Silk City Mudshark Madness Hot Sauce Review

Silk City Mudshark Madness

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

I must admit to no small amount of excitement for this one, as I always love a good fruit-based sweet hot and especially love pineapple. This one combined pineapple and mango, two of fruits paired frequently with Habanero, with Habanero in this sauce also and I figured the sauce would be a victory lap. It took me a bit to figure out what was wrong with it, because the sauce I had here feel a bit below my expectation for the tried and true familiar taste profile, but I noticed that the last ingredient was a general "spices," which is probably the issue.

Certainly not roasted red peppers nor sugar nor salt nor white vinegar, which are the other components, but something in there was giving an off-flavor I just couldn't put my finger on exactly. I figure it was maybe a garlic or onion powder or something along those lines, and I suggest those two because there was an Adoboloco sauce that had similar ingredients that it also wrecked a bit by adding too many flavors, but, like that one, it's a shame, as it mars what is otherwise a quite vibrant and lovely, if slightly runnier than I'd like, sauce.

Heat-wise, it's Habanero, so we're on the pretty low end of things, but that off-flavor, along with the runniness, sort of dampened any hope I had for it on pizza, which I was greatly hoping for.  It does nicely on fried meats, but I really prefer it almost exclusively on chicken, where the combination of stuff seems to work best. On fish and shrimp, it's more just on the okayish side. It's by no means a bad sauce, but I wind up thinking what a shame it is that the great sauce that's hinted at in here is somewhat diluted by other elements.

Bottom line: In a way this is kind of a lesson, where one can take a great idea (combining two of the more common tropical fruits with Habanero) and wind up with diminishing results by getting a bit too fancy.

Breakdown:

           Heat level: 1
           Flavor: 7
           Flexibility: 3
           Enjoyment to dollar factor: 6

Overall: 4

Hellfire Evil Bastard Hot Sauce Review

Hellfire Evil Bastard

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

I've had this on the list for a while, along with a few others, as the final sauces I intended to do from Hellfire, both because of coverage, as in I've generally done everything I've wanted to, which is all of the sauces without onions and/or extracts, and because the process of choosing products from them is tiring. I generally do a decent amount of research for this blog, which I've always done as I like to know what new stuff is (FOMO to a degree, I suppose), but it's also both interesting and fun to me. For Hellfire, though, with their tiny ingredient label text and a not much better website, it's generally not a particularly fast endeavor. So this one was one I picked up not so much because I saw the label or name and was burning with desire to try it, but more for coverage, a sort of last bit of punctuation, some light housekeeping before closing the door on Hellfire, sans some new entries.

Even though the others on that list have been less than stellar so far and this one had a lot of ingredients I don't particularly love, I kept an open mind and mouth and was pleasantly rewarded for taking the chance. This is a quite excellent sauce, altogether. It's another with a laundry list of stuff and definitely one shooting for the "whole is greater than the sum of its parts" vibe, but what is delivered here took me by surprise. Here, the superhots, the 7-Pot Primos, the Scorpions, and the Ghosties, both regular and in smoked form, come together nicely to form a solid superhot flame base, while the rest of the ingredients, including the cinnamon whiskey, do a nice job offsetting the standard superhot bitterness, while allowing some of that flavor to seep through as well. There is no one "main" flavor, but more a composite, but here and there you can catch hints of curry and the whiskey and a touch of garlic, along with some richness from the tomatoes. 

A lot of the peppers are arriving by way of mash, so this is a fairly vinegar-forward sauce. I found it worked best considering it more as a Lousiana-style, in terms of application, though I did try it in a variety of settings. I found it worked best with meats and with generally uncomplex flavors. I can't say it was outright bad on pizza, for instance, but it also was not an application I'd attempt again (I would not ever use Louisiana-style here), but neither would I attempt it on something like mac & cheese. With the curry sort of hovering about in the mix, I think this could be worth a stab on Asian foods, but again, with the vinegar forward nature here, this would definitely be a YMMV situation.

