like, but I am being very picky here and have to say that these sauces are very good with food.

You owe it to yourself to check out their website -- see the link above -- they have all kinds of awards and other sauces which, going by their success with these two, are certain to be well made and fun. FYI, I purchased my two bottles directly from Sizzlin Sauces at $6.95 ea not including delivery and they arrived promptly.

Yours in Heat and Flavor,

~Ted

Insane Chicken Hot Sauces -- 3 of 'Em -- Insane Chicken Fire Roasted Habanero, Cluckin' Hot, and Choke Your Chicken

2011-02-28T13:47:00.004-05:00

Insane Chicken Fire Roasted Habanero -- 9 Wide

I have wanted to try the "Chicken" Sauces for a while, but haven't stirred myself to do it, so it was just as well that Chris McCarthy at Insane Chicken sent me 3 of these sauces recently. Got no more excuses! Requisite silly graphics aside, these are 3 fairly hot sauces representing 3 distinct flavor categories, Fire Roasted Habanero, Ghost Pepper, and Peri Peri Pepper, with some additional flavors and ingredients that set them apart. This review is especially fun since the FRH is the Scovie 1st place award winner in the Extreme Sauce with Pepper Extract Category, which is also a little intimidating considering what happened to a judge at one competition recently when he came off 2nd best in an encounter with another extract including sauce. Never fear, the FRH is hot but accessible, and it's also really, really ... well, you'll just have to read on!

You ought to check out their website -- they sell not only their own sauces but those of others as well and there are reviews and other interesting bits of info.

These 3 sauces are all hot enough so my usual straight-up, 1/8 or 1/4 TSP to the tongue method allows for a distracting kick that masks whichever sauce comes after in the tasting rotation, as you might expect of sauces that include pepper extracts, which these do. OK, they won't hurt you, much, or me anyway, but they will let you know you put something pretty hot in your mouth. But I did the straight-up, in-the-mouth with the sauce test anyway, because, hey, we're all real hot sauce guys, and, well, because I could.

Insane Chicken Choke Your Chicken -- How To Label

Regular Insane Chicken Fire Roasted Habanero has a great nose, vinegary/spicy/citrus sweet with an almost smoky roasted overlay that is very pleasant, interesting, and inviting. On the tongue, the first impression is of lime and pepper with a little oniony sweetness, fading to a classic habanero needle-like heat with just a touch of sweet and that background roasted smokiness. The texture is just a little thick with some suspended bits. Directly on the tongue, the heat overpowers the flavor, but that isn't true with food, since I am able to use more than enough for good flavor, as I did with a chicken sandwich, a big juicy pork burger with lots of stuff on it, chicken wings, deep-fried catfish and salsa. It was good with all of them. I missed having more habanero flavor, but the roasted pepper quality came through, and habanero, aside from the heat, is a very subtle and mild flavor that won't survive a lot of other strongly flavored ingredients. I like this stuff a lot and intend to keep some around. Highly Recommended.

Choke Your Chicken ... Go Ahead! Sorry, couldn't resist! Anyway, CYC Peri Peri Sauce has a recipe similar to that of the others with vinegar being a principal ingredient, but distinguishes itself with molasses, herbs, spices, and tomato, as well as red wine, as opposed to a white or distilled vinegar.It also has a strong oregano/red wine vinegar nose that makes me think of Italian Salad Vinaigrette, and it is at first bright and a little Jalapeno-bitter to the tongue with a tomato thickness to the texture, some heat, and fading to a milder heat with some acidity. I tried it on a number of the foods I used for the Fire Roasted Habanero, and while it was OK and added some heat and flavor, it didn't work as well for me, probably because of the jalapeno bitterness and lack of assertiveness, except for the Oregano herbiness, in the other ingredients. I'm not sure I like the red wine vinegar which seems overpowering. Can't recommend it.

Insane Chicken Cluckin' Hot

Insane Chicken's Cluckin' Hot I like better -- it's very similar in ingredients to the CYC, no Jalapeno, but Ghost Pepper instead, which gives the sauce a Habanero-like heat, no overt Oregano flavor, but still with the aroma of the red wine vinegar. It's not gonna kill you, Ghost Pepper or not, and while it is hotter than the Peri Peri CYC, it can still be tasted out of a spoon. OK, the nose is a smoky(?)/red wine vinegary pleasant one, and the tongue confirms that with the addition of the Hab-like heat of the Ghost Pepper and pepper extract with an herby acid finish and some lingering pepper heat. Very nice. Good sweet/sour/salty/hot balance. I again tried this sauce on all of the foods mentioned above, and it did very well. Especially good on the chicken! You should be glad I just spared you a chicken joke. The ingredients for this sauce are quite similar to those for the CYC above, but the result is very different. Funny how that works. Recommended.

So my preference is in order, Fire Roasted Habanero, Cluckin' Hot, and Choke Your Chicken. I would consider them all in the greater Louisiana-style hot sauce family, with the bright acid vinegar predominance, but still more useful, complex and interesting than many such. And for me, although they are not too far apart in heat, the hottest is the Fire Roasted Habanero, after that the Ghost Pepper (Cluckin' Hot), and then the Peri Peri (Choke Your Chicken) -- odd -- you would think the Ghost Pepper would be hotter...

Did I say that I do like that Fire Roasted Habanero?

Next week I've got 2 2011 Scovie Award winning sauces from Sizzlin Sauces out of Conway, NH, the #1 finisher in the Habanero category, Spittin Fire Sauce, and the number 1 finisher in the Louisiana Style category, Papa Jack's Buffalo Hot Sauce. I can tell you that I've tried them, and ...

Stay Tuned!

Yours in Heat and Flavor,

~Ted

Photo Credits: Insane Chicken, HotSauceAddict.com, reverse order.

Sriracha Roundup and Surprise Winner -- For Now! Including UIF Uncle Chen's Sriracha ...

2011-02-14T10:00:00.001-05:00

Union International Food Co. Sriracha Chili Sauce

Just after I had published Sriracha Redux, I finally received another cult favorite Sriracha that I had been waiting for, and for a while, too. The Union International Food Co Sriracha that goes under the name Uncle Chen's, and this product, which has exactly the same bottle style and label, including the little Pepper Face (of Uncle Chen, I guess, with mustache and stem), but without the actual Uncle Chen name on the bottle, I believe to be the same. So I call it UIF Sriracha, or Uncle Chen's. Any of you out there who know better, let me know.

I like this stuff. It has good balance, a big flavor and it's not too sweet, although it does have some sweetness. It has a lot of the great bright fresh pepper flavor of the Huy Fong Sriracha, but without the flaw of bitterness I had noted in my first review. I have tried it on burgers, eggs, in mayonnaise, made an Aioli with it, eaten it straight out of the bottle. It's really good. A little less sweet, a little saltier at first, maybe a little less hot. The finish is garlicky, sweet, and has some heat.

It's got a little thermometer right on the side showing medium heat, and I have to confess I wouldn't mind it being a little hotter, but maybe such a hotter UIF Sriracha is available, some place, somewhere. Meantime I can like this one.

OK, I got mine from Amazon! Had to buy a 6-pack of 6 oz squeeze bottles -- I'm not sorry to have them now -- and when I went back to the Amazon page for the UIF Sriracha, I got the dreaded message.

See?

So the good news is that I do have 6 bottles; the bad news is -- where am I going to get my next 6? Still, I have time ... and, yes, I did do some pretty thorough web searches for the stuff.

I do apologize for recommending this stuff just as it seems to disappear from the market. Still, think of it as my way of soliciting help locating it.

I also have a confession to make regarding Huy Fong Sriracha -- I picked up a new bottle to compare it head-to-head with these other brands, and I like it much more than the older stuff I had reviewed back in March of last year. I dug the older bottle out from the back of my fridge and discovered, lo and behold, that the old HF Sriracha is indeed considerably more bitter than the stuff in the new bottle I just bought. In fact, with the still remaining Jalapeno bitterness much more in the background, the wonderful bright ripe red pepper fruit flavor is fantastic and makes it my favorite Sriracha, at least for the squeeze bottle I just bought!

I feel badly about possibly having rated the HF Sriracha on the basis of an extreme and unusual sample of the sauce, but, hey, I did it on the basis of 2 bottles I had purchased at different times (a week apart from the same store), and I can only rate what I taste!

What this means long term, I have no idea -- do I have to worry about consistency, and will the HF Sriracha I buy be bitter again next time around? Don't know. Never ran into this issue before. Still, I am going to do a Sriracha ranking based on my current sample.

So, my ranking of Srirachas I have tried places them in this order:

1. Huy Fong -- Highly Recommended

2. UIF (Uncle Chen's) -- Highly Recommended

3. Shark Brand -- Recommended

4. Bells and Flower Brand -- Not recommended

Note that both of my favorites are domestically produced -- the UIF Uncle Chen's Sriracha at their Hayward, CA plant, and the HF Sriracha at the Rosemead, CA plant, and the flavor is much more pronounced, much bigger and fresher than that of the Thai "originals".

Next time, I'm going to post my recipes for 2 Srirachas, 2 US Farang Brand Srirachas, one PDQ recipe, and one let's-take-our-time fermented pepper recipe.

Yours in Heat and Flavor,

~Ted

Photo Credits: UIF Sriracha c/o www.amazon.com and my screen capture

Sriracha Redux and More Thai Hot Sauces

2011-02-07T08:00:00.007-05:00

Some time back I did a review of Huy Fong Sriracha, which is an American Sriracha that a lot of people are in love with, not including me, although I did like some things about it -- the upshot was I found it to have a bitter finish and aftertaste. So I tried another bottle from another source -- same result. But I did like the Thai brand I tried, the Shark Brand Sriracha, which is labeled on the bottle as Sriracha Chili Sauce. So I became curious to try some other actual Thai products to see what I would think.

