 Rob on Hot Sauces
I only have a few here but my favorites are listed here. I generally like it hot, but tasty. I begin with Tabasco, then it's alphabetical. I give consistency & appearance, taste, compatible foods, ingredients, address of company, and heat-level.
Thickness of sauce ranges from watery, to medium thick (which is actually quite thick), to very thick (difficult to get out of refrigerated bottle even by shaking bottle). Thickness is often associated with less vinegary taste. Heat ranges from 1 (not very hot) to 2 (Tabasco sauce) to 6 (an habanero sauce on the hotter side) to 10 (very hot capsaicin-added sauce). A mild or medium salsa, would be a zero or lower by comparison-- we're talking *hot*. Now these are my subjective perceptual grades of heat, and I am constantly revising their relative values, especially since having a lot of *really* hot stuff (e.g. Endorphin Rush) makes everything else, even Melinda's 4X, seem quite mild, and Tabasco like vinegary water... and if I haven't had any in a long time, even Tabasco holds a punch.
I enjoy the taste, heat, texture, harmony within the sauce and with other foods, and color! This is why I will comment on what the sauce has been suited for in my experience. A major intent is of this list is to assist readers as a practical buying guide, so I cross-reference and compare many of the sauces in their reviews. Hopefully, if I mention a familiar culinary context, or a familiar hot sauce in comparison, the reviews will give useful information rather than an empty marketing blurb. Entries are revised periodically as my experience grows with any particular sauce.
TABASCO (red) - Everyone knows this sauce already, but the smoky flavor they get from this variety of hot pepper is really unique. Watery consistency and vinegary. Good for Gobbing on anything. Aged for several years, essential for the deep pungency of this sauce, which you realize if you've ever had fresh Tabasco peppers, or even fresh hot red peppers, and notice these don't taste anything like Tabasco sauce. I've heard that a hot sauce from Cajun chef Paul Prudhomme's label tastes similar but even more pungent and hot, but I haven't found it yet to verify, although I have tried Island Treasure which fits this description too. McIlhenny also makes a green sauce, which is Jalapeno based (but probably great in guacamole), and therefore has the slightly chemical taste of that pepper. Also keep your eyes out for Tabasco Habanero Sauce. INGREDIENTS: vinegar, red pepper, salt - ADDRESS: McIlhenny Company; Avery Island, LA 7013; (800) 634-9599 - HEAT LEVEL 2
ASS IN SPACE - Big brother to Ass in the Tub. The taste is very reminiscent of red savina sauces (e.g. Blair's After Death, Melinda's 4-X) but doesn't have that over-the-top level of heat that Blair's does. But what is it made of? The answer is cayenne. Wow, I've never tasted a cayenne sauce like this! It must be made from fresh, not-too-aged, peppers. Personally I prefer aged cayenne sauce (e.g. Crystal's), but if you like this bright red savina-pepper-like (tomato-like) flavor but Blair's or Melinda's is just way too much heat, try this one... but I warn you it's still very hot compared to Tabasco's... HEAT LEVEL - 5.
BLAIR'S AFTER DEATH SAUCE... Feel Alive! Probably one of the best tasting capsaicin-added hot sauces around. The hotter version of Blair's Death Sauce. See listing under DAVE's if you don't know what capsaicin-added means. Uses regular habaneros as well as the super-hot and super-tasty Red Savina, which tastes a bit tomato-like. Also you can easily taste the Cayenne and Chipotle peppers as well as the herbs. This tastes like a hot sauce should, and it is *hot*, and it is *good*. Good in bloody-marys, absolutely stunning on raw oysters. Probably good on most anything, such as fried chicken, wings, or in burgers too, but be aware of the strong tomato-y taste from the red habaneros, and the powerfully immediate and slightly chemical kick from the capsaicin-- it may not be to your liking with all foods... however if you like it, it's an extremely fresh-tasting sauce, reminiscent of the vietnamese Tuong-ot Sriracha. Make a LOTTERY-BURGER while making patties for your next barbecue with Blair's After Death and see who wins the lottery! Consistency- thick, dark red with some pepper seeds. Rave rave. Capsaicin Added. For a similar kick in a dry form, try Blair's Death Rain pepper powder. Just a pinch, and you're a goner (unless you're a real chilehead). Much, much hotter than the good and already-very-hot Chile Addict Habanero Powder. INGREDIENTS: Red & orange habaneros, vinegar, fresh cayenne, smashed garlic, chipotle, pepper extract, lime juice, cilantro, fresh herbs and spices. No preservatives. ADDRESS: Gardner Resources, Inc.; PO Box 363; Highlands, NJ 07732. HEAT LEVEL 8.5
BLUE MOUNTAIN COUNTRY Hot Pepper Sauce - This is unquestionably my favorite sauce, made in Costa Rica. Dark red sauce with a dark taste made with habaneros or scotch bonnets, this sauce is plenty hot (one of the hottest non-capsaicin-added sauces), simply made with a watery consistency, but somehow is honestly the most tasty. No gimmicky ingredients here. And this is cheap! I get it for $1.89! Buy five at a time! Good on anything! If you want a hotter Tabasco which you can use in any culinary mood, but with a darker, more complex taste, this is it. I take a teaspoonful when I'm sick, and it's a pleasure. It's not too vinagery, so it can really go well with lots of foods one may shy away from using something tangy like Tabasco. Unfortunately, this sauce is sometimes hard-to-find, as I haven't seen it in some of the big hot-catalogs; I get mine at my local latin-american foods store. INGREDIENTS: Hot peppers, vinegar, sugar, salt and xantan gum. ADDRESS: Imported by: eve sales co.; Bronx, NY 10473. HEAT LEVEL - 6.
