• This is the place to discuss all spicy commerical products, not just sauce!

hot-sauce Your fave Sriracha?

I find it disappointing that Huy Fong has such a lock on what sriracha should be.
There are so many great srirachas out there. Sky Valley and Dark star are 2. Dark Star uses balsamic vinegar and makes for a really rich flavor. Saigon Sisters (available only here in Chicago) is far spicier than other srirachas and a little more forward in the vinegar tang.
 
This weekend I started my first attempt at sriracha and see it as an opportunity to play with the flavor profile. In my research for sriracha recipes, so many people compared their effort to how close they came to Huy Fong. GEEZ! I don't want a chocolate chip cookie recipe that ends with a summary of how close they replicated Chips Ahoy. (But what if I like mine big, chewy with nuts instead of small, crispy without nuts?)
 
I've added molasses as a sweetener in my sriracha mash and plan to omit the vinegar completely. We'll see how it goes. But I'm not chasing David Tran. I applaud him for opening the door. Ultimately, he's just one "chocolate chip cookie" in a world of possibility. 
 
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Did some looking around and found this stuff. Actually made in Thailand and comes in a variety of interesting flavors. The similarities are striking... 
 
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                    VS.              
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Here is the website: http://flyinggoosebrand.com/
 
Someone order some and tell us how it is!
 
Some friends and I held 2 rounds of Sriracha Smackdown. Flying Goose came in 6th out of 19 brands. Good heat, chunky but 'ok" flavor." One thing that was noted: Flying Goose has MSG in it.
 
We ranked everything but noted the ones that were all-natural and the ones that had preservatives, artificial coloring, etc. Huy Fong is out of the picture when you isolate the all-natural srirachas. Sky Valley won Round 2. In Round 1 it was a close 2nd to Huy Fong. But Sky Valley sriracha stands alone as winner in both rounds when you look only at the all-natural brands.
 
Personally, I'm not a fan of Huy Fong. It falls flat for me. Trader Joe's? YUK! My favorites: 
 
  • Sky Valley (richer in flavor),
  • Lee Kum Kee (the fish extract does add a flavor I like but people either love it or hate it),
  • Dark Star (the balsamic vinegar adds a nice maturity and complexity) and
  • Saigon Sisters (the hottest of the srirachas, a little more vinegary but still not an overpowering tang).
 
Here's a snapshot of the results from Round 2 when we ranked 9 srirachas:
 
smackdown-results.png
 
OzDragon said:
One thing that was noted: Flying Goose has MSG in it.
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They're not afraid of that in Asia, it's natural and comes from beets and seaweed. It's also one of the ways you get umami, the 5th taste sensation (meaty).
 
The Hot Pepper said:
 
They're not afraid of that in Asia, it's natural and comes from beets and seaweed. It's also one of the ways you get umami, the 5th taste sensation (meaty).
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No. Thank you, though. I'll pass on the MSG. There's lots of controversy around it. Of 19 srirachas Flying Goose was the only one with MSG. 18 others to choose from.
 
OzDragon said:
 
No. Thank you, though. I'll pass on the MSG. There's lots of controversy around it. Of 19 srirachas Flying Goose was the only one with MSG. 18 others to choose from.
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Alright, just stay away from pizza then. ;)
 

MSG occurs naturally in many foods, such as tomatoes and cheeses. People around the world have eaten glutamate-rich foods throughout history. For example, a historical dish in the Asian community is a glutamate-rich seaweed broth. In 1908, a Japanese professor named Kikunae Ikeda was able to extract glutamate from this broth and determined that glutamate provided the savory taste to the soup. Professor Ikeda then filed a patent to produce MSG and commercial production started the following year.
 
Today, instead of extracting and crystallizing MSG from seaweed broth, MSG is produced by the fermentation of starch, sugar beets, sugar cane or molasses. This fermentation process is similar to that  used to make yogurt, vinegar and wine.
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I'm no anti-MSG evangelist. I'm just a guy who likes sriracha.
 
