Hot Stuff

Just a little something about bottled hot sauces (or even the fresh made stuff at some good taquerias).

I think a good hot sauce can enhance the flavour of some foods: egg dishes and potato sides are two of them. As long as the hot sauce is doled out in the right amount and doesn’t blow the roof off your head. I am not a big proponent of adding salt to most dishes, so I like to add a little spice with hot sauces instead (and salt is already a main ingredient in most hot sauces).

Most restaurants normally offer either Tabasco® or at least Crystal® on the table (along with the ubiquitous* ketchup/catsup and salt and pepper shakers). Both of these are simple cayenne peppers, vinegar, and salt blends. They add some flavour and heat, but are not always the best choices. Tabasco® has several different flavours from which to chose now: Original (2,500-5,000 SHU on the Scoville scale**), Garlic Pepper (1,200-1,800 SHU), Jalapeño (600-800 SHU), Chipotle (1,500-2,500 SHU; the best of their brand; not too spicy, but very tasty), and even a Habañero version (7,000-8,000 SHU; hot, but not as mind-numbingly/tongue-burningly hot as some other Habañero sauces I have tried).

I do like the history of Tabasco®, though. It was first made after the Civil War by the McIlhenny family in Louisiana and the bottles they used to package it were actually cologne bottles. The bottles retain that shape to this day. It is still a good product, just not my #1 favourite. If it weren’t for the popularity of this condiment, we probably wouldn’t have as many choices today (think St*rbucks® of the hot sauce world).

http://www.tabasco.com/main.cfm
 
Tabasco® (or Crystal®) are just fine if there are no other viable options; however, because of this, I generally bring 1-2 bottles of my own with me when I go out to eat (I usually have 5-6 different types in my 'fridge ready to go). A couple of the Starters in my Rotation are El Yucateco® Chipotle (3,400 SHU, with a blend of Habañero and Chipotle chilis) or Cholula® (3,600 SHU, with a nice blend of arbol and piquin chilis); both are not really that hot, but pack mucho sabor. In San Francisco, most Mexican restaurants will have either Tapatío® (3,000 SHU) or Cholula® on the tables instead of Tabasco®. Cholula® has to be one of the best widely-available brands out there, and, in my opinion, the best tasting one, too. I don’t know why more restaurants don’t carry it instead of Tabasco®; it is usually cheaper when I buy it in the stores (by a good $1.00/bottle) than Tabasco®. I spoke with one restaurant owner that said they buy their Tabasco® in bulk (in larger containers) and just refill the bottles when needed. He wasn’t sure that Cholula® is available in the same quantities.

As the chili pepper (like its plump, juicy cousin the tomato) was indigenous to the New World, I wonder what people used to really spice up foods prior to 1492. Thai, Indian, Hunan, Szechuan, and several other cuisines are based on the fiery little devils now.

Heat up and enjoy!


*(Is it just me, or is “ubiquitous” being used too much now-a-days? You see it everywhere. Much like “superfluous” is an entirely dispensable word.)

**(The Scoville scale measures the hotness or piquancy of a chili pepper, as defined by the amount of capsaicin it contains. Capsaicin is a chemical compound which stimulates chemoreceptor nerve endings in the skin, especially the mucous membranes. The number of Scoville heat units, SHU, indicates the amount of capsaicin present.

The scale is named after its creator, American chemist Wilbur Scoville, who developed a test for rating the pungency of chili peppers. His method, which he devised in 1912, is known as the Scoville Organoleptic Test. An alternative method for quantitative analysis uses high-performance liquid chromatography, making it possible to directly measure capsaicinoid content.

If you really want to learn more about this, see Wikipedia, as this is where I copied the main information.)