Favorite Hot Sauce

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I've never gotten into boutique hot sauces so I stick with the mass produced.

Cholula is my go to for Tex Mex
Franks for chili and practically anything else
Crystal for oysters

Thats about it. Should I try small batch?
 
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One of my favorite prepackaged one is Melinda's. Just some really good off the shelf sauces without a lot of extraneous stuff. My favorite one so far is the Trinidad Scorpion. On par with ghost pepper but I think it has really good flavor too. Also, for my Mexican food, El Yucateco Mayan triple XXX hot sauce is my go to. Now before you run out and buy these, know that I did the one chip challenge at work and kept on working. Sweating, crying and red for 15 minutes, but that's it.
 
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Some of the flavors they use are coffee… passion fruit… pineapple…

Unreal good. Some is scorching hot. Some is mild and mellow. The pineapple garlic reaper is amazing on eggs.

Sirhr
Youre treading deep water there pal. That stuffs made in Brooklyn?

 
There is a particular 'way' in which I prefer my hot-sauce. And, it was so hard to find one anywhere even close to 'the way I like it' where I simply decided (over a decade ago) to start making my own. To-which it all begins with us (myself and My Lady) growing our own peppers.

The process has 'developed' over the years, and minor/subtle changes and improvements have taken place. We don't have a 'farm', we have a 'yard' so we're limited in what we can grow (right now only 24 plants are growing) and each year the 'yield' is a bit different. But then the 'procedure' starts and THAT is where a heck-of-a-lot of flavours get developed.

Our method is hemispherically different than the vast majority of 'bottles' out there. All they are (in my view) are "bottle as much as we can, as fast as we can, as simply as we can,,,,, because it's fashionable" and then there's the other group who're in "a race to the heat".

This year's runner-up will be Eleventy-Gazillion, Forty-three-Bazillion, Eight-hunnert'n-fifty-bunch-Million Scoville units because that's gooder'est.

Not mine.
Youres reminded me of a chipolte, but much better.
 
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Cholula is my go to sauce.

People in CO love good hot sauce, so a lot around to try.
Easy to see 50+ varieties at the basic grocery.

Lots of mexican folks means we can get some serious good eats with good salsa and sauces too.

I like to do stuff like pan sear left over pulled pork, then a little salsa verde with it, mild spice, mostly a little flavor.
Top with fried eggs and a good flavor sauce, something with mild but distinct flavors and medium heat.
Lotta choices.
Too lazy to get up and probably have 20 in the door of the beer fridge.

Add some fresh crispy hashbrowns under the pulled pork above and you will look for the Pearly Gates you musta entered.

(Bacon on the side of course, we aint commies!)
A great verde sauce is a rare thing. the New Mexicans have it down pretty well with the Hatch peppers.
 
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Seems to be a shortage for some reason. It's good though.
They had a contractual dispute with their grower in Cali. That farm now sells their own brand. Huy Fong got a new grower in Mexico, but the drought has ruined their crop two seasons in a row, they have suspended production.
No other Sriracha comes close.
 
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Seems to be a shortage for some reason. It's good though.

An issue with the companies pepper supply. People are trying to sell their half empty bottles for silly amounts of money.

Siracha has its place. I like the flavor profile on certain Asian dishes. But I think there's much better general purpose hot sauces.
 
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They had a contractual dispute with their grower in Cali. That farm now sells their own brand. Huy Fong got a new grower in Mexico, but the drought has ruined their crop two seasons in a row, they have suspended production.
No other Sriracha comes close.

Have you tried the yellowbird siracha?
 
Youre treading deep water there pal. That stuffs made in Brooklyn?



I gave Nico some shit about that when he started the company… he’es a friend

His answer is “this is where food happens.”

He and his wife have a NAVSPECWAR connection. But not sure what it is. Very very good people!

Sirhr
 
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I've never gotten into boutique hot sauces so I stick with the mass produced.

Cholula is my go to for Tex Mex
Franks for chili and practically anything else
Crystal for oysters

Thats about it. Should I try small batch?


Yes.
Lemme know what your prefered heat level is.
Use Cholula as the guide as I buy that stuff in bulk!

And for Chili you need some good peppers.

If you dont have a Mex grocery near you, lemme know.
I gots yer address and will send you some with the sauce.

I like Franks.

And good Chilis cooked into your dishes is an apples/oranges comparison.
 
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One of my favorite prepackaged one is Melinda's. Just some really good off the shelf sauces without a lot of extraneous stuff. My favorite one so far is the Trinidad Scorpion. On par with ghost pepper but I think it has really good flavor too. Also, for my Mexican food, El Yucateco Mayan triple XXX hot sauce is my go to. Now before you run out and buy these, know that I did the one chip challenge at work and kept on working. Sweating, crying and red for 15 minutes, but that's it.
Good stuff.
 

