BS: Better than Tabasco

Subject: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: hesperis
Date: 04 Sep 05 - 11:32 PM

Well, I thought that Tabasco was the hottest chili pepper sauce that could be got here in Toronto... however my roommate has Grace hot pepper sauce in Very Hot which is amazing stuff.

It's about as hot as Tabasco starting out, but has more of a sleeper spice that lingers a lot longer on the tongue.

I love this stuff!!!

Frank's has a really good flavour to it but isn't nearly as hot. So I use a lot more of it.

What's the best hot pepper sauce you've ever had, for all three of spice, flavour, and lingering effect?

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: mack/misophist
Date: 05 Sep 05 - 12:15 AM

For flavour, I like the 2 Tabascos - red and green. Hot is important, true, but past a certain point it's overkill. If hot and lingering are the main requirements, there's a local product called Tio Juan Salsa Picante.

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: Peace
Date: 05 Sep 05 - 12:15 AM

Tuong Ot Toi Vietnam

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 05 Sep 05 - 12:17 AM

Tobasco sucks.... It's mostly just vinegar...

Franks Chili Lime is VERY tastey (But not hot)
Franks Xtra Hot has got a nice spice to it

Melindas Dry hot sauce is better.. works great on popcorn instead of salt...
Melindas dry habenero is one of my favs in just about anything...

Cholula (Imported from Mexico) is pretty good for day to day...

Tops on my list is the one I make though... Though it's mostly too hot for anyone else I know to enjoy it

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: hesperis
Date: 05 Sep 05 - 12:46 AM

Steve will have to visit you sometime to check it out, Clinton. He can take it a lot more hot than I can. I'll have to try the others you mentioned.

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 05 Sep 05 - 04:43 AM

Hot Sauce I found this while looking for the name of a chili sauce I had with a meal on Philip Island in Australia, it had a rude word in the name, anyway it was great.
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 05 Sep 05 - 08:16 AM

I like hot, but sweet hot not just throat burn. SOme curries, for instance, feel like I've just slit my throat - then there is no taste at all. Now sweet hot is nice, Tabasco is good - only recently has there been anything other than the basic red Tabasco by McIlleny? (sp).

The range of such sauces is very restricted here too.

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: bobad
Date: 05 Sep 05 - 08:36 AM

My wife and I enjoy hot sauces and sample many. It seems that when one learns to appreciate the heat and enjoy the endorphin effect your tolerance level increases. Most of our friends cannot tolerate the heat levels we enjoy.

Clinton, I'd be interested in your recipe as we grow our own chile peppers.

Here is a good place for selection and mail order, I shop there often.

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Sep 05 - 10:51 AM

McIlhenny managed to evacuate his corporate employees from New Orleans before Katrina hit. They're now living on Avery Island, where they make the sauce. His export business is huge--lots shipped to Asian countries. He was interviewed on Morning Edition on NPR this morning.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: Sorcha
Date: 05 Sep 05 - 11:40 AM

Yucatan Sunshine.

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 05 Sep 05 - 12:36 PM

I don't know about other areas, but "gourmet" hot sauces have become quite the cottage industry around here. I wouldn't even hazard a guess as to how many people there are making sauces and selling them through gourmet grocers, Cajun restaurants, flea markets and craft fairs. All ya need is a garden patch full of pepper plants, the willingness to come up with a recipe that tastes better than the three-for-a-dollar stuff at WalMart, and, most importantly, a catchy name and distinctive label to make your products stand out from those of all the other folks who are doing the same thing.

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 05 Sep 05 - 02:08 PM

" Clinton, I'd be interested in your recipe"

It's never made the exact same way twice but...

8 or 10 or more habeneros
as many chilis (Red and green) as you can lay hands on
a few sweet peppers (Red, green, yellow and orange)
as many fresh tomatos as it takes to keep it soupy
a little E-V-O-O to keep it all good and liquid
a blender wand... Chop it all up... I leave all the seeds in... blend it till it's liquid... e.v.o.o... apply to food... keep ice-cream handy in the bathroom for the next morning (It doesn't matter what flavour icecream, as you'll be applying it directly to your bung... )


WARNING! I have been known to eat habenros whole! My 'hot sauce' is NOT for the feint of heart... If you've ever taken a full blast of 'pepper spray' straight in the face, and though "Man, I could use some nachos, cheese and ground meat with that" then you MIGHT be able to 'take it'

;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: bobad
Date: 05 Sep 05 - 06:39 PM

Thanks for that Clinton, sounds like a recipe for "ring of fire".

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: Cluin
Date: 05 Sep 05 - 06:56 PM

My tongue might like that recipe, but my ass sure wouldn't.

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 05 Sep 05 - 10:26 PM

That's what the icecream is for

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Sep 05 - 11:01 PM

Tryme's Tiger Sauce. It's hot enough to be interesting (and you can increase the heat by adding more) and mild enough to be nontoxic.

Crystal hot sauce for jambalaya. Accept no substitutes.

If you mess with hot peppers, either wear kitchen gloves or be sure to wash your hands thoroughly after handling them.

A friend of mine was pickling hot peppers. Then he had to answer a certain urgent call. He's one who plays with the toilet paper before using it. The screams could be heard for miles....

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 06 Sep 05 - 01:02 AM

Among the mass marketed ones, I like Frank's. it's THE one for Buffalo wings.

Chanteyranger

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: jeffp
Date: 06 Sep 05 - 01:44 PM

MBF (Man's Best Friend) Sauces makes some pretty nice sauces. Some of them have interesting combinations of fruits and chilis.