Bottom line: Very surprisingly solid entry with a complex, well-orchestrated flavor profile from Hellfire on this one, though definitely hot enough to be for chileheads only.

Breakdown:

           Heat level: 3
           Flavor: 7
           Flexibility: 6
           Enjoyment to dollar factor: 8

Overall: 6

My Favorite Pods

Revision (see below): 01.24.25

It occurs to me now, when it's too late, of course, that this would have been a good post for when this blog hit 500, but naturally, despite trying to think of something special and failing and just noting the milestone in a sauce review, I wouldn't post something I've been kicking around for literal years, but we're here now. Much like the list of favorite sauce companies, I thought it might be fun to take a little peek at some of my favorite peppers and do a little write-up. I was considering doing this as a FOH Tier List video, but since I'm not a fresh pod guy and don't really have a strong foundation there, and I like writing also, I figured may as well just do this now, on Valentine's Day, since all of this is a labor of love and to be a chilehead means one must, at some level, love the chiles and all what they offer us.

So, here we go, much like my Favorite Sauce Companies list (link in SOTY page at right), this is a work in progress and in no particular weighted order but alphabetically, my favorite pods:

Arbol - An absolute staple of the Mexican/Southwestern food vibe, one of the tastiest out there, whether powdered (generally what's in chili powder, sometimes along with Ancho and/or Cayenne, which is coming up shortly), or dried or fresh, this is also one of the most accessible out there.

Banana - I'm never quite sure whether these are called Banana or Yellow Wax more correctly, but I see them generally sold (and listed on menus) as Banana, so I'm going with that.  This is another pepper that I've had both in pod form (not super-interesting) and pickled and in that latter form, it really comes alive. I have almost no interest in any "greens" salad that doesn't have pickled banana peppers as a component, as I find that one addition just tends to make the dish.

Bhut Jolokia (Ghost) - The famed "ghost pepper," this was my very first favorite superhot and is still at the top spot of my list, despite several other peppers succeeding it in heat. I like the smokiness and I find the flavor, with just a touch of the superhot bitter, accenting things, is more like a venerable and welcome old friend these days. Given my flavor-first motif, added with the fact that I strongly feel this is the most forgiving superhot, I don't ever see a time of this dropping off the list.

Calabrian - This little gem constantly vies for my overall favorite pepper, which is a pretty lofty goal, considering some of the entries on this list, particularly old favorites that have been there for years and years, were a formative part of me, to a degree, and have been with me nearly all the while, but I do so absolutely love the flavor of this, which strikes as classic and a bit fruity and sweet and maybe a touch smokey, but just stunningly delicious. These are another that weren't to this extent recently, but I am beyond thrilled that they're in my life now and those things, those rare and powerful things, don't come around too often, so one must cherish them, as I do these. 

Cayenne - Easily one of the most versatile and perhaps ubiquitous peppers out there (along with Jalapeno, Arbol & possibly Tabasco, I suppose), most of the times it's encountered, it will be either powder or in a sauce. This one is on my list to track down in the wild, as a whole pod, someday, but it makes one of my favorite types of sauces and one my fridge will never be without.

Cherry - This was my first favorite non-Bell pepper and I've had a lot of these over the year. I have to dial myself back a bit from buying jars of this because I will plow through an entire jar and won't mind if I do. These have one of the greatest flavor balances to me, but generally are low heat. They were one of my father's favorites, so there is probably a nostalgia bump at play here a bit, but Jersey Mike's just came out with a cherry pepper relish and even though I think their prices are a touch on the high side, damn if I'm not kicking around getting one, just so I can have more of that.

Chiltepin - Another that I've had mainly in sauces and another that is more in the Mexican/Southwest style, but one that I've consistently found makes a damn fine sauce. 