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Awrighty then...
Take about 200-300 of these little Thai chilis (nickle for sizing idea)...
ThaiDragon.jpg


Add about 5-7 *REAL* Jalapenos, not those jumbo sized water tasting store bought trash things.
Real Jalapenos rarely exceed 2 inches long and have pretty substantial heat.
Add about 5 cloves fresh garlic.
1-2 Poblano chilis
2-3 *REAL* Serrano chilis (not store bought, see above).
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp fresh ground cumin seeds
1 tsp fresh ground corriander seeds
*About* 1/4 cup (it will vary) apple cider vinegar
1 small to medium brown onion

Destem all chilis, peel and cut up onion, place in a blender.
I use a Ninja juicer, it works perfectly for this.
Blend the shit out of it, it should become almost a whitish/green foam, add more vinegar until it does.
Pour this mess into a smaller saute pan and place over low heat.
Stir it fairly often and scrape sides often.
It should come to a decent boil in time, leave it boil for at least 5 minutes, 10 is better.
Pour directly into a prepped Mason jar and lid it tight while it's still as hot as possible.
Leave sit, you should hear the top *POP* when it cools, this is what you want.
Leave it sit on the counter or something for 4-5 days at minimum.
Give it a good shake, use as you will but be sure to refridge it from here on out.

Random chilis maybe 1/10th of what I harvest every few days.

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Busha Browne's Pukka Sauce. Jamaican scotch bonnet pepper sauce. The flavor is flat out amazing. It is also amazingly difficult to find. Amazon doesn't count.
 
All kinds of hot sauces at cabelas with crazy names to make you think they are hot. I've tried several and not impressed.

I get more excited about salsa than I do hot sauce. My current fav salsa is 505Southwestern green chili Salsa.
 
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Blending a pepper, adding salt and vinegar then putting it in a bottle does not a hot-sauce make. There are LOTS of different sauces out there, with varying amount of heat.

Everything from ketchup/catsup to deliriously insane. To take the time and process to develop flavors, that is a completely different thing in itself. But by far, the vast majority out there is simply "how fast can we get this raw product into a bottle, and how much can we water-it-down so that we can fill as many bottles as possible, so that we can make as much money from the masses as possible?"

Or, it can be done WELL.

Your choice. This fits right up there with the adage of "Good-Fast-Cheap" and you can only pick 2.
 
From what I can see, some good hot sauces can be seen on the YouTube show "Hot Ones."

The host, Sean Evans, interviews celebrities while they eat wings with hot sauce ranging from just an ambitious tomato sauce to an assault upon humanity called "Da Bomb."

Charlize Theron tasted that and said to Sean, "Man, that's a dick move."

The weakest celeb to quit early? DJ Khalid.
 
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From what I can see, some good hot sauces can be seen on the YouTube show "Hot Ones."

The host, Sean Evans, interviews celebrities while they eat wings with hot sauce ranging from just an ambitious tomato sauce to an assault upon humanity called "Da Bomb."

Charlize Theron tasted that and said to Sean, "Man, that's a dick move."

The weakest celeb to quit early? DJ Khalid.

Sean asks some really good questions, surprisingly good for what you would think is just a goofy hot wings show.
 
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El Yukateko XXXTra hot, Melinda's Ghost pepper or when I want something smokey Marie Sharp's Smokin Marie.
Another I really like on pork and chicken I mix from a concentrated paste of Jamaican Jerk and Pineapple Habanero suace.sauce.
Also another really good one but has to be ordered is Berties.
I went on a job in Trinidad and the stuff was everywhere so i brought I home two big bottles.
It's made with Scorpion peppers as that is what they predominately use and has a very good depth of flavor with a decent amount of spiciness.
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Not a sauce but:

Chiltepin, gather 'em up, dry 'em out and run through a blender until they are the size you like. Put the grindings in a shaker and set it on the table. There will be a very fine dust in the corners and coating the blender after dumping the grindings. Maybe only a couple of teaspoons, rescue this and put in where you keep the special condiments. This is cooking gold.

Ripe, red, fresh picked are great in stew, soups, crock pot recipes, sloppy joes, etc. Use double if you remove the seeds.

When you pull the green ones the stem will come with the pepper like a little handle. Looseish pack these into a little jar, I use a one cup size Mason type. Save your dill pickle juice (Clausen of course, the only type), pour into into a pan, bring it to a boil, pour it over the peppers to fill the jars, place lids and screw down the bands. Wrap the jars up in a towel, coat, something to insulate them really well and set out in a hot sunny place to cool slowly. With a sandwich, or whatever, pick each out using the little handle, one pepper, one bite. These go quick.