I purchased online a number of products, including Bells and Flower Brand Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce made in China, Lingham's Hot Sauce, which says Thai right on the label and is made in Maylasia, Pantai Norasingh Sweetened Chili Sauce for Spring Roll which is made in Thailand, ABC Tropical Chili Sauce, which is labeled Product of Indonesia, and Gold Label Brand Red Chili Sauce, made in Thailand, Eastern Thailand to be exact, Amphur Muang, Chonburi province. Says so right on the label. I have included links below.

First, let me say that while there is an overall similarity to the products -- they are, after all, sweetened chili sauces with vinegar and salt and sometimes a few other things, too -- but there are differences as well, and enough differences to make me prefer some quite a bit to the others. Also, I have to acknowledge that these products are not intended all to be used the same way, so to compare them directly may not be entirely fair.

I don't care.

I just wanted to see what they tasted like and which ones were worth keeping around. The odd sauce out is the Sweetened Chili Sauce For Spring Roll, it's thick and orange-clear, with carrot bits, and other suspended bits, just what you would expect to see in your dipping sauce bowl at a Thai restaurant. But the others are roughly comparable.

Let's get the orphan out of the way, the dipping sauce. The Pantai Norasingh Sweetened Chili Sauce. I like saying that. Pantai Norasingh! As I mentioned, it isn't intended as a general purpose hot-sweet flavoring, and it is very sweet, and not very hot, but it has a nice overall flavor, and I managed to make some really good Hot Wing Sauce with it, by adding salted butter and a little (a lot) more hot sauce. Because it is so sweet and has just a little heat, it will not be too useful without modification. Hey, it really is a spring roll dipping sauce! If you can think of something else to do with it, let me know! Recommended in a very narrow application. This company makes Sriracha, too, but not for export to the US, I guess, since I cannot find it for sale here -- if I liked it I could buy it in 5 liter jugs in a 4 pack, 20 liters and about 45 lbs -- it's listed right on the web site.

I was disappointed in the Bells and Flower Brand Sriracha -- it has just a tiny bit of sweetness, a little sour and salt, some pepper and heat, with a mild peppery finish, but no real big ripe pepper flavor like Huy Fong, or even a nice sweet-sour-salt balance like the Shark Brand Sriracha, which among Srirachas I have tried remains my favorite. Saltiness is the predominant flavor with Bells and Flower Brand. followed by some heat and sour flavor. Not recommended. Sigh.

Now Lingham's I do like. Actually, there are a lot of Lingham's hot sauces, those for SE Asian consumption -- I'd like to get my hands on those -- some for the UK, and those for us in the US of A.

The one I tried is #5 on the list above in the picture. It is sweet and fruity, with a thick pepper flake texture, and just a touch of salt, not much, with a good chili heat, not too strong, and a finish that combines some sweetness with a lingering mild heat. I do like it. It's too sweet for a lot of the foods I eat -- can't put it on eggs -- and the fruitiness may not be what you want a lot of the time, but once again it makes a good Hot Wing Sauce with more Hot Sauce and some butter. Certainly it's good with many Asian Foods. It is sweeter than Huy Fong Sriracha, for instance. It's good on a burger in place of ketchup. Recommended.

I like the look of the Gold Label Brand Red Chili Sauce bottle. The yellow chili sauce I didn't try is on the right above. And I like the Ingredient List: Red Chili 70%, Garlic 10%, Sugar 8%, Vinegar 7%, Salt 5%. What I like most is the 70% Chili part. I wish it tasted more like 70% Chilis though, and it's a little too sweet. There is some heat. It's like a simple ketchup without the more complex ketchup flavors but just a little hot and salty. I'll pass on recommending it, though.

ABC Tropical Chili Sauce is the thickest and hottest of this bunch and in an ironically classically ketchup-like bottle, since the ABC Brand is owned by Heinz, even though it is an Indonesian brand. That said, the initial flavor is hot, sweet and a tiny bit salty and the finish is sweet, fading to a steady heat. I like it. It made a good mix with Hellman's mayo for a nice Aioli which I spiced up even further with garlic, lemon, and dare I say it, more Hot Sauce. It's the most like the Huy Fong Sriracha, but a little sweeter, maybe a little hotter, and, sadly without the bold bright ripe jalapeno flavor. Still good chili taste, though. You could make a good wing sauce with it. Also good on a burger in a place of, or in addition to, ketchup. Recommended.

All right, let's sum this up, by the Western standards of this writer and most of the readers, these are interesting, but peculiar sauces with limited application in non-asian cuisine. There, I've said it. Oh, there are some good uses for the better sauces here, but I do not think we'll have Norte-Americanos slathering them on everything they eat, as some claim to do with Huy Fong "Rooster" Brand Sriracha.

I do wonder how people get by the bitter finish of that stuff.

And after having tried 3 different brands of Sriracha, is it now clear what it is? Well, all 3 are fairly different from each other, What they have in common is thickness, a little saltiness, some heat, a little garlic, and listing a principal ingredient of pepper. 2 are sweet, 1 has a bright ripe pepper flavor, 2 are much more muted. The other "Chili" sauces reviewed here follow a similar pattern. I know there are other brands as well of Sriracha, and I will try them as time and discovery permit.

Meantime, this farang (Thai word for foreigner) has a recipe for home made Sriracha that combines the best things I like about Sriracha -- with no bitterness -- and that sweet and bright, ripe pepper flavor in a sauce you can make, too. It's not that hard. There will even be a Sriracha Quick version for those who do not want to spend a lot of time at it, and a Sriracha Aged VS for those who are willing to commit a little refrigerator space and and a few weeks of aging for ... the Bomb Sriracha! How hard can it be, really?

Yours in Heat and Flavor,

~Ted

A Brief History of Hot Pepper & Sauce with Observations!

2011-01-21T21:00:00.002-05:00

You know Hot Sauce didn't just suddenly appear in the foods and diets of all of us, or of those of us of Old World Stock. In fact before Columbus discovered wild Hot Peppers growing on the Caribbean Islands he first visited, no one from Europe, Africa, China, or South East Asia ever had anything hotter in their diets than various types of black pepper and, I suppose Sichuan pepper. In fact (again), Columbus even named hot peppers, peppers, because they had a hot kick like, well, black pepper, and he thought they were somehow related. They aren't.

Imagine that, no hot Thai curries, no African Piri-Piri, no hot Chinese dishes, no Italian dishes Fra Diavolo, or Arrabiata ... well, NO food anywhere outside of the Western Hemisphere with Hot Peppers. There are a number of histories of Hot Sauce on the 'net, and I thought it would be fun to talk about one.

The history on the ChilliWorld Site which is a UK seller of Hot Sauce offers an interesting and brief rundown, starting with the advent of Hot Peppers (up to modern Hot Sauce from Tabasco to Insanity and Death) as we know them around 100,000 years ago in the Amazon jungle of Brazil and spreading naturally or through cultivation by native peoples into what is now Mexico and the Caribbean perhaps around 6000 years ago. The Aztecs are said to have liked Real Hot Chocolate, a double New World Whammy, since both Chocolate and Hot Peppers are New World foods, like tomatoes and potatoes. Yeah, those, too. What was Italian food like before tomatoes, before red pepper? Geez.

For that matter, imagine the first human, perhaps 20,000 or more years ago, whose ancestors had crossed the land bridge from Siberia to Alaska, and whose subsequent generations had moved south into Central and South America, first trying a Pepper Fruit -- it is a fruit, you know -- hope it wasn't a Habanero! -- and thinking -- What??? Holy Cow!!!

Well, they say hunger is the best condiment. And clearly, even if the first guy didn't like them, somebody eventually did like Hot Peppers, and enough to grow them in large scale throughout Cental and southern North America and the Caribbean.

Interestingly, only mammals taste the Heat of the Hot Pepper, and of all of the mammals who can taste that Heat, only Man Likes It! Or some of us, anyway. It is theorized that it's the Hot Pepper's and Nature's way of discouraging mammals with grinding molars that destroy the Pepper Seeds, but not birds and other animals who swallow the seeds whole and pass them through and distribute them. But Evolution hasn't caught up with Chile Heads, at least not yet, and having seen some Chile Heads, I have to say, Evolution didn't have much to do with them in the first place!

For those of you interested in a brief history of the plants themselves, check out the Wikipedia article.

Anyway, there is a big grey area as to what happened between Columbus bringing Hot Peppers back to Spain, and how they got distributed throughout the rest of the Old World, along with Peppers brought back on subsequent trips.

Now of course, we'll never lose the history of Hot Sauce from Tabasco on, 'cause it's DIGITAL!

Yours in Heat and Flavor,

~Ted

Photo of Pepper Ring is in the public domain

SR Fresh Hot Sauce -- Heat with Intensity of Fresh Flavor!

2010-07-01T11:30:00.022-04:00

As I have mentioned before, I make Hot Pepper Sauces myself, and for those who would like to check them out I now have an ecommerce site that explains the Hot Sauces and sells them. Check out the SR Fresh Hot Sauce website.

I have talked a bit about these sauces elsewhere in this blog, and I certainly recommend you take a look at those articles, but I do want to say that in the Hot Sauces I make, I have tried to address the lack of Real Pepper Flavor in most (all other???) commercial hot sauces.

Oh, a lot of them taste good and I like them, and they do get some flavor from Hot Peppers, as well as Heat of course, but they don't have the Real Fresh Flavor of the Habanero, Cayenne, Jalapeno, or Fresno or other Peppers I use in making the sauce.

These sauces are a pain to make. They are mostly Fresh and Blended Juice that has been allowed to settle and the micro-particles of Pepper saturate for a couple of months while kept under refrigeration.

During that time, what becomes the actual sauce forms a concentrated layer at the bottom, of micro-solids and juice, underneath a clear and much less flavorful layer which is not used. So the process is inefficient and expensive as well.

And the sauce has to be kept cold, too.

But It's Worth It!

So this Hot Sauce is fairly expensive, too, by commercial Hot Sauce standards. After all it's not mostly distilled vinegar. It's Fresh Pepper and other Fresh Juices that have been concentrated for flavor, and which are much more expensive than vinegar.

So the proof is in the pudding ... no, it's in the Hot Sauce!

I invite you to give them a try.

