Pepper Palace Uff-Da Hot Sauce Review

Pepper Palace Uff-Da Scandinavian Gold Hot Sauce

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2rfTpiLIIg

Note: This will be a lengthy blog entry, as there are a number of things attendant to this sauce I feel need some discussion. If you are not interested in those things and want to skip right to the actual review of the sauce, skip the next two paragraphs.

Note: The phrase "uff da," Norwegian in origin (with possibly some Danish usage as well, from what I understand, though I have yet to hear any Danish person I know actually use it), is something you may hear around either Norwegians or persons of Norwegian descent, particularly if you are in the upper Midwest, where in various locales, it is ubiquitous. Pronunciation phonetically in normal usage would be something like "ooffda," with the double o sound not being drawn out but fast like the "ew" part of the word few. If it is an especially grievous event, the oo may be drawn out longer, but that is somewhat unusual and emphasis tends to be on the "da" part. I have heard certain Norse-descended persons Americanize the phrase slightly with a "wh" sound in front, which comes across as "whooffda." It carries  a meaning very similar to the Yiddish expression "oy vey," which is of grief or dismay. "Oy vey" itself means more or less "oh, woe." 

Note: This is second Pepper Palace sauce I've gotten with some very questionable naming strategies. The earlier one, the Asian-oriented, Wok Dis Wei, I addressed somewhat in the review, but here, this reference to ethnicity refers rather directly to my own ancestry. So, this name..."uff da," as mentioned above, is not a phrase even remotely denoting something positive. So, using that doesn't really make sense. The label also has a Viking figure on the front, which is fine, but then it goes on to include "Scandinavian Gold," which really makes no sense with that already dubious name, given that Scandinavia tends to include Iceland, Finland, and Sweden, zero of which use the phrase "uff da." I will also observe that pepper plants are tropical and there is no region of Scandinavia which would fit that description. Habaneros and Cayennes would only thrive there in a well-protected area, same with the black pepper plants. I really find this sort of appropriation frustrating and truly wish they would stop. Here, it is quite literally a historical call to nothing. Culturally, Norwegians do tend to make heavy use of black pepper (you could even say that was my own gateway into being a chilehead), but this is not meant to be a black pepper sauce. 

I have understood this was the first Pepper Palace sauce and from which they built the empire they now enjoy across various states. As far as the sauces I got last year go (this is #5 of 6), it is far and away the best of the lot, but that is not really saying much. It is a fairly pedestrian sauce overall. I do rather enjoy the prominence of black pepper. Habanero and Cayenne I think can go together, but this sauce seeks to try to balance them instead of leaning heavily to one or the other, which is the wrong way to go. Black pepper is definitely must more to the fore than either of those, though.

I'm not sure which vinegar this uses, I'm guessing apple cider, as there is somewhat of an off-taste to this, which oddly only becomes apparent when the sauce is chilled. Warm, it is very pepper forward and much more enjoyable. It is something thin, but smooth. It's right on the border of being appropriate for a restrictor cap, but this does not come with one, so careful with the pour. It is not particularly hot, but definitely it overpowering foods is not an especially enjoyable thing to experience.

I guess the big question here is if the sauce is worth getting. I will probably run out the bottle, but the sticker on it reads nearly $13 (not what I paid for it), and you can get much better sauces for that same money or less. The bigger problem is that it doesn't fit in anywhere especially. I got it hoping to use it as a Louisiana-style, but it doesn't hit enough of the right notes there. It's probably worth trying, if you haven't had one of their sauces and are curious and can also get a discount, but not one to go out of your way to get.

Bottom line: Very okay-ish sauce overally, which makes it easily the best of the 5 I've tried so far from this company.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 5
            Flexibility: 5
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 4

Overall: 4

Boyle's Irish Scream Hot Sauce Review

Boyle's Irish Scream Hot Sauce

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwJYQVSAr08

This was part of a package of various kinda sorta novelty sauces that I bought on a whim during, as memory goes, a Black Friday sale somewhere. I put various sauces in my cart that I'd been curious about but had not ever seen on Roger's (Burn Your Tongue) shelf (and would never dream of asking him to try to get a single bottle of something that may or may not even be any good, unless he was already carrying that particular sauce maker). I'm not usually inclined towards novelty sauces, but I needed more in the cart for free shipping, after I'd already added a pretty substantial number of Cayenne sauces, so I threw in some cheaper, random ones. This was one of those.

