Hell's Kitchen Taco Cat Hot Sauce
UPDATE: Video support available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4-TBLH2W-s
When I first read on the Burn Your Tongue Facebook feed (be sure to check that out) that Roger was bringing in this sauce in both left-to-right reading and also right-to-left reading labels, I was intrigued. It's been a while since I've seen collector's edition sauces and maybe that's just what 2020 needs...a little fun and frivolity as a respite from the otherwise Hellish nature of the year. I marked it down mentally and when I got there, I managed to score a major win and snag the last bottle of the ambidextrous-reading label, which reads both left-to-right AND right-to-left (picture attached).
In amidst some of my other thoughts, I did find it also curious that the sauce company had seemingly taken the name of a fairly well-known tv show from Gordon Ramsay, so I thought possibly he was involved, despite his seeming disinterest in hot sauce and chilehead-type stuff. The name seems more a reference to a specific area of New York City, where the company is based, however. The sauce itself is an exclusive to some sort of video game bar/restaurant there called Barcade, as well...or maybe was an exclusive or was created exclusively for them at one time or something along those lines.
It probably doesn't matter, and you can look into it more, if that particular backstory interests you, but for me, I'm STILL on the search for a Mexican-style sauce, something that I've been trying to track down for years and that has been the sort of quest that is taking on a hallowed nature, almost along the lines of a sacred search for a particular grail cup...I'm happy to say that I'm narrowing down the things I want, but it is almost more an elimination of things I don't want. Obviously, onions and excessive heat are things I don't particularly want in that kind of sauce, but heavy garlic and citrus I also find myself disliking as well.
For this one, heat is about right, fairly moderate, not enough to punish, but definitely enough of a presence to let you know it's there. This one has a bit more citrus than I would prefer and the taste of both Habanero (ok) and cumin (much less ok) are fairly prominent, so the end effect is something I found to be just ok. Obviously, flexibility with most Mexican-style sauces is out the window, as they don't really lend themselves to application too far removed from that style of cuisine and that is definitely the case here as well. My overriding thought when using this was that I really really would have preferred some smokiness here and throwing in some chipotle would have gone a long way. Smokiness is one of the factors I do strongly desire in a Mexican-style sauce and here would have been a stunning grace note.
Bottom line: Pretty solid, relatively inoffensive Mexican-style sauce. Definitely enjoyed the bottle, but also definitely will not be replacing it or adding it to my lineup.
Breakdown:
Heat level: 2
Flavor: 5
Flexibility: 4
Enjoyment to dollar factor: 5
Overall: 4
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