Favorite Hot Sauces?

[Mr_Dove]

I've been a pepper-head for years. I've tried some good sauces and some poor ones. I like hot but it also has to taste good. Sauces that are pure fire usually fail for lack of flavor.

I've never been fond of sauces with much vinegar in them. Cholula and Frank's Red Hot are both pretty good though. Regular tabasco is terrible for me.

My in-laws recently brough me a bottle of a sauce called Sriracha from China. I'm loving it. Its not super hot but it tastes great to me. I'm trying it on almost everything.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sriracha

My Sriracha doesn't have any vinegar in it though.

I have 3 or 4 bottles of Dave's insanity sauce but several of them are lots of hot but little flavor.

What are your favorites?

 

[Andy M.]

I have a bottle of that in my kitchen as well. Also Frank's, Tabasco and a sauce called Bite Me which has chipotle and roasted garlic in it.

 

[Alix]

Franks only here.

 

[Aurora]

I'm not sure if this is nationally distributed, but Crystal Hot Sauce's flavor is outstanding.

http://www.baumerfoods.com/history.php?osCsid=3f62a0651c3e2f1a79266f669580d563

 

[mudbug]

We are fans of most of the products of Avery Island (Tabasco). The basic red stuff, the green stuff, the green stuff with garlic, etc.

Crystal's and Frank's are perfectly OK for our tastes as well.

Haven't bothered to research much further.

 

[TATTRAT]

Now are we talking just regular ol hot sauces, or HOT SAUCES? I like the Texas Pete Chipoltle one that just came out,but as far as HOT! sauce, it's either daves Insanity, or Volcano...I got a gift of some skull and cross bones single batch, wax sealed and everything, and my buddy had to sign a waiver to get it..needless to say, IT WILL BLISTER THE SKIN ON YOUR LIPS, LITERALLY! But it has awesome flavor, like 2, maybe 3 drops per gallon of product, you know it is in there.

PEPPERHEADS UNITE!

 

[The Z]

I really like Sriracha and use it on many, many things. Another one I really like for more Latin (as opposed to Asian) inspired food is Tapatio. I bought the smallest bottle they make (5 oz) and whizzed in one clove of garlic and one habenero pepper using my Magic Bullet. Oh my gosh... I carry that with me all the time (I keep a cooler in the car) so if I stop somewhere for a nosh I know I always have a nice hot sauce with me.

I also like Franks.

(it's time to make another batch of the Tapatio blend, so I may add a little chipotle as I like that smokey flavor too)

 

[jennyema]

I counted the hot sauces in my fridge and I am up to 18 different bottles. And there are at least 6 unopened in the cupboard.

I much prefer Crystal over Franks. I buy it by the quart. And we go through Sriracha like ketchup -- add it to everything. The brand (Huyfong) most people are familiar with is from California. And I have not seen Sriracha sauce without vinegar, but will look closely when at the 88 next time.

Cholula has cornstarch or something added to it that makes it taste cloudy to me. I don't care for it at all.

Melinda's; Hot Buns on the Beach; Jump Up and Kiss Me and Iguana are all very nice.

When East Coast Grill sold their bottled sauces they were OUTSTANDING (esp. the mustard-based one), but they don't do that anymore.

Still, my favorite is my own homemade habernaro sauce.

There is a great dive bar in Tribeca that has about 50 different sauces out for you to try. YUM.

 

[The Z]

....my favorite is my own homemade habernaro sauce.

A'ight, then jennye... Recipe up!

 

[jennyema]

Basically, I just throw a bunch of hab peppers (a dozen?), some garlic (2 cloves?), some carrot (1/2 of one?), some onion (i/2 of one?), a bit of cilantro (1T?), some black peppercorns (10?), some allspice berries (5?), a tiny bit of mustard seed (pinch), some salt (1T and more to taste), a pinch of sugar and juice from a lime or two into my food processor. I chop it up, though not really fine.

Then I dump into a sauce pan and add white vinegar and water (2 parts water to one part vinegar) and simmer for maybe 20 minutes.

Pour into a glass jar, cool, then put in fridge for a few weeks.

Then back into the food processor to pulverize. Strain into a sterilized bottle.

I hardly ever do it the same way twice, but I keep tasting and tasting until I really like it.

 

[ironchef]

I like Crystal's as a condiment, but I like to use Frank's if I'm making a sauce that's going to be cooked down or simmered.

You can't beat Sriracha for Asian foods though.

The hottest sauce I ever had was I think called "Liquid Stupid". It was pure Habanero with vinegar and some other spices.

 

[mudbug]

I'm waiting for one called Lips of Steel

 

[BreezyCooking]

I have to agree that good old "Tabasco" is definitely NOT my hot sauce of choice. (Even tho I grew up next door to one of the McIlhenny/Tabasco heirs). I find "Tabasco" a definite one-dimentional sauce. Heat & heat only.

My all-round favorite for adding to all my recipes is solidly Frank's Louisiana Hot Sauce. Has just the right amount of heat, flavor, & acidity. I've tried "Crystal", but have found it to have a touch of sweetness that I don't like.

I do receive a lot of different artisinal hot sauces as gifts, & these I use to season breakfast eggs, etc., etc., & enjoy them very much as well. In addition, I do use & enjoy "Pickapepper" in my Caribbean cooking.

But for day-to-day cooking - "Frank's is IT.

 

[GB]

I am in the minority as I do not like Franks or Sriracha.

I do not have a favorite as the ones I get usually are things I can only get once. My favorite of the moment is one that my mom brought back from Mexico. It is a chipotle sauce. Not a lot of heat, but the flavor is great. I do wish it were a little hotter, but I can always doctor it up a bit if I need.

 

[VickiQ]

We have a collection of hot sauces-more than I care to count- My son Jymm was a coleector including one that is in a med bottle with an eye dropper that he had to sign a waiver for.My son Dennis fav is Nucking Futs and my husband's fav is Wet Fart-we get most of our hot sauces from Peppers when we are in the Delaware/Maryland area.They have 1000s!!As for me I prefer the slight heat of things like wasabi.
http://peppers.com/

 

[BreezyCooking]

I don't care much for Sriracha either. Again, I find it has a touch of sweetness that doesn't appeal to me.

One of my favorite artisinal ones was given to me by my husband for Halloween. It was a murky green, very hot & flavorful, & was called "Bats Blood". Had a great label!!

 

[Robo410]

Marie Sharps Habanero Sauce from Belize ... really fine, sweetened with carrots, very hot but not at all idiotic.

 

[jasonj79]

I was eating at Picadilly the other day and for those of you that don't know what Picadilly is, its a restaurant chain we have here in the States. Anyways, I was eating some fried chicken the other day and got up to get some hot sauce. The brand they had was Cajun Chef Louisanna Hot Sauce. Man, this stuff was great. I would say it is similiar to Crystal and Frank's. That would have to be their competitors anyway. This stuff had a mild flavor, like Frank's, but the taste was awesome. I know that Tabassco and Crystal can be hot for some people making it to where they can't enjoy the taste. This stuff had maxium flavor with a very low intense heat. Is was great.

My wife feel in love with it as well. We tried to find some in the Grocery store but couldn't. I am going to search some other stores but if I can't find it there I will be forced to search the net. But if any of you guys ever see this definetely try it. You won't be dissapointed.

 

[GB]

Here ya go Jason.

 

[jasonj79]

Here ya go Jason.

Thanks a bunch. My wife is going to be happy now.