Hot Sauce

[OneMoreRead]

Damn, didn't realize I was that uncultured.

Tabasco is in about every store and restaurant. I've seen Louisiana, Franks, and Crystal in stores. Do you have to go to places such as Whole Foods, Wild Oats or to special restaurants to get the others?

 

[writing irish]

Pickapeppa is sometimes put with the steak sauces; usually with the cayenne sauces...but it's widely available at normal supermarkets. For Mexican sauces, your friendly neighborhood Mexican grocery store won't rob you like Whole Foods/Wild Oats will.

 

[Chef]

McIlhenny's Tabasco

mmmmmmm

Great with cheap beer and popcorn.

 

[Hoop Time]

Not purely a hot sauce -- but Dinosaur BBQ (Syracuse and other locations) makes a Habernero BBQ sauce called Wango Tango that is out of this world. Makes incredible wings, especially if you can get ahold of some big meaty roaster wings and smoke them first.

Texas Pete is great with BBQ or to add flavor and heat to lame chili. Crystal is also very good.

Personally, I like Tabasco in small doses to kick up stuff like a white sauce or cheese sauce, or in the mayo for chicken salad. Used very sparingly in those applications it adds subtle flavor without really adding unwanted heat.

 

[lantaur]

Beyond Tabasco, one of my favorite dishes is a little spaghetti and chicken dish with David's Insanity Sauce. It's one of those which cautions you not to use too much. I've given it to friends who thought they could handle anything and then were incapacitated for hours.

 

[Buck]

They're all good in their own way. I always have Tabasco and/or Crystal, Srirachi, hot pepper oil and Tapatio around the house. Also have Dave's Insanity and Black Widow right now.
Had a great garlic hot sauce called Analyze This a couple of years ago. Former GF gave iit to me for Xmas.
Also love Endorphin Rush.
As pointed out, different hot sauces go with different foods.

 

[Mystery_Meat]

If you have a Le Gourmet Chef, they have about a bajillion hot sauces. They also have enough food samples that you can make a meal out of a trip for salsa.

 

[cougargirl]

It looks like Tabasco is the semi-universal favorite.

However, when it comes to hot sauces, I stay away from anything chipotle-based. The flavor is too smoky for me.

 

[spup1122]

I use some mexican habanero sauce. I got it about a year ago and put it in my chili, my chicken enchiladas, my marinara, and basically anything I think needs a little kick. It does the trick.

I have been known, however, to just cook dried habaneros in my chili sauce if I want it to be on fire. I just pull them out with tongs when the sauce has soaked up most of the heat.

 

[shotglass]

I always get Sriracha on my burrito at my favorite place. They also have 40 other brands for sale, but 30 of them are atomic. I mean, you struggle to breathe after two drops.

 

[Buck]

I just can't get enough of spicey food.
The hotter the better.
Of course, sometimes my asshole ends up looking like a half a veal parmigian sandwich, but that's the price you pay.

 

[Kaylee]

I'll admit it: I'm a heat freak. I'm that guy who goes to a restaurant, orders the hottest thing on the menu, douses it with hot sauce and can still wolf it down like it's oatmeal. I make great chili, but I can't get anyone else to touch it. Sushi isn't sushi for me unless the wasabi is well-represented. You get the idea.

For my money, it's Cholula, especially the chili garlic blend. In terms of coupling heat with flavor, it's hard to beat.

Now, before I moved off to college, I lived near a Thai food market, where I would buy this thick and chunky red sauce in a squeeze bottle. Not a word of English on the whole bottle. Don't know what was in it, but it would take a minimum of an hour for me to finish a sandwich. Great stuff.

 

[John]

I always get Sriracha on my burrito at my favorite place. They also have 40 other brands for sale, but 30 of them are atomic. I mean, you struggle to breathe after two drops.

I love that stuff. I don't put it on burritos, but I do with all kinds of sandwiches or wraps. For burritos or other mexican food, I like Cholula. It's spicy enough, without being so hot that it overwhelms the flavor.

Tabasco sucks (except the jalapeno style). I went to school with a girl whose family (the McIlhennys) owned the company. She had the largest head I'ver ever seen, to the point that you wondered if there was something wrong with her. Yes, we called her pumpkin head behind her back. And yes, I do feel guilty about that.

 

[lawrenceofalabia]

I go with the local stuff, Texas Pete.

A few years ago, a guy vacationing in Texas lugged a whole case of Texas Pete back to Winston-Salem and showed up at the office with his "discovery" of this excellent hot sauce. The scene with the case open open on table, bottle in hand, and told to look at the back of the label, will not be forgoten soon by those in that were there.

I spend quite a bit of time the southside area, also known as Little Mexico, so I have several bottles of different types. Also have a jar of innocent looking, but killer, green asian sauce in the fridge. For me though, Texas Pete is #1.

 

[Buck]

I'm surprised by everybody bad-mouting Tabasco.
I can understand people might prefer other hot suaces, but Tabasco doesn't suck. It's a classic.
Still my hot sauce of choice when it comes standard breakfast.

 

[greenthumb]

Louisiana is perfect for seafood. You don't need blinding heat on delicate tastes like crab and shrimp. Maybe that's why your buddy nixed his fish order.

Now, when you're talking heavy foods like chili, that's when I reach for one of those specialty blends that will make your eyes roll back in your head.

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

It's just wrong that Texas Pete is the official hot sauce of the SEC.

 

[John]

It's just wrong that Texas Pete is the official hot sauce of the SEC.

Well, Golden Flake is the official chip and who eats those when they have options?

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

True, but at least it's made in an SEC state ...

 

[John]

True, but at least it's made in an SEC state ...

True, and the Ray Goff commercials were outstanding.