Yours in Heat and Flavor,

~Ted

4th of July (Coming Right Up) Hot Ribs -- A Little Bit Different

2010-06-03T11:32:00.023-04:00

As part of my ongoing articles on foods/recipes that go well with HEAT, I'm going to include something for 4th of July weekend. Pork Spareribs on the grill. Perfect. Except ... maybe not the same old ribs on the grill, maybe something a little different, and ... a little better even. But not hard to make. That's the ticket. That's what I've been planning for the 4th anyway.

We are not going to brine the ribs. That's too much work. We are going to get major flavor from them, though, in 2 ways.

One, we are going to semi-cure them -- the outside anyway -- and dry out the exterior, so it crisps up nicely.

Two, we are going to a make a hot pepper and sweet bell pepper mop/infused sauce, or whatever you want to call it, for a BBQ sauce, to slather on for the last 1/2 hour or so, and some extra, for serving the ribs with. I think it's very, very good.

OK, pick the pork ribs of your choice; they can be baby backs, or spareribs. The only difference will be the cooking time. The sauce that follows is based on 1 rack of ribs -- if you have more increase the sauce accordingly.

With either cut, we will rinse and dry the ribs and then lay them in a large sheet pan, and salt, pepper (use freshly ground black pepper), and sugar (use light brown sugar) the top and bottom of the ribs and the trimmings. And if you want to get some heat on the ribs at this point, you can dust the racks and trimmings with ancho or chipotle chile powder as well. If you are using spareribs, do trim and save the non-bony parts from the rib sections with a knife of kitchen shears, and trim as well any large flaps of meat that are attached to the bottom of the ribs. No need to tear the membrane from the bottom of the rack. Since the trimmings are done sooner than the other parts, you can be eating your appetizer while waiting for the rest of the BBQ to finish!

Then put the uncovered pan in the fridge overnight or until a couple of hours before you are ready to grill. At which time, pull them out and let them come to room temperature before grilling them. The dry-rub salt and sugar mixture will have dissolved to a glaze coating the ribs, which is perfect.

I often cheat and start with a commercial sauce; I like a bottle of Stonewall Kitchens Mesquite Steak Sauce, not for steak, but for PORK, and a small jar of Hoisin Sauce, say 8 oz, to start the mop or BBQ sauce, and then:

I then add a non-traditional Bell Pepper reduction. This is actually the basic recipe for one of my Fresh Hot Pepper Sauces. You can do without it if you like or just use your favorite BBQ sauce, but I am willing to go the extra mile! For the Flavor! And the Bell Pepper reduction does combine vinegar (acid), salt, and sweet flavors, which are traditional, so ...

Oh, you need a juicer!

8 to 12 red, yellow, or orange sweet bell peppers, depending on size

16 cloves of garlic

1 large sweet or Vidalia onion

1 TBS salt, preferably sea salt, or to taste

Rice Wine Vinegar, approx 1/2 cup

Hot Peppers of choice -- I like 4 or 5 Habaneros, myself, but you can substitute the Hot Sauce of your choice instead, if you wish.

Juice the first 3 ingredients (and Hot Peppers if using), and add the salt, and vinegar, but add about 10% by volume only, approx 1/2 cup depending on the juice in your peppers and onion.

Now reduce (in a non-stick frying pan) the pepper juice mixture by about 75%, that is, leaving only 25% of the original volume of liquid.

The remaining pepper liquid should have become a little thick and syrupy.

Check the seasoning. You should have a bright, sweet, somewhat garlicky and oniony, but not salty liquid -- if the flavor does not pop enough add salt a TSP at a time until the flavor develops.

Good. Mix it all together, that is, the Mesquite Steak Sauce, the Hoisin, and the Bell Pepper reduction you've just made. Taste it. If you want something hotter, juice more Habaneros, or add your Hot Sauce of choice, or some Huy Fong Chili Garlic sauce, for a really good kick. You don't want to add the Bell Pepper reduction, or make it? Fine. The Mesquite/Hoisin mixture is great by itself. Just add your Hot Sauce. You should end up with about a quart of BBQ sauce total if you have added the Bell Pepper reduction.

Now we are going to grill the ribs at 300 DEG until they are tender and nearly done. For those of you with a digital meat thermometer, that's about 180 degrees. For those of you who do not, that's when 1/8" of bone starts to show at the sides of the racks of ribs and the ribs are knife tender, but not fork tender.

If you are doing this on the grill, be sure to use indirect heat, and do not place the ribs directly over the open flame. Place them bone side down.

At the 180 DEG point with 1/8" of bone showing, we begin to mop the ribs (top and bottom) with the mop/glaze every 15 minutes or so, for about 1/2 hour(3 mops) to 45 minutes (4 mops), at which point the ribs will measure around 190 to 195 DEG , and they will show 1/4" of bone and start to pull apart easily. The whole thing will take a little over an hour for the trimmed pieces; the back ribs may take and hour and a half; the spareribs make take 2 hours to 2-1/2 hours.

OK, they are done.

Serve.

Happy 4th of July!

You don't actually need the excuse ...

~Ted

Bufalo Jalapeno and Bufalo Chipotle Hot Sauce Reviews

2010-04-19T10:54:00.015-04:00

Today I want to talk about 2 commercial hot sauce, the Bufalo Jalapeno Mexican Hot Sauce, and the Bufalo Chipotle Mexican Hot Sauce, from Herdez Corp., of Stockton, Ca. according to the bottle but online searching indicates they are a Hormel product, and made in Mexico.

I have a weakness for commercial hot sauces. Because they are readily available from supermarkets and local specialty stores, I think of them as hot sauces for everyone. So I am in a never-ending search to find the overlooked or unnoticed among those hot sauces which you can often just go down to the store and buy.

Two recent discoveries of which I very much approve are Mexican, the Bufalo Jalapeno. and Bufalo Chipotle, and I bought them from our local King's supermarket, a local chain. Cost less than 3 bucks each for the 5.5 oz bottles.

The Bufalo Jalapeno is RED, not Green, and clearly made from fully ripened Jalapeno peppers, and so this hot sauce has fully ripened, fruity flavors, rather than the grassy, herby flavors of the unripened Green Jalapeno.

Bufalo Jalapeno Mexican Hot Sauce:

Ingdts: Water, Carrots, Distilled Vinegar, Chile Peppers, Sugar, Salt, Carob Bean Gum, .1% Sodium Benzoate, Spices, and Red Food Coloring

Well, the ingredients make this product a fairly typical commercial product, except for the carrots, which add a nice sweetness, and which I like very much in hot sauces, though carrots are more readily found in Caribbean style sauce.

The bottle warns that this sauce is Very Hot, and while it has some heat, it is NOT very hot at all. On the tongue, there is first a sweet red pepper fruitiness along with a nice lemony saltiness from the vinegar, and the sauce fades very gradually over a minute or two to a mild or medium heat with a lingering hint of lemon and pepper sweetness. Very faintly in the background is a little hint that the pepper used is a Jalapeno from just a faint herbiness that adds complexity to the overall flavor. It's really nice. The texture is fairly thick.

I have used it on eggs, a bacon cheeseburger, in a gringo Mexican Posole pork and hominy soup, in my chick pea and smoked ham hock soup, on a chicken sandwich and in a bean salad. Was terrific in all of them. Would make a terrific wing sauce, too, I think.

If you see it, buy it; you will like it.

Highly Recommended.

Now to the Chipotle sauce. Well, this is a more narrowly focused product, useful in much the same way a spicy worcestershire sauce, or A1 steak sauce is useful, that is, on red meat.

Bufalo Chipotle Mexican Hot Sauce:

Ingdts: Water, Distilled Vinegar, Chile Peppers, Sugar, Salt, Caramel, Spices, .1% Sodium Benzoate.

It makes me laugh to compare the info provided here with that on the label for the red Jalapeno sauce. It's just about the same; except for the omission of the gum for thickening, it is the same.

So the label could be more forthcoming.The sauces are NOT the same.

Anyway. as far as the tasting goes, the first impression is one of strong Chipotle smokiness over a pretty salty/lemony vinegar flavor with a moderate pepper heat, and all flavors fade gradually leaving a predominance of mild heat with a hint of smoke, salt, and vinegar after a minute or 2. Quite pleasant, no bitterness really. The texture is very thick.

The heavy meatiness of the sauce would seem to restrict its use to, well, heavy and meaty dishes. Which is true. Great on burgers and steak. Don't even want to try it on other stuff.

Recommended within its narrow range of utility.

Yours in Heat and Flavor,

~Ted

Photos courtesy of HerdezTraditions.com

Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce -- or Why Hot Sauces Don't Necessarily Do to Food What You Think They Will!

2010-03-22T11:16:00.019-04:00

Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce from Huy Fong Foods, Inc. is a relative newcomer to widely available (a lot of mainstream grocery stores carry it), commercial hot sauces and has quite a number of fans, who think it wonderful on everything from eggs, to asian food, and from American Food to old boots, I guess.

There isn't much neutral ground either: people like it or hate it. Why?

It is a fairly simple sauce with only 5 major ingredients, quite thick, and with some real heat and a nice salty/sweet/sour garlicky flavor ... at first, but by itself, it has ... drum roll, please ... a rather bitter finish.

Those ingredients are: red ripe jalapenos, sugar, salt, garlic, and distilled vinegar, along with some preservatives and xanthan gum thickener.

I do not know where the bitterness comes from for sure, but I suspect it is from the jalapenos, which, even when full ripe and red, have a a grassy bitterness.

If you taste HF Sriracha out of the squeeze bottle, that's the impression you are left with after the heat and other flavors fade -- mild bitterness. Not so nice.

How many of us are looking for that in our hot sauces?

Not too many, I think.

So why do (s0me/many) people like it? I guess some like the bitterness, but ...

Well, most people don't consume plain hot sauce; they add it to food. And that's where Sriracha shines, or, umm, should I say, tastes good.

The mild bitterness which is really a fairly prominent, grassy herbiness adds complexity and depth to strong, simple flavors, and when Sriracha is mixed with other foods, that bitterness is diluted and muted and recedes into the background as a complementary and pleasant aspect to the overall flavor.

