What is your favorite hot sauce?

[Scott Dolan]

My wife and I are hot sauce afficinados to a certain extent. And recently discovered our new favorite hot sauce: Marie Sharp’s Habanero Pepper Sauce. 

So what is your favorite? 

Edited August 19, 2018 by Scott Dolan

[JSngry]

Don't really explore any more, but I always try to keep a bottle of Blair's Death on hand. The original, none of the "flavored" versions. For my palate, that's the one that lives right on the line of heat and full flavor.

[jlhoots]

Cholula is pretty good - several flavors

[erwbol]

I just climb on my bike for Indonesian take-out.

Or Surinamese, but there is a good, affordable Indonesian close to where I live now.

[Scott Dolan]

 

8 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Don't really explore any more, but I always try to keep a bottle of Blair's Death on hand. The original, none of the "flavored" versions. For my palate, that's the one that lives right on the line of heat and full flavor.

I’ll have to check that one out. We’re ordering hot sauce in a couple of weeks, and need $70 bucks worth to get free shipping. Hopefully the company we order from carries it. 

 

4 minutes ago, jlhoots said:

Cholula is pretty good - several flavors

Cholula was my favorite until we got the Marie Sharps. My wife and I sometimes combine the two. They make one hell of an awesome flavor together! 

Edited August 19, 2018 by Scott Dolan

[catesta]

My favorite is some concoction a local burrito place does but dude won't say what's in it. I can't do or don't enjoy too much heat, so I'm no aficionado. My wife and I were gifted a large basket of various sauces and salsas last Christmas. Of the green variety, these are tasty...

I also enjoy Arizona Gunslinger, both red and green and Yellowbird Habanero.

These two may be my favorites.

[Scott Dolan]

Our local burrito joint makes their sauce in house as well. It is smoking hot, and incredibly tasty! 

[JSngry]

Cholula has been a long-time favorite in these parts. They're a sponsor for the Rangers' radio broadcasts, and "the flavorful hot sauce with the iconic wooden cap" has more or less been indelibly etched into my consciousness. Far from my "favorite", but I'll never refuse it!, it don't suck. I like a bit more heat myself, but it don't suck.

They also have had a more interesting history than I knew: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholula_Hot_Sauce

Certainly explains their rise, in my lifetime, from a "specialty" sauce to a ubiquousness rivaled only by Tabasco.

Despite it's name, my "favorite" is a locally-made brand that's been in production longer than I've been alive. It's not "hot" at all, it's just tasty as hell. You can literally use it on everything, and as liberally as you want, you won't get burned.

https://www.albertsfamousmexicanhotsauce.com/about.html

They make a "spicy" variety, but really,if you want a kitten, get a cat. When you have a dog, enjoy it as such and leave well enough alone.

Interesting fact about Albert's and its origins. They served it with saltines, not chips. Go figure that one.

[Soulstation1]

Edited August 19, 2018 by Soulstation1

[jeffcrom]

I like a variety of hot sauces, and don't really have a single favorite. I do love going to David's Produce, on the outskirts of Atlanta. They have a wall of hot sauces. They won't sell you the most extreme varieties without having you sign a waiver, although I suspect that is mostly for dramatic effect.

 

[JSngry]

Hey, some of those extreme sauces are for real dangerous. I tried some of that Dave's uber-insane Insanity once (some kind of "special reserve" or something), did not respect the serving suggestion to just dip the tip of a toothpick into it for less than a second, and that shit got, uh....TOO damn real, and not just for a few seconds.

In a stew or a soup or some other medium that it will diffuse in, yeah, ok. But to me, it's just stunt sauce. And it can be dangerous.

[Scott Dolan]

52 minutes ago, jeffcrom said:

I like a variety of hot sauces, and don't really have a single favorite. I do love going to David's Produce, on the outskirts of Atlanta. They have a wall of hot sauces. They won't sell you the most extreme varieties without having you sign a waiver, although I suspect that is mostly for dramatic effect.

 

Looks like The Silly Chile in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. 

We bought the hottest sauce they carried extracted from the Carolina Reaper. 

4 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Hey, some of those extreme sauces are for real dangerous. I tried some of that Dave's uber-insane Insanity once (some kind of "special reserve" or something), did not respect the serving suggestion to just dip the tip of a toothpick into it for less than a second, and that shit got, uh....TOO damn real, and not just for a few seconds.

In a stew or a soup or some other medium that it will diffuse in, yeah, ok. But to me, it's just stunt sauce. And it can be dangerous.

Yeah, that Reaper Pepper sauce will make you question why you were even born. 

