Yin Yang Hot Sauce Review

Yin Yang

Yin and yang, the forces that contrast and complement to create a unifying whole, a very old observation of balance and the concept of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. In this regard, I think the sauce is a success at living up to its name. We have some astringency from the vinegar, some light sweetness from the raisins, some minimal heat and smokiness from the fire-roasted Habaneros, and a scant amount of umami as well to sort of round it out and bring it all home, though for me, it could have used a lot more of it. What I will say is that it’s hard for me to describe this as a hot sauce.

I think it’s a fairly daring choice to use raisins. Hot sauces do not generally do that and I suppose on the surface, in a strictly literal sense, you can make any sauce “hot” by adding peppers, in some form or other to it. Spicy ketchup, for instance, could qualify. Yes, ketchup is more or less a sauce and if you add in, say mighty mighty Reapers, it will also be hot. But, if we’re talking about the condiment more colloquially known as hot sauce, it strongly suggests other things.

The reason why I called the usage of raisins a daring choice, other than the fact that I rarely see grapes being used, at all, in hot sauces, whether desiccated or otherwise, is the thought that grapes are rarely used for any sauce and as a flavor, do not really lend themselves especially well in terms of integrating into food. There are limited exceptions, to be sure, but overall, not so much. That is the smaller element here, though. The bigger one is that one of the most well-known brands of condiments utilizes them fairly extensively and has captured the minds and taste buds of people to such a degree that using them will immediately call to mind the comparison. I am, of course, referring to A1 Steak sauce. 

Indeed, in many ways, this reminds me of a much less flavor density, slightly smokier, and somewhat hotter version of that condiment, a familiarity that I find it hard to shake. This is even more strongly reinforced when, despite trying it on a variety of things other than grilled darker meats, I found it kind of baffling. Once I put it on the right food, things locked in and we got some of that food harmony that itself is a callback to the sauce name, particularly those umami-rich foods...which also bolsters the idea that this would do well to have more umami.

Bottom line: I’m not going to directly call this a mislabeled steak sauce, so much as noting that it worked better there than on everything else, where it didn’t work particularly well at all. I really like the concept, but think this either needs further refining or maybe reworking, or just a rebranding as an actual steak sauce. 

Breakdown:

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

Overall: 3

 

Maritime Madness Giv'er Hot Sauce Review

Maritime Madness Giv’er 

One of my more favorite things about Canada is the strong enthusiasm for Candians to come up with the most quaint and deliciously eclectic colloquialisms and there are many. While I don’t have a particular favorite, it was kind of entertaining to learn, from this hot sauce, as I’ve not heard it from any Canadians that I know directly, that “Giv ‘er,” which is evidently meant to be a shortening of “give her.” I don’t know how long it’s been in use, but I suspected the meaning was perhaps either from or similar in meaning to famous Canadian James Doohan and his character Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott’s famed phrase of “I’m giving her all she’s got, Captain,” from the Star Trek Original Series. As a long-time fan of Star Trek TOS, I like that idea immensely and will not readily part with it, but I have no idea if that is the case or not. The sentiment, of putting forth maximum effort, or in this case, an allusion to maximum heat, seems to be around the same sentiment.

Now, do I think this is anywhere near maximum heat? No, and evidently neither did Maritime Madness, as they came up with an Ultimate Giv’er sauce, which adds Reapers, if I’m remembering right. I may get to that someday. I also may not, as I think this sauce falls a bit in the middle for me. Because the hot peppers, Ghosties, in this case, are front and center as the first ingredient, what heat this has goes full tilt from the jump. I think it is enough to probably be off-putting to normies, but it also tapers fairly quickly and most chileheads won’t be challenged. Along with it comes the usual superhot bitterness, which is pretty prominent. The rest of the ingredients, the vinegar, salt, and garlic, all play second fiddle to this attribute. While grace notes of the latter two will show up here and there, depending on what you use it on, the vinegar, after the initial hit I mentioned, will make its presence known, but this is not a hugely astringent sauce. Give than the ingredients are more along the lines of a Cajun sauce, this is kind of interesting.

For me, who is not a huge fan of bitter as a flavor element, a little of this goes a pretty long way and perhaps that’s what they intended. However, this also reduces its flexibility a bit, as I didn’t find it too enjoyable outside of either creamy sauce dishes or perhaps on fairly stronger-flavored and more complex foods, like a fast food chicken sandwich, for example. I didn’t dislike it, to be sure, when I used it where the taste would be relatively unaltered, such as say for chicken tendie dipping sauce, but it is not the pairing I really wanted nor would I reach for this past something else. It definitely has its uses, but I think it needs to be matched well.

