what's the best hot sauce?

[hungry4hops]

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!

 

[Yooper]

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!

 

[wailingguitar]

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

 

[hungry4hops]

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!

 

[nutty_gnome]

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.

 

[Wolfhound180]

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

 

[mathin]

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.

 

[voltin]

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

 

[voltin]

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.

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

 

[mathin]

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.

 

[VApatriot]

Melinda's Habenaro XXXtra Hot Sauce. Great on tacos, fajitas, nachos. Good and hot but not too hot. Try it you'll like it.

http://www.melindas.com/products.html

 

[Barnzy02]

Depends on what i'm eating, but the three that are always in my house are:

Sriracha
Frank's Red Hot
Cholula

 

[stokems]

I put that sh*t on everything!

 

[Paulielow]

Wow, getting recipes and everything I'll have to give them a try and see if there as good as store bought sauces, considering its a homebrew site is assume any recipes I get will be good. Just used 1/2 a bottle of cholula on my chicken last night so I'll need to buy somemore of that but there's a lot of good suggestions out there so I'm a bit spoilt for choice I suppose its going to be a case of if i can get the sauce delivered for less than $30. http://www.usafoods.com.au/c8/sauces/hot-spicy/?add=1 this is the site I'll probably be using its got franks, tapiota, cholula and a few others so if anyone wants to check it out and give feedback from there selection that'd be nice.

 

[nefarious_1_]

I like the site "Tears of Joy" there's some excellent stuff on there. We have an obsession with hot sauce where I work: we literally have a shelf full of them. I have slowly become conditioned to spice and heat over time, to the point where many hot sauces don't phase me. IMO after a while, many begin to taste the same, especially the vinegar based sauces. But give these a try:

Iguana Radioactive Atomic Pepper Sauce
Smack My Ass and Call Me Sally
100% Pain
Da Bomb (Ghost Pepper Sauce)
One F***ing Drop at a Time (despite the name, not that hot)
Scorned Woman
Rectal Rocket Fuel
East Armageddon Post-Apocalyptic Hot Sauce (extremely hot, recommended as an additive only)

 

[passedpawn]

Da Bomb - Ground Zero, if you need to induce vomiting. I used to eat that, but I think I was doing irreparable harm to my innards. Abandon all hop ye who dash too much.

 

[nefarious_1_]

Da Bomb - Ground Zero, if you need to induce vomiting. I used to eat that, but I think I was doing irreparable harm to my innards. Abandon all hop ye who dash too much.

Honestly, I was expecting more out of Da Bomb. Going down, I really don't think it's that bad. On the other end... nevermind.

But in all seriousness, Da Bomb has nothing on East Armageddon. I sort of don't consider Armageddon "true" hot sauce though, since it has pepper extract as an ingredient.

 

[graybeard]

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.

Franks is the stuff used in many of the popular restaurant recipes for hot chicken wings (equal parts Franks and butter, season/personalize from there).

If you can't get Franks, Durkee brand is indistinguishable from Franks.

Neither is a gourmet product, neither is super-duper hot. But if you are looking for classic hot chicken wings, these products are a popular route.

Patrick (graybeard)

 

[Weizer]

The big 3:

Tapatio
Cholula
Franks red hot

 

[passedpawn]

Honestly, I was expecting more out of Da Bomb. Going down, I really don't think it's that bad. On the other end... nevermind.

But in all seriousness, Da Bomb has nothing on East Armageddon. I sort of don't consider Armageddon "true" hot sauce though, since it has pepper extract as an ingredient.

Was it Ground Zero? We have several different Da Bombs, and Ground zero was a killer.

 

[McBrewskie]

Louisianna Gold. Red and Green. Done.

 

[mux]

 

[lumpher]

i only eat the hot sauce i make, and i live in texas, home of hot sauce. won a gold medal at a competition, and it's made with stuff you get at the grocery store

 

[OpenContainer]

For "everyday", put it on everything type of hot sauce, I choose Texas Pete. I love it.

 

[DarthMalt]

Texas Pete is a great, run of the mill hot sauce. I also like the Texas Pete's Hotter Sauce.

 

[Paulielow]

i only eat the hot sauce i make, and i live in texas, home of hot sauce. won a gold medal at a competition, and it's made with stuff you get at the grocery store

Such as........ PM me if its a secret recipe your don't want getting out.

 

[Paulielow]

Texas Pete seems to be getting a good rep in here, but I think I'll be grabbing a bottle of everything I can get my hands without paying a radiculous amount for postage and see which I like best. I get the feeling I'm going to have a few favourites.

 

[bernerbrau]

I take serious personal offense with this picture.

That sriracha bottle is just way too full.

 

[Nightstalker]

Try some of Blair Q's hot sauces ... Mango Habenaro is great
And yes for the Texas Pete .. I always have some in my fridge. I just ran out of Sriracha.
My uncle tells me I need to try Tabasco Habenaro.

 

[Acoma]

Real deal Holyfield...those others be fakin'