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
We have used the boars head pepper sauce for years. It is spicy but not overbearing. We have not been able to find this delightful sauce in the stores we frequent however the meat & cheeses are still there. Has the label changed?
ReplyDeleteTo my knowledge, this is the most current label. I generally have found anywhere carrying the Boar's Head Meats to be a reliable source for it, particularly Smith's & Harmon's. Which store(s) are you hitting?
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