Sriracha: The Hot Sauce That Doesn’t Suck
29 Comments Published by Joel October 11th, 2006 in Food. Share This
I hate hot sauce. I hate the people that are in constant pursuit of hotter sauces; Wouldn’t searing the roof of your mouth with a brand proclaiming “A-1 Certified Oversized Genital Bearer” suffice?
Part of the problem is that I am, as the beret would indicate, sensitive. Disliking eye-milking pain does not make me less of a man, but instead one inclined to the finer things, such as the ability to taste and that overlooked aphrodisiac, the lack of pain.
So why do I keep covering everything in this sriracha? This particular brand—TUONG OT SRIRACHA from Huy Fong Foods, Inc.—has a pretty good kick to it, too, but so much flavor. I did the legislated minimum of research about sriracha and discovered that it’s made from “sun ripen chilies…along with garlic.”
And there you have it: Garlic, which I adore in every form, even raw, is mellowing out the heat of the chilies. Who’d have thought?
Product Page [HuyFong.com]
29 Responses to “Sriracha: The Hot Sauce That Doesn’t Suck”
- 1 Trackback on Jan 4th, 2007 at 10:29 pm
My favorite hot sauce is Jardine Foods Blazing Saddle:
http://www.jardinefoods.com/store_products.html?id=38
It’s a habanero sauce, so it’s got a lot of kick, but that really just means you don’t have to use much and the bottle will last a long time. Unlike many other habanero sauces, this one is not meant to remove the lining of your throat, and the flavor is very bright and pleasing. It’s very low on the vinegar, and the second ingredient is carrots, giving it a sweet, mellow overtone.
Their Texas Champagne is also a much less vinegary substitute for Tabasco, and great on eggs. Again – a few drops is plenty.
Also known around town under a more manly name, Cock Sauce.
Huy Fong’s other sauce, their Chili Garlic sauce deserves a place every fridge too. It’s a little chunkier than the sriracha, and works great as a mix-in to pad thai.
Kind of disappointing that a site about manly things would condemn hot sauce….
But even so, if you’re a fan of the less spicy, more flavorful sauces, I’d recommend Franks Red Hot (tastes like buffalo sauce), Louisiana Hot Sauce (great with cajun flavors) and Cholula (good on pretty much anything). None of them are too spicy.
Now me… I’ve got a bottle of Blair’s Megadeath that I like to put in chili. A small amount for a pot of chili will usually do it. I hate the sauces that are nothing but heat, but I’m a sucker for the ones that have both intense heat and flavor.
I agree, this is among the best hot sauce ever. I’ve been calling it rooster sauce for about 8 years now, though cock sauce seems like just as good a name. Ryan O. is also on the ball, their chili garlic is the shit. Also look for this buffalo chipotle hot sauce, its brown/black, comes in a ~5 inch tall conical bottle w/ an orange cap. It is the best mexican hot sauce i’ve had.
Amen Joel. Frank’s Hot Sauce is dead to me.
Good work. A friend got me eating the sriracha sauce about 10 years ago. Great on burgers and fries too! The cook at the local bar I worked at called it ‘chinese ketchup’, but that’s back in the middle of nowhere, PA.
Although I absolutely LOATHE Tabasco (way too vinegary) their Tabasco Chipotle is awesome, hot but not painfully so.
We call it “rooster” sauce, and a few spoonfuls in some Pho will cure anything short of bird flu.
Seconding the La Cholula
http://www.mexgrocer.com/1254.html
While also good on anything, it is the PERFECT breakfast hot sauce. Also a good alternative to vinegary Tabasco and bursting with flavor. Stick to the original forumulation, the new garlic flavor variation is underwhelming
Being a traditionalist I’m partial to tobasco.
Despite all of the Vietnamese writing on the bottle Huy Fong Foods Inc is an all American company. When the founder of Huy Fong Foods, Inc immigrated to the U.S., he named the company after the vessel that carried him over. I thought these facts were interesting and worth the extra research.
Oh, I wanted to add Green Tabasco. It’s not really hot but the flavor is awesome. Great on breakfast burritos!