But the first taste of Sriracha is really very nice indeed, with the bright, ripe pepper flavor and the lemony garlicky salty sweetness ... MMMMMmmmmm. Then of course, the bitterness. However, when diluted with food, the initial bright pepper flavor remains, and the bitterness fades quite a bit.

Some more delicate foods do not benefit from Sriracha: I do not like it with the delicate flavors of eggs or fish, for instance.

I also do not like HF Sriracha directly on many foods, such as over meats or on fries, but I do like it when mixed with other foods.

But, Sriracha is great in making a Spicy Garlic Aioli, for instance. Just mix your favorite prepared mayonaise, I like Hellman's (Best Foods in the West) myself, with 1/4 to 1/2 the quantity by volume of Sriracha. Voila! Excellent Spicy Aioli! Great with fried foods, steak, sandwiches, you name it.

Let me say this though about Sriracha sauces: Huy Fong in the squeeze bottle is not the only brand around. There is also the much less widely available Shark Brand Sriracha which is a Thai product, note that Huy Fong is American, and, frankly, Shark Brand tastes better. Not as bitter and better balanced, but still with that nice salty/garlicky/acid bright flavor and not too much on the vinegar, and a little less heat.

There is also an ABC Indonesian brand that I have not tried, and there are Ka-Me and Roland knock-offs of the Huy Fong product. Ka-Me I have not tried. The Roland product is even more bitter than the Huy Fong.

Get the Shark Brand if you can.

And the lesson here is that hot sauces don't necessarily taste the same right out of the bottle as they do in the food you eat.

I can recommend the Shark Brand Sriracha without reservation, but the HF Sriracha I can only recommend with the fairly serious reservation that its real bitterness restricts its use to complex and robust foods.

Yours in Heat and Flavor,

~Ted

Benito's Hot Sauces -- The Review

2010-02-15T21:07:00.014-05:00

This review has been some time in coming, but I finally got hold of all 5 of Benito's Hot Sauces, which are:

Benito's White Hot

Ingdts: organic bhut jolokias (ghost peppers), organic orange habaneros, organic ginger, organic lime juice, fresh onions and garlic

Joes' #1 Jalapa

Ingdts: lime juice, jalapeno peppers, habanero peppers, cubanelle peppers, white onions, garlic, cilantro, extra virgin olive oil, white vinegar

Old Bricktucky Cayenne

Ingdts: lime juice, cinnamon, cayenne peppers, paprika, extra virgin olive oil, red bell peppers, white vinegar, roma tomatoes, white onions, garlic

Mango Habanero

Ingdts: yellow bell peppers, lime juice, vinegar, habanero peppers, mango nectar, extra virgin olive oil, onion

and

Naranja (that's Orange to you gringos)

Ingdts: orange bell peppers, lime juice, vinegar, habanero peppers, ginger, carrots, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, onions

I've been interested in these sauces for a while because ... they are designed to be Fresh Tasting! And, Fresh is Good. Fresh is where intensity and brightness of flavor come from.

As you may know, I myself Make Fresh Hot Sauce, and Very Fresh It Is, Too.

So I have a personal stake in this type of sauce, which I think is definitely a step in the right direction.

Benito Maniscalco, the maker and owner, will be the first to admit, these are not Hot, as Hot Sauces go, and says he is interested in big, fresh flavor with just enough, but not too much heat, so the sauces will appeal to a broad audience.

Let's see:

Now the White Hot states on the web site that it "packs extreme heat!" Given that it lists the 1 million Scoville Heat Unit Bhut Jolokia Pepper as its principal ingredient, one could imagine that would be true. Well, it's not. Thank Goodness.

This sauce has a bit of a fearsome look to it, thick and white with little floating flecks of something or other.

To the nose it has strong notes of lime/onion/garlic with a light peppery undertone.

On the tongue, and I had to do a full teaspoon test, instead of my usual 1/4 teaspoon test. because the sauce is not that hot, I tasted a nice fresh lime and mild habanero pepper needle-like heat, finishing with a fruity, slightly acid and fresh pepper finish. Very pleasant, very clean, about 1/2 the heat of say, Tabasco. Some slight ginger and garlic presence in the background. There is a slightly pulpy texture.

There is no Saltiness to the flavor -- none at all. You can see from the ingredients that there is no salt added to he sauce. It is an interesting choice on Benito's part, since to some degree, Salt Is Flavor. Oh, I know most of us like some saltiness in our food, but aside from that, Salt itself is necessary to bring out Taste.

Anyone who has made chicken stock knows that you can make the stock from the best ingredients, but unless you add some salt, it tastes like dishwater.

So whatever you add the White Hot to will and should have some salt in it. And it will need it. What should you add White Hot to?

Well this sauce, fruity and fresh as it is, should go very well with lighter fare, such as fish, chicken, and the like, as well as food that combines sweet and savory. And it does -- it's really good on a chicken sandwich with french bread with mayo and red onion.

Make no mistake, this is a very unusual Hot Sauce, and one with a lot of flavor going for it.

It is very different from most of the stuff in a 5 oz bottle however.

Make sure you add it to something with some salt in it -- it will need it!

Recommended.

Which brings me to an important point. All of these sauces are more similar than they are different.

They are all limey/fruity, a little pulpy, fresh-tasting, have a roughly similar amount of heat, and no saltiness and not much vinegar.

The Bricktucky is a nod in the direction of a Louisiana Style Cayenne Hot Sauce, with some cayenne flavor, but still the above described overall flavor profile applies

The Jalapa has the grassy herbiness of the jalapeno pepper; the Naranja has the carroty sweetness of a Carribean Hot Sauce; and the Mango Habanero has the mango flavor and the least heat.

So you can choose your Benito's pretty much on that basis.

I would add the Mango or the Naranja to a tropical Pico de Gallo, or to fish or lighter fare, and the Bricktucky or Jalapa to a burger or meat.

Some of the user reviews on Benito's website suggest use in eggs (can't see it, personally -- don't want any fruit in my eggs -- but that's just me), and I invite you to check it out. The comments are at the bottom of the main page.

Many of the labels cite organic ingredients as does Benito's website, although there is some inconsistency as to specific ingredients in each of the sauces, website vs labels.

I just love hot dogs, or kielbasa with any of the sauces, especially when you use a lot and add it to other condiments like ketchup, mustard, onions, kraut, and relish.

Like no other Hot Sauces.

Recommended.

~Ted

Cholula -- The Sequel: Chipotle, Chili Lime, Chili Garlic -- More Mexican Hot Sauces!

2009-12-12T11:46:00.003-05:00

I really liked the Cholula Hot Sauce I reviewed a month ago, and I am always interested in checking out locally, and hopefully, widely available Hot Sauces, that you can find in the supermarket, so I was pleased to discover 3 more Cholula Hot Sauces in our local King's Supermarket (part of a fairly small, upscale, northern NJ regional chain)-- the Chili Lime, Chili Garlic, and Chipotle.

They are not expensive, and I hoped, as with the original Cholula, they would have really good flavor. For more info about Cholula and their Hot Sauces, do see the review link above.

OK, straight to the reviews.

Cholula Chili Lime:

Ingdts: Water, Apple and White Vinegar, Peppers -- Guajillo/Paprika/Arbol/Piquin, Salt, Sugar, Dried Tomato, Natural Flavor, Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein, Citric Acid, Silicon Dioxide, Garlic, and Xanthan Gum

Wow, that's quite a list of ingredients. For a sauce with water and vinegar as the 2 primary ingredients, this is quite thick. 4 different types of peppers, hmmm. Also included is hydrolyzed vegetable protein, which is high in glutamates, and is a "meatiness" ingredient. Adds what the Japanese call "Umami", for you foodies.

Well, to the nose, there are strong lime and dried/aged pepper notes, characteristically Cholula arbol and piquin, with just a little sweetness.

The 1/4 TSP to the tongue test gives a salty/lime taste 1st, followed by a strong Arbol dried/aged pepper flavor with some mild heat, and saltiness, fading to a pleasant and mild pepper heat over a minute or so. This is not a very hot sauce. Tomato and Garlic are off in the background. Texture is thick and smooth.

Overall impression is very pleasant, and the many ingredients give a complex and well balanced flavor that is robust and delicate at the same time.

This sauce is certainly suitable for Mexican food, and, for those of you who like a strong lime flavor, suitable for a wide range of dishes, from eggs, to steak, and sandwiches to stew. Great with a Bloody Mary.

As with other Mexican Hot Sauces, the Vinegar is in the background, quite unlike a Louisiana Style sauce, which is primarily a Vinegar sauce.

The sauce could be a little hotter. You have to put a lot of it on robust and complicated foods to get the heat.

Highly Recommended.

Now for the

Cholula Chili Garlic:

Ingdts: Water, Salt, Dried Peppers -- Arbol and Piquin, Vinegar, Garlic, Spices, Natural Flavors, Xanthan Gum, Dried Garlic.

This formula is quite a bit simpler than that for the Chili Lime, but the flavor is very similar -- just take out the lime and add a big dose of garlic and there you are! Heat level is similar, and there isn't quite the same level of pepper complexity, but hey, it's a Garlic Lover's dream!

Chili Garlic will be good on all of the same foods, too. Chili Lime will be better for a Bloody Mary.

Highly Recommended especially for Garlic Lovers.

Last but not least is the

Cholula Chipotle:

Ingdts: Water, White and Apple Vinegar, Sugar, Peppers -- Chipotle/Guajillo/Arbol/Piquin, Salt, Natural Flavors, Spices, Xanthan Gum, Silicon Dioxide, Citric Acid, Caramel

This list is VERY similar to that for the Chili Lime. The Chipotle has no Paprika, Tomato, or Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein, but it does have Chipotle, of course, and Caramel.

The Cholula Chipotle is very Smoky to the Nose and the Tongue, a little sweet to the tongue, and has a more slowly developing pepper heat that lingers nicely for a minute or 2. The texture is again similar, smooth and a bit thick.

