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Heat vs. Flavor

Hey folks,

Just curious how your collection is spread out. I have a few bottles of hot sauce that are rarely used, because they are basically all heat and little flavor. Some of the higher end [scoville] Blair's sauces come to mind.

I use those for spicing up chili, and torturing my friends. Some of my go-to sauces are CaJohn's Jolokia 10, Ouray Volunteer Fire Dept Ghost Chili sauce [kind of hard to find... but probably my all time favorite hot sauce], etc. I also like scorned woman if I am looking for a bit of a vinegar flavor, and Lotties Hot Barbados Mustard sauce... that stuff is great on hot dogs, sandwiches, spoons, etc. It is basically mustard and scotch bonnet. Not of my go-to's have extract in them, and I really enjoy the flavor. Don't get me wrong, I still have quite a few bottles that contain extract, but as I said before, I usually use them for adding heat, and not to flavor things.

Where do you guys fall? Anyone use Blair's Ultra Death in place of mustard on their hotdog? :) I have been known to mix a few drops up with some mayo, and use it on a sandwich, but never straight...
 
I can't stand Blair's or most other extract sauces. Horrible taste and hurts the belly. Its easy enough to get sauces super-hot without adding extract. Defcon of course is an exception
 
I'm probably at the low end of the middle for this place... I like the trinity of Mexican chiles, i.e. poblano/ancho, chilaca/pasilla, mirasol/guajillo as well as jalapenos, serranos, and Korean cayenne-types. Chile de Arbol is probably as hot as I want it for whole peppers, and habs/scotch bonnet for sauces.
 
I enjoy a nice flavor that rubs you down followed by heat that kicks you in the back of the head. No seriously I am not sadistic
:rofl:
 
I want the sauces to be as hot as humanly possible without extract. All sauces are pretty mild to me now....it's a shame. Once I get some fresh pods, I am going to make one that blows my head off! (I am sadistic) JaG :P

I do want flavor though, so most times I will take a sauce that I like the flavor of and add a bunch of dried superhot powder to it. Helps out.
 
I nver understood the appeal of sauces that made you instantly regret putting them on food. People work hard to create/prepare/produce good food - why ruin it?

As a HUGE Defcon fan, I can say they "get" balance (thank you, DEFCON creator for the best wings EVER) - their horseradish is the best I've ever had, and I'd not hesitate to put it on my hand-rubbed lovingly BBQ'd tritip.

With my sauces my mildest sauce (Green Label) is a bit hotter than most "mild" hot sauces but then my Orange Label is not quite "HOT" in terms of all the super hots. It's a world hotter than Tapatio or Tobasco or numerous other hot sauces, but not a super hot by a country mile.

I'm trying to make something to compliment food, not win a bet.

That said, I understand some folks have a higher tolerance for heat than others - my hottest might be mild to someone like MIke the Molten Moron (actually I have 1st hand verification of this, so it's not "might" - heh) but it's also too hot for a lot of people.

For me the Ghost pepper and Scorpion sauces tend to run on the "too hot" side. I'm not a huge fan of Blair's but their marketing is phenomenal. They offer so many products, so many options - they've build a really really good brand. So even if their sauce isn't my cup of tea at all, I respect the hell out of their business acumen. They say the "superhot" niche is about 3-4% of the hot sauce consumer market and Blair's is doing a great job of cornering much of that. Right behind them is Dave's Insanity. Neither of these things belong on food in my opinion, but different strokes for different folks.

For me balance is the most important thing. It's not about heat Vs flavor, and in fact that's why I started making hot sauce in the 1st place. I grew tired of the either/or - which at the time was dominating the market. You had something like Cheech Marin's "The Cheech, Gnarly Garlic" - one of the best tasting most flavorful sauces I've ever had, but sorely lacking in heat. Completely mild. Or you had a Dave's Insanity or Ass in the Tub or or other brutally hot sauces. If you hand me a toothpick with 1/2 a drop on it, and it makes me hiccup, get heartburn and later bleed from the anus, why would I possibly put that on something I wanted to eat as a meal or serve to friends?

So for me it's really not whether I prefer heat or flavor. To me the BALANCE is key - I want to taste the ingredients listed on the sauce. I want to taste garlic and onion. I want the subtlety of a Cayenne pepper or hint of lime or citrus if those are listed. If you get too hot you just bury all of those notes under an avalanche of "holyfriggingodkillmenowtoendthepaiiiiiin!!" - these sauces border on bio-weapons, and some even exceed pepper sprays for capsaicin content. There's a really rapid result of diminishing returns when it comes to heat.

I see reviews like "it tasted like a bee stung the inside of my mouth. I like it!" and just shake my head. (that's a real review I read - I think it was Black Widow sauce) - I don't want to put dire warnings on labels - plastic spiders, or make people sign disclaimers or skulls and cartoon people belching fire out of their asses. It's just not appealing as a food product.

