Sweet Baby Ray's Hot Sauce Review

Sweet Baby Ray's Hot Sauce

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

So here we have the newest entrance from the Sweet Baby Ray's line, which appears to be another BBQ joint like Stubb's that decided to take their restaurant sauces, rubs, etc. and go national. I don't know the backstory of Sweet Baby Ray's nor am I really motivated to look into it further, but I will address some of their other items as ok, nothing too great or terrible one way or the other, but fine if there and equally fine if not. It is that exact characteristic I would ascribe to this sauce.

Regular readers will know that Louisiana-style sauce, if not my all-time favorite overall, is right up there near the top and my fondness for Trappey's Red Devil is well-established, despite it not having any heat to speak of. It is, in fact, probably the only sauce I can think of that I would consider drinking as a beverage, though I wouldn't realistically do that. It is perfection of flavor for that style, though and the litmus test for everything else. Nearly all other sauces have been found wanting and so I didn't really have a lot of hope when I saw this one...in fact, I didn't buy it at all until I had a coupon and it's a pretty large bottle for $2. But, as it would have things, I'm trying not to buy further sauces until I whittle down further and I ran out of not only that style, but a sauce I could use as more of an everyday sauce, hence the purchase.

This is ok for that style. Truth be told, it is not even a match for Texas Pete's, let alone Irazu or Red Devil or any of those, but it's ok for what it is. No real bite to it, though more than Red Devil. It also has a cheapness to it, a sort of bitterness I attribute to the dried garlic introduction. I wish sauce manufacturers would stop doing that as it is a wholly unnecessary addition. In this case, it detracts considerably from the sauce itself.

Bottom line: For the money, if you just need a Louisiana-style cutting sauce, this is ok, as long as you remember to use sparingly. Not among the best out there, though.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 2
            Flavor: 6
            Flexibility: 6
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 6

Overall: 5

Mexico Lindo Red Habanero & Green Habanero Hot Sauce Review

Mexico Lindo Red Habanero & Green Habanero Hot Sauce 

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8P3yHNFm1Q

I haven't done a double review in quite some time, but these sauces are respectively not worth separate reviews. I stumbled across these in a grocery store and I think they were something like $1.50/bottle. The bottles are a bit small, but not excessively so. For both sauces, they are very well-blended. No complaints at all there. Sauce is pretty smooth coming out and with the restrictor cap and softer plastic bottle, you can control the flow very easily.

Neither one of them is particularly hot, though there is enough to notice. As with most Habanero sauces, the heat tends to progress and build, though it never gets to particularly high levels. The Rojo "Red" sauce is a bit of a misnomer, as the sauce itself is very orange. I'm guessing there are minimal actual red Habaneros in it but more likely orange, which are not at all among my favorite variety. The green definitely tastes of green Habanero, so that one is on the money.

If you're not familiar with Habanero sauces and are thinking of taking the plunge and grabbing a bottle of this for your first, don't. These are two of the worst examples of that type of sauce. Find the El Yucateco version of either first. Both of those sauces are worlds better. These, to varying extents on both are highly astringent, with all the grace of high citric acid and vinegar, as the more forward flavors. This is probably due to them using acetic acid rather than vinegar. Also, the red/orange is slightly more salty than the green. 

Though the price is mostly in the same range as the El Yucateco, these taste rather cheap, tending towards the noxious side, so much as to be largely inedible. The taste is probably best described as harsh and abrasive. The red/orange one is a bit better in that it occasionally cooperates with what you put it on, but it is by no means a good-tasting sauce, certainly no comparison for El Yucateco...both of these do a nice job, in fact, of wrecking or significantly degrading whatever you use them on. I'd guess they might work better blended with something, in cooking, possibly, but the potential is there for it as easily to ruin that as well.

Bottom line: Don't let this be your first encounter with a Habanero sauce. If you absolutely have to have something in a pinch, go with the green, but neither are particularly worthy.

Breakdown:
Green

            Heat level: 2
            Flavor: 0
            Flexibility: 0
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 0

Overall: 0

Breakdown:
Red

            Heat level: 2
            Flavor: 3
            Flexibility: 1
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 0

Overall: 1