BROTHER BRU-BRU'S African Hot Sauce (Hot). You gotta love this sauce after looking at the hilarious picture on the label of presumably none other than Brother Bru-Bru himself. This is one sauce with very unusual tastes from African spices that really holds together and is good eating. Good on steaks and burnt outside, rare-inside red meats. Good on game too I suspect. I found the contrast of spices to be so unusual that I needed to be in the mood for this sort of rough-hewn kick, but the notes inspired are those of exotic bark, hence the recommendation with manly barbecues and game. If you want strong cooking spices but could use less exotica, you may enjoy the Dragon Fire sauce. Try using part Bru-Bru's in a recipe for an unusual but good bloody mary. The ingredients, unfortunately, do not divulge the particular "african spices" used. Oh well. It's good. Medium thick, brown color. INGREDIENTS: Vinegar, water, imported and domestic peppers, garlic and assorted african spices. ADDRESS: Brother Bru-Bru's, PO Box 2964 Venice, CA 90291; (310) 396-9033. HEAT LEVEL - 2.5
CHILE ADDICT THERMONUCLEAR MELTDOWN 4 SAUCE - A sauce very simiar to Brown Adobe's Oso Hot sauce, it has much of the smoothness I rave about in Oso Hot. Wow, it is smoooooooth! As a bonus, the taste combination is slightly more complex, as it contains four peppers: chipotle, red habanero, red jalapeno, and New Mexico red chile. For less heat but more smoothness, try Coyote Cocina's Chipotle sauce. Try also their dry Chile Addict Habanero Pepper Powder. Good flavor, and similar heat level with enough sprinkling. For a super-hot pepper powder, try Blair's Death Rain. HEAT LEVEL - (still evaluating, but approx 5-6.5)
COYOTE COCINA CHIPOTLE HOT SAUCE - Mark Miller does it again. This sauce may not be the hottest (it's chipotle-based) but darned if it's the smoothest hot sauce I've ever had the pleasure of tasting. This is even smoother than the Oso Hot, which is a different type of sauce [habanero] anyhow. This one's aftertaste stretches "out" instead of "down," and you can't tell exactly when the aftertaste has ended because it brings your taste buds along gradually until it just wisps away. Amazing. Great on burgers, and probably a lot of other things like asian cold noodle dishes. For a similar dark taste in a hotter sauce, try Gil's Crying Tongue, which uses habaneros, but smokes them to achieve a smoothness reminiscent of chipotle. INGREDIENTS: water, chipotle chile, tomato paste, onions, cider vinegar, garlic, spices, salt, xanthum gum, and 0.1% sodium benzoate added as a preservative. ADDRESS: see Coyote Cocina Howlin' Hot Sauce, below. HEAT LEVEL - (still evaluating, but 3-3.5).
COYOTE COCINA HOWLIN' HOT SAUCE - This ties for my favorite hot sauce, made in Costa Rica for Coyote Cocina. I believe this is from Mark Miller, proprietor of the famous New Mexican (Santa Fe) Coyote Cafe restaurants. He also used to have a restaurant called Santa Fe Grille in Berkeley, CA, which may still be around... Mainly an onion and scotch-bonnet pepper sauce, but his secret ingredients make this taste wonderful, similar to Inner Beauty, but not fruity, and he keeps this sauce hot. It's one of the hotter habenero sauces I've had (excepting of course the capsaicin-added sauces). Medium thick, happy bright orange, with lots of wonderful pulp and seeds, a texture and taste very similar to the MELINDA's 3X (XXX) sauce. Great on anything, I go through my Coyote Cocina bottles the fastest! Fry, bake, or just pour it on before eating, and this happy sauce will make you happy too. INGREDIENTS: water, scotch bonnet peppers, vinegar, modified food starch, onion, garlic, salt, approved spices, 0.1% sodium benzoate added as a preservative. ADDRESS: Coyote Cocina; 1590 San Mateo Lane; Santa Fe, NM 87505; (800) 866-HOWL! HEAT LEVEL - 6.0
CRYSTAL, Louisana's pure extra-hot hot sauce. I always keep a bottle around because this is my only cayenne hot sauce. The taste is really different, it's like... cayenne powder. Hm... I take this one in teaspoons too when I have a cold. Compared with Trappey's Red Devil Cayenne hot sauce, I prefer Crystal because of a deeper, more complex taste perhaps due to the aging of the peppers. Remember the classic Tabasco taste is from several years of aging, resulting in pungency, not a light fresh taste. Watery consistency, thick bright tomato red. Crystal also makes a milder sauce which is not labelled "extra-hot." INGREDIENTS: Aged red cayenne peppers, distilled vinegar, water, salt, natural flavorings, xanthan gum. ADDRESS: Gaumer Foods, Inc; New Orleans, LA 70119. HEAT LEVEL - 2
DAVE'S HURTIN' HABANERO SAUCE - This Dave's does not have added capsaicin, but is still very hot. Medium thick and dull orange and good habanero taste, if not as fresh-tasting as some (e.g. Coyote Cocina Howlin' Hot and the less hot... oh I can't remember the other one...) HEAT LEVEL - 6.