Fresno - I suppose one could think of these as red Jalapenos, but I find them both hotter and sweeter and considerably far more enjoyable than Jalapenos, particularly raw. I don't think I've yet had a sauce which had Fresno in it that I didn't like, which may hold a lesson here. 

Jalapeno - I mean, how could I not? This was probably the first actual spicy pepper pod for nearly every practicing chilehead or chilehead-curious on the planet, and with good reason. Not only is it a great-flavored pepper at a fairly moderate heat, but it lends itself well to a fairly wide variety of cuisines, particularly when pickled. I don't think it's quite as accessible as the Arbol, which has a nice warmth and earthiness to it, but it's a very close second. Also, we have Chipotle in the smoked version of this, which is a form I think is pretty fantastic and tends to have my interest pretty quickly.

Peppadew - I love these, with a fervor unmatched for nearly any other pepper, these delectable sweethearts. I don't know what the story is - one of my SOTYs used this pepper before the sauce vanished (and yes, I cleared a few bottles of it) and now I can only find them in the deli, usually in marinated form. Utterly spectacular pod and I'd love to see this in sauces more. 

Pequin - Again, another mostly I come across in sauces, though I have gotten the powder and dried pods and used them quite successfully in cooking. Excellent flavor, good amount of heat, particularly when Arbol is not enough, but this strikes me ultimately as more of an accent flavoring pepper than a main star. 

Scotch Bonnet - This was the first pepper to advance beyond the heat of the Jalapenos that I really enjoyed, unlike its cousin, the Habanero (at least until the Red Savina variant). Imagine a fruitier-tasting Habanero that might approach one of those in heat, but had much better flavor and far less bitterness, as well as movement away from the flavor distinct to the Habs, which I don't mind in the chocolate or Red Savina version, but tend to dislike in the much more popular orange and green versions...unless they're fire-roasted, of course.

Shishito - This is the first in this list where I don't think it works at all well in sauces, being far too thin-walled, but, properly blistered with a touch of oil and some nice salt, this is one of the better-flavored peppers to just eat and enjoy. There is also the "hot lottery" thing, where 1 in 20 holds some heat, but realistically, it's still largely on the mild side, as are most of the peppers on this list. 

Sweet Pepper - I'm including Bell in this, but I'm more thinking of those smaller tri-colored ones, that look like smaller versions of Jalapenos, that are just utterly delicious. I will quite happily mow through a bag of those, savoring the differences between the yellows, oranges, and my favorites, the reds. I don't love green peppers generally, even in Bell form, though I can't honestly say I dislike them, but really, this is not a list about peppers where I'm ambivalent in feeling. Definitely the ranking for me is red, orange, yellow, in that order, but do yourself a favor and pick up a sack of these, if you're not familiar.

[Revision notes:  I pulled the 7-Pot Primo from the list as, after having in a lot of different settings since I initially wrote this post, I find that it is like the Carolina Reaper, in the respect that it really depends on how it is handled. I've had some rather atrocious 7-Pot Primo products and I don't find it to be as forgiving as my initial impression. I also revised the following paragraph accordingly.]

So, there we are. Currently 14 on the list, with a number I either haven't tried at all or enough yet, stuff like Chocolate Primotalli or Infinity or Dragon's Breath or Omega or Razor and both Bhutlah and Douglah, or that I've tried and I find I'm either quite neutral about ultimately or find them to be highly dependent on the setting, which would include Pepper X (for now), Apollo, 7-Pot Primo, the mighty Carolina Reaper, most of the Habaneros and Serranos, Ajis, Datil, Thai/Bird's Eye, and Piri Piri. Naturally, there are a few other pods I actively dislike, which I won't bother naming here, but will just observe that I have little interest in the more floral ones out there and leave it there.

