Hey Chili Pepper Hot Sauce lovers...

I love medium hot chili pepper sauces and have a door shelf on the fridge full of them. I recently discovered two new sauces that I love and wanted to share. Check out Chili Gods' red pepper sauce, they also have a green sauce which is great on enchiladas. The other one is Kaitaia Chili Pepper Sauce FIRE, sun-ripened in New Zealand's far north and barrel-aged like a fine wine. Chili Gods is a USA product and comes from CA. I have hot sauce in a tomato juice concoction every morning along with in-season fruits, sometimes with a slice of cheese. Sometimes, a hot sauce is my secret ingredient for a flavor pop to make a sauce, soup, or whatever taste better.
What about you, any favorites I should know about?

[Jenise]

I'm not sure how many hot sauces I have, Karen, but probably somewhere between 10 and 15. There are always new ones to try and I find them hard to resist but I don't have room for more. My current favorites are the green and red ones made locally in Bellingham, Houssa is the brand name. Their green sauce is the best green sauce I've ever had. The red is also excellent. So far I buy a new bottle every year, I really love a fresh replacement in the fall. Some others have been in my fridge for a long, long time. In fact, I generally end up throwing something out to make room for a new one more than that I actually use it all the way up.

Thank you Jenise, I ordered three sauces and their resulting Dust. I loved the story and exactly the type of company I love to deal with. Can't wait to get them. Our family is all chili heads, we all cook with them and love to share our findings! Yikes, I never throw any out, I will toss a small amount left in a jar into a marinade, soup, sauce, salad dressing, or in my morning tomato juice!! Especially love them in marinades.

Some years ago I went to a chilli festival and tasted my way around all the chilli sauces being shown. I preferred Fat Man Chilli Numero Uno and I usually pair that with his Green Chilli Sauce which is milder, has green peppers and coriander leaves and a great taste.

As the Fat Man himself (Paul) comes to Snorbens monthly for the Farmers Market I have a regular supply of these sauces.

I've tried Nandos sauce and Frank's Red Hot (the original for Buffalo Wings) but I found they had heat but no flavour. Tabasco is a joke. I've tried others that I can't remember: for me they have to have flavour as well as heat - same as I want with the chillies that I grow

I've check to see if I can get Chili Gods' red pepper sauce and Kaitaia Chili Pepper Sauce FIRE in the UK.
Chili Gods' red pepper sauce is on Amazon but it says Currently unavailable. We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock
The UK distributer named by Kaitaia lists it but with delivery it's really expensive and even more expensive on Amazon

I'm with you Peter, I want my sauce to have good flavor. The green sauce I ordered is made from Jalapenos, and I often use them in my cooking.

[Jenise]

Peter, I *LOVE* Tabasco sauce! It certainly doesn't lack flavor. You could say it lacks body but that wouldn't be a criticism in my book, It's light vinegary body is a plus, and it has a unique flavor like no other. Can't eat scrambled eggs without it.

Can't eat scrambled eggs without it.

Ugh. If you put tabasco on everything then everything tastes like tabasco and not itself.

My current favorites are the green and red ones made locally in Bellingham, Houssa is the brand name.

Do you mean HOSA they turn the S on it's side so that it loo0ks like a U. Yo can find it at: https://hosasauce.com/

I like Frank's over Tabasco although I've tried some "reserve" bottlings of Tabasco That I like as much as Frank's.

I went to Cozumel and stopped at a local market. I got some tacos and they had 3 types of hot sauce. I forget what the first one was but the other two were Habanero and Habanero only. I loved the only flavor.

I use Tabasco in the buttermilk when I marinate chicken. I do love the flavor it gives, but Tabasco can be a bit hot for me if I am not careful. It is a staple in my fridge, however, and I think it adds a lot of flavor to scrambled eggs, some cheese dishes, and marinades.

Peter, I *LOVE* Tabasco sauce! It certainly doesn't lack flavor. You could say it lacks body but that wouldn't be a criticism in my book, It's light vinegary body is a plus, and it has a unique flavor like no other. Can't eat scrambled eggs without it.

Another thing we disagree on.

To me, it tastes of vinegar and is like a flavoured vinegar I sometimes see in Italian restaurants where they put some chillies in a bottle and top up with vinegar. It's not hot in my book; it's a waste of space

I was fond of Inner Beauty hot sauce when it was still being made in Central America (Costa Rica, IIRC0 for the East Coast Grill. The restaurant stopped selling it commercially but Chris Schlesinger published a home version of the recipe and I now make that myself. It's very close to the original. I see that Inner Beauty is still being made and sold commercially on the Internet. I haven't tried that version.

I like sriracha. I prefer Shark brand, which is imported from Thailand. I don't like the Rooster brand made in California that is the most popular sriracha in the US. I find it coarse and too hot compared to the authentic Thai versions.

For really, really hot sauces, I like Dave's Insanity. It has a nice flavor despite all the heat. A few drops can really perk up a dish.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Can't eat scrambled eggs without it.

Ugh. If you put tabasco on everything then everything tastes like tabasco and not itself.

That would be the case if I did so. But I don't. It's pretty much only for eggs or a chicken marinade.

[Jenise]

My current favorites are the green and red ones made locally in Bellingham, Houssa is the brand name.

Do you mean HOSA they turn the S on it's side so that it loo0ks like a U. Yo can find it at: https://hosasauce.com/

I like Frank's over Tabasco although I've tried some "reserve" bottlings of Tabasco That I like as much as Frank's.

