***Hot Sauce Thread! Cor, wehey missus! Oh wait, I mean for food...***

[Jonny69]

This thread could go either way but I'm going to give it a shot because I know there are professional chilliheads lurking on the forum. I eat a lot of hot sauce on stuff and at university always advocated the notion of pushing your chilli-eating capacity. That means you start off finding quite tingly food spicy, but you keep eating hotter and hotter until you can take quite a bit of chilli heat without breaking a sweat. It's a natural progression. That said, I like pretty hot food but I can't handle stuff like curries at the hotter end of the scale but it's time to press on with some hotter sauces for on my chips/onion rings/jalapenos etc.

So this thread ought to be our journal of experiences and recommendations of hot sauces and we can use it to communicate our boundary-pushing activities like the sauce equivalent of Glaucus' insanity burger.

We ought to have some rules to keep things nice.

Rules:
1) No chilli snobbery. Mildly spicy and it's all about the flavour is as acceptable as insanely blow your mofo head off hot
2) Whether you like it or not, given time, you're going to crave hotter sauces and work up. Don't forget your roots - see rule #1

 

[Jonny69]

I'll kick off. I got some 'Cottage Delight' chilli sauces for Christmas - a selection of five sauces from sweet to hot to garlicy. I think they're pretty damn tasty and although some of them are pretty hot they're good to dip onion rings and breaded jalapenos in. I recommend them if you happen to stumble upon them in a deli (or Waitrose), particularly the Indonesian Chilli and Garlic sauce, which is a nice mix of sweet, garlic and hot. Sort of Tobasco hot but in a sauce that you can dip into. Delicious.

I'm ready to try some Dave's Insanity. Am I actually ready though? Am I going to experience pain? How much should I expect to pay and where should I get it from?

 

[Glaucus]

I can quite safely say, that Daves Insanity Sauce, even without all the other chillies, is still way above my level and gives me gut ache several hours afterwards. It's not a bad flavour though.
You can get in tescos big stores. Think it's~£3?

It's also only 180,000 scovilles.

Great idea and will be keeping an eye on. I need some recommendations as chili sauce like BBQ sauce, is so hard to get right 80+% are just disgusting or at least not worth bothering with.

Cholula original hot sauce is a lovely flavour, slight tingle at the end, but a bit mild for my liking. Really liking the vinegar based hot sauces. They also do chilli garlic, Chilli lime & chipotle. Need to find somewhere which sales those three, as it really is a nice flavour. 3600 scovilles

 

[TehBluebear]

Got introduced to some of Hot Headz's Who Dares Burns on the second day of my current job, by a workmate who slipped some into my tomato cup-a-soup. Hot wasn't the word...

Ordered the next week from Hot Headz own distro site (not just their stuff, wide range of sauce makers). Got myself some Blair's After Death sauce for the instant kick, and Blair's Heat Chipotle Slam for the much milder dip/relish sort of sauce.

Would I be able to link to Hot Headz here? Seeing as OcUK don't exactly sell hot sauce. If not, just search Hot Headz, and you'll find it, I can recommend the site! Fast delivery, and the prices aren't too shabby at all! Massive range.

Edit: word of warning: I've seen Dave's Insanity sauce rated at around 200,000 Scovilles, which is damned hot. My Blair's After Death is supposedly around 50,000, and that only needs two drops or so added to a cup of soup to make it nicely warm.

 

[Haircut]

I've got some Dave's Insanity Ghost Pepper sauce, which is pretty good.
Seems to have a bit more of a smoky flavour than the normal Dave's, but is still stupidly hot.
More than a couple of drops is enough to ruin most dishes for me, but used sparingly it works well.

In terms of hot, but not stupidly so, and still flavoursome I like Frank's Extra Hot sauce.

BTW, for anyone that's feeling stupid try the Hot Wings Challenge at this place:
http://www.reddogsaloon.co.uk/menus/reddog_menu_food.pdf

I was there last weekend and we got some to share around.
I managed about half a wing before admitting defeat.

 

[Youstolemyname]

Tesco sell Dave's insanity. It is ridiculously hot but also has a lovely depth of flavour.

I add a mere drop or two to a chilli or a stew to warm things up. As for dipping things in to it... no chance!!!

 

[jellybeard999]

Tesco sell Dave's insanity. It is ridiculously hot but also has a lovely depth of flavour.

I add a mere drop or two to a chilli or a stew to warm things up. As for dipping things in to it... no chance!!!

Exactly this. A drop or two when making some homemade burgers is nice too

Couldn't eat it as a sauce and enjoy it personally.

 

[Jingo...]

Two other gentlemen and I added about 5 drops of a 'Ghost Chili Sauce' to a tub of coleslaw which was incorporated into the excessively-filled man-widge project. The heat was enjoyable & bearable, but played havoc with my stomach which gurgled & bubbled for hours afterwards!

(it obviously couldn't have been the obscene amounts of food causing such... *shifty looks*)

I personally much prefer hot sauces in an 'indian curry' context - I often find most bottled hot sauces to have an underlying, sweet, citrus flavour which smacks of west-indies cooking etc.

 

[Skillmister]

I've lost a bit of my lust for insane spice after quite a painful incident with some chillis from a small french market. A mixed tub of chillis for a euro in all kinds of crazy shapes and colours, my dad had a yellow one and it had virtually no heat at all, i chomped on a whole one that looked the same and was the hottest thing i have ever eaten by far. Was pretty much crying in a corner in the fetal position for a good half hour.

