Sunday, May 22, 2005

The World's Best Hot Sauce? (2nd rev. ed.)




Among the numerous other goodies that she brought back from NYC on Monday (and which I'm sure you'll hear about very soon, dear readers), Michelle came back with a bottle of Sachs Brand Garlic and Cumin Scotch Bonnet Pepper Sauce. She'd asked a clerk in a specialty food store about their selection of hot sauces, and this clerk claimed that Sachs Brand Garlic and Cumin Scotch Bonnet Pepper Sauce was "the world's best hot sauce." So she did the only appropriate thing and brought a bottle back home.

Now, I have to say, I was very excited about this purchase. I've been a bit a hot sauce fiend since I hit my late teens. It started with the basics--Tabasco and Louisiana--and then soon branched out into a whole range of other brands and styles, from Caribbean Scotch Bonnet Pepper sauces, to Southeast Asian varieties such as Sriracha. At times there's been upwards of 20 or so different types of chili-based sauces and pastes in my refrigerator. At present, there are 10 different types of hot sauce in our fridge, including the Sachs Brand:

Tapatío
El Yucateco Chile Habanero
NuPak Hot Pepper Sauce
Chipotle Paste
Harissa
Portuguese Calda de Pimenta Picante
Huy Fong Sriracha
Huy Fong Chili Garlic Paste
D&D Gold Hottest Sriracha

The verdict on Sachs Brand Garlic and Cumin Scotch Bonnet Pepper Sauce? Well, while I love Scotch Bonnet Peppers, garlic, and cumin, this sauce is both too busy and too thick for my tastes. The flavor is almost too complex, and the consistency is closer to something like Jamaica's famous Pickapeppa Sauce, which is delicious, but is essentially a chutney (and therefore works well with a litttle heft).

The first test for our bottle of Sachs Brand was with eggs over-easy. The eggs simply got overwhelmed, and it wasn't the peppers that did it, it was the cumin and the garlic. Tapatio Sauce has been the undisputed breakfast champ in our household for the last couple of years, and it looks like it's still got a firm hold on that crown.

aj

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, that sounds like hot stuff, but the World's best hot sauce, really ?!!

Anonymous said...

I take it you have not discovered / experienced the "Sontava" sauces yet?

From Belize: carrot mash based with onions, garlic, lime juice and vinegar and salt. And, of course, Habanero Peppers for the heat. I have read that Belize produces the most flavorful Habaneros anywhere. It tastes like it.

This sauce is mostly flavor but adds plenty of heat. Even the aroma is stimulating.

Do so - you will thank yourself (and Sontava).

Anonymous said...

Where are you buying this from? Can't find it anywhere...

aj kinik said...

Can't remember where exactly, but somewhere in New York.

Eric said...

I'm getting some great ideas to try here. My mainstay has always been El Yucateco, Salsa Kutbil-ik. I like the lack of fussiness to the flavor, and the magnificent, unapologetic heat. It's also delicious on eggs.