DAVE'S GOURMET INSANITY SAUCE - The first sauce to feature capsaicin extract, the hot chemical from peppers used in pepper-spray mace. Very very hot. Wash your hands after eating, or you will soon have inadvertent burning sensations all over your body. Taste is dark and chemical-tasting, and most people seem to agree. Since I don't really taste peppers or anything natural I really recognize, I don't like the taste, but the heat is incredible. The first time you try something this hot, it's really quite an experience, and hard to believe... try only a drop at first, even if you are a chilehead. Dave is a genius. I like to add it to other hot foods which already have great taste but are not as hot as I like. Medium thick with no chunks. Very dark brown and opaque with a visible red oily-film of capsaicin-laden trouble if you look closely. My final question to Dave is: will anyone ever extract the "hot" chemical that seems common to black pepper and ginger (make fresh-ginger tea and steep for 20-30 minutes, and you'll see what I mean), and combine it with capsaicin in a red chile-pepper hot sauce? Capsaicin Extract Added. HEAT LEVEL- 9
DAVE'S GOURMET INSANITY II SAUCE - This one seems just as hot, but doesn't have that chemical after taste of the regular Insanity. Still, it doesn't taste like a simple pepper-and-vinegar sauce, but it is good, and is based on horseradish. Capsaicin Extract Added. HEAT LEVEL - 9
DAVE'S SIRACHA SAUCE - This one is a sauce modelled after the Vietnamese hot sauces. The taste is very different from the Tuong ot Sriracha Sauce, which has a characteristic fresh herbal taste. Dave's is simpler, has lots of noticeable garlic, and perhaps more suited to your taste if you are not used to Tuong ot Sriracha.
DRAGON FIRE - A peppery sauce made with Habanero, Cayenne, and with the obvious taste of various barbecue-appropriate spices such as garlic and black pepper. Not overly hot but this sauce is ideal for non chile-heads who like Tabasco-level sauces in their barbecue, but with more "rough" spices... spices appropriate for burgers and the like... A good level headed not-sweet and not-too-vinegary sauce. For a more exotic spiced hot sauce, try Brother Bru-Bru's, which is also apporpriate for barbecues. HEAT LEVEL - (Still Evaluating, 2-3.5)
ENDORPHIN RUSH - A deceptively sweet, molasses-based sauce comes on the tongue very smoothly. About five seconds later the capsaicin begins to kick in, and it gets hotter, and hotter, and hotter, and hotter! This keeps up for about a minute and if you haven't acclimatized your palate to hot foods the past week or so, you may be *very* uncomfortable. Endorphin or Dave's are good ones to give to the one in your life who always wants it hotter. The taste is not too chemical for a capsaicin-added sauce, but this sauce is best when added to other hot dishes which already have a strong flavor. The label says "avoid contact with eyes and sensitive areas." I've never tried it to combat pain via generating Endorphins-- this is almost a joke, but I really wouldn't be surprised if it worked... FYI there are hot capsaicin skin-packs on the market for this, since Endorphin Rush would be a mess after a while. Maybe swishing a spoonful (ouch) would help headaches too. I didn't tell you to try this... but e-mail me if it works. Capsaicin Extract Added. INGREDIENTS: Tomato paste, water, pepper extract, molasses, soy sauce. ADDRESS: Garden Row Foods, Inc.; Elmwood Park, IL. HEAT LEVEL - 10.
GIL'S CRYING TONGUE HOT SAUCE - This one is unique in taste- it's made with smoked habaneros and red sevinas. Usually red-savina (my spelling) sauces taste a bit too tomato-y for some of my hot-sauce-moods (e.g. Melinda's 4X, Blair's After-Death), but this one is well thought out and entirely balanced by the drug-like stupor the smoked habaneros will put it you. They take off the initial checmical kick of heat, but the build-up of heat afterwards is still good. If you like extreme smoothness, check out Coyote Cocina's Chipotle or Themonuclear Meltdown 4. Garlic and Tomato base. INGREDIENTS: Vinegar, tomato puree, smoked habanero chilies, red sevina chilies, garlic, lemon juice, spices, salt, natural flavoring. ADDRESS: Gil's Gourmet Gallery; 577 Ortiz Avenue; Sand City, CA 93955; (800) 438-7480. HEAT LEVEL - (Still Evaluating but 4.5-6).
HAWAIIAN HOT SAUCE from Noh Foods - This sauce tastes like a cross between the Pickapeppa Sauce (their steak-saucy sauce, not their Pepper Sauce) and Worcestershire, i.e. it is not a simalcrum of traditional and salty Hawaiian Pepper Water. It has a soybean paste and honey base, is dark like Worcestershire, and the vinegar is actually fine as a part of the whole, probably because of the calming effect of the small amount of honey... just like honey calms and is wonderful with the acidity of lemon in a hot toddy! (peel lemon, discard peel, slice lemon, add to boiling teapot, add several teaspoons of honey, pour into mug, then get into bed with a good book and pull up the covers. Sip slowly.) Also, this sauce doesn't have thick textured bean-taste of the Chinese or Korean bean-pepper pastes, like the also-Hawaiian-made Auntie Soo's Hot Stuff does. Not too hot, but great for Hawaiian plate lunches because of the similarity to "Katsu" or "Tonkatsu" Sauce, which is of course a thick slow-pouring relative of Worcestershire sauce, and is great for various breaded then fried meats eaten with rice. I could use this on a lot of foods, just like Tabasco. Not too hot. Probably good for barbecuing steaks, if you like this taste, or even as a base for a nouveau-teriyaki sauce. ADDRESS: Noh Foods. PO Box 8392; Honolulu, HI 96815. HEAT LEVEL - 1.5-2.
