I'm a huge hot sauce fan, and I know I can't be the only one on here. Whether you're passionate about more commercial sauces, adore the craft stuff, or just love it all, let's talk hot sauce: recommendations, local favorites, new experiences, how the most recent celebrity guest on Hot Ones fared against the Last Dab, and whatever else comes to mind.
I know I'd love to hear people's recommendations of great sauces from their area. I'm always looking to try new ones.
None of the local grocery stores around me carry anything interesting, really. I mostly just use them to get my favorite commercial sauces cheaply. I get Valentina Black Label from Walmart, Wegman's is the only place I've seen that carries Crystal around here, stuff like that. If I want cool sauces I pretty much have to go online or travel to a hot sauce store. I've been meaning to get over to Heatonist in Brooklyn, speaking of which. They carry a lot of good stuff.
I don't know much about hot sauce because I can only handle a little bit of heat but I do enjoy watching Hot Ones.
I love cholula, tapito, crystal. Frank's hot is good, but generally I can only find the mild around me. I feel like there's a world of hot sauce out there that my local stores just completely ignore. Sriracha is good, but highly overrated. Seeing McDonalds and Wendys and every place in the world use it takes away part of the appeal for me too.
There definitely is a world of hot sauce out there that local grocery stores completely ignore. I was talking with some friends about it the other day and, when you think about it, the popularity of what is essentially "craft hot sauce," similar to craft beer, is definitely on the rise. I used to be obsessed with Cholula, but I've been using the Valentina black label more and more lately, I think I might like it better. It's hotter than Cholula and has a similar flavor to it as well, plus it's less expensive (although with these hot sauces price isn't really that big of an issue). I've also really been digging Crystal lately, it's so good and needs to be more widely known about than it is. I'll take it over Tabasco any day. I enjoy sriracha but I tend to only eat it with, like, stir fry or fried rice or things like that, personally. Sometimes I'll use sriracha mayo on a sandwich. But I don't put it on everything like I do other hot sauces. I kind of don't view it the same way, like as an all-purpose condiment, as a lot of people do in that sense. It's way more situational for me.
I'm definitely going to look for that Valentina Black Label, that sounds sort of perfect. I fully agree about Crystal. It's so much better than tobasco... the only reason I keep tobasco in my house anymore is for bloody marys, but I don't know if I'll buy it again. I'm with you on sriracha too. I basically only use it when I'm eating Chinese or Japanese. However, I stole an idea from Tommy Bahama's and now I always add sriracha to my dijon when making a Cubano.
I honestly don't even really enjoy regular Tabasco. I love the green Tabasco, though. Like, love it. And I will be stealing that cubano idea from you now. Never would have thought to do that in a million years.
Frank's Red Hot is my favorite for eggs and pizza. Tapatio, Cholula, or Tabasco for Mexican A local winery here has a habanero sauce that is unbelievably good though! I put hot sauce on anything and everything
I finally got to try that Secret Aardvark habanero sauce from Portland recently and it was incredible. Habaneros are great for sauces because they have good flavor but aren't insanely spicy. Also, if you've never had Valentina, try it. I think it's now my favorite Mexican hot sauce.
It has a really good flavor for being such a simple sauce. It's just red ripened jalapeno peppers, distilled vinegar, and salt.
This. Is. My. Jam. Surprisingly spicy for just being a Trader Joe's sauce. I love it and put it on everything I can. Also, if I'm getting fries somewhere I try to mix my ketchup with Cholula if they have it. So good.