Smart Way
Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXRX6nx1xiY
Part of the idea that informed this blog could be characterized by the phrase "Habanero or higher," an effort to stick to a certain pepper or higher as the lower ones did not strike me as probably ever hitting enough of the heat notes to constitute something that might fulfill the concept of "chilehead." I relented on that here and there, and also modified it to include Scotch Bonnets by considering them more or less on par with Habanero (also "Scotch Bonnet or higher" doesn't have the same ring), but for the most part, I tried to keep somewhat of a heatseeker motif intact. By now, though, I've got a fairly extensive list of sauces that have passed through these parts, some of them not appearing anywhere other than this blog (and/or FOH YouTube video series). As has happened in the past, I've filtered out a lot of what is on store shelves in the grocery stores and various other outlets, basically any brick-and-mortar that is not one of the larger Burn Your Tongue outlets. This, in addition to trying to open things up a bit more for the FOH side, means I necessarily relax my former kinda sorta guiding principle.
I saw this one some time back and briefly looked at it, but took a pass because I wasn't in need and realistically don't expect a whole ton from 12 oz. of sauce for $1.49. Still, the stars aligned and I'm out of Louisiana-style sauce, so I figured now was as good of a time as any to take it out for a test drive, if I was ever going to.
I'm almost tempted to review this as a straightforward sauce, but Smart Way is a budget line for the store brand of Kroger. This means everything in that line is a knockoff, an attempt to clone higher priced name brand stuff. Here, that name brand is Frank's. I'm no fan of Frank's and find it to be a rather bland, lowest common denominator type sauce that doesn't do much of anything well and is more or less just ok in a pinch, like if there is nothing else handy. This one has a flavor profile that is kind of like a smoother, more muted version of the Frank's flavor. So, it certainly won't be fooling too many people into thinking it's a good sauce, unless they were predisposed to that anyway.
What it is is mostly serviceable. All the rough edges of a normal Louisiana-style sauce are sanded off and we have basically just the flavors of Cayenne, a softer vinegar, and a slight back end of garlic. This would make it more of a Cajun style than strictly a Louisiana-style, but it's not forceful in flavor to any particular degree. It more or less does the job, but with the flavor dialed down as much as it is, a lot more needs to be used to achieve the same effect. Fine, it's slightly more than a dime an ounce, use whatever, but it also never quite hits the notes that I want it to. It comes close, gets in the vicinity, but never quite scratches that itch fully. Heat-wise, it does pack a bit more than I was expecting (I was expecting zero), but it's still on the very low side, as most sauces in this category tend to be.
Bottom line: If you need a good fill-in sauce to tide over, such as I'm using it, and don't want to spend a bunch of money, this is a pretty unbeatable value. Not good or great, but more or less adequate.
Breakdown:
Heat level: 1
Flavor: 4
Flexibility: 6
Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10
Overall: 5
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