Silk City Aztek Attack Hot Sauce Review

Silk City Aztek Attack

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2wDRR2cm_I

Silk City is one of my favorite hot sauce companies and it's always a delight to see what's cooking up over that way. That is not to say that I think all of the sauces are great. There are a few here and there that I wind up liking less and fewer still that come through as what I feel are missteps. While there are a greater number that I find myself liking quite a bit (this company seems to always have good odds they will be in SOTY contention, sadly, I must report that this sauce is among that latter group, that of missteps.

It is not because of the flavor. Indeed, the combination of Jalapeno, Habanero, Cherry, and Serrano, along with an undercurrent of garlic, is a good one. The heat, I will say, is a bit on the lower side, but that doesn't tend to ruin my overall enjoyment of a sauce. No, it is, like the Ram Skull (reviewed elsewhere here) before it, an issue more with consistency that sort of ruins the enjoyment for me and with both of them, they are quite watery. In this case, I suspect the liquid is a combination of water and vinegar, but it makes the sauce a bit difficult to use.

I am probably understating things a bit. When sauces are this loose, it's like adding water to something, which means it can run everywhere, of course. When it has the additional effect of diluting the flavor, as it does here, you have the dilemma of trying to add enough to get the flavor, but without also making a soup of the whole proceedings. This would probably work pretty well in drinks, but it's a shame as I find the flavor to be quite good...when I can get a grip on it. There is a very light and subtle sort of pepper flavor that I find pretty enticing, but unfortunately, there is not a lot of depth to it. It's like a whisper on the air, there for a moment and then gone.

Bottom line: Most green sauces tend to have a more medium body, which helps to stick to food, and this sauce would have benefited greatly from following that lead. Despite an excellent flavor, this one is overly challenging to use.

Breakdown:

           Heat level: 1
           Flavor: 7
           Flexibility: 2
           Enjoyment to dollar factor: 5

Overall: 4

Torchbearer Mushroom Mayhem Hot Sauce Review

Torchbearer Mushroom Mayhem

Note: This sauce appears on Season 20 of The Hot Ones.

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUi-s-VfeAI

I really like the ethos of Torchbearer, going with an all-natural motif, shooting for some healthy aspects to the sauce, and coming up with some really inventive stuff along the way. For some of the sauces I've had from them, I find them more interesting than good, which is not meant to be an insult in any way, but more a reflection of the dynamic and wonderfully creative aspects of the sauces overshadowing the flavors a bit...for me, anyway. All of the reviews on this blog and the all of the FOH videos on YouTube are a reflection of my own personal and distinct palate, which may (and hopefully does) match readers and viewers to an extent, but my enjoyment is specifically derivative of that palate. 

I don't think I've ever had a sauce from Torchbearer that I think is outright bad, but there are definitely some I've enjoyed a lot more than others. This one fell solidly in the "ok" category for me. I certainly didn't hate it, but didn't love it or especially like it much for the earlier testing I'd done, but found it solid enough to want to finish out the bottle...until, that is, I put it on a fast food burger, which got me thinking...

One of my all-time favorite menu items at any restaurant was the old Mushroom N Swiss burger from Hardee's back in the 80s and early 90s. I worked at Hardee's and consequently had steady access and so I had a lot of those, often even when not working. Once the changeover with Hardee's and Carl's Jr. came about, actually, even well before that, I think they deleted the menu items and other places would do weird crap with theirs, like add mayo (having built a lot of those myself, that was verboten). This sauce made me immediately think of the mushroom sauce that came on those, which it is nowhere near, to be sure, but the flavors here seem to point a bit at a steak sauce and indeed, on red meat, this stuff is nothing short of fantastic, where you get an amplification of both the mushroom flavor and the general umami.

I tried it on a few different foods and generally didn't like it. It would often strike me as overly astringent or the floral notes of the Scorpion would be too forward and overshadow the more subtle flavors in there, but in the right setting, all of that goes away and you get a nice solid heat, along with the sauce substantially adding to the flavor dynamic.  The molasses-Mandarin orange combination I find an intriguing one, to be sure, but with that substantial of a depth of flavor, it needs a strong foil to counter it a touch. When this sauce is the main flavor, I find it a bit off-putting, still not bad, per se, just not what I'm after. Heat-wise, both Scorpions and Habaneros here put this at a steady 2. 