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: dianavan
Date: 07 Sep 05 - 01:13 AM

I had so many tomatoes they were taking over my kitchen. I called a Mexican friend and she came over to make salsa.

It was the best! Flavourful with just a lingering aftertaste of hot and spicy.

The secret is to roast the peppers and remove the seeds and threads. Add lots of garlic and onion minced fine and fresh cilantro. Oh yeah, organic tomatoes fresh from the garden. Simmer it down to a nice saucy consistency. Yum!

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 07 Sep 05 - 01:30 AM

"remove the seeds "

wimp!

:-P
Heh

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: open mike
Date: 07 Sep 05 - 02:28 AM

The Pepper Plant from Gilroy Blossom Valley food makes a Chunky Garlic hot sauce that is great http://www.pugsly.com/Pepper_Plant.htm

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: RobbieWilson
Date: 07 Sep 05 - 10:16 AM

In the UK Encona hot pepper sauce is about the best I have come across for uce in cooking, bit most people find it too hot for use as a dressing.

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: Wesley S
Date: 07 Sep 05 - 02:14 PM

http://www.zestfest2005.com/ - our local hot sauce convention.

Daves Insanity Sauce is the hottest thing I've ever stumbled across. WAY too hot for normal man or beast. One I like to use however is called Chalula from Mexico. It's great on eggs, soups - just about anything you can imagine.

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: number 6
Date: 07 Sep 05 - 11:20 PM

Worry Worry Berries (also called bird peppers) from Trinidad. An old friend of mine used to bring these back from Trinidada whenever she went back to visit. .... very hot, but do not have that excuriating burning sensation. They have a very unique flavour that can enhance any sauce.

sIx

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: Inukshuk
Date: 08 Sep 05 - 01:37 PM

CHILI WILLY

You'd think I would learn
After one or two burns
What those hot little buggers can do.
They're great in a fry
But don't rub your eye!
It's an optically fired barbecue

I was chopping them fine
For a ragout of mine
When my sinuses started to itch
As my allergy rose
I grabbed onto my nose.
God damn it! It burned like a bitch.

Adding a pinch
To my soup was a cinch.
As it simmered I went for a leak;
Exposing my willy
To suicide chili.
An experience wildly unique!

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 08 Sep 05 - 05:02 PM

The Habanero Reel

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: Jeremiah McCaw
Date: 08 Sep 05 - 05:07 PM

I'll agree with an early post regarding "Melinda's" - I'd say it was the best general use sauce available.

Specialty: "Busha Browne's Pukka Hot Pepper Sauce" (habanero-based)

Both of these possess decent flavour, as opposed to just heat.

Want to try: the intriguingly named "Liquid Stupid"!

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 09 Sep 05 - 02:49 AM

dianavan, that sound 100 times better than anyting out of a bottle, including Frank's :-).

Chanteyranger

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: open mike
Date: 09 Sep 05 - 03:38 AM

i also like to make a pepper jelly
sweet and sour and hot
yum yum makes the
salivary glands
activate just
to think of
it. color-
ful, too.
use red
green
and
yel-
low
pep-
pers
and some
orange ones
too for a great
rainbow of flavor!
maybe some hungarian
wax ones for a bit of heat.
then vinegar honey onions and
garlic and a bit of agar agar to
thicken it. A friend from New Orleans
taught me how to make it. I might have to
make a batch and send some there! What are the
calibration units used to measure heat as in peppers?
Picante as opposed to caliente. degrees capsicum or what?
oh yes, they are called Scoville Units--the story is here; http://ushotstuff.com/Heat.Scale.htm and here is another site
http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/1995/1-13-1995/hot.html
Did yo know that Habanero means "from Havana?" I saw someone with
an ad for havanese and i think that must mean the same thing. These
are a type of small dog--it looks quite poodle-like. not hot at all!

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: hesperis
Date: 09 Sep 05 - 09:55 PM

So, the consensus seems to be that Melinda's is better than Tobasco for general use. I'm going to have to get me some of that.

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 10 Sep 05 - 07:54 AM

I think the consensus is anything is better than Tobasco...

Melindas
Franks
Cholula

" Daves Insanity Sauce is the hottest thing I've ever stumbled across."
I found one that weighed in at 16 million scovils, that you had to sign a waiver befor you could buy... It made Daves Insanity taste like Welches Grape Jelly...   Heh

Blair's 16 Million Reserve
200 Bucks for a 1ml pharmaceutical vial

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 11 Sep 05 - 04:29 AM

I second the motion on Dave's Insanity Sauce - Too hot for normal humans:-) I have seen grown men cry...

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco - In Toronto, yes!
From: GUEST,Brien
Date: 12 Sep 05 - 09:22 AM

To answer Hesperis' original query....
in Toronto! Food capital and foodie-mecca? Hot sauce?
You are in the right city.

Downstairs at the St. Lawrence Market, there is place. Ask or look.

Or on Danforth, near Chester, right across from The Big Carrot/Carrot Common, there is as new store called Salivations, selling a wide variety of sauces (and they offer taste samples!)

Subject: RE: BS: Better than Tabasco
From: GUEST,DB
Date: 13 Sep 05 - 08:26 AM

A company that I worked for until recently, had a factory in Indonesia. I spent about 3 weeks out there once. One night I went shopping with one of our local managers. He was looking for some Tabasco, in one of his local supermarkets, in Jakarta. We came upon a carousel with (I swear!) about 100 varieties of chili sauce (and no Tabasco!).
On the strength of this evidence it could be that Jakarta is the 'Chili-Sauce-Capital-of-the-World' and may be worth a visit if you're a real chili sauce fan!