Boar's Head Jalapeno Hot Sauce Review

Boar's Head Jalapeno Pepper Sauce

UPDATE: Video support now available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y6dsjwYPgU

Someday, dear friends and gentle readers, it will happen. I will cease to be able to be surprised and it is a day I approach with perhaps equal parts trepidation and longing. The longing is because I will be able to take comfort in accurate prediction and really dive into just enjoying and trepidation because that unique thrill when something unexpected turns out to be resoundingly good is one like no other that can be found...also it partially means the road ahead is much shorter than the one behind.

But for now, I'm please to be dazzled by the likes of a sauce like this, a sauce I passed by for years because I didn't think a Jalapeno-based sauce was worth my while. Like the surprise thing, perhaps some day I will also cease being wrong. Neither surprise nor being wrong happens any great deal these days, mind you, but it does happen and there I go right off the rails. Digression over, but I will not that I did not see this coming and basically bought a bottle on a whim a couple grocery shopping trips ago.

Boar's Head is mass-produced, sure, but as we probably all know, Boar's Head is name synonymous with fine meats and cheeses, so their care and quality are not in question. Certainly they came through here in a major way. This is a sauce that is perhaps the most flexible of any I've come across, adding and working nicely with a wide variety of foods, so universal in appeal and taste addition that I've yet to find a food it doesn't complement and work well with and that's across several very dissimilar cuisines. That, as we all know, takes some substantial doing and to give you an example of the measure of its flexibility, its one of the few pepper sauces I can use without fear as an actual pizza sauce, not as a base, but as the actual (and only) sauce itself.

Now, in order to do the kind of sauce wizardry that they do, they took the best-tasting of all the peppers out there and kept it very clean and tasty. It is not wildly exotic nor is it especially assertive or strong-willed, just flavorful peppers, a touch of vinegar and enough other spices to really round this thing out and make it nice. Heat is very minimal, not so much as not to be noticeable, but you can easily eat this without fear of needing a bucket of ice cream at the ready to put out the fires of Hell or anything.

Bottom line: All in all, this is a very accessible sauce and for those who want a mild charge of spice along with some great flavor, this is a very good addition to anyone's sauce stable, as its versatility in unparalleled...at least in my experience.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 3
            Flavor: 9
            Flexibility: 10
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 9

Overall: 8

Jak Jeckel Red Hot Sauce Review

Jak Jeckel Red Sol Hot Sauce

The first thing I will tell you here is to go check my review for Jak Jeckel's regular gourmet hot sauce, available here: http://d-dubtsaaf.blogspot.com/2015/12/jak-jeckel-gourmet-hot-sauce-review.html. Once you get done doing that, come back here as this review will both make a lot more sense and is further built sort of on that previous review.

The idea here is that the "Red" is sort of the "hot" version of the Gourmet sauce. So, not a huge flavor difference, though they have evidently elected to build the heat through a combination of higher black/red pepper content and higher Habanero powder. This has the effect of making this sauce slightly more bitter and with a more prominent "building" heat effect, given the back end nature of Habanero in general.

I personally find this version to be a lot more palatable, as it boosts the heat up, not to a particularly challenging degree, but one that is more evident over time (though still somewhat slight, comparatively), but also boosts the pepper flavor. As mentioned, I am a fan, so it's all to the good there with me. People who didn't like the McCormick Hot Shot, though, for instance, may as well skip this one entirely.

Bottom line: Aside from what I've mentioned here, much of the review for the Gourmet sauce still stands. Frankly, this is only a minor heat uptick, though and the overall ratings for both are identical, unless you want to take it past whole numbers (and I don't).

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 4
            Flavor: 9
            Flexibility: 8
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 6

Overall: 7

Day Of The Dead Cayenne Hot Sauce Review

Day Of The Dead Cayenne Sauce

One of my last big shopping trips last year came when I had run myself perilously low on Louisiana-style sauce. Now, if there's one particular type of sauce I like to have on hand at all times, it is that one and it's been that way for a good solid 2 decades plus. So, I bought several bottles, all of the same style and probably won't run out until months from now, at which time, I'll probably panic and buy a whole bunch more...unless I start utilizing these reviews and remember which I like best...

As to this particular sauce, this is a very standard, I'd say, almost typical Louisiana-style sauce. It has the right pepper base, Cayenne and water, salt and vinegar to round things out, like one of my perennial favorites, Red Devil. Like Red Devil, this one doesn't have any harshness from the vinegar or bitterness particularly, but doesn't quite have the awesome flavor profile of Red Devil, either. It is slightly hotter than most of the commercial crop out there, but nothing even remotely challenging.

Bottom line: There is not a ton to really say about this sauce. It is a very solid Louisiana-style sauce, nothing too dramatic one way or another and a good entry into the field. For what I paid for the bottle, it was definitely excessive, but not the fault of the sauce...

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 7
            Flexibility: 8
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 4

Overall: 5