That being said, i do love the habenero tabasco and find it has a perfect mix of heat and flavour when applied liberally. ~7000 scovilles

 

[Van Hellseek]

I've lost a bit of my lust for insane spice after quite a painful incident

Same, but my incident didn't involve them going in...

 

[Tonyator]

I can't really stand hot food at all, and this probably isn't the sort of thing you are really looking for in this thread... but if you really like HOT and I mean HOT or just want a challenge...

This is absolutely ridiculous. Seriously it's easily the hottest thing I've ever tried, and never will again

Which is probably why at 900,000 scoville units it suggests "1 tsp. mixed with 1 gallon of sauce will produce extreme heat!" and has a warning "WARNING: Not a hot sauce - use as an additive!"

As a bonus it will last you along time if being used in sauces

 

[Jolteh]

Standard Tabasco is what I generally reach for and probably the only sauce I actually finish bottles of. I put a couple of drops in stuff like bolognaise and stews for the sour pepperyness.

If something is meant to be deliberately hot, I'll whack a bit of Dave's in (the normal stuff). I enjoy the taste and a few drops is at the limits of what I would serve people without worrying about ruining the food.

I've got some Cholula chipotle I use when I'm cooking mexican. It's not really hot, and I use it purely for the chipotle flavouring.

Finally there's a bottle of legendary Huy Fong Sriracha that I use mainly as a condiment if I fancy something different to ketchup. It's also a good marinade for chicken and fish.

There's three or four others gathering dust in the back of the cupboard that I'll probably throw out when I get round to it.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

heinz now have a range of chilli tomato sauces in tiny squeezy bottles, one has a hint of chilli but the other has a potent amount, very nice.

maggi also have a range of decent chilli sauces, especially the one with garlic also in it.

then you also have the 3 standard tabasco sauces, normal, jalapeno and habanero.

i find that with all of the above i pretty much don't really need any other chilli sauce, as you can mix them with other things to make your own.

mayo with a hint of chilli? simply add tabasco with mayo or add the hotter heinz one.

i've tried quite a few, never liked any of the carribean chilli sauces much, i have one now and again but it's not to my taste much. the nando's sauces you get in supermarkets are also not that good either, even though i really like nando's, they use a different marinade and sauce in their restaurants than the one you buy in asda iirc.

we also make a lot of chutney's and chilli sauces for special occasions.

green chilli, onion, coriander and mint is a really good mix.

or

green chilli, tomato sauce, onion and yoghurt.

basically just blend all the ingredients (need a commercial blender or decent food processor because you need a lot of onion and to get it into a sauce it will kill most inferior appliances)

 

[Ahleckz]

I quite like Dave's Insanity. I find I can handle a fair bit of it (within reason) though appreciate that if you are cooking for others it's probably best not used at all. It gave my friend hiccups for an hour.
It's hot, but not dangerously so. Nice flavour, and lingers gentley.

 

[Beasty]

I once pepped up some curry noodles with who dares burns and added some chorizo, it was a brilliant snack.

 

[Pestilence]

I really don't enjoy Dave's Insanity Sauce at all... the bitter extract flavour is just far too prevalent to be nice in any way. Temporary Insanity has much better flavour, IMO.

Quite possibly the best hot sauce I've ever tasted is CaJohn's Holy Jolokia... delicious garlic taste, with a heat that creeps up on you much more deceptively than you'd expect. Another great one is Grim Reaper Foods' The Evil One... chunky and fruity, with a good heat, a few tablespoons of that in a chilli really peps up both the flavour and the heat wonderfully.

Of course, Blair's Original Death is a must-have standard table sauce, and for a bit more heat, After Death is equally tasty but a little more savage.

 

[Oh Ed not again.]

I often frequent chilli festivals in the summer, in particular the one in Chichester and last year there was one in Bournemouth that I attended too. It's a great way to get out there, try sauces before you buy and more often than not speak to the creators of said sauces to get their take.

Last year I picked these up:

Mostly naga based, but not as face meltingly hot as you would expect. With the exception of the "Who dares burns 2nd assault" which I bought solely for comedy value. I can safely say there is no culinary value in this sauce, whatsoever.

My "ketchup" hot sauce of choice is Dave's Temporary Insanity sauce, it's nowhere near as hot as normal Dave's but gives a nice kick. Works brilliantly in chili con carne, and mixed with mayonnaise is an awesome accompaniment for the trusty bacon sandwich.

In the pic above, there is awesome the Hot Headz Con Queso dip which is a beautifully smooth cheese dip for nachos and such. Good building hab heat, with the smoothness of the cheese to tame the fire.

 

[spudbynight]

That Smokin Devil sauce is really good. That is just great for splashing liberally on sausages and other stuff. Pretty mild but a good replacement for ketchup.

I get my stuff from the Chillipepperpete shop in Brighton. It is beside the station for anyone visiting.

http://www.chillipepperpete.com/

 

[spudbynight]

If someone wants a really hot curry check this out.

http://www.chillipepperpete.com/products/Chillipepperpete/Nagaloo_Curry_Sauce_-_450ml.html

 

[Raikiri]

Ass Kickin Cajun Hot Sauce, tastes awesome and hot enough for most people. The garlic is pretty nice too.

You can get a sampler of the 4 flavours they do: http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/120859726565?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&adtype=pla