I also bought their Reaper salsa. I have to mix it in with my regular Pace Picante at a ratio ofabout 20:1, and even then I’m sweating heavily by the time I’m done with it. 

[Stereojack]

My personal favorite, from Louisiana

[JSngry]

Crystal is great, so are Trappey's. & Texas Pete. For that matter, so is Tabasco. They're all well-executed variations on a theme.

There's also "Louisiana", the one with the red dot on the label.

 

For this genre, there are no bad choices!

[Dan Gould]

Ketchup is as wild and crazy as I go. Can't stand that shitte and that was long before my intestinal fortitude started changing with age. 

[lipi]

9 hours ago, Stereojack said:

My personal favorite, from Louisiana

That one has my vote, too, when it comes to the kinds in bottles. It's more vinegar than hot, but that's OK. I was pleased to see it everywhere in New Orleans, so I'm being authentic.

As for those crazy hot ones, I leave you with this:

 

[Scott Dolan]

On 8/20/2018 at 7:23 AM, JSngry said:

Crystal is great, so are Trappey's. & Texas Pete. For that matter, so is Tabasco. They're all well-executed variations on a theme.

There's also "Louisiana", the one with the red dot on the label.

 

For this genre, there are no bad choices!

The only part of that I disagree with is including Tobasco in that group. 

Tobasco is a completely different animal than the Crystal/Louisiana/Texas Pete/Frank’s/Cholula style of hot sauce. Those are a thicker, milder pepper sauce, whereas Tobasco is more like a really hot vinegar. And much hotter than the others. 

I love them all, regardless. 

On 8/20/2018 at 7:13 AM, Stereojack said:

My personal favorite, from Louisiana

Yep. As Jim said, it’s hard to go wrong with any of them. 

I’ve had garbage hot sauces, and none of these qualify. They are all top shelf.

Louisiana Gold is quite good, also. 

[lipi]

6 hours ago, Scott Dolan said:

The only part of that I disagree with is including Tobasco in that group. 

Tobasco is a completely different animal than the Crystal/Louisiana/Texas Pete/Frank’s/Cholula style of hot sauce. Those are a thicker, milder pepper sauce, whereas Tobasco is more like a really hot vinegar. And much hotter than the others. 

Agreed.

The green tabasco is a bit closer, but still a different beast.

[JSngry]

Their functional use (at least where I've lived) is essentially the same though. Table sauce that you put on anything/everything. Literally. Been there done that, no problem going back and doing it again.

The chipotle Tabasco is actually quite beguilling, btw.

[Scott Dolan]

Oddly enough, as big as a Tobasco fan I am, I’ve still not tried any of the variations. 

Part of it due to the fact that they only come in the small bottles. That’d be about two uses for me. 

I need to eventually try them, though. 

[JSngry]

https://www.webstaurantstore.com/48931/hot-sauces.html?vendor=Tabasco

[mjzee]

We visited the McIlhenny/Tabasco headquarters/factory in Avery Island, Louisiana once.  They have a great gift shop where they serve Tabasco ice cream.  Worth a visit.

[Scott Dolan]

2 hours ago, JSngry said:

https://www.webstaurantstore.com/48931/hot-sauces.html?vendor=Tabasco

If those were available to the public, I'd get them! We always buy the largest bottles they sell. 

 

22 minutes ago, mjzee said:

We visited the McIlhenny/Tabasco headquarters/factory in Avery Island, Louisiana once.  They have a great gift shop where they serve Tabasco ice cream.  Worth a visit.

That sounds pretty cool! I always used to say I put Tobacco on everything except breakfast cereal. Ice cream! I'm in!

[JSngry]

Based in Lancaster, PA, WebstaurantStore is the largest online restaurant supply store serving food service professionals and individual customers worldwide.

Dude, carpe diem!

Not sure if this is anything but a local thing, but there's Sontava! Habanero sauce, formerly in both XX and XXX heat levels (now just Hot and Extra Hot) . It used to be on every grocery shelf, but then Jardine's bought it and distribution seems to be more limited, plus the recipie has changed a little (neither better nor worse, just different) as has their country of origin.. It's still available at consumer-friendly prices though, and is my everyday alternative to Blair's which the last time I looked (a while back) had gotten a tad pricey.

https://www.salsaexpress.com/p-5263-jardines-sontava-habanero-hot.aspx

Go figure all that...still a good choice, imo.

 

[John L]

Not long ago, I tasted for the first time Trader Joe's Habanero sauce.  I was quite surprised and impressed.  What I like about it is that it gives a pure flavor of habanero as opposed to the mixed cocktail of most habanero-based hot sauces.  While living in Nigeria, I really came to appreciate the pure flavor of habanero.