Brooklyn Delhi Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce Review

Brooklyn Delhi Ghost Pepper

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

The last remaining sauce for Season 20 and it was one of those that could go either way. I didn’t expect it to be hot, as it was in the 5 slot and generally anything below 7 isn’t too challenging, but it seemed to be pointed a bit towards Indian flavors. As noted repeatedly in this blog and elsewhere, I am not so much a fan of those generally, but this did feature my favorite superhot, the mighty Ghostie, and was further bolstered by what appeared to be heavy usage of tomatoes, an ingredient that I think is pretty underrated in hot sauces generally.

So, not knowing what to expect, I pulled the shrink, found that I had a lot less than 5 fluid ounces in the bottle, and that a healthy amount was stuck in the neck. Indeed, this is a very thick sauce and that is something you may wind up frequently contending with. After clearing that, I got to the sauce proper and was nearly instantly blown away. The Indian spices, while definitely present, are fairly mild in the flavor and this is much more a comprehensive sauce, with the tomato base there for everything else to play on top of.

The flavor is both deep and rich and does a spectacular job utilizing the wonderful flavor of the Ghosties. The hand-blend of Indian spices, whatever they are, seem to be the way to go here and I found myself quite enjoying this wonderful concoction. They are very much going for flavor first here and while there is heat, it is a bit on the lower key side of things. That allows the sauce to add an Indian spin to whatever you put it on – I didn’t try it, but suspect it would be very interesting on burgers - and works to great effect subtly sliding you into the flavors of that cuisine style without ever once being overbearing...which is pretty much the perfect way to do it for me.

I would call this more of a gateway to Indian cuisine generally, as tomatoes are used in a number of dishes there and this sauce is a hearty welcome, but approaches it with a smoothness and grace that is an absolute pleasure. I can’t say it would go with everything, but if you’re looking for an introduction, this sauce is the way to go. As mentioned, despite the Ghost being the namesake of the sauce, this is fairly mild and shouldn’t be particularly challenging for anyone.

Bottom line: This is unexpectedly definitely one of the better sauces from the show and a good reminder that rich rewards like this are why we keep an open mind when it comes to food.

Breakdown:

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

Overall: 6