This is a great sauce for robust, long-cooked, or meaty foods, like burgers, steak, pork, stews, and anything you want smoky.

Highly Recommended especially for the carnivore crowd.

Cholula goes 3 for 3 today. Good job, and good for all of us!

I have delayed the Benito's Hot Sauce reviews, because the latest product I have received is not similar to the last I had. Soon as I clear that up, I will review the White Hot, Naranja, Joe's #1 Jalapa, Bricktucky, and Habanero Mango.

Yours in heat and flavor,

~Ted

How Hot is Hot? Is Hotter Hot Sauce Better?

2009-12-02T12:00:00.003-05:00

So if we like Hot Sauce, and Heat is Good, and more is better, then the Hotter Hot Sauce is better, right? Well, that's obviously not true, and we all know we have our limits.

Testosterone crazed males aside, most of us will even admit that flavor is important, too. So, how much Heat is right?

If you are to believe the ads and photos for many Hot Sauces, like the one above, and the labels on the Hot Sauce Bottles, many are so hot that they can cause insanity and death -- clearly false advertising! I know, because I have tested regular so-called Insanity Hot Sauces and Death Sauces, and they are quite safe for people who can tolerate a basic level of heat.

The makers of these sauces do offer hotter sauces, and even much, much hotter sauces, and these sauces are really scary hot, often hot enough to cause a nasty accident if used unwisely or by someone unaware. But what purpose do they serve, really?

The truth is, the hotter the sauce, the less you can use of that sauce, and the less you can use, the less flavor you get. Period.

I know when I make a Hot Sauce and use a very Hot Pepper, like a Habanero, I have to use less of that pepper by proportion, compared to, say, a Cayenne Pepper, and even so, because peppers vary in heat from one batch to the next, I have to taste the Hot Sauce and adjust accordingly.

There are some really good Hot Sauces out there, and some of them are pretty hot, too, but one thing the good ones have in common is FLAVOR, not just heat.

One of my favorite Hot Sauces, which is not super hot, but which is a good place to begin because it has Real Flavor, is Blair's Original Death Sauce, which I reviewed earlier. It won't kill ya', and you'll be glad you tried it. You want something hotter, try the other "Death Sauces", from "After Death", "Pure Death", "Megadeath", and "Ultra Death", to "Sudden Death".

Don't be fooled, "Mo' Hotta" ain't necessarily "Mo' Betta!"

That said, I do like fairly hot, Hot Sauce. Just, not with Pepper Extract, and Capsaicin.

I want the Real Pepper, not just the hot part.

~Ted

Image courtesy of Jailhouse Fire Hot Sauce. Love the image -- don't know anything about the Hot Sauce.

Beef Short Ribs -- Foods for Hot Sauce

2009-11-17T20:55:00.008-05:00

So we like Hot Sauce because it makes food taste good, right? Yes! In keeping with that. I'm going to post one of my favorite recipes, which is great with almost any Hot Sauce, and is particularly tolerant of REAL Heat. That is ... my Braised Short Ribs. My God, I love it. I consider this to be The Ultimate Beef Stew.

The recipe will make 16 single rib servings, which in my house translates to 8 or fewer servings. And it makes a lot of honest beef stock gravy, in this case, really, sauce, that is thickened with the natural gelatin from the collagen in the cartilage and bones of the short ribs.

Do not be tempted to marinate the short ribs before cooking -- it is not necessary -- the short ribs have tremendous flavor and texture all by themselves.

This recipe is good with lots of sides, mashed potatoes, noodles, and good with Cayenne Pepper Sauce. It's good with Habanero Pepper Sauce, too.

I cook it in the Slow Cooker after browning the ribs, and I like to let the ribs braise overnight, or about 12 hours on low, strain and de-fat the liquid in the AM, and recombine the sauce and the Short Ribs by dinner time. You do not have to use a slow cooker for this, however, and braised in the oven at 300 for 6 hours or so or on the stove for 6 to 8 hours at low, the dish will be fine. For oven or stovetop, test each hour after 3 hours or so for doneness -- when the meat starts to fall off the bone, it's done.

Braised Short Ribs with Red or White Wine:

8 lbs of beef short ribs, or flanken, preferably with the bone in
1 large sweet onion, rough chop
2 large sweet onions medium dice
3 large carrots, rough chop
3 cups medium dice carrots
4 stalks of celery, rough chop
3 cups medium dice celery
8 cloves of garlic, chopped
4 to 8 TBS tomato paste
4 bay leaves
Bouquet Garni (small bundle) of fresh herbs -- parsley, oregano, marjoram, rosemary, thyme ...
2 or 3 TSP freshly ground black pepper or pepper mix
3 TSP sea salt
3 to 6 TSP fresh (not old) paprika
1/2 to 1 bottle drinkable cabernet or merlot, not too dry, or (my choice) sauvignon blanc--full bottle

Optional -- pearl onions, mushrooms ...

The recipe will involve 3 cooking segments -- 1) preparing the ingredients for the slow-cooker, about 30 minutes -- 2) straining and de-fatting the stock, and removing the fat, bones, and rubbery parts from the short ribs, about 30 minutes-- 3) reducing the stock, sauteeing some new veggies and combining the ingredients, about 30 to 45 minutes. The 3 cooking segments are spread out over a 24 hour period, which for me are usually the afternoon of the day before serving, the morning of the day the dish is served, and the evening of the meal.

Part 1:

On a large sheet pan place the short ribs in a single layer, douse them with olive oil and salt generously, then brown them in a 450 degree oven for about 30 minutes or longer until well colored.

Transfer to the bottom of a large slow cooker, including juices from the pan.

Add all other ingredients, and then enough water to bring to a level with the top layer of veggies. Slide bundle of herbs (Bouquet Garni) into pot at the side. If you have an unsalted demi-glace or stock (beef or chicken) you could add that in place of the water -- it is not necessary.

At this point you could add some optional spices, like 2 or 3 TSP of ground chipotle pepper, or ancho pepper, 1/2 TSP of liquid smoke, or 2 TSP of cumin, or whatever you think will taste good. Or you could save the modifications for the next time you make this.

So now you set the slow cooker for low heat and 12 hours, the night before, and come back in the AM to an all-pervasive aroma that makes you hungry for dinner before you've even had breakfast. That's what happens to me, anyway.

Part 2:

After the slow cooker pot has had a chance to cool a bit, transfer , carefully and gently, all of the short ribs to an appropriate sized dutch oven, with enough room left over to add more sauteed veggies, and all of the stock.

After you've transferred the short ribs, you can slide the rib bones out of the meat and carefully pull or cut off the rubbery membrane that sleeves the bone.

Strain the cooking stock through a chinois or a fine mesh sieve and carefully compress the solid matter against the mesh to extract all that slow-cooked goodness.

Transfer liquid to tall 1 or 2 quart containers with lids and place in freezer until fat has congealed.

Part 3:

Then remove fat from top of the frozen stock containers with a spoon and discard.

Reduce stock by about 1/3 at a simmer.

Saute in 3 TBS neutral oil over medium high heat 3 cups each of medium dice carrots and medium diced celery until just softening about 5 to 8 minutes, and reserve.

Saute over medium high heat 4 cups of medium dice sweet onion in 3 TBS olive oil. until well browned but not burned, about 15 to 25 minutes. Nonstick pans are good for this. You are carmelizing the onion to get sweetness to balance the flavor of the braise, so this is an important step.

Add to stock and simmer for 30 minutes more. All of that oniony good sweet flavor will dissolve into the stew.

Taste and correct the seasoning with additional sea salt and freshly ground black pepper as required.

Pour stock and onion mixture back into dutch oven with short ribs and simmer for another 30 minutes.

Add any optional veggies, such as mushrooms or pearl onions (you can saute them a little first if you like to build flavor and pre-soften them)

Add carrots and celery to dutch oven and continue to simmer for 15 minutes.

Correct the seasoning again and serve. Add some Hot Sauce to the pot if all of your customers will approve.

You can serve this dish with flat egg noodles, or potatoes of almost any kind. You can see Scalloped Potatoes in the dishes above and below. To the recipe in the link above I also add a couple of cups of grated sweet onion sprinkled on every 3rd layer or so.

As I said earlier, to my own serving I add my SR Virgin Fresh Red Cayenne-Cherry Pepper Sauce that's made with fresh pepper juice, fresh garlic juice, and fresh onion juice as well as a little sea salt and rice wine vinegar. !!!

This dish gets better and better over the week to 10 days from making it, and you can serve it with different sides each time.

By the way, it freezes very well and keeps in the fridge for quite a while since it's immersed in the solidified gelatin of the sauce.

If you make it, let me know!

Yours in flavor and heat,

~Ted

Technorati Tags: Beef Short Ribs Beef Short Ribs Recipes Recipes Good with Hot Sauce

Hot Sauce Reviews: 2 Tropical Pepper Co. Habanero Sauces

2009-11-10T12:00:00.014-05:00

All right, I'm still waiting for some more Benito's Hot Sauces. In the meantime, let's take a look at 2 Hot Sauces I picked up at the supermarket, that I've seen there and elsewhere recently, and have been curious about. Since these are apparently widely available, they may be of interest to you, too! They are from the Tropical Pepper Co. and labeled XXTRA HOT Habanero Pepper Sauce, and Special Edition XXXXTRA HOT Habanero Pepper Sauce.

Even better they are cheap -- they may have been on special; I'm not sure -- at $1.89 each, although on the website below they list for $2.99 ea.

There is a web site listed -- http://www.tropicalpepper.com/ -- and the bottle states that the sauce is packed for the H.L. Benndorf Corp., in Medford, NJ.

Made in Costa Rica, as are many others, including the fairly famous Dave's Gourmet line, these sauces appear to have a nice, thick body in the bottle with visible bits and pepper seeds, and a bright orange-red color.

The listed ingredients are the same for both sauces, and except for the labels, the sauces and the bottles appear identical.

