Hot Sauce

[JDM]

Have we done this?

I like heat, and am partial to the flavor of habaneros. I've tired lots of different varieties of habanero-based hot sauces, but have settled on two.

The habanero hot sauce from Trader Joe's is my favorite. Great heat without obliterating the flavor, and cheap!

The second is a sauce Tom Jones showed me. It's a green habanero sauce with, again, great flavor and heat; El Yucateco.


http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/aa334/fatcook/Mobile%20Uploads/E37E5E0D-B658-4727-80A0-7B6A03BC0E13_zpsmeokuyal.jpg

[Suvorov]

Trader Joe's Jalapeno Sauce is a staple of my diet. I try to keep no fewer than 3 bottles on hand.

[JDM]

What's that Caribbean like?

[Kyle Reese]

What's the best New Mexico hot sauce?


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[HCM]

We have done this before :

https://pistol-forum.com/showthread.php?7989-quot-Hot-sauce-must-be-hot-We-don-t-make-mayonnaise-here-quot&highlight=Mayonnaise

[Joe in PNG]

A few of my faves:
-Gator Hammock- a nice, tasty hot one from Florida. Pretty complex and peppery
-Trinidad- A good habanero sauce from the Caribbean. Smooth, buttery, with a slow attack on the burn
-Bufalo Chipolte- a smokey, thick chipotle sauce from Mexico, and usually pretty cheap
-Toad Sweat Dessert Hot Sauce- a very spicy and very sweet habenero sauce to be used on ice cream. Kind of like strawberry sauce with bite- lots of bite.

[ACP230]

D.L. Jardine's Texas Champagne is my favorite hot sauce.
Not extremely hot but flavorful.
I order it by the case.

[TGS]

I'd like suggestions to use for a shrimp baguette...so something that is not watery. Doesn't have to be super hot.

[Matt O]

Not sure exactly what you mean by shrimp baguette, but sriracha mixed with mayo is delicious if you're making something akin to banh mi. I don't normally suggest diluting the Asian ambrosia that is sriracha, but I make an exception in this case.

[TGS]

A baguette with shrimp inside it.

[Manzanita]

Hey, besides shooting, making hot sauces is one of my favorite things!

I make four different types of hot sauces that I use almost exclusively, although I do really like the Tabasco Habanero sauce when I can find it. I've tried to like the Sriracha sauces but the garlic kind of seems to overpower me. Usually every year I will grow a bunch of habanero plants that I use mainly for sauces, although I will dehydrate some and use as a ground spice. Last year I grew a whole bunch of red and chocolate habaneros so I had to adjust my recipes a bit (they're a lot hotter than your basic orange heeb).

The simplest one I make is a sweet hab sauce. Here's the recipe. It's not anything original - there are several variations of this floating around recipe sites. It's a great sauce and my favorite:

Throw the following in a blender:
• About 12 (give or take...) Habanero peppers. Remove the stems & seeds.
• 1 can sliced peaches in heavy syrup.
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar (I usually add just a little more than a cup)
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup yellow mustard
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice

Puree thoroughly. Makes about 3 pints. You can freeze it or hot-water bath in pint jars for about 20-30 minutes.

My second favorite is a mango-habanero sauce. That is an original recipe. I don't have the amounts here but the ingredients include fresh (or canned) mangoes, kiwis, lime juice, lemon juice, mango nectar, any sweet fruit juice, 8-10 habaneros, apple cider vinegar, and salt. I also make a fairly plain (and mild) jalapeno sauce from vinegar, salt, slightly fermented jalapenos, and a touch of sugar w/xanthan gum to thicken and keep from separating. Lastly is a sauce called "Controlled Burn". That recipe (http://amazingribs.com/recipes/condiments/hot_sauce.html) I got from AmazingRibs.com. It has a great complex taste as long as you don't overheat it with the habs.

Last Christmas I bought a bunch of woozy bottles & lids, made up some wooden bottle holders that held three bottles, and gave gift packs to people. Everybody loved 'em. Now I have to figure out how to follow that up...

[jc000]

El Yucateco has a few different varieties (green (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DYQWPJ6/), red (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DYQWMGC/), extra hot (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DYQWPWI/) and caribbean (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DYQWPD2/)). I like them all and buy them by the case from Amazon. The green is probably my favorite.

The El Yucateco xxxtra hot sauce, to me, is the perfect blend of heat and flavor. It's searingly hot yet not all synthesized tasting like many novelty sauces are. Splashed on top of feijoada it is heaven.

[Peally]

Hey, besides shooting, making hot sauces is one of my favorite things!

Your avatar image is so damned relevant to that post. You should also mention a love of digging trenches and growing chest hair :D

I find that hot sauce almost 100% of the time dilutes the flavor of food (kinda like steak sauce only it burns), but my exposure is solely with crap cheap sauces off the shelf.

[TGS]

Your avatar image is so damned relevant to that post. You should also mention a love of digging trenches and growing chest hair :D

I find that hot sauce almost 100% of the time dilutes the flavor of food (kinda like steak sauce only it burns), but my exposure is solely with crap cheap sauces off the shelf.

I agree with you, but I also have mostly the same experience re: consumer hot sauces.

