(02-02-2021, 08:16 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: I love hot sauce. However, people who know me always like to have me try these explosive rot your stomach liner sauces. I ain't into that stuff. Hot sauce should not be painful because after a certain point, it kills the flavor of the food and drink. Ridiculous to me to go crazy on the Scoville levels, but that's just me. Plus, the extreme hot ones really taste like crap.

I like that you were able to find some good flavored hot sauces. I like siracha sauce as well. The heavy garlic presence is wonderful. I also add Franks heavily into soups and chili's. About 60% of the heat cooks out and adds a tremendous flavor. I also like Tobassco but It needs to be proper like with a bloody mary, on a sunny side up egg or on sausage gravy. Just a few drops.

My son bought me a sample pack of different hot sauces at Walmart during Christmas. Some of those were kind of nice, while some were ok. I really enjoyed trying them all though.

(02-02-2021, 08:26 PM)MileHighGrowler Wrote: I'd agree completely with that.  If I can't taste anything, the experience is ruined.  What really blew me away with the folks at Heatonist (https://heatonist.com/) is that they made a sauce that clocks in at over 3 MILLION Scoville (a habanero is about 200,000 for reference - 2 million is about the same Scoville as pepper spray) that still has flavor, and damn good flavor at that.  You can pick out the ginger and coriander, which is just a remarkable feat.  It's hard to beat putting a little of that in some chili.  Eating it straight is madness, although I've done it a few times to help clear the sinuses. 

(02-02-2021, 08:52 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: I love hot sauce, but I'm with Harley in that I don't need the really potent stuff. We have a couple local makers around here that I frequently get stuff from. I do keep some commercial ones around, though, for cooking purposes. Crystal in particular is really good for cooking.

(02-02-2021, 08:53 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: Crystal? Never heard of it? Is that stuff you get at Kroger or Walmart?

(02-02-2021, 09:06 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: I can usually find it at Kroger or any other grocery store.

https://crystalhotsauce.com/

(02-03-2021, 08:05 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: I couldn't find it at the Greenville Wallmart. 

(02-02-2021, 08:39 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: LOL, for gods sake, use a Netty Pot. 

Seriously, I didn't even know what that was until my wife made me do it. But anyway, that's not why I'm replying.

The best way I've experienced to try a new hot sauce is with a Ritz, piece of cheese and 1 drop. If it's week, then 2 drops and so on. A sip of wine also helps clean the palate between sauces or experiments.

(02-02-2021, 08:16 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: I also add Franks heavily into soups and chili's. About 60% of the heat cooks out and adds a tremendous flavor.

(02-04-2021, 12:10 PM)Truck_1_0_1_ Wrote: I love spicy food to death and love any hot sauce, for that matter; my father and I both have incredible constitutions (me moreso than him), so I can (and do) keep anything down and handle anything.

I will not put it on everything however, simply because there are a ton of meals that don't call for it; I will put chili flakes on pizza sometimes, sometimes I won't. I will put hot pepperoncini on my pasta sometimes, sometimes I won't.

Same for hot sauces.


Bingo.

I actually use it in everything that I make for nachos, tacos (including shrimp, fish and meat), Chinese Stir-Frys, Vietnamese Stir-Frys, even many of our Italian dishes; the heat cooks out and the sauce itself tastes wonderful. It really is a well-rounded sauce that goes well with many things.

I think the distinction must be made with sugar-based sauces and vinegar-based sauces; when it comes to heat, the sugar-based sauces will always taste poor, as the balance of sugar added and sugar in the pepper (of which there is, of course), gets thrown off. As well, if there are specific additives that alter flavor, that will screw it up as well.

Vinegar-based sauces, OTOH (which include the Tabascos and Franks of the world), seem to blend much better with the hot peppers and that enhances the flavor of anything in the sauce, whether it is ginger, coriander, wasabi, lemon, etc., etc. Sugar ***** it all up.

This all being said, as written above, I just prefer heat, from the actual source:

- real wasabi (not the crap that comes at your local sushi place or in grocery stores; I mean the legit plant root, grated down. It becomes like a smooth, watery-sauce-like mixture and it isn't as harsh or as bland as the commercial stuff)
- real hot peppers
- real chili flakes
- Tobanjan/Doubanjiang (Chinese Hot Bean Paste; pure deliciousness)

A local(ish) wing chain here in York Region (just north of Toronto) has, on their heat-level that is right below, "Armageddon," and, "H-Bomb," a flavor called Caligula; it is their third-hottest sauce, combined with a creamy-garlic-type sauce and chili flakes. My God, it is so delicious, the taste of the peppers is phenomenal and despite it being super spicy, the addition of the garlic-type sauce helps tone it down a bit, so the flavor sticks out even more.

But it's hot; I know if my father ate it, he'd have a tough time, even with its deliciousness.

(02-04-2021, 09:08 PM)MileHighGrowler Wrote: Vinegar-based is my go-to for sure.  And even better when the first ingredient on the label isn't vinegar but actual peppers.  I avoid added sugar in sauces usually (unless it's coming from the addition of fruit or honey or something that contributes flavor beyond sweetness) and I avoid sauces that have "pepper extract" as those are usually pure heat and no flavor.  Sometimes it's used to amp up the heat and other ingredients provide flavor, but a lot of the gimmicky super hot sauces are made with extracts and I just don't like it.  Similar to some super hoppy IPAs over the years that used hop extract to add bitterness, when what I want in an IPA is just a whole lotta flavor and nuance.  

Have you used Gochujang (Korean fermented chili paste)?  

(02-05-2021, 11:08 AM)Truck_1_0_1_ Wrote: I always taste the sauce itself, before putting it on any food, to see if it's my cup of tea. 

(02-05-2021, 05:19 PM)MileHighGrowler Wrote: Man, single best way to understand flavor.  I started getting into tiki cocktails last winter and suddenly my rum collection went from a bottle of Bacardi to about 15 varieties.  I sampled each of them neat before ever using them to understand the nuance of flavor each had.  If I ever want to sub one for another, I'll do an A/B with each poured neat to again pull those characters.  I do the same with cooking.  Any spice, herb, veggie, fruit, meat... I want to try them all individually to understand how their components will work together in a dish.  I do the same with brewing beer.  Flavor is an adventure I'm always happy to take!  And like I tell my kids all the time, you might not like it, it might not be your favorite, but it's good to experience and understand and learn to verbalize what you're tasting or smelling.  

Being in tune with the food we eat might sound weirdly hippy or new age to some, but we form healthier eating habits and learn to savor the moment a lot more when we connect with our food through our senses.  I see a lot of my French heritage in that approach, too.  I was in Germany for work a couple of years ago (I'm part German as well), and meals were all about utility.  Limited flavors, limited variety, eating with both fork and knife in each hand at all times, racing through meals.  And skipping meals a lot.  I visited some family in France that same trip, and every meal was an occasion.  Everyone came together, had great conversation, enjoyed each moment in each other's company.  Meals lasted forever, multiple small courses.  Different drinks.  Eating what was in season, but such variety of flavors and colors.  And such pride in the locally sourced ingredients and the sharing of the meal experience.  Unless you hate your family, that's pretty much my dream meal scenario.  I didn't want to leave and go back to Germany after that visit!