...Regional Hot Sauce battle!!!

[DachshundTooAteEZ]

...I have a bottle of each of the Big Six on my kitchen counter, and need to clear my sinuses, so...

Vote. But read my voter's guide first.



Tabasco- Strongly vinegar-esque to my taste, but nothing goes quite as well on eggs. We're not getting into the habanero or ***** green and chipotle varieties, as I'm limiting this to only the well known sauces so... Straight up C for this original, a classic, but sort of in the genericized, weird tasting in retrospect Coca Cola way.



Tapatio- Herein lies my bias, as this is what I grew up with. Tapatio is not subtle, it's the thickest of the sauces (til you get to Sriracha and vomit, anyway) and seems to have the longest ingredient list. The slogan is "Es una Salsa... Muy Salsa!!!", which I think probably sounds better if you don't have the handicap of knowing too much Spanish.

Tapatio does not go with everything, but there's really no substitute... Half the allure has to come from Mr. Tapatio himself, who obviously just clobbered the **** out of the Cholula chick. I want to BE him. Also, it always seems to be the cheapest for like a two liter jug of the stuff, so A-.



Speaking of which, Cholula- Always struck me as being spicy ketchup-ish, plus it's almost ridiculously expensive. More subtle and probably more useful than Tapatio, though somehow that doesn't add to its charm for me. Cute cap though. B.



Frank's- Now I know how my girlfriend feels when she can't find cheese sharp enough in California, if this is what passed for spicy in New York... An east coast import (well, not really, I managed to find it at supermarkets here at the urging of the GF, but have never known anyone to use it), its problem is that it's not really very spicy at all...

Something tells me Frank is white.

It's sweeter and more pleasant than Tabasco though in terms of its flavor, fairly smooth, but without much in the way of bite or spiciness at all... Forgettable. C+.



Louisiana had slightly more renown here, but I'd still never used it. I was missing out. It takes the sweetness of frank's, adds a tangy zing, and probably, for all purposes has the best flavor overall of any of the sauces...

Spicier than Frank's, but not very. I could almost use this stuff every day. I'd give it an A probably, except that this sauce has the odd habit of leaving a disgusting looking residue which creeps up the inside of the bottle... A-.



Sriracha- God, I don't get what's up with people and liking this sauce. I affectionately call it c*** Sauce, due to the apparent mascot/ingredient, but that doesn't mean I like it much. Yeah, it tastes good (if tangy enough to make my teeth bind and hurt), but the odd, gelatinous texture just creeps me out... Or maybe it's just that I call the stuff c*** Sauce.

That texture ensures that the substance is absolutely heterogeneous with anything you'd want to put it on, short of maybe JELL-O. C+ for the effort, and managing to have a c*** and a bunch of Vietnamese and Chinese gibberish on the bottle.

...

As a side note, mixing all the sauces together would nearly lead to an A+, were it not for the fact that it took on a creepy texture that leads me to suspect that I've created some sort of artificial, potentially devil-child producing semen. I think the myriad preservatives from the Tapatio bully around all the other sauces chemically, but yeah, it's really semen-ish.
Modified by DachshundTooAteEZ at 2:53 AM 10/27/2008

[MinisterofDOOM]

Tapatio for me as well. Cholula is a close second. Though as you noted, the two have different applications. Cholula really is the ketchup of the hot sauce world. Tapatio is more specialized.

I love Tobasco, too.

[BusyBadger]

WTF is it with Tabasco? It is so overrated. I understand that for the longest time unless you were willing to make your own sauce that it may have been the only option out there but its time for something new. Their new green sauce has a nice flavour, but they need more than one new sauce over the course of 140 years. Still, I can usually bank on a restaurant having Tabasco if they only have one hot sauce - so I guess its a necessary evil.

Cholula gets my vote from the selections you have listed, but you need to ditch the Louisiana for some Crystal and add Texas Pete to your arsenal. Tapatio is good, but Cholula is more useful in more circumstances, I only use Sriracha for cooking (usally Asian but I used it in some kickass crabcakes last night) and Frank's is great for adding a lot of flavour when you don't want a lot of heat.

And how do you not have any Melinda's in your kitchen?

[B-Boy DuB-L]

I think franks red hot is the best even though it is not spicy at all. It just goes good with everything. I love it on my burgers. I love spicy foods and sauces.I forgot what the ottest sauce i had was but if i remeber i will post something about it.

[drksolest]

Dave's insanity Sauce Cholula is good for flavor... but not hot. (do like it though)/end thread

[MinisterofDOOM]

My favorite hot sauce ever:



*** Kickin' Roasted Garlic Hot Sauce. MMMMMMM so tasty. And the stuffed mushroom recipe on the bottle is pretty good, too. It's main spice is Habanero, so it's got a fairly decent bite.

[SHIFT_Z]

Egg and cheese sandwich... It's all about Franks! And Franks with a hint of lime... ugh, so good.