Tropical Pepper Co. XXtra Hot Habanero Pepper Sauce &

Tropical Pepper Co. Special Reserve XXXXtra Hot Habenero Pepper Sauce

Ingdts: Crushed Habanero Peppers, Salt, Acetic Acid, Starch, Onion Powder

The nose of both sauces is primarily Vinegar (in this case Acetic Acid) and Brine, with a hint of Pepper and a touch of something sweet, the pineapple, no doubt.

The 1/4 teaspoon to the tongue test gives initially a Salt/Vinegar taste with a moderate Habanero heat and flavor with just a touch of sweetness, and a very minor hint of onion. This is true of both sauces, and except for more seeds and pulp in the Special Edition XXXXtra Reserve and possibly a tiny bit more heat, both sauces are essentially the same.

These are fairly simple sauces with a little more heat than, say, Tabasco, or a lot more than Frank's, but with a primarily Pepper/Vinegar/Salt flavor profile that will be familiar to Louisiana Style Hot Sauce people

In short, good, basic sauces with some kick and thickness. They would make a nice Wing Sauce. And they would be good for anyone who wants or needs a traditional sauce with more heat and thickness.

They aren't particularly tropical or Caribbean, in spite of the added pineapple.

Don't expect sweetness or fruit.

Recommended. Especially at the price.

Don't know why they bother to have 2 separate sauces.

You could always buy the Special Reserve XXXXTra Hot and say you spent 6 bucks for it ... sounds fancy enough.

Yours in heat and flavor,

~Ted

Technorati Tags: best hot sauce caribbean hot sauces Flavor Profile hot sauce review Tropical Pepper Co. Special Reserve XXXXtra Hot Habanero Pepper Sauce Tropical Pepper Co. XXtra Hot Habanero Pepper Sauce

Mexican Hot Sauce Review: Cholula

2009-11-03T08:00:00.001-05:00

Time out from Benito's Hot Sauce Reviews -- which are upcoming. I want to talk about Cholula Hot Sauce from Mexico. Widely available in supermarkets, I have been told by many people over the years that it is their hot sauce of choice. I myself have liked it for its "aged" pepper flavor and less vinegary smell and taste.

Cholula says their "Original" sauce is made from a paste of Arbol and Piquin peppers and it has an orange-red color in the bottle and appears to have a thickness to it.

Cholula Hot Sauce:

Ingdts: Water, Arbol and Piquin Peppers, Salt, Vinegar, Xanthan Gum

Interesting that water is the first and principal ingredient, because this is a thick and finely textured sauce indeed -- that must be a finely ground and fairly dry pepper paste they use, if the added water only brings it to a ketchup-like consistency!

OK, to the nose there is a classic Arbol pepper note with Vinegar, not at all lemony like the Louisiana sauces, and the Pepper nose is aged.

The 1/4 teaspoon to the tongue gives a Salty/Vinegar and then Aged Pepper flavor with Heat building mid-tongue, with a nice Vinegar and Salt finish and a fine peppery heat on par with, or a little hotter than, Tabasco, for well over a minute.

There is a nice balance to the flavor and I can see that this sauce could be used where other more vinegary sauces would over-sour or over-brighten, and the aged pepper flavor is nice and deep if not quite as complex as that of Tabasco.

The pepper flavor is different from that of Tabasco, too, earthier, tasting more of pepper solids.

Although I have tried Cholula in the past, I have a new appreciation for it -- more interesting than most of the Louisiana style, Vinegar-based sauces -- thick like Frank's or Trappeys -- it makes a great base for a Wing sauce, it's good on a burger, great with eggs or soup, and a very good all-around sauce.

Highly Recommended.

I got my bottle at the supermarket and it was cheap by the standard of "high-end" Hot Sauces.

Yours in heat and flavor,

~Ted

Technorati Tags: Best Hot Sauce Cholula Hot Sauce hot sauce review

Making Your Own Hot Sauce -- Freshness and Intensity Win!

2009-10-27T08:00:00.009-04:00

There are lots of recipes out there for making hot sauce at home -- most use a food processor or a blender -- and most require that you heat or cook your ingredients, partly for safety and partly for room temperature storage.

That's no good. Bad for flavor. Also, it's more like making a salsa, with all the skins and chunky bits. So let's use a juicer instead.

Without getting into a big discussion about cooked or pickled versus fresh flavors, let me just say that I find most bottled sauces have diminished the flavor of their ingredients in the bottling and preserving process, and often attempt to make up for that with heat, vinegar, and spices.

Anyway, I'm going to tell you today how I like to make hot sauce, Fresh Hot Sauce, in much the same way that you can make Juice, using a home juicer. Lots of home juicers will do a pretty good job of juicing, and the best ones will separate only the dry, high-silica indigestible skin and pulp from the micro-solid bearing juice, which is what you want. The better machines will also do it at low speed -- under 200 RPM -- so as not to flash cook the juice, which alters the flavor.

There are a couple of added steps to the process beyond simple juice making, which include allowing for settling, that is the separation of the juice into 2 layers, one fairly clear and the other the color of the fruit and containing the micro solids, and also the adding of some sea salt -- not a lot -- and some rice vinegar, to prevent spoilage or fermentation during settling.

Like any fresh juice this Hot Pepper Sauce NEEDS to be Refrigerated, since it is only minimally stabilized with salt and vinegar.

You can use this method to make ANY Hot Pepper Sauce, of course -- if you want to make a sauce like the spicier Caribbean Sauces with fruit and mustard, go ahead. Just modify the basic sauce and add Papaya, or Mango and Hot Mustard and Spices, as you please. Copy a sauce you like, or make one up.

But you have to begin someplace, so let's start with the a simple one.

Let's say we want to make a Cayenne Hot Pepper Sauce, in some ways like the classic Louisiana Vinegar Sauces we are all familiar with, but not with so much Vinegar, and mostly Pepper flavored.

We want it it be Hot, naturally Sweet from the Peppers, Sour/Bright from the Peppers and the Vinegar, and a little Salty, all in balance.

Here following is such a recipe that allows you to control the amount of Heat, and adjust the Sweet, Salty, and Sour components to taste.

Red Bell Pepper

Red Cayenne Pepper

Red Cherry Pepper -- optional -- adds additional depth of flavor

Fresh Sweet Onion

Fresh Garlic

Japanese Style Rice Vinegar

Sea Salt

Juice the peppers in sequence, and in separate bowls -- you can add the onion and garlic juice to the same bowls and combine with the hot pepper juice, but keep them separate from the Sweet Bell Pepper Juice.

You will have to decide how much you want of each ingredient -- there is no "correct" way.

Most often you will want 4 or so times as much juice from Sweet Red Bell Pepper as you do from Hot Pepper.

Combine All of the Hot Pepper Juice, the Onion and Garlic Juice, 1/2 the Rice Vinegar, and Sea Salt in one large bowl with room enough for the additional Red Bell Pepper Juice.

Now comes the Manly (or Womanly if you are a tough Chick) Part, where you taste what you've made and decide how much you want to lessen the kick, or not,with the addition of the Sweet, and Non-Hot, Red Bell Pepper Juice.

So do it! Taste your Hot Sauce and see if it's Just Right, or Too Hot! I find a 1/4 teaspoon to the middle of the tongue is just right.

Whatever the heat, I think you will be surprised at the intensity and bright flavor of the sauce, and by intensity, I do not mean Heat, but Pepper Flavor, enhanced by Onion and Garlic.

Most often I find the straight Red Cayenne and Red Cherry too hot (peppers vary in heat) and I like to cut it with the Red Bell Pepper Juice, but, hey, if you are a mensch, or the female equivalent, please yourself.

OK, now you have added, or not, the Red Bell Pepper Juice to achieve the heat level you want, you can taste again for Salt, and Acidity. You know you've added enough salt when the pepper flavor seems to pop and the sweetness of the juice is enhanced. It should not taste Salty. The salt is necessary for 2 reasons -- to bring out the flavor of the Pepper Sauce, and to preserve it. The Vinegar provides more Acidity and also adds to flavor and preservation. Add to taste, remembering that you need about 10% by volume for stable cold storage.

Great. Now you need to store the Almost Hot Sauce. I find that the flavors develop over time -- weeks or months in the fridge, but the Sauce is good right out of the Juicer and mixed.

One good way to store the Hot Sauce is in well-cleaned clear Gallon Milk Containers, and you can pour off your mixing bowls into the gallon containers using a kitchen funnel. The standard pressure fit cap is a good idea, too, 'cause if you didn't add enough salt or vinegar and fermentation begins, the cap will just blow off! Check it each day over a week or so.

I personally allow my sauce to sit in the refrigerator for a couple of months since I find that the flavor develops over time, but like I say -- you do not have to.

Do refrigerate the sauce a week or so to see if you have added enough salt and vinegar to prevent fermentation.

That's it. Bottle it, jar it, whatever you want. Remember, you still have to refrigerate it.

I think you will be amazed at the difference between this High Intensity Hot Sauce and any other you have tasted.

Just for fun, do a side by side comparison with your (previously) favorite sauce.

If you do, or do not agree, with me that this is a better way to get big flavor, let me know!

Yours in heat and flavor,

~Ted

Technorati Tags: Best Hot Sauce Fresh Hot Sauce Homemade Hot Sauce Hot Sauce Recipe

Caribbean Hot Sauce Reviews: Melinda's Mango and Melinda's XXXXtra Reserve

2009-10-22T15:22:00.004-04:00

OK, as promised I'm looking at 2 Hot Sauces this time, Melinda's Mango and Melinda's XXXXtra Reserve, which are very different from each other, but actually quite complementary. As I will explain.

These sauces are both made by Figueroa Brothers -- they are fairly inexpensive, available in some supermarkets, and many places online. You can buy them directly as well.

The XXXXtra Reserve offers some heat and a great aged Habanero flavor, but because of the big Habanero flavor the other ingredients don't contribute very much to the overall flavor of the sauce.

The Mango sauce is barely hot at all, but offers great Mango and Citrus flavor, but needs a good kick to get it moving.