Bottom line: This is another one I find kind of puzzling for a wing sauce, given its inclusion on the Hot Ones show, but on red meat, it is near magical...assuming you like mushrooms, of course.

Breakdown:

           Heat level: 2
           Flavor: 6
           Flexibility: 4
           Enjoyment to dollar factor: 8

Overall: 5

Heat Hot Sauce Shop x Dawson's Sunny Citrus Habanero Hot Sauce Review

Heat Hot Sauce Shop x Dawson's Sunny Citrus Habanero

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykIRMFmtBV4

I think I stumbled on this sauce a year or so ago and made a note of it at the time for something to look out for. To my mind, Dawson's makes some interesting sauces and this seemed to be definitely more of a crossover than a straight across re-label. By the time I got to actually being ready to plunk down and get it, the label, while still looking like a Dawson's label, had changed a bit. The signature red wax, that I rather loathe, over the cap and neck of the bottle is also still intact as well, of course. 

I think the idea of Habanero and citrus sort of intrigued me and when I skimmed the ingredients, I noted the blood orange and figured that was the citrus. It is and isn't. Grapefruit is also in there as well, which is kind of a fascinating choice to me, as neither of those citrus types are particularly sweet. There is the addition of some maple syrup in there as well and the cumulative effect is to play up the fruitness of the Habanero, which is frankly a remarkably brilliant idea.

Rounding this out is a bit of garlic and it's all smoothed by the EVOO circulating amidst things. There is also goji berry in there as well, but I didn't find that really impact the flavor so much as the other things. The grapefruit and blood orange, to be sure, can't really be picked out distinctively, but combine to make an overall sort of general citrusy aspect, though, again not on the sweet side. What it really comes down to is a rather intricate combination of a delicate balance of flavors that really wants to be the star of whatever you're adding it to. For stronger flavored foods, the results can be a bit clashy. Sticking to lighter fried meats with a more neutral breading is probably the better way to go here, but it could be interesting on vegetable versions of that. Even if it doesn't work, this is light and lively enough to be fun trying.

Heat-wise, despite the label listing as an 8, this is a pretty tame sauce. We have both the oil and the citrus working against this reading as a hot sauce and despite Habanero being the first ingredient, this is definitely a much more flavor-first type sauce. 

Bottom line: Another sauce that winds up being on the fascinating sauce, quite well designed, but definitely doesn't play well enough with other flavors to be hugely flexible.

Breakdown:

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

Overall: 5

Double Comfort Memphis Heat Hot Sauce Review

Double Comfort Memphis Heat

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE7BLCoGqGQ

The name of this sort of reminded me of the differentiation that various barbeque cities were doing, back when I was a more avid follower of that scene. You had your Carolina, your St. Louis, your Texas, and, of course, your Memphis, all of them with interesting regional variations in flavor. Memphis is not, of course, totally removed from Nashville, and their "Hot" craze for styling on chicken strips, either with or without waffles. In some respects, I think this sauce draws neatly from both scenes a bit. 

We have what is, at heart, probably closest in existing stylings, to a Cajun sauce, wherein there is either platform or strong aspect of Cayenne, then loaded in with all sorts of other stuff, most typically garlic. This goes several steps further, both by rather notably standing on the heat with Habaneros (Chocolate, unless I miss my guess, which also gives this its gorgeous brownish hue), along with some sugar and some onion powder, which really do an ace job of rounding out the complexity and giving this a very nice depth of flavor. The heat may be enough to push some normies, but it also could be very useful as a tolerance builder, as this sauce is tasty enough to want to keep going, despite the build.