I'm not even a hot food sort of dude. What changed my mind was a wonderful shrimp baguette I had in St. Croix...the hot sauce had so much flavor.

Sort of like having real BBQ for the first time....it's like discovering a new primary color.

[Dagga Boy]

My DNA requires that I stick to Jewish Salsa.....:)

[Al T.]

LOL at Darrel...... I'm still a Tabasco and El Yucateco sort of guy. Sriracha is more of a salad dressing for me...

[JDM]

I have no idea what banh mi is...

That's what a Vietnamese style sub sandwich is called in the U.S.

[nycnoob]

A baguette with shrimp inside it.

Where do you get your shrimp baguette's? Sounds great, if its a commercial establishment it would be worth a drive for me.
If you are making them at home, would you make me one?
or post a recipe?

[WDW]

I've settled on just putting the Texas Pete version of Sriracha on everything. It's hot, thick, & very flavorful.

[TGS]

Where do you get your shrimp baguette's? Sounds great, if its a commercial establishment it would be worth a drive for me.
If you are making them at home, would you make me one?
or post a recipe?

Grab a baguette or some similar roll.

Tear out the center.

Stuff it with shrimp that you seasoned and/or sauced to your delight. I'm still working on the sauce part to replicate what I had in St Croix. Super simple...not quite as complex as the incorrectly named "po'boy". Pretty similar to a pistolette.

[ReverendMeat]

Not a huge fan of sriracha for general purpose (as in, non-asiany stuff), generally do Frank's Red Hot or Tabasco depending on the food. I'm simple like that, it seems.

Story: One time I got the Walgreens brand beer because it was cheap as dirt. It was so terrible that I ended up drinking Frank's after each swig just to get rid of the taste.

[RoyGBiv]

Cholula is excellent, especially on eggs.

Sriracha goes with everything, anytime.

For down East BBQ pork, Scott's Sauce is hard to beat... Vinegary and Spicy.

A friend turned me on to Mrs. Renfros Ghost Pepper Salsa.... Really good if you like some heat on your chips. The only ghost pepper anything that had actual flavor instead of just trying to prove it could be hot.

[Rich@CCC]

A semi local company does their "Sucker Punch" hot sauce right. It's not a barn burning hot sauce but it has a respectable kick. Maybe just a bit hotter than Frank's but a completely different flavor. Habanero peppers and tropical fruit makes for a sweet, full mouthed start with a hot finish.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sucker-Punch-Gourmet-Sauces/298278457042022

[Robinson]

I get nervous if I don't have a couple bottles of Sriracha on hand.

I was recently given some smoked Ghost Chili pepper flakes and they are really pretty good. Really good on pizza.

[olstyn]

Cholula is excellent

I couldn't agree with you any more than I do right now. It makes WAY better bloody marys than Tabasco could even think about. :)

Slightly off topic, but how do you guys feel about habanero-based salsas? There's a company called Pain is Good that makes a habanero garlic salsa that I find to be delicious...

[David S.]

My favorite is Arizona Gunslinger. They make a couple different varieties (habanero, green and red jalapeño) that are available in most AZ grocery stores.

We have family members bring bottles with them now that we're in TX.

[Peally]

So just out of curiosity what exactly do you put hot sauce on? I've never understood the purpose of it short of adding texture to the sauce, like A1 everything you put on it instantly tastes like pure A1.

Or is this an old man thing where you can't taste anymore? :D

[Rich@CCC]

Hot sauce is good on just about anything! I don't use it on everything, all the time but it's a great way to make the old and familiar new and interesting.

It's as much an ingredient as a condiment.

[DocGKR]

As noted in the previous thread, Sriracha, Tapatio, and Cholulu are good if you want a mild flavor.

When desiring moderate flavors on a daily basis, the Arizona Gunslinger is quite good: http://www.azgunslinger.com (we always have quite a few bottles of the organic glutten free ones in use each day around our home)

For more robust individuals looking for true adventures in flavor and heat, my youngest daughter highly recommends the Dave's Hot Sauces; they range from fairly mild to truly exotic: http://store.davesgourmet.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=75

[Rich@CCC]

I keep a bottle of Dave's Insanity in the fridge for my more adventurous chilli creations. Many years ago while baby sitting for us, my MIL mistook it for Tabasco when seasoning her Taco Bell take out. My FIL thought he was going to have to take her to the emergency room!

[Dagga Boy]

I am a little surprised that with all you culinary sophisticates, nobody noticed my toaster oven. I will be doing some of those shrimp baguettes in it....just a bit less spicy than you guys like. They sound great.

[JAD]

Pain Is Good is a brand made locally. Lots of interesting variants there; they like garlic a lot. It's an interesting stop if you're passing through; it used to be a highlight for my foreign visitors.

Personally I use different sauces for different stuff. Cholula on eggs, Tabasco on oysters, Louisiana on fried chicken, etc.

[TGS]

I am a little surprised that with all you culinary sophisticates, nobody noticed my toaster oven. I will be doing some of those shrimp baguettes in it....just a bit less spicy than you guys like. They sound great.

Darryl,

Afterwards, I'd love to hear what sauce(s) you used and the results.

I'm definitely not a super spicy guy.

When I visit New Mexico, I definitely ask for green. Even that turns the toilet bowl into a burn pit.