INNER BEAUTY Real Hot Sauce. One of the original habanero sauces in the US. Much of the heat is neutralized, as the effort has gone to emphasizing the other taste characteristics of the habanero (other than its heat) and blending it in a fruity and bright piquant sauce. Check out the cool ingredients, you can really taste'em. INGREDIENTS: Pineapple juice, cider vinegar, orange juice, papaya, water, lemon juice, prepared mustard, honey, pineapple spices, soybean oil, habanero peppers, modified food starch, paprika, salt, dried onion, natural flavor. ADDRESS: Inner Beauty Inc.; Cambridge, MA 02139; (800) 313-2HOT. HEAT LEVEL- 3.5.
ISLAND TREASURE HOT SAUCE - made with Scotch Bonnets in Jamaica, this sauce is surprisingly like Tabasco sauce in taste and texture, but the initial bite of heat is stronger, as is the peppery aftertaste and heat which keeps building for about ten more seconds. All this and made with a papaya-base which is not unduly fruity. A hotter all-purpose Tabasco. HEAT LEVEL - 5.
JUFRAN BANANA HOT SAUCE - A hot sauce from the Philipines. The sauce is medium thick and dark red, with a slightly sticky banana consistency, and an obvious banana taste. This is an interesting combination of tastes, but was a much better blend than I had supposed from reading the bottle, but it is an interesting taste. Not my favorite as I prefer simpler tastes, but apparently many people really are hooked on this. Also, if you like bananas in your hot sauce, try Inner Beauty Blue Marlin... I've not tasted it, and it's not a super-hot sauce but it does have bananas. As for Jufran, looking in the ingredients, I see no red peppers, only a listing about three-quarters down the list of "spices." Hmmm. It's worth a try, and good on nouveau burritos, which are mixed-up melanges of distinguishable flavors and textures in themselves-- try on spinach-tortilla with lots of grilled chicken and black beans inside. Imported by the Southeast Asia company. HEAT LEVEL - 1.5
KAUAI NATURALS ORGANIC MANGO HABANERO HOT SAUCE WITH GINGER - What a long name! This sauce is of a watery-thin but with a very pulpy base of tomatillos and mangos. Also discernable are the ginger, onion (maybe Maui Onion, but it doesn't say), honey, some mustard, and of course the habaneros. The heat isn't the point of this sauce; instead the freshness of the organically grown fruits and other produce really shines through. You can really look at the ingredients list and easily taste them all clearly! This sauce as a whole tastes clean and light, has some hotness, and is not too sweet like some fruity hot sauces can be. It would be most appropriate with similarly light dishes, especially with salads and other greens. For another good but very different "drizzly" sauce, see also "Ono Drizzle" review, which is forthcoming in a future edition of the hot sauce review. If you like lots of fruitiness but in a thicker sauce, try Waha Wera, Inner Beauty, or the Wizard's Hot Stuff sauces. INGREDIENTS: Organic tomatillos, water, organic mango puree, organic lime juice, organic cider vinegar, organic onion, organic honey, organic habanero chile, organic garlic, spices, sea salt, stone ground mustard, organic ginger. ADDRESS: Kauai Organic Farms; PO Box 1122; Hanalei, HI 96714; (808) 826-9898. HEAT LEVEL - Still evaluating but 2-3.
MELINDA's XXXX-TRA HOT RESERVE - Uses select red habaneros, and the taste is richer and these peppers impart a slightly more tomato-y taste than the other Melinda's sauces. I prefer the taste of the Melinda's XXX just because it has fewer of the red habaneros, but XXXX is probably the most harmonious sauce I've had with red habaneros. Some may prefer the taste of the other Melinda's-- and these others are plenty hot too, and in fact the XXX was one of the pioneer habanero sauces in the USA. Made in Costa Rica for Melinda's. A simple, and very good sauce. Medium-thick, red-orange, with lots of pepper seeds floating around. If you like this texture, and perhaps more of the taste of the XXX, please don't pass up the *wonderful* and bright, happy, (n' kickin' hot) Coyote Cocina Howlin' Hot Sauce. INGREDIENTS: hand-select choice red habanero peppers, fresh carrots, onions, lime juice, vinegar, garlic, and salt. ADDRESS: Melinda's Goruemt Food Products; 72 Martin Behrman Ave; Metairie, LA 70005; (800) 886-6354. HEAT LEVEL - 6.5
MRS DOG'S DANGEROUSLY HOT PEPPER SAUCE, HABANEROS - What an irresistably cute bottle! The sauce is medium with lots and lots and lots of thick pulp with seeds, reminiscent of PURE HELL's texture-- think lots of crushed red pepper with no vinegar. You can chew this sauce! This would be great in recipes, on burgers, on barbecues, or in a sauce. Basically, all you taste are peppers, although the distinctive habanero taste itself is subtle. Peppers, pulp, and lots of heat. For a similar balance of tastes using serrano peppers, see the S'Ole Sauce. INGREDIENTS: Hot tropical & habanero peppers, allspice, vinega, salt, 0.1% sorbic acid. ADDRESS: Mrs. Dogs Products, Inc.; Grand Rapids, MI 49516; (800) 2 MRS DOG; (616) 454-2677; Fax (616) 774-0913. HEAT LEVEL - still evaluating, 4-5.5.
