Hot sauces
 

I don't know about you, but I'm a certifiable hot sauce junkie. There's a rare food I care to eat without determined lashings of pepper sauce. When I travel I always sample the local hot sauces along with the spiciest available dishes and I love all things chili. When I'm home, I generally stick to one or two brands for daily flavouring and when I travel I always pack a bottle for those bland little places that one always seems to end up in once in a while. Sometimes I carry a minature bottle in my pants pocket to spice up dreary meals on the go and there's always a bottle stashed away in my car. No stay with family or friends is on the cards for me without the comforting backup of a couple of different bottles of pepper sauce in my luggage.

My day to day favourite, while it changes every few months is currently Tabasco habanero pepper sauce (but I usually change to normal Tabasco for breakfasts and Bloody Marys) and I tote around either a Lea and Perrins West Indian Hot Sauce, which I find a bit too salty now, or a Malawi made red flaming connoction called Nali when I can find it. Sometimes I try Texas Pete, just for the novelty of it being available in South Africa but it doesn't have any burn and when I'm in a barbeque/braai mood I tend to splurge on Nandos extra hot peri peri sauce- which is particularly good with chicken livers.

Hamburgers, for some reason, seem to go down a treat with generous smears of Florida's famous Datil pepper sauce and of course, my fridge would look naked without a full complement of no name farm stall chili and salsa relishes. Mmmm. What blows your hair back? :D

Only one hot sauce is allowed to be mentioned on FlyerTalk.

tabasco habanero is indeed the dog's b****cks.
I just tried Cholula, it's good but I find I need copious amounts for it to reach the required hotness, rendering it too watery and even expensive for me.

See also this recent thread:

http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=748832

There are a lot of Cholula fans around here! :)^

But sometimes one must distinguish between CTM (Cholula the Man) and CTS (Cholula the Sauce). :)

Thanks for the link. I remember it back from 2003 couldn't find it. I searched under hot sauces and that Cholula water didn't come up:)

The test of time and temp for hot is a unctuous Mexican tripe and hominy stew called "Menudo".

Menudo is served with cut Key Limes, chopped raw onion and a bowl of chopped fresh jalapeno (Much hotter than sauces and relished which used pickled or cooked versions of the fruit of the Gods).

I must admit to be enraptured with a variety of Oriental Chile/Garlic pastes/sauces, and an addict of recipes which contain both Nam Pla (Thai Fish Sauce) and chopped fresh chilis.

The goal is not pure heat, but the breadth of flavors in any chili. Comapring chopped fresh jalapeno with "Chipotle", the smoked version of the same chili when ripe and a cousin such as Guajillo gives one the same sort of scope and vision with which Micelangelo mounted the scaffolding to paint the Pope's ceiling.

Here in the Islands, our local chili pepper - the Hawai'ian Red -
http://www.chileplants.com/search.as...Button=Pressed

is used to produce our local favorite hot sauce, Hawai'ian Chili Pepper Water
http://www.slashfood.com/2006/03/05/...ian-condiment/

It's easy to make your own, or you can purchase it in our stores.

Onolicious!

My two favorites: Regular Cholula and Tabasco Chipotle.

For those who like it hot, visit a Central Market sometime. ;)

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

Bearing in mind, of course, that if it couldn't stand on its own merits,
there wouldn't be such a fan club here or elsewhere. I've been using
Cholula since before the wood cap had a liner; I also enjoy Tapatio
(having used it since the manufacturer put his home phone number
on the label) and the various carrot sauces (Melinda's, Marie Sharp's,
etc.). Mad Dog (not the Inferno, which is heat for the sake of heat)
has a nice herbal spicy balance, as does Sachs. For real heat I use
Pendery's 60000 S.U. powder, as it adds a pleasant paprika-y aspect
without any excess vinegar.

Sriracha Tuong Ot, and Tuong Ot Toi are two we like.

Huge variety of chili sauces in China as well. I'm particularly fond of Nanjing style slightly sweetish sauces that go extremely well with pak choi and omelettes.

A couple of months ago, ms. jmd001 came back from Santa Fe with a present of some Mac's Hot Sauce for me.

I was very positively impressed, primarily because of the thickness/texture of it. May not be as hot as many folks like, but definitely worth a try!:)^

(Forgive the blasphemy, it moved Cholula to #2 on my list of favorites!)

For me, u can't beat Matouk's West Indian Hot Sauce:

http://carolinasauce.stores.yahoo.ne...062204842.html

When u read the ingredients they don't sound impressive but the heat is REAL and the flavor is wonderful! I love it in soups. There are 3 other flavors but West Indian is my fav. First tasted it in Marco Island, FL on clams.
***Welcome to FT!

For flavor I definitely go for CTS. I hate sauces that are mostly vinegar. That one is not.

For pure heat, a nice Dave's Insanity Sauce Spacial Reserve. (apologies to other Daves with different sauces ;)). To try it, they make you sign a waiver (just for fun, I'm sure, but it adds micely to the mystique) and they dipped the tip of a toothpick in the stuff. From that one drop, my mouth hurt for hours and I thought I had indegestion.

Nobody ever mention Asian hot sauce. What you get in US is just not quite the same.

Singapore chilli sauce (those on crab) is unique cause it compliments the food not overwhelm it. Korean BBQ beef sauce is very good, esp over grilled over flame on beef late at nite (thx god NYC has 24 hr Korean town BBQ places). Authentic Sichuan numbing hot pepper sauce is nothing you've ever experienced. So hot it silences you, but only for a couple mins. Excellent esp over thinly sliced conch. Not to mention the HOT "mala" Chinese hot pot. Just make sure you are not getting on a plane/car anything longer than 15 min for the next 48 hours. I love Hong Kong "Shelter pond" mix (usually over crab or shrimp, but hey, I put it over fried eggs or hotdogs), which is fried pepper / chilli / garlic, dried up in a bottle. Not exactly hot but you can not get anything quite close. Macau hot sauce with chopped up scallop / fish inside. Oh boy, I always get several bottles at home. I don't feel right w/o them in my fridge.

Just too bad there isn't enough English words for all the different kind of kim chi and hot sauces. :)