Take the grindings left over after filling the shakers, put them in a bowl and cover with Everclear. Stir and mix well daily for a week or better. Keep covered. Strain out the pulp and set the liquid out to thicken in the sun. When it gets to moving like 10 wt store it for cooking, a little goes a long way. 5-6 drops in a jug of Plochmans mustard works well.

Full size is a 5' bush. Loves the hot sun. Can't take under 50* at night. Arizona desert plant.

Thank you,
MrSmith
 
Not a sauce but:

Chiltepin, gather 'em up, dry 'em out and run through a blender until they are the size you like. Put the grindings in a shaker and set it on the table. There will be a very fine dust in the corners and coating the blender after dumping the grindings. Maybe only a couple of teaspoons, rescue this and put in where you keep the special condiments. This is cooking gold.

Ripe, red, fresh picked are great in stew, soups, crock pot recipes, sloppy joes, etc. Use double if you remove the seeds.

When you pull the green ones the stem will come with the pepper like a little handle. Looseish pack these into a little jar, I use a one cup size Mason type. Save your dill pickle juice (Clausen of course, the only type), pour into into a pan, bring it to a boil, pour it over the peppers to fill the jars, place lids and screw down the bands. Wrap the jars up in a towel, coat, something to insulate them really well and set out in a hot sunny place to cool slowly. With a sandwich, or whatever, pick each out using the little handle, one pepper, one bite. These go quick.

Take the grindings left over after filling the shakers, put them in a bowl and cover with Everclear. Stir and mix well daily for a week or better. Keep covered. Strain out the pulp and set the liquid out to thicken in the sun. When it gets to moving like 10 wt store it for cooking, a little goes a long way. 5-6 drops in a jug of Plochmans mustard works well.

Full size is a 5' bush. Loves the hot sun. Can't take under 50* at night. Arizona desert plant.

Thank you,
MrSmith
These grew wild In parts of Texas were I grew up as a kid.
They are indeed very good, I remembering seeing them mostly in a glass bottle filled with vinegar to add to beans and various other dishes.
 
Not a sauce but:

Chiltepin, gather 'em up, dry 'em out and run through a blender until they are the size you like. Put the grindings in a shaker and set it on the table. There will be a very fine dust in the corners and coating the blender after dumping the grindings. Maybe only a couple of teaspoons, rescue this and put in where you keep the special condiments. This is cooking gold.

Ripe, red, fresh picked are great in stew, soups, crock pot recipes, sloppy joes, etc. Use double if you remove the seeds.

When you pull the green ones the stem will come with the pepper like a little handle. Looseish pack these into a little jar, I use a one cup size Mason type. Save your dill pickle juice (Clausen of course, the only type), pour into into a pan, bring it to a boil, pour it over the peppers to fill the jars, place lids and screw down the bands. Wrap the jars up in a towel, coat, something to insulate them really well and set out in a hot sunny place to cool slowly. With a sandwich, or whatever, pick each out using the little handle, one pepper, one bite. These go quick.

Take the grindings left over after filling the shakers, put them in a bowl and cover with Everclear. Stir and mix well daily for a week or better. Keep covered. Strain out the pulp and set the liquid out to thicken in the sun. When it gets to moving like 10 wt store it for cooking, a little goes a long way. 5-6 drops in a jug of Plochmans mustard works well.

Full size is a 5' bush. Loves the hot sun. Can't take under 50* at night. Arizona desert plant.

Thank you,
MrSmith

I really need to grow chiltepins...
 
Hard to pick a favorite as I'm a hot sauce junky. With that said my regular go to is just plain old Louisiana hot sauce. This Tabasco Habanero is something I've been using alot of lately. It's delicious
View attachment 8444603
That one surprised me too. Readily available, inexpensive, good flavor, and more kick than expected.

-LD
 
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You can get these at Academy Sports now and they are actually very good. I’m not a fan of extreme hot shit though.

Yellow Bird makes really good hot sauce!

I always have a bottle of their serrano flavor in the fridge. And if anyone is looking for a Siracha replacement, Yellow Bird makes the best version of it. I've tried a few different sirachas to replace the original, and Yellow Bird won out by a large margin.
 
by he way, the "sriracha" kind of sauce they have at costco isn't terrible. maybe the best alternative of the 5 kinds i've tried.

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El Yukateko XXXTra hot, Melinda's Ghost pepper or when I want something smokey Marie Sharp's Smokin Marie.
Another I really like on pork and chicken I mix from a concentrated paste of Jamaican Jerk and Pineapple Habanero suace.sauce.
Also another really good one but has to be ordered is Berties.
I went on a job in Trinidad and the stuff was everywhere so i brought I home two big bottles.
It's made with Scorpion peppers as that is what they predominately use and has a very good depth of flavor with a decent amount of spiciness.
View attachment 8444237
I found those here in Texas. Both great.
 
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