NO JOKE HOT SAUCE - If you like the chile taste, but could easily part with the vinegary taste of hot sauces, try this one. It's a little bit like a salsa, and it's a bit chunky, but a good sneaky punch of heat from habaneros. Fairly fresh-tasting for a bottled product. Try broiling some zucchinis halved down their length with NO JOKE and parmesan on top (and extra tomato paste if you like). Or use like salsa with tortillas or even bread. Mix in with guacamole. Yum. HEAT LEVEL - (still evaluating, 5-6)
OSO HOT by Brown Adobe - Oso means "bear," so this is why on the sparse and elegant brown label, there is a print of a bear (with a fish tied to its back). A good habanero sauce which is dark red with a very deep taste, due to the red wine vinegar and new mexico red chile. It's an aftertaste that keeps stretching out deeply and smoothly, like a Chipotle sauce but much hotter. Also see the Chile Addict Thermonuclear Meltdown 4 or Coyote Cocina Chipotle sauces if you like his sort of smoothness; Gil's Crying Tongue sauce has some smoothness too, due to the smoked peppers. I found it very hard to choose between the two, because of the heat, subtle complexity of taste, and incredible smoothness. INGREDIENTS: Red wine vinegar, habaneros, garlic, water, X-hot New Mexico red chile. ADDRESS: The Brown Adobe, Inc. Phoenixville, PA 19460; (800) 392-2041. HEAT LEVEL - (still rating but probably about 5-6).
PICKAPEPPA PEPPER SAUCE - Ubiquitous in Jamaica, this sauce has been made for a long time by Pickapeppa-- and from these years of experience, they sure know what they're doing, and you can definitely taste it. The sauce is medium-thin, opaque brownish-red, and not vinegary like Tabasco is. The peppers taste like they've been aged a heavenly long time, and the taste is complex and deep. It even tastes slightly sweet, slightly smoked, and yes, slightly fermented (in a good way). My guess is that there are tropical flavorings, such as tamarind, but however they do it, they do it right. Even the slim substantial bottle is a tactile pleasure to use. Just twist open the cap, and intoxicating aromas will waft throughout your room. If you like really smoked peppers, see also Gil's Crying Tongue. INGREDIENTS: hot peppers, cane vinegar, sugar, salt & spices. ADDRESS: Pickapeppa Co., Ltd.; Shooters Hill, Jamaica, W.I.
PICKAPEPPA SAUCE - Pickapeppa also makes a "pepper-sauce" which is reviewed above. This one is a *sauce*, and a good one, more like a steak sauce. Medium thick and dark gravy brown. Sweet, smoky, and ready to blend harmoniously with your food, instead of jumping out and biting you brashly. Found on tables on lots of restaurants in Jamaica... Check out these tropical ingredients-- they really know what they are doing from long experience, these ingredients aren't just thrown together. Only very mildly spicy. INGREDIENTS: Tomatoes, onions, sugar, cane vinegar, mangoes, raisins, tamarinds, salt, peppers, spices. ADDRESS: Pickapeppa Co., Ltd; Shooters Hill; Jamaica W.I. HEAT LEVEL - 0-0.5.
PURE CAP - 100 times hotter than Jalapeno - I was reading Chile Pepper Magazine, and they have a feature where readers finish the phrase, "You know you're a Chilehead when..." My favorite answer was "...you've considered using self-defense Pepper Spray as a condiment." Well, now you can. This is capsaicin in a vegetable oil base. 500,000 Scoville Units! WOOOOOW! This is five times hotter than eating pure habanero puree from a typical commercial pepper. Is this what Ted at the Red Dog Tavern in Inlet, NY uses to make his nationally featured Armageddon 10 hot wings? A quote from Backroads, a motor cycle journal (vol 1 no 1 PO Box 3062 Teaneck NY 07666): "As a matter of fact, these guys have been featured on Good Morning America. After trying some wings the hostess not only cut to a commercial, but nver came back on camera." If you finish all twelve pieces, you get a spot (with very few neighbors) "Wall of Flame." I gotta go. Well, sounds like they could be using something like Pure Cap. Some mail-order companies I see require the consumer to sign a waiver before purchasing this... INGREDIENTS: Vegetable Oil, Capsaicin. HEAT LEVEL - 12
PURE HELL - The culmination of On the Road to Hell and Halfway to Pure Hell sauces. This sauce is chewy! It has lots of interesting pulp, and has a complex taste of various fruits and a touch of curry. Habanero-based if I remember correctly. I love the label, with the melting face I can empathize with. At a similar heat level is the same company's TO HELL AND BACK sauce. HEAT LEVEL - 6-6.5
RED DEVIL CAYENNE HOT SAUCE by Trappey's - One of the few easily available cayenne-based hot sauces. My favorite cayenne sauce is Crystal's, perhaps because of the aging; Red Devil has a much simpler taste. HEAT LEVEL - 2
RASTA FIRE! HOT, HOT, HOT SAUCE - Like Brother Bru Bru's, Rasta Fire Hot Hot Hot Sauce is a complex blend of many flavors. It is possible to taste the smoked pepper, tropical fruits, curry, cumin, and black pepper. But this combination holds together very solidly and magnificently, with the yellow curry being the predominant note. A very Jamaican taste... maybe these "habaneros" are actually Jamaican Scotch Bonnets? But the sauce is made in Costa Rica. Try it! You won't regret it. I'll bet it's stunning on any barbecue dish from meats to vegetables like corn. If you like this sort of taste but want an extremely pulpy texture, try Pure Hell (hotter too), and if you like curry in your hot sauce, see also the Jump Up and Kiss Me and Tropical Chile Co.'s Caribbean Curry sauces, which are favorites of some of my acquaintances, or for less of the curry flavor, the Pure Hell sauce. INGREDIENTS: Habanero pepper, pineaple, papaya, water, orange juice, vinegar, sugar salt, mustard, onion, vegetable oil, curry, acetic acid, tumeric, cumin, citric acid, starch, allspice, annato, black pepper, emulsifier, ascorbic acid, antioxidant. ADDRESS: Rasta Fire Brand; 722 Martin Behrman; Metairie, LA 70005; (800) 886-6354; (504) 831-0037. Heat Level - (Still evaluating but probably near 5.5).
