what's the best hot sauce?

In OZ we can get the usual hot sauces, cholula, tabasco, periperi. But we don't have any good American style vinegary, buttery hot sauce. So give me a list of your favourites and if theres a website I can order them from so I can try them... Cheers

I put crystal on nearly everything... It's not very hot... which you can augment with some ghost chilis but... it's so damn tasty I go through a bottle almost weekly or biweekly...

What's crystal? Can you give me the brands and the name so I can look them up..

Don't know if it's "American style" but this has quickly become one of my favorite brands:

http://www.outerbridge.com/

I like the Sherry Rum Peppers Sauce, my girlfriend prefers the original. If you like a Gibson, the Admiral's Onions are amazing.

I don't know where I got the American style idea from I suppose i just thought hot sauce and thats what popped into my head, I suppose its just a cliche like that shrimp on the bbq bull**** you always hear about aussies. Or that people from NZ root sheep.....

Gringo Bandito, by Dexter from the band the Offspring, is the best i've ever had..

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0030HIITA/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Are you thinking of something like Frank's Red Hot? I love that stuff.
http://www.franksredhot.com/

Sriracha is also popular here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sriracha_sauce

Edit: Frank's is more tangy than hot. Sriracha can have a little burn to it.

Crystal is kinda like tabasco, on the thin side.
My go to regularly available sauce would be franks red hot.

http://www.tapatiohotsauce.com/

http://www.huyfong.com/no_frames/sriracha.htm

Lots of good pepper flavor, low on the vinegar.

If you are really into hot sauces this is your place. It used to be my regular grocery. Jungle Jims. They have a whole isle(both sides) and a full display under a fire truck full of hot sauces.
http://www.junglejims.com/foodmarket/specialty-foods/hotsauces.asp

brewingmeister said:

Crystal is kinda like tabasco, on the thin side.
My go to regularly available sauce would be franks red hot.

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Crystal is good, but not as common around here. Way better than Tabasco, IMO.

calpyro said:

http://www.tapatiohotsauce.com/

http://www.huyfong.com/no_frames/sriracha.htm

Lots of good pepper flavor, low on the vinegar.

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I forgot about Tapatio. Good stuff and really common here and in the PNW.

Franks is a good go to hot sauce. I've moved away from the vinegar based and really love El Yucateco brand

http://www.elyucateco.com/

Sriracha!

Better put some red roster on that $hit!

blizzard said:

Crystal is good, but not as common around here. Way better than Tabasco, IMO.

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Crystal is all over the south. As is cholula. Cholula is pretty good. More like franks .

I like the look of tapatio but they only sell them by the box of 24 anyone want to send me a bottle to try?

Peppers of Key West #1 sauce. Louisiana-style hot sauce with garlic and a few other things to add flavor. By far my favorite hot sauce EVER!

http://www.peppersofkeywest.com/product_p/4003.htm

i love texas pete. nice and vinigery

So many to choose from... I suppose it goes to show it depends on your personal preference when it comes to hot sauce.

rjsnau said:

Peppers of Key West #1 sauce. Louisiana-style hot sauce with garlic and a few other things to add flavor. By far my favorite hot sauce EVER!

http://www.peppersofkeywest.com/product_p/4003.htm

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At $32 postage I don't think I like hot sauce that much...

Just found an Aussie site that sells American foods...

Katos Hemi hot sauce
http://www.katoproductions.com/cart/index.php?l=product_detail&p=4

Louisiana Red Dot is the best of that variety as far as I'm concerned... I like Crystal ok, but it isn't as strong heat or flavor-wise as Louisiana. Frank's is also very good, no issues with it at all, but the Louisiana Red Dot is just a little better.

Trader Joe's Habanero is the best stuff I've tried lately. It has a powerfully floral, smoky habanero character without too much vinegar, salt, or other fluff.

Getting it to Oz might be a problem.

Tacobell hot sauce packets I love them.

Tabasco Chipotle........greatness

I found this to be a nice change from the cayenne based hot sauces.

http://www.tearsofjoysauces.com/rocoto-peruvian-pepper-sauce-p-313.html

+1 for Sriracha. I put that stuff on everything...

Sriracha. It burns so good.

It is not that hard to make your own aged pepper sauce.

http://www.thehotpepper.com/topic/23146-fermenting-peppers-101/

I make about a gallon a year.

3/4 Habanero
1/4 Other peppers (this year I used Cayenne, Tabasco, and Gusto)
about 5-7% salt by weight to inhibit mold growth.
The liquid off 1 qt of plain greek yogurt with live culture. (The bacteria in there are what does the fermentation).

I start with 1 qt of pepper mash (peppers run through the blender and salt) and add more mash as I get peppers from my garden. I ferment in sanitized 1 qt mason jars covered with plastic wrap held on by a rubber band. Let it ferment for about 3 months. Shake it every once in a while and you'll end up with something amazing.

Sriracha, Sambal Olek, and Chipotle in Adobo.

Those are my hands down, all time, any food favorites.

Got to go with trader joes here, their hot sauces are the best tasting most flavorful I've ever had! I've found most other hot sauces to be hot or spicy but really lacking in flavor!

The BEST hot sauces aren't American but instead come from Central American or the Carribean. I love Matouk's (Trinadad) but it became a distant second when I went to Belize in 2000 and 2001.

In Belize, every table has two hot sauces- Marie Sharp's Green, and Marie Sharp's Red. She makes more, but those are ubiquitous. We like the "fiery hot" version the best, and buy it by the case.

The great thing about Marie Sharp's is that it's hot, yes, but it has great flavor. The green has prickly pear (great on fish) and the red has carrots along with habaneros. We put it on almost everything, and will use a large bottle in two weeks while we're in Texas since we eat fish almost everyday.

If you can get it, you have to try it!

Does anyone else realize that, while there were a lot of good sauces mentioned, the suggestions strayed a long way from OP's question? He wanted "vinegary, buttery" American sauces... this suggests to me that the question was about wing sauce or sauces typically used for making them.... Just saying

Or just make your own cut up some jalapenos boil them in vinegar with a little bit of salt then throw it all in the blender then bottle it!

I use siracha at least once a day.

But a sauce that I find to be really nice and versatile is a sweet-before-the-heat style sauce made in Florida. http://www.micanopygold.com/ Unfortunately, they are revamping the website, but it is sold in lots of places. Go for the hottest one, it isn't all that hot. Great for mixing in dressings or other stuff thats sweet and spicy. I like it stirred into hummus, salsa, and anything with BBQ sauce.

Check out anything made by Cajohn's. Awesome stuff and huge selection.

My favorite is a sauce I make:

5 habaneros, stemmed and cut in half
2 red bell peppers, seeded and roughly chopped
5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 cup white vinegar
1/2 tsp salt

Simmer everything until soft then purée in a blender. Be careful to avoid breathing the fumes .

Of the commercial sauces, I'm partial to Frank's.

Frank's is hands down my favorite. I much prefer the kick and flavor of Cayenne vs. Tabasco.

mathin said:

My favorite is a sauce I make:

5 habaneros, stemmed and cut in half
2 red bell peppers, seeded and roughly chopped
5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 cup white vinegar
1/2 tsp salt

Simmer everything until soft then purée in a blender. Be careful to avoid breathing the fumes .

Of the commercial sauces, I'm partial to Frank's.

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Interesting. Do you age your hot sauce, or just bottle and use right away?

I think it is better after sitting in the fridge for a few days. The recipe makes about a pint, so I usually divide it into 3 or 4 small containers and freeze some. It's pretty hot so a little goes a long way.