The ghost pepper sriracha I ordered arrived yesterday and I'm about to go out and find something to put it on. The stuff is delicious!
 
Cool man! I just don't let the claims of the "Chinese headache" after eating Chinese food from the 1970s detur me. If you are sensitive, don't eat it. If you're not, do. Same with any ingredient. :)
 
It's probably in a bunch of stuff you eat already anyway.
 
Nice poll of sauces.
 
my fav so far is huy fong. ive only had that i know about 3 and the other 2 sucked. i would love to know about some good ones. sriracha is one of my favorite flavor profiles.
 
sicman said:
my fav so far is huy fong. ive only had that i know about 3 and the other 2 sucked. i would love to know about some good ones. sriracha is one of my favorite flavor profiles.
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Which are the 2 that you say sucked?
 
not positive but both can be bought at publix.  all i know is i was mad for a week each time.  ill check the names next time im in town. which may be awhile?  il
 
sicman said:
not positive but both can be bought at publix.  all i know is i was mad for a week each time.  ill check the names next time im in town. which may be awhile?  il
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I'd be wary of a sriracha from Publix. That sounds scary.
 
A lot of the good srirachas have to be ordered.
 
Sky Valley and Lee Kum Kee can be purchased at Whole Foods. But the ones that I've ordered:
 
Thai & True
Dark Star
California Blazing Chile (ghost pepper sriracha)
 
Saigon Sisters T-Racha can only be picked up at their place downtown Chicago
 
OzDragon said:
 
The ghost pepper sriracha I ordered arrived yesterday and I'm about to go out and find something to put it on. The stuff is delicious!
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Which brings up the question: What makes it a sriracha instead of a ghost pepper hot sauce if the Thai chilies aren't used. I thought that was what defined sriracha.
 
Jeff H said:
 
Which brings up the question: What makes it a sriracha instead of a ghost pepper hot sauce if the Thai chilies aren't used. I thought that was what defined sriracha.
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This remains a mystery: what defines 'sriracha'?
Huy Fong uses red jalapenos, not Thai chilies. Some sources say that fermentation, a garlic-forward flavor and less vinegar than traditional hotsauce define sriracha.
 
Of the various attempts at a definition, none say that the peppers define it--aside from the color being red. (I wouldn't appreciate a green jalapeno & bell pepper sriracha. That'd be so wrong.)
 
JoJo's of Brooklyn uses a wild mix of peppers in her sriracha, including cherry bombs and habaneros.
 
A Sriracha documentary is due out next month. Griffin Hammond, the film maker, recently returned from Thailand recently and is putting it together now. Maybe we'll get a definition in the documentary.
 
OzDragon said:
 
This remains a mystery: what defines 'sriracha'?
Huy Fong uses red jalapenos, not Thai chilies. Some sources say that fermentation, a garlic-forward flavor and less vinegar than traditional hotsauce define sriracha.
 
Of the various attempts at a definition, none say that the peppers define it--aside from the color being red. (I wouldn't appreciate a green jalapeno & bell pepper sriracha. That'd be so wrong.)
 
JoJo's of Brooklyn uses a wild mix of peppers in her sriracha, including cherry bombs and habaneros.
 
A Sriracha documentary is due out next month. Griffin Hammond, the film maker, recently returned from Thailand recently and is putting it together now. Maybe we'll get a definition in the documentary.
Click to expand...
 
 
Documentary on sriracha? Interesting.
 
PepperDaddler said:
 
 
Documentary on sriracha? Interesting.
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YUP!
Griffin launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $5000. He hit it in 8 hours. He doubled the goal to $10,000 so that he could include a trip to Thailand. That was reached in 24 hours. He and Randy Clemons (Sriracha Cookbook, author) went there together and visited THE sriracha factory.
 
When the Kickstarter campaign ended, it was a little over $21,000.
 
BTW: Griffin interviewed me on camera. Let's see if I make it in the final cut.  :-)
 
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