I don't know, to what degree, if any, Ireland is known for either spicy foods or hot peppers, and the main impetus of calling this Irish appears to be the addition of Irish whiskey. Fortunately, this does not cause the sauce to taste alcoholic. Here, we have a blend of Jalapeno, Cayenne, and Habanero, with that last providing most of the heat and perhaps a good degree of bitterness as well, which is not helped at all by the whiskey, which notably ramps that part up. The sauce is inexplicably rounded out by Yellow 5 and Blue 4, which are food dyes and elements I'm confused at to their presence here.

Sauce is chunky, but not particularly smooth, and there is a slight grittiness to it as well, which presents a touch of a problem as best results are if it's used somewhat sparingly and when it clots, the bitterness is reinforced significantly, to the point it becomes overpowering and unpleasant. Flavor notes are definitely more towards the Habanero, though elements of the Jalapeno, Cayenne, and the Irish whiskey will occasionally come through. Heat-wise, this reminds me of both Orange Krush and El Yucateco Red (both reviewed elsewhere here) in that the heat is a very up-front blast, which then plateaus. It is not a heat to give any chileheads pause, but may take non-chileheads aback. This could have been a much more palatable sauce if the bitterness had been dialed back...

Bottom line: I'm somewhat confused by what this sauce is meant to be, with the unusual combination of peppers and food dyes. It's hard to see this not as a novelty sauce, with the leprechaun on the label and the addition of Irish whiskey rounding out that theme. Novelty sauces are definitely of a "mileage may vary" type, which is where this one falls for me. 

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 2
            Flavor: 5
            Flexibility: 5
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 4

Overall: 4

Angry Goat Dreams Of Calypso Hot Sauce Review

Angry Goat Pepper Co. Dreams Of Calypso Hot Sauce

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8UwNn66CPs

Ahhh, Calypso, beautiful and alluring famed water nymph of the Odyssey and a style of Caribbean music, the latter of which perhaps has some bearing here. Yet, we see on the label that the Greek mythology figure is much in mind as well, so we have a melding of two very distant through time and disparate references into the product. 

The Caribbean, of course, is immediately apparent through the Scotch Bonnet peppers and the use of tropical fruits. Mustard plays a role here as well and I had intended this to be my final entry in the FOH Summer Of Mustards 2021 series, but this is very clearly not intended as an actual mustard. The label does not make that particularly clear, but going on the website to try gain some insight as to what the makers meant and see them listing it as a hot sauce helped me decide to move more towards that arena, which includes a review here, which is not the case for the mustards.

That aside, we have a gorgeous yellow color to it and a very smooth pour. Taste-wise, this is intriguing as it is very fruit forward, with a mustard back end. That back end gives me some pause. It is a flavor note that comes across as a touch off and a bit off-putting, depending on where I use it and this limits a bit where this sauce is useful. I did not love it on chicken and mustard and pizza is a non-starter for me. The label suggested ham, which does blend nicely with both tropical fruits and mustard, and I wound up using it quite successfully as a grill sauce as well. I did not attempt it in salads, i.e. egg salad or potato salad, where I would normally use a mustard, as I don't generally put hot sauces or fruit in those. This would also make sort of an interesting sauce to use on brats, possibly. The suggestions also included egg rolls (which I'm not going to make for the sake of trying this and dislike generally) and rice, where it would be kind of interesting, if you were having a dish of that style. I think it also mentioned jerk chicken, which probably would work better. I think you need a certain saltiness to the meat for this to truly shine.

Heat-wise, this is minimal. As with most sauce companies, I usually halve whatever their rating and here, that is about exactly right. They place it a 2 - 3 of 10, which I am rating as half of the low side. 

Bottom line: This is a very interesting sauce. While I applaud the makers for both using Scotch Bonnet, their references in naming it, and the spirit of experimentalism, I find, as is often the case with sauces more on the interesting and novel side, that I have a bit of difficulty finding a food anchor for it.

Breakdown:

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

Overall: 4

Silk City Badass Jew Hot Sauce Review

Silk City Badass Jew Hot Sauce

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTPxTg0dShc

I had another Silk City sauce, which I found favorable, the Mango Madness (reviewed elsewhere here) and so when I was last at Burn Your Tongue, in my random phase-- I should perhaps elucidate. 

The first thing I do after I get back from hot sauce hauls is to update my list, that list which I keep of various sauces I would like to try and review. I keep it updated between hauls (usually trips there are anywhere from 10 - 20 different sauces) as it is not especially close to me. Anyway, during the actual shopping, I go through the list, to see what is there on the shelf (if a sauce is a really high priority, I may order it online if I don't find it on Rog's shelves) and usually accumulate a good number doing that. From there, I look at what's on sale, what's on clearance, and anything new. That will sometimes pick me up a few others. Then I do the randomizing sweep, which is more stem to stern, to see if there's anything that grabs my eye. This particular sauce was in that last phase I mentioned.