I don't know enough about the regions to comment if Memphis is in "the south" or not, though I will note this sauce company is out of Columbus, OH, but the sauce is targeted towards a lot of Southern staples, with what suggests to me a strong lean towards Creole flavors. I have no doubt it would fit right in there, as well as doing nicely with barbeque, which would separate it from the Louisiana-style and Cajun styles. Perhaps this is a shot at Memphis getting its own category as far as hot sauces, as it does with barbeque.

For me, I use it interchangeably where I would use the Louisiana-styles, though I think it does have a touch more flexibility. It is definitely very vinegar forward, but has a nice blend of the Habaneros and Cayenne, along with a strong undercurrent of those other flavors I mentioned. It has a wonderful flavor quite its own and has been one of the happier surprises of the year so far. And, as if all of that wasn't enough, 100% of the profits from this company are sent to charity.

Bottom line: One of those rare sauces that comes along, which presents a new flavorful take, with moderate heat.

 Breakdown:

           Heat level: 2
           Flavor: 10
           Flexibility: 7
           Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10

Overall: 7

Black Panther Party Burn Baby Burn Revolutionary Hot Sauce Review

Black Panther Party Burn Baby Burn Revolutionary Hot Sauce

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

Very wordy title for this hot sauce and yes, it is associated with the Black Panther organization. We do have a very strong throwback vibe to this sauce in the label, which I like quite a bit, all the way down to a 60's era stylized font. As for the sauce...

Well, I wasn't around in the 60's, of course, and can't really speak to sauces, but to my knowledge, Habaneros were nowhere near as big of a thing until the past three or four decades. Indeed, a world's hottest, which was a Habanero, wasn't crowned "officially" by Guinness until 1994. So, is it possible that nearly 30 years prior to that, someone in the Black Panther Party was using them in a hot sauce, as this particular sauce is said to be the product of said recipe? Sure, but I don't know that I would call it likely.

If anything, I'd be more inclined to call this a relabel. While I'm not saying it is (but I'm also not not saying it is), the ingredient list is identical to a sauce I did in 2014 from Arizona Gunslinger, which was their Habanero sauce (http://d-dubtsaaf.blogspot.com/2014/02/arizona-gunslinger-habanero-pepper-hot.html), all the way down to the order. It also comes with a restrictor cap as does that sauce. The consistency and color are also very, very close. That one does not list as Organic, but they do have a different division/sister company (Arizona Peppers), which does have an entire line of certified organic products. They also have a near-identical flavor profile and heat level. Again, I'm not saying anything one way or the other, but perhaps the biggest piece to support that idea is that both sauces suffer from the exact same problem, that of high saltiness, to the point where it overshadows the sauce entirely.

Most of that review also applies here. Heat is fairly moderate. Habanero is very forward, after the salt, and if the salt was cut in half, this would be a considerably better product. As it is, like the other, it is borderline unusable, unless you really like both salt and Habanero flavors. As Habanero is not one of my favorite peppers overall and a little salt goes a long way with me, this is a huge miss for me. 

Bottom line: If you have a dish that needs both salt and a slight amount of heat, this is probably useful (like in a chili possibly). By itself, it can be a bit hard to take.

 Breakdown:

           Heat level: 1
           Flavor: 3
           Flexibility: 5
           Enjoyment to dollar factor: 3

Overall: 3

Wicked Provisions Yellow Jacket Hot Sauce Review

Wicked Provisions Yellow Jacket

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BAiJP2V12s

Hailing from Texas, we have a sauce that piqued my immediate interest as soon as I came across it. The idea of naming it after an insect is one that is a tried and steady habit of Pex Peppers, whom I believe has a similarly named sauce, however, for this one, they also make it a point to emphasize the grilled pineapple component, which was the more exciting part for me. I like grilling stuff and will grill just about any old thing, food-wise, that is, just to try it out, so fruits like apples (not enough moisture), tomatoes, peppers (of course), berries (don't bother), citrus (interesting, surprisingly) and a host of other stuff has all hit those hot grates at one time or another. The one hitting is most consistently has definitely been the pineapple, though, and indeed, that has been one of my favorite things to have at a churrascaria. So, there was no way I was not going to get this, after I'd made sure there were no onions, of course.