I respect anything people try to do as a business, but I really appreciate those sauce makers who go for balance in their sauces. Howling Dog's Chipotle is so subtle and has a great burn, but the flavors shine through. I mentioned DEFCON already, but it bears repeating that I'd not hesitate to put the habbyhorse on any cut of meat, including a $22 bone in ribeye or slathered on a steak sammich. SalsaLady's chipotle BBQ sauce and her garlic hot sauce are so yummy and balanced - great flavors shine through while still making you sweat a little. Justaguy's Habermelon is plenty hot as are his PineyHab sauces - these folks clearly honor flavor and make a food product. If I can achieve that reputation I'll feel successful as a hot sauce guy.

And if people try LDHS and complain that it's not hot enough because they can still taste their food under it I'll consider that another marker of success.

In my semi-humble opinion, it doesn't have to be either/or - a great hot sauce should be both hot & flavorful.
:cheers:
 
@LDHS (and everyone else) I think the issue lies in the fact that a sauce that burns you up hides some of the flavor but if your tolerance goes up. Now you can taste the individual flavored. I'm sure there are people out there with no tolerance and if they tried your orange label, might get burned up and say that they can't taste that sauce under all of the heat. Then there are people like me, that eat the orange label and it is more sweet than hot and I can really taste all of the favors coming through. (I actually just had some yesterday) I can taste all the things going on in Cappy's BrainStrain sauce as well. no natural sauce is hot enough to burn me up good and I can taste the flavor profiles in all of them. (I don't eat extract sauces and have never tried a Blair's product) I haven't tried AJ's purée yet, which is next on the list nor have I tried Skobian (another one on the list just didn't want to pay the shipping) so it really is a matter of tolerance. I like something that burns me up, I usually don't have a problem tasting it either. Once you reach a certain level though, nothing is hot enough next to a fresh superhot. Im sure when I harvest some fresh pods, I will be able to make a sauce that has adiquate heat for me.
 
Skobyian, Turkey slap are the limit of what I'm prepared to go to. After that, I see no point. The Nagasav is pretty where I want to be. I could go hotter, these sauces are OK heat-wise, they don't decapitate me by any any means, but I want the limits of the combo. I think the true test is a combo (heat-flavour) cheese sandwich. Cover the cheese and onion with sauce, a few drops, 3 or 4. If it's unpalatable, the cheese and onion is not distinguishable, then there's no point. Just me. I think onion is a good test, if it overpowers that, no thanks. Gonna start a new thread, how do you test a sauce?
 
Lucky Dog hit the nail on the head. We get a TON of people at shows asking why our #1 (the hot) wing sauce isn't hotter. I basically tell them, if I made it hotter, I wouldn't sell as much of it. Many of them tilt there hed like a confused dog. I then give them some ZERO on a stick, they attempt to stoneface me, then bleed out of their eyes, and stumble away like a drunken zombie.

There are a ton of people out there that show up to shows just to blow their faces off. It's a miniscule number in the grand scheme. If you want something hotter, add more peppers, it doesn't take much skill at all. However, if you are one in the majority, the secret is making it taste good.
 
I am to the point that I don't buy sauces any more other than Zestfest, then I buy mostly salsas, dips, etc....I simply make my own...canned/bottled/aged sauces can not hold a candle to a small batch you make yourself IMO...grow your own peppers and use fresh ingredients to make a small batch and you will see what I mean...you can tweak the taste as you go...vinegar or not...up to you...tomato/carrot/fruit based sauces are pretty simple to make...just make it to YOUR taste and heat...
 
When someone asks me for my hottest pepper, I usually start them out with a real jalapeno and most of the time thats too hot for them ...lol
 
I lean more to flavor than heat in everything. My own homemade sauce from last year had up to 8 different roasted chilies in it. Complex flavor, starts to burn nicely right away and keeps going. Most the folks in my office thought it was too hot straight but added to things it was terrific. And of the say 10 or so folks that had it, not one reacted the same way. As a couple of the folks actually in the business in a professional manner have stated they can cater to a very small part of the market, which will eat up time/materials/money for what is going to likely be a very small profit if anything, or they can concentrate on what will reach the greatest number of people in the market and maximize their profit for time and money invested, and most importantly get their name out to more and more people. And for most people, I would say 90 out of 100 just want flavor with a nice kick. (However subjective that may be).
I love things hot. Hot as hell usually.
But not all the time.
And in my experience those of us that can stand the atom bomb in your mouth sauces and still taste the flavor are a true minority, versus HAHAHAHA eat my sauce so I can youtube this! who don't care about flavor, they just want extract heat.
 
I look for sauces with more flavor. Like in my limited experience Endorphin Rush Hot Sauce only to add to sauces. Stuff is pure heat no flavor. Red ghost hot sauce which to me has a nice delayed heat kick and good pepper, smokie flavor.
 
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