The name and graphic obviously immediately struck me, as I was not aware that Jewish cuisine was particularly known for picante. Looking at the ingredient list, I also saw Habaneros and Serranos, which does not strike me as particularly Jewish or even Israeli ingredients. Then I saw Long Hots, which are Italian, and thought maybe this was a sauce with a co-creator, probably from New York, where different cultures seem to mesh naturally in foods, or that it was one of those so-called vanity sauces that are sometimes really good and sometimes clearly just gimmicky. This one evidently is in reference to a podcast.

Silk City has also largely moved to flasks only, which I'm good with, really good with, actually. They also build the bottle price in the label graphics, which is interesting. This company is really high on my list now to whip through more of their sauces, so that will be a major focus my next haul trip.

Back to this sauce, it also contained, in addition to Long Hots, which I almost never see, some nice cherry peppers. Cherry peppers are one of my longest-running favorites. So, anything with them in it, I expect to be a wonderfully flavorful sauce. I'm all about flavor first, so this had a strong appeal to me. It also has apple cider vinegar, but way down in the list. There are 5 different peppers in this, with the hottest (and first listed) being Habanero, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Color looked great, though, and that ingredient panel led with tomato, so I didn't expect a lot of heat. Indeed, there is very little to be found here.

This definitely is skewed more heavily in favor of flavor. This is one of the better-tasting sauces I've had in recent memory, slightly reminiscent of the Gindo's Original (also reviewed here). One of my laments is that I went on a streak where there weren't a ton of sauces I really wanted to use, where I was really excited to eat them, where I'd find stuff to cook just so I could eat more of them. The Gindo's changed all of that and this is right along those lines. With the heavy tomato combination with the peppers, which is done quite skillfully to meld those flavors and to give it a nice sort of semi-chunky pour, we get an aspect that reminds me a bit of a very nice chile-based cocktail sauce, but this extends well beyond seafood. In fact, I have yet to find an application, including Mexican, where it does not work fantastically. It is a highly flexible sauce, though I should observe that I did not attempt Asian foods, but will be doing that in the coming weeks, if I don't run out first. 

Bottom line: Just an absolute phenom of a sauce, amazing flavor, nice pour, but precious little heat. If you're a flavor-first chilehead, like yours truly, you will love it, and it can also serve as a safe gateway for friends and family chile-curious. In any case, yet another contender for Sauce Of The Year.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 10
            Flexibility: 10
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10

Overall: 8

Tabasco Scorpion Hot Sauce Review

McIlhenny Tabasco Scorpion Hot Sauce

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRZxhtkK2P0

Now...I am not really a fan of either the Tabasco pepper or the Scorpion pepper, but McIlhenny has meant a lot to chileheads and for many of us, this served as our (often inglorious) introduction into the hot sauce world, so it has more than earned its place. The label makes a really big deal out of how "hot" this sauce is and it is notably hotter than anything else McIlhenny has put out, including the previous hottest Habanero. This stands to reason, superhot and all, but this will pose zero challenge to chileheads, and clearly that warning is for people used to regular Tabasco or for whom Tabasco does read as actually hot. 

Flavor here is interesting. This is essentially regular Tabasco spiked with Scorpions (did not specify whether Trinidad or Moruga). They mention guava and pineapple, but those are not really present in flavoring. Oddly, the usual sweetness of the Tabasco is largely absent as well. Instead, what we are left with is the very dominant floral notes of the Scorpions. Herein is where I think this sauce is of some utility. I have been saying for some time that Scorpions have a flowery aspect to them. This often confuses people, unless they are beer drinkers, and specifically, unless they are also familiar with (usually intensely overhopped) IPAs. This sauce does a great job of broadcasting that flowery part of the Scorpions without a lot of accompanying heat. So, if someone wants a good example of what that means in regards to this pepper, this sauce does this better than nearly anything else I can think of. That part overrides and completely takes over the sauce. 

The sauce itself is quite refined and is smooth. It does come with a restrictor cap, but is much less watery than the regular Tabasco. I'd put it probably around where the Chipotle or Habanero variation falls. The less good part is that combining two tastes I find unfavorable does not make this a winner for me, nor does it leave me a lot of room for usage. This is really sort of a prestige thing, I suppose, in that McIlhenny/Tabasco is a huge name (this is also why there will be a video for this) and as a chilehead, I had to at least give it a shot. It's really hard to see where this will appeal, unless you're a chilehead who really likes those floral notes of the Scorpions.

Bottom line: As a sauce, this is not very good. As a demonstration of a specific component of the Scorpion pepper flavor, it succeeds much better. Mildly interesting, but unnecessary.

Breakdown:

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

Overall: 2