I did have a slight bit of pause with the apple cider vinegar and the ginger, two flavors that can wreak havoc in anything sort of subtly flavored, which I find pineapple generally to be. The ginger has no real bearing here, but regrettably, the apple cider vinegar reared its stinky foot-flavor aspect more prominently than I would have wished. The rest of it, the citrus juice, the Habaneros, and the grilled pineapple, combine to make a light and lively flavor, another thing I was wondering about, since the way I grill pineapple (and have it at the aforementioned restaurants) tends to have a heavier concentration of flavor and a lot of the carmelizing from the Maillard effect. That is not really the case here.

The heat here is a bit on the light side, but given the sort of effervescent quality of the sauce overall, tends to always surprise me by being a bit higher than anticipated. For all of that, though, it is definitely on the lower side of things. On pizza, which was the main application I had in mind for this, the apple cider vinegar isn't quite as detrimental, but put it on a lighter meat fried food and it tends to come through a bit more. Texture-wise, this is a lot like a puree and it reminds me a bit of an apple sauce, only from pineapple instead.

Bottom line: I like the concept of this a lot, much more than I liked the actual sauce. It's not unpalatable or anything and I will finish the bottle, but they could have had something unique and spectacular instead of what's here, which is underwhemlingly okayish.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 7
            Flexibility: 4
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 5

Overall: 4

Volcanic Peppers Cranky Cranberry Hot Sauce Review

Volcanic Peppers Cranky Cranberry Cherry Bomb Pepper Sauce

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jLQr0hcnss

So, here it is, my 500th overall post on this blog and I think it's fitting that not only is this one of the most delicious sauces I've had, but also far and away my favorite this year (yes, I know it's early), easily the best hot sauce with cranberry in it I've ever had, but also one that speaks very directly to my particular taste favorites. I love cranberry, the whole one, out of the can, with just the cranberries and sugar and that's it. I don't need orange and other junk polluting the flavor, but this sauce represents the ultimate of what tinkering with cranberries (even though I don't think they need tinkering) could achieve, even though they're not going for a cranberry sauce per se.

Here we have the delicious Cherry Bomb peppers. I love Cherry peppers. Both of those are some of my favorite pods (there are actually quite a lot...if I ever figure out the tier list thing, I will definitely do an FOH video with pods) and here they're used to great effect with the cranberries. Red Habaneros are here for heat, but it is pretty moderate. Red Anaheims also show up and this is a good demonstration of what can often be the fruitiness of red peppers. The brilliance of this sauce is the restraint of whoever came up with it to allow it to showcase those things and allow it to unfold, rather than polluting it with a bunch of other ingredients. Rather brilliantly executed, though I do kind of thing the xanthan gum probably could have been skipped. 

Because cranberries figures into things, I think this naturally limits a bit where the sauce is going to work. Cranberries and turkey is a pairing we all know and (probably) love, but it works as well with chicken and I suspect would work well with other fowl also. It is not an aggressively cranberry-forward sauce, which is good as the quinine can turn things overly bitter if not used delicately, but there is enough that I wouldn't expect it to work on pork or ham or beef and probably not really on fish, either. Now, having said all of that, I won't be able to find out because this is one of the fastest sauces I've whipped through. As of this writing, I literally opened the bottle yesterday and had to make it a point to film today (FOH video won't be posted until March 2023, though), so as to have enough left. The bottle is nearly empty, which I guess rather amply demonstrates just how much I love this sauce.

Bottom line: There are things that speak directly to one and then there is stuff like this, that shouts. Just an absolutely fantastic sauce, deftly combining cranberries and one of the best-tasting pepper pods out there.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 10
            Flexibility: 4
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10

Overall: 6