Bottom line: Definitely the hottest of the Maritime Madness sauce I’ve had, but more towards the middle of the pack in terms of what I enjoyed.

Breakdown:

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

Overall: 4

La Perrona Original Hot Sauce Review

La Perrona Original

Very often, Mexican style sauces will have a certain sameness to them. Certainly it is with good reason, as the combinations of flavors are a very tried and true combination, but it’s also nice to both reference that style and break out of it a bit. This is more or less what this sauce does, by sort of moving away from the richness and earthiness of some of the other entries and dialing the astringency up a bit and going with a couple of very flavorful peppers, the Arbol, which is near-ubiquitous, and the Chiltepin, which was used less, but has recently become sort of a darling and is cropping up everywhere. It brings a nice degree of heat while retaining a very solid flavor balance, so small wonder that it’s gaining in popularity.

“La Perrona” can either refer to a large canine or possibly, in a slang. colloquial sense, to something that is “kick ass” or otherwise denotation of a positive impression. I would imagine that both senses are meant by this name, but there is also a picture of a dog on the label up front and that is the more literal meaning, so if I were to have to forcibly defer to one, it would be that. 

One issue I do kind of have with this sauce, aside from it being slightly more astringent than is my preference in this style of sauce, is that it appears to be made from dried peppers that were reconstituted to make the sauce. This is a fine, well, and good practice, and can result, as it does here in a fairly concentrated and pepper-forward flavor, but it also is prone to introducing bits of hard pepper, which can lead to a certain gritty aspect, as this one does. It is not egregious, but I do find it off-putting every time I encounter it, which is frequent with this sauce. Again, this is, I suppose, another differentiator, as most sauces of this type tend to be much smoother and refined. If anything, this reminds me somewhat of the house sauces that Mexican restaurants will sometimes make. 

Bottom line: This overall is a very solid, middle of the road entry into things, a good “change of pace” sauce, if you’re tired of the other Mexican style sauces you may keep on standby, with enough heat to be notable, but not so much as to be overbearing. 

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 8
            Flexibility: 5
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10

Overall: 6

Palo Alto Firefighters Habanero Pepper Sauce Review

Palo Alto Firefighters Habanero

I can’t remember how I came across this one initially, but I stuck it in a wish list and there it sat for quite a while, just hanging out, waiting... Eventually, I wound up needing another for shipping, though I was looking more for sweet hots at the time, and tossed it in because I’d only initially been curious but had seen it enough times that my idle curiousity was getting a tad more pronounced over time. This is not uncommon for me, as I keep lists of lots of stuff, but the ones that aren’t quite red burning hot will get shuffled to one of the cooler burners in the back, still there, but more just being there until the mood strikes.

Anyway, I didn’t know quite what to expect with this one, other than I expected it to be mild, as the ingredients were fairly non-descript. One of those, “spice,” is doing quite a bit of work and encompasses, at minimum, some cumin, onion powder, and garlic powder, meanwhile paprika is specifically named out. The first two ingredients here are the red Jalapeno, always a great choice, and the Habanero, which is there to be the heat driver, so as a pepper sauce, peppers are fairly forward.. There is a notable degree of tang and tartness from the vinegar, which is a touch strong for my preference, and I could have done with a lot less of the cumin.

What this reads as is a hotter version of the Ortega or La Victoria hot sauce bottles you can see pretty readily on grocery store shelves. For many of us, these were among out first introductions to hot sauce, with a fairly low key and mild flavor, being perhaps akin to liquified taco packet seasoning, which, for better or worse, is around where I would put this. Given the Habanero, it is notably hotter than anything I’ve had from either of those two companies, but also given the Habanero, nothing I consider particularly challenging. Unless I miss my guess, they were definitely aiming more at a table sauce here, but I suppose because my memories are too tied into those foods I mentioned, taco seasoning packet tacos and so on, this seems much more in line with that than with a more universal table sauce. Even down to the color itself strikes me as much more in that vein. 

Bottom line: While a tad too cumin-heavy and vinegar-forward for my personal tastes, this is a very nice smooth, slightly runny, hotter and ultimately higher end taco sauce. 

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 4
            Flexibility: 4
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 6

Overall: 4