ROBERT ROTHSCHILD HOT RASPBERRY THUNDER SAUCE - Comes in such a wonderful "gourmet" glass bottle. Very good, slightly sweet taste, very thick and not vinagery at all. The raspberry works, and the tomato and worcestershire, and black pepper are there blended very nicely. Mr. Rothschild must be a chef, since even the difficult to blend capsaicin extract blends in naturally, and although quite noticeable, it is not a blaring announcement of chemical heat. Great for white meats (fowl, lamb, pork). Also wonderfulfor mixing in with your basting sauce for spare ribs. [Try 1/4c honey, 1/8c worcestershire sauce, 1/8c lemon juice, 1/8c red wine (e.g. chianti), 1 or 2 finely diced habaneros, and a tablespoon or two or RR's Raspberry Thunder-- Just rub ribs with salt, pepper, and lots of rosemary, then roast at low temperature (325) and baste, or instead my favorite: Braise at very low heat (simmer ribs in sauce) in a double recipe for 30min then marinate in refrigerator up to 36 hours before broiling, or even more fun do this: chop ribs in sections of 4-5 ribs, then braise two sections at a time for 5 minutes (turning if necessary), then return them to the 300 degree oven and rotate to the next two sections of ribs. Continue rotating ribs to be braised for about an hour until finished. The drippy sauce on the ribs as you return them to the oven each time cooks on nicely! Pour the resulting sauce (a disguised gravy) over ribs and serve.] This sauce is not chemical-tasting at all compared to the other capsaicin-added sauces, but neither is it quite as hot. For a compromise between the two, try SLO JERK, TOO !#$*#@ HOT! sauce. Robert Rothschild also makes a wonderful peach and red pepper jam. Capsaicin Extract Added. INGREDIENTS: Sugar, raspberry vinegar, tomato paste, worcestershire sauce, salt, garlic, black pepper, red chile peppers, extractive of capsicum, jalapeno peppers, potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate (preservative), citric acid, xanthan gum. ADDRESS: Robert Rothschild Berry Farm; Urbana, Ohio 43078. HEAT LEVEL - 7
SAMBAL OELEK - Also known as Red Rooster or Huy Fong hot pepper paste. It is so hot some of my friends put only a spoonful in an entire stir-fry; they were quite surprised when I began using it generously as a tortilla dip. Very hot, but very tasty. Very pungent hot red peppers, that's what you taste, and it's a very thick paste and it comes in a bottle from which you must spoon it out. I can't recommend it more. Fabulous inside hamburger patties, as a tortilla dip (watch out), with fried foods. All you taste are peppers, so this is great on all foods, not just Asian cuisine, although look for this in your ethnic or asian food aisle. Almost identical is the garlic and red-pepper version of this paste, which is much saltier and less hot, and comes in a clear bottle with an identical logo except for the label above the rooster: "Tuong Ot Toi Vietnam". Sambal Oelek on the other hand has a golden label around the bottle with red printing. INGREDIENTS: Chili, distilled vinegar, salt, potassium sorbate, and soidum bisulfite as preservatives. ADRESSS: See Tuong Ot Sriracha listing, below. HEAT LEVEL - 6.5
SLO JERK, TOO !#$*#@ HOT! - A jerk sauce, so it is slightly sweet. This one has capsaicin added, but where is it on the ingredients? Is it under the innocuous umbrella of "spices"??? It is brownish-red and on the light end of medium thick. Shake well! and Limbo Too! By the way, to "jerk" means to turn over, as on a hibachi or grille. This sauce is currently my favorite capsaicin-added sauce, as it strikes a good compromise between the desired extreme heat and the downside of a chemical taste and odor. This may be due to all of the spices. This "manly"-spicy sauce is good with barbecues, as a jerk sauce should be. For "turkey-jerky" try putting some on turkey or chicken legs or wings and cook for 3-5 hours at a low heat (e.g. 225 F) until cooked and dried. Other good barbecue-sauces include Gil's Crying Tongue (smoky taste), Dragon Fire (prominent barbecue-appropriate spices), and Robert Rothschild's Raspberry Thunder (sweet berry taste). INGREDIENTS: water, vinegar, habanero, onion, brown sugar, chile, spices, salt. ADDRESS: (800) SLO JERK, or slojerk@paccon.com or visit www.slojerk.com. HEAT LEVEL - (still evaluating, but probably 7-8.5)
S 'OLE RED CHILE HOT PEPPER SAUCE - This is it, a serrano-chile sauce, and is it good! By appearance it is an opaque medium-thin sauce which is a deep red. The taste was different from what I expected, for it looks like a deep dark broody sauce to savor only when in the mood for something overly "complex" (I call this an "I'm in the mood for Risotto-mood"). Instead, this sauce is surprisingly a clean and simple punchy sauce which emphasizes light tones on the palate. I highly recommend this on type of seafood that you tend to season anyways... I had some flounder with this S'Ole and it's clean taste perked it right up without masking the fish flavor, a task that would be impossible for most of hot sauces on this list; I imagine this would be great on fish-and-chips and seafood pasta-- for that matter any sort of pasta, for this would be amazing if you used a bottle up on a lasagne recipe (and at about $2.50 a bottle, it's affordable). This synergy with Italian/Mediterranean foods is no surprise, considering the slight prominence of garlic and onion tones. S'Ole is a simple taste that does it right, crisp & clean. For a similar balance of tastes, in a pulpier base with habaneros, see Mrs. Dog's Dangerous Hot Pepper Sauce. ADDRESS: Uncle Grants Foods; 1232 Montgomery Ave.; San Bruno, CA 94066. INGREDIENTS: Serrano, water, onion, garlic, vinegar and spices. Heat Level - still evaluating, 2-3.
