Hot sauce

[sisyphus]

I love hot sauce. Not many things aren't improved by it, kind of like mayonnaise. For me it's as essential as salt and pepper at my table. Here are some of my favorites:

Louisiana Brand
typical American cayenne sauce. This one is superior to all the rest to my tastes. Trappeys is thin and watery. Franks is probably the baseline. Louisiana brand ups the ante. It's darker. You can see a lot of sediment in the sauce. It's not as watery as the others. For me the flavor is just more enthusiastic than the others. Great for rice and beans, potato salad, macaroni salad, and hot wings.

McIhenny's Tabasco
Tabasco is not part of the above category, it's its own thing. The flavor is different than the cayenne sauces, and it's hotter. Good for everything cayenne sauces are good for, plus cottage cheese, red beer, bloody marys, and just about anything you can douse with it.

Yucateco brand
This is made in Merida, Yucatan Mexico, a few hours down the road from where we vacation. Four different varieties of essentially pureed habanero. They're all good. Honestly if you need hotter than this you aren't looking for flavor. These are plenty hot and the natural sweetness of habanero really comes through. I use it for everything that American hot sauce is good for, when I want some added punch. Also great on eggs. The green is the least obtrusive and does the best job of adding heat and sweet to foods without stepping on the host food's flavor. The black is made from roasted habaneros and is smoky, slightly bitter, slightly burnt. It is fabulous and utterly unique, and is especially good on pizza. The roasting tones the heat down a shade, and adds a ton of flavor. Harder to find, but worth the effort.

Sriracha
Thai chili and garlic sauce. The ubiquitous rooster brand is what everyone is familiar with. I am a much bigger fan of the Thai brands in glass bottles you have to go to an Asian grocer to find. They are much fishier, as they should be since fish sauce is a major ingredient. Fantastic on rice and Asian dishes.

Gochujang
Korean chili paste. I use this solely for daeji bulgogi, a flaming hot pork dish. Equal parts white sugar and gochujang with added soy sauce, sesame oil and garlic, create a sauce that is spicy sweet and has an almost chocolate-y flavor profile.

I am wanting to expand my horizons a little, and just ordered some Jamaican Scotch Bonnet sauce from Amazon to try looking for a little sweet fire. I'm also curious about Trinidad Moruga Scorpion. I can take the heat, but I want it to create as much flavor as heat or it's not interesting to me. Heat for heat's sake is not my thing, which eliminates most of the novelty hot sauces.

Add your favorites or recommend some.

[sisyphus]

I forgot one.

McIlhenny Tabasco Chipotle
Whereas the Mexican chipotle sauces are all sweet in a way that doesn't work for me, this one is not. It's smoky and savory, and quite fiery for a chipotle sauce. This is my go to with fried chicken.

[Ruffinogold]

My son Anthony loves hot sauce . He doesnt liek real hot ones and neither do I . In our house , theres a coupe or three we'l buy ...... Crystal , its got the pepper flavor with very little heat ...we rip through bottles of it . Texas Pete hot sauce and hotter sauce ... theyre good and I like the hotter oone when I'm in the modd for a little heat . Louisiana , I tried recently and its really damn good

My step father bought me a bottle of a hot sauce one time . It had a picture of a guy on his knees blowing fire [ great ] . It was mae with Scotch Bonnet peppers , I think . I almost cried ..

[Kevin Keith]

I like El Yucateco red and green on tacos, chalupas, enchiladas. They make it just a few hours down the road from where I was born.

On pizza I like original McIlhenny tobasco sauce. Those are the only sauces I use.

[Whistlebritches]

I like Texas Pete and Frank's as my just throw it on anything sauce.

For breakfast nothing beats Cholula on eggs............love this stuff.Not to hot but adds loads of flavor.

Tiger Sauce on smoked sausage.

Spicy Thai on chicken wings........perfect sweet to hot ratio.

Gochujang.......we do chicken and pork with this stuff

Catsup...........my family would die of withdrawals without this sweet tomatoey condiment.I add a little scotch bonnet to my homemade ..........but no one else will touch it.

And of course I must include salsa........I used to can my own but decided I only liked it fresh.This way I can adjust the heat according to my mood...........or sinus's.

I have some Red Caribean and Hot Thai peppers growing in my garden.This is the first year I planted these.......looking forward to cooking with them and incorporating them into my sauces.

[mrpipster]

I like Texas Pete and Frank's as my just throw it on anything sauce.

For breakfast nothing beats Cholula on eggs............love this stuff.Not to hot but adds loads of flavor.

Tiger Sauce on smoked sausage.

Spicy Thai on chicken wings........perfect sweet to hot ratio.

Gochujang.......we do chicken and pork with this stuff

Catsup...........my family would die of withdrawals without this sweet tomatoey condiment.I add a little scotch bonnet to my homemade ..........but no one else will touch it.

And of course I must include salsa........I used to can my own but decided I only liked it fresh.This way I can adjust the heat according to my mood...........or sinus's.

I have some Red Caribean and Hot Thai peppers growing in my garden.This is the first year I planted these.......looking forward to cooking with them and incorporating them into my sauces.

I was just going to say Cholula. Love the stuff.

[Ruffinogold]

I like El Yucateco red and green on tacos, chalupas, enchiladas. They make it just a few hours down the road from where I was born.

On pizza I like original McIlhenny tobasco sauce. Those are the only sauces I use.

Oh mastrful Grand Poohbah ... did I just read that you said " On Pizza " !?!!?

[Kevin Keith]

I like El Yucateco red and green on tacos, chalupas, enchiladas. They make it just a few hours down the road from where I was born.

On pizza I like original McIlhenny tobasco sauce. Those are the only sauces I use.

Oh mastrful Grand Poohbah ... did I just read that you said " On Pizza " !?!!?

[Whalehead King]

I like El Yucateco red and green on tacos, chalupas, enchiladas. They make it just a few hours down the road from where I was born.

On pizza I like original McIlhenny tobasco sauce. Those are the only sauces I use.

Oh mastrful Grand Poohbah ... did I just read that you said " On Pizza " !?!!?

I like tobasco sauce on cold pizza in the morning, and I add salt and black pepper. I don't use McIlhenny's though. Round here abouts, there's a debate which is better, world-famous McIlhenny's, a brand with deep Louisiana roots, or, the more local favorite, Crystal. Me? I like everything as local as I can get it. I like to Crystalize everything.



That said, I don't find that LA hot sauces pack enough heat for my palette. They are piquant and tasty, but I like a little more oomph and post-prandial diarrhea from my hot sauce.

I'll use the green El Yucateco sparingly on raw celery, again with a dousing of salt, but without the addition of black pepper. This combination keeps my digestion running as smoothly as a goose's---it's better than any medicine your doctor may prescribe for constipation. Apples are nice, but a teaspoon of spicy hot sauce will keep the doctor way more efficiently.

[sisyphus]

ok this one was a winner and will stay in my rotation. Traditional vinegar based Louisiana cayenne sauce, but here the mash is made from cayenne and habanero. It is an amped up American style hot sauce with great flavor and lingering heat, which is exactly what I was hoping for. Very good.