Here is the ingredient listing:

Melinda's XXXXtra Reserve

Red Habanero Peppers, Fresh Carrots, Onions, Lime Juice, Vinegar, Garlic, Salt

Melinda's Mango

Fresh Mangoes, Fresh Carrots, Sugar, Cane Vinegar, Lemon Juice, Habanero Peppers, Tomato Paste, Onion, Vinegar, 0.1% Sodium Benzoate

The XXXXtra Reserve has a lovely strong Aged Pepper Nose with Vinegar/Lime and a bit of Brininess. On the Tongue, there is again that wonderful strong Aged Pepper, mixed with , and followed by a Lime/Vinegar Saltiness, gradually finishing over a couple of minutes to a classic Habanero needle like pepperiness. Texture is fairly thick with seeds and some other bits.

This is a great sauce by itself and could be used in many ways like a kicked-up Tabasco substitute. Not quite as Vinegary, more heat, but not crazy heat.

Melinda's Mango has, as you would expect, a strong, Mango Fruity, Citrus/Lime Nose. On the tongue, I taste the same, but with a tiny bit of Onion and Garlic (can't taste the Tomato), some small Pepper, and a lingering sweetness. No saltiness tasted. Texture is thick with a few seeds.

This is a good time to mention that the Melinda's website includes quite a few recipes, along with each Hot Sauce, many from Dave DeWitt, of The Whole Chile Pepper Book fame, which he considers a cook book, but is more than that, and these recipes give a good idea as to how to make use of the Melinda's Hot Sauces.

The truth is, though, that the Mango is not really a Hot Sauce; it's a Fruit Sauce, and of limited utility as a casual condiment. You are not likely to reach across the table for that Mango Sauce for your Scrambled Eggs, or your Steak. Well, I am not, anyway.

But the Mango Sauce does have a great flavor and does work Very Well with the XXXXtra Reserve.

So that's what I do with it -- I mix the XXXtra Reserve in 3 parts, with the Mango 1 part, and the combined sauce is GREAT! Hot, with a tasty Aged Pepper and Mango Fruit Flavor.

I Highly Recommend the combination.

As for the individual Sauces themselves, I do Recommend the XXXXtra Reserve, as a great standard Hot Sauce in the Louisiana Style with Big Pepper, Lime/Vinegar and Salt, and I also Recommend the Mango with the Reservation that it is not a Hot Sauce, but a Fruit Sauce that has to be used like one. In recipes or with something else. Like ... XXXXtra Reserve.

Sometime in the future I'm going to take a look at some of the other Melinda's Sauces -- there are a lot, and I'm curious.

By the way, both of these reviewed sauces were purchased directly from the online store at Melinda's, at quite good prices, $3.43 for the Quatros Equis (that's XXXX, for you), and $3.43 for the Mango. Or $35.98 , and $34.65, respectively, per Gallon. Smile.

Meanwhile, I'm expecting to review some of the Benito's Hot Sauces next time.

Yours in heat and flavor,

~Ted

Technorati Tags: hot sauce flavor hot sauce review hot sauce reviews best hot sauce caribbean hot sauce hot sauce melinda's hot sauce Melinda's XXXXtra Reserve Melinda's Mango

Caribbean Hot Sauce Reviews: Melinda's Hot Sauce

2009-10-20T08:00:00.009-04:00

I have called this Melinda's Original Habanero Pepper Sauce, but really, most if not all of Melinda's Sauces say Original Habanero Pepper Sauce on the Bottle -- this original sauce is really "Melinda's Hot Sauce", as distinguished from Melinda's XXXXtra Reserve, or Melinda's Mango.

Melinda's Sauces are produced in Costa Rica by Figueroa Bothers, Inc., headquartered in Dallas, TX.

If you like the Melinda's sauces you will be glad to know that you can purchase many of them BY THE GALLON from their company store, at quite a savings. So for instance, a gallon of the standard Melinda's Hot Sauce, available for $34.65 would make 25+ 5 oz bottles of the stuff, and at $2.96 per bottle, you would be saving more than $40.

Cool to have a gallon of the stuff at the table, huh?

Check out the website; it's got a lot of stuff listed. OK, now to the review.

This sauce was one of my first non-Louisiana style Pepper Sauces, and I have fond memories of discovering it, especially since it did not hit me over the head with major Vinegar.

Melinda's Hot Sauce

Ingdts: Carrots, Red Habanero Peppers, Onions, Lime Juice, Vinegar, Garlic, Salt

As you can see the acid/sour components come 4th and 5th on the list, so the major flavor contributors would seem to be Carrot, Pepper and Onion.

This sauce is thick and orange in the bottle with some visible chunkiness -- it coats the bottle well when shaken and I would expect it to stick to what it was poured on and add to the thickness of a sauce.

To the Nose there is a fairly mild and well balanced Lime/Pepper Garlic mix, but no hint of heat and just a little Vinegar.

The 1/4 teaspoon test to the tongue gives a strong Lime taste first, followed by a classic habanero pepper heat and flavor with Carrot sweetness, some Garlic,and a lingering Saltiness.

The finish is fairly long, beginning with a strong Lime and fading to a Salty Habanero Pepperiness, and finally to a mild Pepper Heat on the front and mid-tongue over a minute or 2.

The heat is fairly mild, and well within the range of common and familiar Hot Sauces, although with a longer finish and a little more intensity.

This is an unbalanced sauce in that it supplies a nice range of Sweet, Sour, Salty, Hot, and Complex Pepper flavors, but with a predominant Lime Flavor, and it would be good in quite a range of foods, from Seafood to Wings, or on a Burger.

I think it would make an especially good sauce for those who are used to basic Louisiana style sauces and it would add a level of interest beyond what they expect.

I personally have tried it on many foods, including, recently, chicken sausages and Mexican Style Pulled Pork, or Carnitas (my admittedly inauthentic version, gringo that I am), and it was great.

You have to be careful in that Melinda's Hot Sauce does add a fairly strong Lime flavor to foods, especially when you add a goodly amount to compensate for the mild heat.

Recommended, especially for fish, seafood, and more mildly flavored foods that respond well to the addition of Lime and/or sweet(ish) foods where the Sweetness balances the Lime.

I purchased this Sauce from The Carolina Sauce Company for $3.75.

Next time, I'll do Melinda's Mango and Melinda's XXXXtra Reserve, and I'm doing them together for a reason. Can you guess what it is?

Yours in heat and flavor,

~Ted

Technorati Tags: hot sauce flavor hot sauce review hot sauce reviews best hot sauce caribbean hot sauce hot sauce melinda's hot sauce

Caribbean Style Hot Sauce Reviews: Dave's Crazy Caribbean Hot Sauce

2009-10-15T08:00:00.010-04:00

Next in the Caribbean Style Hot Sauce Reviews is Dave Hirschkopf's Crazy Caribbean which is more towards the traditional in the category with carrots as the highest proportion ingredient, common in Caribbean Sauces, followed by Habaneros and Red Chiles, Vinegar, Salt, Garlic, Lime Juice, Acetic Acid, Ascorbic Acid, and Xanthan Gum.

This is a thick orangy sauce, with some chunkiness apparent, in a tasteful (by Hot Sauce standards!) bottle. Dave's Gourmet Sauces are made in Costa Rica under contract to Dave's Gourmet.

The Nose goes with a strong Lime and Pepper note first, not a Habanero Pepper either, but more an aged Cayenne Pepper, followed by Vinegar and a small amount of Garlic with a tiny bit of Sweetness.

Interestingly, this sauce tastes very much like it smells, not always or even often the case with these hot sauces, with a first impression of Lime/Vinegar followed by some small Pepper Heat -- a bit less than Blair's Original Death Sauce for instance, and a nice aged pepper/lime finish that lasts for about a minute.

The texture is pleasantly chunky and thick with what seems to be bits of carrot (I could be wrong), and will stay where you put it on food.

Although I like the flavor I must admit to a bit of disappointment that there isn't more punch (not heat) and intensity to the flavors in this sauce -- you will need to use quite a bit to get the predominant lime and chile pepper flavor to shine.

I tried this sauce on scrambled eggs, fried catfish, and in a chick pea/bean salad and it worked well when used VERY liberally; without enough sauce you would hardly know it was there. Except on the eggs, of course -- you do not need a lot on the eggs!

I even liked it on a burger and in some beef stew.

Recommended, but not highly. Worth a try.

Carolina Sauce Company had it for $4.99 against a list of $5.99.

Next time, Melinda's Original Habanero Pepper Sauce.

Yours in heat and flavor,

~Ted

Technorati Tags: hot sauce flavor hot sauce review hot sauce reviews best hot sauce caribbean hot sauce hot sauce dave's crazy caribbean hot sauce

Caribbean Style Hot Sauce Reviews: Blair's Original Death Sauce

2009-10-13T08:00:00.009-04:00

There is no one kind of Caribbean Hot Sauce -- some are fairly simple, though more complex than standard Loiusiana Hot Sauce, often adding Lime Juice, Garlic, Onion, and Carrot, and using Habanero, or its siblings Scotch Bonnet or Goat Pepper, and some get more complex. adding mustard, tropical fruit, such as papaya or mango, and herbs and spices.

Today I am going to start looking at some of the simpler sauces, which I find more useful in a range of foods.

Also distinguishing them from Loiusiana Style sauces is the fact that Vinegar is not the most important ingredient, that is, these are not principally Vinegar Sauces -- for most of them, you will see that Habanero Pepper is the first or second listed ingredient, with Vinegar well down the list, except for Blair's Original Death Sauce, which might be considered a hybrid sauce anyway.

Blair's Original Death (you gotta love these sauce names with each one trying to outdo the next in frat-level outrageousness) has been around a while, for one of the newer sauces, being Blair Lazar's first hot sauce and the start of what is now a considerable business of hot sauces and snacks under the ExtremeFood label.

BODS is a step towards more flavor and more heat and with its popularity brought more exotic hot sauce to the mainstream -- to this day it remains at the top level of well reviewed hot sauces.

Most of these Caribbean Sauces are orange-ish in color, and fairly thick, but BODS, no doubt due to its chipotle addition is darker with a reddish brown cast to it.