TAPATIO SALSA PICANTE HOT SAUCE - Empacadora "Tapatio." This is a great, inexpensive sauce to always have on the table at restaurants. Fairly hot compared to Tabasco, it is a little less vinegary and the pepper taste is also good, with no unusual tastes-- so put it on anything. I used to drench my KFC chicken in Tapatio before I graduated to Blair's After Death. Anyhow it's much cheaper, so you can order a bucket of chicken and use the whole bottle! A good house sauce to have around to "slosh" onto anything, much like Blue Mountain Country and Tabasco. INGREDIENTS: Water, red pepper, salt, herbs, spices, acetic acid, and sugar, edible food stabilizer added, doium benzoate as a preservative. ADDRESS: Empacadora Tapatio; 2500 Fruitland Ave; Vernon, CA 90058. HEAT LEVEL - 3.5.
TROPICAL CHILE CO. CARIBBEAN CURRY - INGREDIENTS: ADDRESS: HEAT LEVEL - This is the first pleasantly light-tasting curried hot sauce I have encountered. Most hot sauces with curry seem overwhelmed by this spice, and overencumbered with other flavorings. Tropical Chile's take on this variety gives a restrained level of curry in a base made light-tasting by mangos and papaya. The large amount of habanero and especially jalapeno probably contribute to this clean taste as well. The sauce is medium-thick, has well-blended pulp, and is a dull yellow-orange color. From the only hot sauce company in Puerto Rico, this sauce won them 3rd in the fruIty sauce division at the 1996 Hot & Spicy Food Show in New Orleans. INGREDIENTS: Mango, vinegar, papaya, jalapeno chiles, habanero chiles, water, natural botanical spices, xanthan gum. ADDRESS: Spice from Paradise; Puerto Rico 00765; (800) 741-0848. HEAT LEVEL - 3.5
TROPICAL CHILE CO. HOT N' HONEY HOT SAUCE - I would call this an unusually spicy "Satay" sauce; a very sweet honey-based sauce with spicy peppers and pulp often served with skewered chicken in Thai cuisine. I've never been served a Satay sauce (in the States) this spicy, so I was pleased when I tasted this. If you like spicy honey chicken wings, you will like this sauce. It is a sweet honey-flavored sauce which is translucent red with a fair amount of seeds and pulp, and it pours easily is slightly sticky. It will go well with any light meat, even pork chops or spare ribs. The label even recommends glazing hams or sweet potatoes. I may try it in a salad dressing soon as well! The company, Spice from Paradise, is the only hot sauce company in Puerto Rico and they tell me this sauce is their best seller and I can see why. INGREDIENTS: Jalapeno Chiles, cayenne chiles, honey, corn syrup, vinegar. ADDRESS: Spice from Paradise; Puerto Rico 00765; (800) 741-0848. HEAT LEVEL - 4.5
TROPICAL CHILE CO. SWEET REVENGE XXX HOT SAUCE - INGREDIENTS: ADDRESS: HEAT LEVEL - You can tell this sauce is from the Caribbean because it has tamarind in its base. This is one of the main reasons I like the Pickapeppa (steak) sauce so much. This sauce however is a chile sauce, and a wonderfully unrestrained habanero one at that. The ingredients reveal carrot puree, but this sauce remains very hot, definitely among the hottest habanero sauces (which do not rely on added capsaicin). This clean-tasting sauce is medium thick and opaque with well-liquified pulp, and burns with a dull orange color. Like Tropical Chile's Caribbean Curry sauce, the overall effect is simple and fresh, minus the fruits and spices, and plus welcome excesses of heat. Even if you've had really hot food all week, this one will stick give you a kick. Good for chicken wings, and the clean taste will also complement recipes for salads and other vegetables and white meats. If you have a chilehead party try making hor d'ouevres of stuffed mushrooms a la Sweet Revenge! INGREDIENTS: Vinegar, habanero chiles, carrot puree, corn syrup, tamarind pulp, xanthan gum. ADDRESS: Spice from Paradise; Puerto Rico 00765; (800) 741-0848. HEAT LEVEL - 6.5
TUONG OT SRIRACHA - Also known as Sriracha, Huy Fong Sriracha, or Red Rooster Sauce. A hot sauce of Vietnamese origin often used for putting in the wonderful noodle soups known as "Pho", which are also have fresh basil, bean sprouts, and lemon grass as well as favorites such as braised beef or meatballs. If you put enough in to make your Pho bright red, it is hot, and it is good! The taste is very interesting, and seeing nothing untoward in the ingredients, I suspect the sauce is made straight from fresh, uncooked red peppers (Serrano). It's wonderful and hot, and great even in Korean noodle soups (e.g. Bi Bim Kook Soo), and if you get used to it, in spaghetti. Medium thick, bright red and textured much like horseradish, as if pureed. Comes in a fluted plastic tube with a green "sport" top. INGREDIENTS: Chili, distilled vinegar, garlic, salt, sugar, potassium sorbate and sodium bisulfite as preservatives, and xanthan gum. ADDRESS: Huy Fong Foods, Inc. 5001 Earle Ave; Rosemead, CA 91770; (818) 286-8328; HEAT LEVEL - 5.5