“Cock Sauce”?
“Rooster Sauce”?
Those in the know refer to this magic stuff as “HOT COCK”.
sriracha > *
Bah! The Chili Garlic sauce is too salty for even me…and I snack on salt licks during the day!
Real men make their own hot sauce.
Sriracha is an awesome condiment. It’s ketchup with flavor. That’s the real point behind hot sauces…flavor. There are plenty of Habanero sauces out there that pack a lot of flavor and the flavor is first before the heat.
I like food that makes my tongue tingle but if it burns more coming out than it did going in then it’s horsecrap hot sauce.
Yucatan Sunshine is a great sauce. It is full of flavor and adds a slight bite to your food.
If it’s made by Crystal, Louisiana or Frank’s the best place to store it to keep it’s flavor consistent is in the trash can.
Tabasco has it’s place. It’s good on Roast Beef sandwiches.
Love the rooster sauce! You can make a great spicy mayo with it!
2tbls of mayo, 1 tspn of minced garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of paprika, and as much rooster sauce you want for flavor.
It’s great on medium rare grilled tuna sandwiches or burgers!
I for one also love Franks Red Hot sauce. I’ve never liked the rooster stuff, but I put Franks on everything. It’s great because it has a really strong flavor but isn’t really all that hot. I think the sriracha stuff is even hotter. I find that franks adds a delicious tang to just about everything. I especially like it on pizza. One thing to note about the idea of hot sauce being a “manly” thing, I for one love really hot stuff, but the person I’m usually matching heat with is my mom. Just a little thought there. By the way, if you DO like the insanely hot stuff, I’d recommend Dave’s Ultimate Insanity sauce. It actually has chile extract in it, and even the smallest drop leaves you running for something to cool you down. It’s great for jokes, assuming you don’t go overboard, and on the bottle it claims that it’s great for removing grease stains if that’s any indication.
It’s nice to see people finaly coming around to the “racha”. It should be on every restaurant table right beside the ketchup and steak sauce!!!!!
I had a shitton of sriracha at lunch yesterday @ noodles (indonesian peanut saute, think pad thai) (pretty good stuff, there).
Another favorite worth mentioning is chipotle tabasco. Smokey, not too spicy, fucking delicious on just about anything (I like it on pizza for some reason).
You’ll not lose any tasting ability using hot sauces and condiments. I’m from Argentina, living in Mexico for almost 6 years and -while I love hot food- I enjoy the asados back home when I visit my family. This guy says hot sauce vs. tasting isn’t a real duel.
One thing I hate about the mexican way to eat is that they add hot sauce to EVERYTHING. No matter if it’s french cuisine, italian pasta or chinese sweet’n’sour chicken, they seem to NEED the hot stuff to enjoy any food. I like to keep the original recipes, if it’s hot, bring it on.
This has replaced most of the other hot sauces in my pantry. great stuff
This is my favorite hot sauce ever. Really good flavor!
Let me be the first to say, “I also enjoy this fine product.”
Being that I loves me some Hot sauces, I have to say Sriracha as in my top 10-15 favorites… TUONG OT SRIRACHA, ironically, relates to the poster’s comment re:A-1 Certified Oversized Genital Bearers, being that it supposedly means something like the ‘toung of cock’ hot sauce…
One of my very favorites you should try is Melinas, a scotch bonnet sauce that’s very carroty… and soo perfectly hot, but really not too hot….
The reason you don’t like hot sauce is not that you’re sensitive but because you have a birth defect that prevents your body from secreting endorphins in the presence of hot sauces. Researches have given hot-sauce lovers the opioid receptor antagonist naltrexone and turned them, temporarily, into hot sauce haters like you.
Oh fuck yeah Joel. That’s the best hot sauce EVER. I knew there was a reason I loved ya.
ahh, one of the best, and made in Los Angeles to boot.
Where can I buy this sauce in Canada? Any online stores that would ship up here? Huy Fong won’t send it to me!!!!
sliced tomato on white bread with sriracha sandwich. i swear it’s good.
Make your own Belizian Style Habanero Sauce and you will never purchase shop sauce again