Now to the Blair's Original Death Sauce Review -- let's be clear -- it's NOT a death sauce, and only slightly hotter than, say Tabasco, for reference.

Blair's Original Death Sauce: red and orange habaneros, vinegar, fresh cayenne, smashed garlic, chipotle, lime juice, cilantro, fresh herbs and spices

Even though ingredients are listed in order highest proportion the Nose says smoky chipotle first with an underlying layer of lime and vinegar, and just a hint of garlic. It's a very pleasant smoky sweet smell and I can imagine it with many types of foods. Not much spiciness or heat to it.

The 1/4 teaspoon test straight to the tongue says sour lime and vinegar first, followed by smoky chipotle, not much garlic, and a nice smooth peppery finish that lasts a minute or so on the front of the tongue. I do not get much of the characteristic Habanero sweet fruitiness and I guess the Chipotle just overwhelms it. The chipotle and lime together give an almost Worcestershire sauce like tamarind flavor.

Texture is thick and has some pepper and pepper seed chunks. Heat is a 3 on a scale from 1 to 10.

This is not a delicate sauce and the principal pepper flavor is not that of fresh pepper but rather of smoky chipotle. A good sauce for more robust and meaty foods. The BODS bottle comes in a box that offers Suggested Uses including Chili, Bloody Marys, and Jambalaya, all of which I agree would be GREAT with it, and also, Clams, Oysters, and Crawfish, which I think might be overwhelmed.

I tried it on a bacon cheeseburger and in some beef short rib stew and was very happy.

I think of this as a transitional sauce, bridgeing Louisian Style Sauces and Caribbean Style with more Vinegar and Aged Pepper than most Caribbean Sauces, and less Vinegar and Salt than Louisiana Sauces. You can see from the Suggested Uses above that this sauce has its origins in the Louisiana style.

Fairly well balanced -- my preference would be for a little more fruity sweetness and heat and a little less vinegar, but, no matter -- this sauce is great with food.

Highly Recommended.

Since this is not a supermarket sauce, and unless you have a hot sauce store close by, you will have to order it online -- I picked it up from The Carolina Sauce Company. which shipped the same day I placed the order. List is $7.95 -- I picked it up for $6.25 not incl. delivery.

Next time I'll take a look at Dave's Crazy Caribbean Hot Sauce and Melinda's Original Habanero Pepper Sauce.

Yours in heat and flavor,

~Ted

Technorati Tags: hot sauce flavor hot sauce review hot sauce reviews best hot sauce caribbean hot sauce hot sauce

Exotic Hot Sauces -- What are they, and are they good?

2009-10-08T08:00:00.011-04:00

I call any hot sauce you can't buy in a supermarket -- exotic. Generally speaking they fall into the various categories of hot sauces that are well known. Even if you can buy some of them in some supermarkets, many are not well known, and due to lack of general availability, I still consider them exotic.

Jennifer Trainer Thompson, in her book, "Hot Licks", breaks down North American sauces into the:

1) Mild Louisiana Style, or vinegar based sauces with cayenne and salt,

2) Often quite hot Caribbean Style, with habanero peppers, tropical fruits and sometimes vegetables (often carrot), herbs, spices, some vinegar and/or vinegar (often cider vinegar),

3) Mexican or Border Sauces in which dried and/or smoked peppers such as chipotle, arbol, piquin, and others predominate, along with fresh pepper, onion, herbs, spices, and some vinegar.

She also discusses

5) Caribbean Piques, made with vinegar, dried and fresh pepper, garlic/onion, and some herbs or spices, which are like a spicier more kicked up Louisiana Hot Sauce,

6) And Caribbean Sherries with sherry or rum (or other island alcohol) and peppers.

Trainer gives a bunch of recipes for making your own Hot Pepper Sauces, too, and points out that many of these sauces are basically home made in origin and continue to be so in their native countries.

Which means of course that you, too, can make your own hot sauces, if you wish.

And that's what happened in this country some time back, and is continuing to happen right now, with new hot sauces being introduced all of the time.

A lot of those are standard hot sauces with the same cast of characters as ingredients, and differ from each other only in balance and proportion, but some started to add Hot Pepper Extract, which is just another way of saying these sauces include short cuts to greater heat, sometimes crazy heat, for which there is an adoring and CRAZY public (not me), who like their Hot Pepper Sauces jacked up with Capsaicin or close analogues.

For me that just pushes the flavor into the background -- I mean peppers and the other ingredients in the sauce have flavor, but if you can't use more than a 1/2 a drop of the sauce, how much flavor are you going to get?

I am interested though in those newer sauces up to about 50,000 Scoville Units (about 25X hotter than Tabasco FYI), without extracts and I'm going to review a few, starting with some Caribbean and Central American Style sauces, some made here in the US of A, and some from ... elsewhere.

Some of those with staying power and some of those which have attracted favorable attention include:

Blair's Original Death Sauce

Ingdts: red and orange habaneros, vinegar, fresh cayenne, smashed garlic, chipotle, lime juice, cilantro, fresh herbs and spices

Melinda's Habanero Pepper Sauce

Ingdts: fresh carrots, choice red habanero peppers, onions, lime juice, vinegar, garlic, salt

Melinda's XXXXtra Reserve

Ingdts: hand-select choice red habanero peppers, fresh carrots, onions, lime juice, vinegar, garlic, salt

Benito's Original Naranja Hot Sauce

Ingdts: organic orange habaneros, fresh orange bell peppers, garlic, carrots and white onions

Marie Sharp's Mild Habanero Sauce

Ingdts: red habanero peppers, fresh carrots, onions, key lime juice, vinegar, garlic, and salt

Benito's White Hot

Ingdts: organic bhut jolokias, organic orange habaneros, organic ginger, organic lime juice, fresh onions and garlic

Stay tuned for the reviews!

Yours in heat and flavor,

~Ted

Technorati Tags: hot sauce flavor hot sauce review hot sauce reviews best hot sauce caribbean hot sauce hot sauce

4 Hot Pepper Sauce Reviews -- The Winner?

2009-10-06T08:00:00.023-04:00

Is there a winner? Well, maybe.

To be honest, these are all Vinegar Sauces first and Hot Sauces 2nd (or 3rd or 4th).

And to be fair, there is not a lot of heat in any of the sauces except the Tabasco, and that I consider mild to moderate. The others I consider anemic from a heat standpoint.

But you can get heat from these last 3 – you just have to add a hell of lot of Hot Sauce.

Trappey’s has a recipe for “Devil Wings” on the label that calls for a 12 oz bottle of sauce for 5 lbs of wings – that’s a lot of sauce, but it still won’t really be a lot of heat.

You will however get a lot of Vinegar acidity and Lemony flavor as well as some Aged Pepper Flavor and Saltiness.

If you were to make the same recipe with Tabasco, you wouldn’t need anywhere near as much Hot Pepper Sauce to get the same level of heat, but you would get a lot more Aged Pepper Flavor, and not so much acidity.

If you made the recipe with Crystal, you’d get a lot Aged Pepper flavor, not too much heat, and a fair amount of acidity.

Tabasco and Crystal are the most interesting Hot Pepper Sauces here, Tabasco more so, and Crystal for its Aged Pepper complexity.

To sum up on a scale of 0 to 5 with 5 being the MOST (relative to each other):

Hot Sauce	Sour-Bright	Sweet-Pepper	Aged-Pepper	Saltiness	Heat
Tabasco	5	4	4	3	2
Crystal	5	2	5	2	0.5
Trappey’s	4	3	3	3	1
Frank’s	3	0	2	2	0.25

By my standards, all of these sauces are overly Sour – some foods can stand up to that, and some can’t. Finally, I have to say, these Hot Pepper Sauces are mislabeled. The principal flavor is Vinegar with a little (sometimes very little) Heat and Pepper flavor. What they will do in to food is make it brighter, more sour, a little salty and a little hot. If that's what your dish needs, these sauces will fill the bill.

I have to admit Frank's is a bit of a disappointment with no Pepper Sweetness, next to no heat, and a little bitterness.

Trappey's is a good choice if you need some thickness and body to your sauce, and Crystal, if you if you like the Tabasco style but do not like the heat, and Tabasco is in a class by itself as far as complexity of aged pepper flavor goes and interesting balance of flavors.

To all of you who swear that one of the above sauces is better by a longshot than the other 3, I say -- Maybe so, for you and what you cook or put your favorite on, but all 4 are more similar than they are different.

Next time: What about Exotic or Specialty Hot Sauces?

Also, how can we make a better Hot Pepper Sauce? A Real One.

Yours in Flavor and Heat,

~Ted

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Frank's Red Hot -- Hot Pepper Sauce Review #4

2009-10-01T08:00:00.007-04:00

Now for Frank’s Red Hot:

Aged Cayenne Red Peppers
Vinegar
Water
Salt
Garlic Powder

Frank’s is an orange red in the bottle but with a thicker, more viscous appearance compared to Crystal or Tabasco, but similar to Trappey’s in that respect..

The nose says Lemony Vinegar with something else, maybe Garlic?, a little Aged Pepper and some Brininess. Quite mild overall, the main effect is of sourness. No pepper sweetness to the nose.

On the tongue we have a thick sauce with Sour Lemon, some Bitterness, more than for the other 3 sauces, some Aged Pepper flavor, and mild saltiness. The finish is fairly rapid with heat falling off as well.. There is a background flavor, Garlic or Garlic Powder perhaps, and maybe that is where the bitterness comes in. This sauce has the least background Pepper sweetness.

Principal effect on food will be lemony acid and aged pepper, with a small amount of salt and a little heat. The thickness of the sauce will add some body to soups and stews especially if it is added in the larger amounts necessary to have real effect on flavor.

OK. There you have it. All four supermarket sauces tasted and critiqued.

Next time I will sum up what I've learned about America's most popular Hot Sauces -- as measured by bottles sold -- and what I think of them as a condiment for food.

Stay tuned.

Yours in heat and flavor,

~Ted

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