TUONG OT TOI VIET-NAM SAMBAL OELEK - Also known as Red Rooster/Huy Fong hot pepper and garlic paste. This is the garlic version of Sambal Oelek. This paste is more suited for use in cooking rather than an add-on sauce due its saltiness and garlicky taste. Other than this, similar in taste and consistency to Sambal Oelek. Less spicy. See that listing above. Good for frying shrimp, and probably grilling shrimp as well. You get the idea. If you want this sort of taste with garlic in a sauce without the saltiness, try Dave's Siriracha Sauce. ADDRESS: See Tuong Ot Sriracha, above. HEAT LEVEL - 5
WAHA WERA KIWIFRUIT AND HABANERO SAUCE - A wonderfully happy and fruity sauce from New Zealand. The name comes from "burned mouth" in Maori. The habanero and manuka honey are perfect matches for kiwifruit, and the sauce is chunky with kiwi and habanero seeds and pulp, is a slightly green sauce. Took 1st place in the Fiery Foods' habanero fruit sauce division... I like it. Yummy, blissful, and some well-blended kick too. If you like this sort of fruity fresh taste, try also the Kauai Naturals organic mango habanero hot sauce. HEAT LEVEL - (still evaluating 3-4, but this may be low since I was having some Blair's Death Rain at the time :-) ).
THE WIZARD'S HABANERO SUPER HOT STUFF - The hottest of the Wizard's sauces, this one keeps the trademark tastes. A first look at this sauce, and you may be thinking "carrot-neutralized." Nope, the sauce has a good latent after-kick of heat, and the orange color (darker than most carrot-neutralized habanero sauces) is due to red miso! Also, the vinegars used are apple cider and umeboshi vinegar! For those of you unfamiliar with Japanese cuisine, the miso is what the stereotypical "miso soup" and "miso fish" are made with, and the umeboshi refers to a small plum which is often pickled and eaten as a condiment with rice. The sauce is just slightly sweet, as befits these ingredients, the vinegar does not overpower like most hot sauces (like Tabasco) and the result is a very delicate, harmonious, and polite taste, and of course a good "punch" of habanero heat immediately afterwards. Medium thick with some pulp, perhaps from the habanero & cayenne mash. Probably good on teriyaki chicken. Think of it as a sauce which happens to have hot habaneros, not a Hotsauce. Inexpensive, too, I got mine at a health-food store for $2.75. Health-food store? Must be the organic miso... or the well water, or... just see for yourself. This one would be a pleasure to take by the spoonful too when ill in bed. INGREDIENTS: Apple cider vinegar, filtered well water, an extra hot blend of habanero and cayenne pepper mash, honey, garlic juice, umeboshi vinegar, organic red miso, unmodified rice starch, The Wizard's blend of natural spices and flavors, sea salt and xanthan gum. ADDRESS: Edward & Sons Trading Co, Inc.; Box 1326 Carpinteria, CA 93014. HEAT LEVEL - 5.
YUCATAN SUNSHINE Prepared Habanero Pepper Sauce - A carrot-neutralized habenero sauce. A happy bright orange, medium thick with some pulp and seeds. Very good, like an Inner Beauty Sauce without all of those fruity tastes. You can taste the habanero, but if you are not a hot-foods fanatic, you will still be able to enjoy the habanero taste, although I've rated it a "4". If you like this flavor but hotter check out Coyote Cocina's sauce. Good on wings and the like. INGREDIENTS: Imported habanero peppers, carrots, onions, vinegar, garlic, lime juice, and salt. ADDRESS: Reily Foods Company; New Orleans, LA 70130. HEAT LEVEL - 4.
EL YUCATECO - A mexican sauce made with habaneros. The green variety is hotter. Commonly seen in restaurants, this sauce is certainly hot enough for most restaurant goers and the green especially has a slight chemical taste, and is quite hot. Does not seem to blend well with foods, except for the occasional mexican dish like an enchilada which has become mixed-up amalgam with the beans and sour cream anyways. The sauce is on the heavy side of medium thick and the green sauce is a memorable bright green. Also see their web pageINGREDIENTS: Habanero pepper, vinegar, tomatoe (sic), iodated salt, spices and FD&C Red 40 and 0.1% sodium benzoate as a preservative. ADDRESS: Priamo J. Gamboa O.; Merida, Yuc., Mexico. HEAT LEVEL 5.5 (red) & 6 (green).
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