Hot Sauce

So, I'm at a restaurant with a couple of buddies. One of them orders a fish plate. Before the waitress leaves, the guy asks if they have Louisiana hot sauce. Woman says no. My buddy changes his order.

Hot sauce dominates the conversation for the rest of the night. Hot sauce is hot sauce to me. I don't really care, Louisiana, Franks, Tabasco, Cholula, whatever. They're all liquid heat. But my buddy says if he eats hot sauce, it's Louisiana.

So, I ask you purveyors of all that's culinarily palatable: what are the best hot sauces?

 

Tabasco.

Cholula will do in a pinch.

 

I favor Cholula, followed by Tabasco.

Frank's is a distant third, but will do in a pinch.

 

Ass in Space.

 

Louisiana by far. It has a good taste. I put it on everything. Tabasco tastes like crap. Won't touch it.

 

Wasn't that the name of an ultra-fiber cereal in an SNL fake ad?

 

Best to divide hot sauces into two classes: cayenne sauces and sauces made from Mexican peppers such as chile del arbol, jalapeno, chipotle, etc. To me, the cayenne sauces go well with Southern or other types of "American" food and also go well with Italian and other non-North American cuisines. The cayenne flavor is simple and to the point, kind of an upper-register flavor. The Mexican sauces I think should be used sparingly outside of Mexican food, as they have an earthier flavor that isn't as transferable to other cuisines. Mexican sauces like Cholula are fine on burgers or eggs, but if I'm wanting to spice up a salami and provolone sandwich, I'll reach for a cayenne sauce.

Anyway, I love all the Tabasco sauces, the cayenne-based original as well as the jalapeno and chipotle versions.

With the cayenne ones, I'll take Crystal over Louisiana, although Louisiana's fine. I don't know how widely available Crystal is outside the South...I haven't seen it out here on the Great Plains. Trappey's Red Devil sauce is surprisingly crappy, considering that most of their products are good.

With the Mexican ones, Cholula's good, but Valentina is pretty much the same and it's much cheaper. The best habanero sauce is Yucateco...the green variety is the most common, although they sell an orange one that's just friggin' insanely hot.

There's also that weird Vietnamese hot sauce the name of which I don't know..."rooster sauce." It's good, but it's definitely just for Asian food.

 

I thought for sure this was a thread about the And 1 Mix Tape tour.

 

Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce and it's the bomb.. it's not runny, but thicker in texture like a mustard, as opposed to a salsa, ketchup or Tabasco...
Found some at World Market over the weekend.. I use on hot dogs, brats, burgers, eggs... anything like that...

 

Your buddies will enjoy this blog:

http://www.hotsauceblog.com/

 

Crystal or Louisiana will do for me, while I do not like Tabasco.