I went to Cozumel and stopped at a local market. I got some tacos and they had 3 types of hot sauce. I forget what the first one was but the other two were Habanero and Habanero only. I loved the only flavor.

I do mean that! Didn't realize the sideways S. Fun looking at their website--they have a sauce, The Teacher, that I didn't even know about. Saw pictures of the Subdued Stringband Jamboree. It's very cool, our own little Woodstock kind of thing and some of my friends live for that to come around every summer. Tongue-in cheek, Bellingham is locally known as The City of Subdued Excitement. Hence, of course, it must be a subdued Jamboree.

Karen, I'm amazed that you ordered those sauces. Very cool of you to do that. I've been wanting to send some of these to friends and now I see I can do that from the website and save myself a trip to the post office. Win win!

I much prefer Crystal over Tabasco. Both are made in Louisiana. Crystal was a competitor of Tabasco, but I believe Tabasco bought out Crystal. At any rate, Tabasco is vinegar forward and too vinegary IMO, whereas Crystal is chile pepper forward. Read the labels, and you'll see the difference.

FWIW, I have dozens of different brands of hot sauce. I get them free for being a Scovie Award judge here in Albuquerque.

Someone mentioned Frank's. That's a pretty good one. And it was the original sauce used in the original recipe for buffalo wings.

Someone mentioned Frank's. That's a pretty good one. And it was the original sauce used in the original recipe for buffalo wings.

And that is the hot sauce that goes into my favorite chicken hot sauce from Sal's Birdland. (Also upstate NY about the same time as Anchor Bar did theirs, but in a sweet-tart style.)

[Jenise]

It's the vinegar-forward element of Tabasco that I love so much! But adding more vinegar to anything else wouldn't do, it's the unique chile blend that makes it work. But I understand, it's not for everybody.

Larry, no one could compete with you, that's for sure! I currently own about 12 different bottles, including the ubiquitous Tapatio which I've kind of decided I don't like very much. For Mexican, Valentino's is my current favorite.

I'm a fan of Cholula (the one with the wood cap), which is made from serranos. Another surprising one is from Kroger: Private Selection® Peruvian Inspired Aji Amarillo, which is actually quite good with a different flavor profile. But, in general, I bounce around on what I use.

It's amazing how chiles spread around the world from their origin in northern South America.

I thought I had a lot of hot sauces, but not as many as some of you. Current roster
Tabasco -we have oysters weekly, if not making mignonette I alternate lemon and Tabasco, you want the vinegar
Cholula orginal - mainly eggs
Franks -only acceptable choice for wings
Melindas original- hottest of ones I currently have, when I want kick. Not as hot as Paul's Dave's Insanity, I once broke a bottle of Dave's, cleanup was rough.
Texas Pete - by far mildest, but I use sometimes on cooked greens
Weak Knees Gochujang Sriracha (Bushwick Kitchen) - new one, a gift, nice different sweet tang as you'd expect.
plus some hot sauce adjacent things like chili crisp (and Momofuko chili crunch), chile oil, sambal olek, gochujang, etc.

[Jenise]

Dale, I laughed at the image of you cleaning up after Dave's Insanity. I really like Cholula, but haven't had any in years--another one that's vinegar-forward though of course not as much as Tabasco. I love to use it to sauce canned hominy for a vegetarian taco filling with fresh roasted green chiles. I went through a Melinda's phase but haven't had any in awhile because I have so many others, and there are now these great local alternatives that I love.

Cleaning up a smashed bottle of Dave's Insanity borders on being a hazmat situation.

-Paul W.

The year after Dave's Insanity Sauce, at the annual Fiery Foods Festival, sent someone to the hospital, he was banned from offering samples. I've often wondered if it were the woman I saw sampling Dave's Sauce. Dave had bowls out for people to sample on their own. I watched her pick up a chip and scoop it full. Now, that's insane!

Once, I took a bottle to the Press Club and dared a friend to try it. I put a tiny droplet on the end of a toothpick. It had the desired effect. He said, "I see God!," while quaffing a lot more beer.

So, the next year, I signed a waiver to try Dave's Atomic Blast--a mixture of two of his next hottest sauces. I tasted it and thought that it was hot, but not outrageously so. I got as far as halfway down the next aisle when it hit. I froze. My face flushed red. Water started dripping near my shoes--it was my forehead raining on the floor. But I survived, and I have a Survivor's Certificate hanging on my wall.

Dave's Insanity Sauce is essentially an extract of capsaicin.

I

Yeah, one of the youngin's at work brought in a a medicine bottle of pure capsaicin. It was more harmful than flavorful. I see no reason to eat it.

This was 25+ years ago, pre-Betsy. My then GF and I collided in the narrow galley kitchen in our one BR apartment, the bottle broke on floor. She was out the front door in less than 2 minutes, I think the cats wanted to follow. It took me probably an hour, windows open and hood van blowing. I'd clean for 2 minutes (with bandanna over nose and mouth, take a 5 minute break. Brutal.
A friend got the catalog for Mo Hotta Mo Betta, and had given me a gift. I said no more gifts!

I order from Chiporro Hot Sauce Company in Colorado. Two favorites are the Rocoto Hot and the Cilantro Jalapeno. When we were visiting friends in Sanford, FL, stumbled into a store that was full of hot sauces. Owner was working and he also makes his own (Hotter than El - https://www.hotterthanel.com/sauces). Ended up with a few bottles of the Gator Jakes which is Louisiana style, as well as a couple bottles of the Love Burns, but they are still in the pantry. He had a couple sauces on the First We Feast youtube show. I'll have to order some of the Hosa sauces recommended by Jenise.