[DrifterXRPS13]

Sriracha is where it's at, hot and has a really nice taste to it...the other sauces shouldn't even qualify as hot sauces..they are all either too salty or tangy...

My mom make chutney, that's where it's at...hot hot hot, it makes me drool.

[notslow]

If I am cooking for friends and family, which I do most of the time, my vote goes to Frank's Red Hot as they usually don't have the same quench for fiery hotness that I do and Franks does taste great.

If I am cooking for myself alone than the vote will go to Louisiana.

A couple times my friend has brought over some random bottle that he picked up in Mexico i think. I will try and find the name of it when he brings it over next but daumn, that **** is HOT. I put 3 drops of it on an egg roll with a thumb size rock of wasabi (yes, I know I was asking for trouble). The whole left side of face went numb, I started slurring my words and my nose started to run.

[Ajax]

I'll have to try more of these. Although I'll say right off the bat, I don't think you can make a decent prairie fire shot without genuine tobasco- I've tried with others and their textures don't mix well with tequila.Sadly, Minnesota's version of hot sauce is ketchup... Seriously I've heard of people saying that pizza sauce is too spicy!

[frapjap]

I too have a Louisiana affection now. I used to avoid it like the plague, but one day it was all I had in the pantry. It goes great on chicken, rice and potatoes.

[Encryptshun]

Sriracha is where it's at, hot and has a really nice taste to it...the other sauces shouldn't even qualify as hot sauces..they are all either too salty or tangy...

This man speaks truth

[sbird1]

[r34 gtr]

Awesome.

EDIT: weak, my link has a bad word in it so the language filter pwns the picture.

[Chukidori]

...........

This is a REAL mans hot sauce

234.000 Scoville units

The best way to use it is to dip a tooth pick in the bottle, and spread the tooth pick on w/e ur eating.

I would dip the tooth pick into the bottle and stir it around in my bowl of chili ^_^ I took it to school once and made this kid eat 1/4 tea spoon of it. He looked like a damn cherry, and his nose and mouth were streaming viscous liquid like he had come out of a tear gas chamber and his eyes were watering like a MOFO..then he rolled around on the ground for a bit....I got in trouble They said it was a chemical weapon.

Ingredients : Pineapple juice, Habaneros, tomato paste, water, natural pepper flavoring, lemon and lime juices, spices.

Now if memory serves...I think tobasco is somewhere around 2,500 scoville units...
Modified by Chukidori at 11:37 AM 10/27/2008

[DrifterXRPS13]

yea but you see there's no reason to use this hot sauce, what good is it for other than pulling pranks on people...which was pretty funny...

it's like going to a hot wings place and getting the hottest wing sauce, sure you can do it but why, you lose out on the enjoyment on the wings just so you can say you can take the hot stuff...there's no pleasure in that.

Besides, you said you use a toothpick of it...that bottles gonna expire before you even use a teaspoon of it.

[xckid]

home grown hotsauce! ftw

[keith0486]

if you like hot look at this http://www.hotsauceworld.com/h....html

[Urabus GodofTraction]

...........

Ingredients : Pineapple juice, Habaneros, tomato paste, water, natural pepper flavoring, lemon and lime juices, spices.

Weak. They made me sign a waver to buy this:

It's actually really damn flavorful when you finally stop screaming.

For pizza, it's hard to beat c*** Sauce! I haven't seen any Tapatio, I'll add some to my collection.

[Mr1der]

the Tabasco Chipotle is freakin' delicious

it makes my lips tingle a little and it's got a nice smoked taste.

I think it's my new favorite all around hot sauce.

[Chukidori]

yea but you see there's no reason to use this hot sauce, what good is it for other than pulling pranks on people...which was pretty funny...

it's like going to a hot wings place and getting the hottest wing sauce, sure you can do it but why, you lose out on the enjoyment on the wings just so you can say you can take the hot stuff...there's no pleasure in that.

Besides, you said you use a toothpick of it...that bottles gonna expire before you even use a teaspoon of it.

Actually, High doses of Capsacin give me an endorphin rush. Im much more satisfied after spicy foods. Like..I can no longer eat pizza unless its covered in red pepper, Or hot sauce. Ill pour texas pete over the pizza untill its litteraly gushing off the slice when i pick it up..

[Mr1der]

damn Dave's Insanity...

my freakin' sister doused a hot dog in that stuff and I was oblivious...tastes like worschetiser at first....then it tasted like pain.

one drop in a bowl of chili will do ya

[DachshundTooAteEZ]

...lol, I have NO clue how you people prefer Srirachra, and can't believe people even like Franks, even if just for the taste... Louisiana seems to do what Franks is trying to do (tasty, not quite as spicy), and accomplish the task more dilligently. DAMN that's a delicious sauce...

Haha, the only of my predictions that has come true is Tabasco in last...

[fueler]

i was a huge fan of tapatio for years (still keep it in my fridge)

but my new favorite:

damn tasty! And hot enough to get snot coming out your nose and tears rolling down your cheeks!