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

hot-sauce Your fave Sriracha?

Growing up in Seattle, we always had Siracha. I don't know when it came out, but I don't remember a time without it. In fact, I remember Siracha before you could buy Salsa in the stores. When we went to Florida, FD and Sum took us to their local grocery store chain Publix. Their store brand is BADIA. I noticed they had Siracha and bought some. we took it back to Sum's and taste tested it on a spoon next to Huay Fong "Rooster" sauce. WOW. All I can say is I have a new favorite. I just wish we had BADIA brand here. After getting home, and researching online, I discovered they have two kinds, Hot and Picante. Picante is what we came home with. If you EVER get a chance to try this I strongly suggest you do. The flavor is somehow bolder, yet smoother, and possibly a little bit hotter. I have yet to try the "Hot" but I will. That reminds me, I need to place and order with Sum or FD. :)

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I remember it too Scovie, mostly at Chinese restaurants, and then I saw it in Chinatown, at Chinese supermarkets, and I thought it was Chinese. I was like, "Oh there's that stuff at all the Chinese joints, and you can buy it." This was way before the craze. The words are Thai but with Romanized characters, and the letters below the rooster are Chinese characters. This suggests he wanted to market to Chinese take-out. Tran is Vietnamese and he marketed it heavily at pho noodle shops in the US, but also as an all-purpose Asian chili sauce. Huy Fong Tuong ot Toi is his Vietnamese sauce. But the Sriracha is what took off at the pho shops.
 
The bottle of Sriracha has different language food suggestions: In Vietnamese, it suggests Chinese egg noodles, pho, and meat dishes. In English, French, and Spanish; soup, sauces (salsas), hot dogs, pizza, hamburgers, chow mein and pasta. So while a hit with pho, it is marketed much broader, much like a Tabasco. No Thai food suggestions, which hints at the fact it may have actually nothing to do with Thailand, and he started this craze that caused all the Thai brands to pop up, or re-brand as a sriracha, which Tran coined.
 
Like I said some people claim the Sriraja Panich is the original, but also note it is watery and garlicky with no heat or flavor. I'm not sure I buy it is the original, or if it's just an older company claiming to be, because their bottles didn't have "Sriraja Panich" on them until they started marketing to the US.
 
Here's a rare 2001 interview: http://books.google.com/books?id=eV8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA72&dq=david+tran+los+angeles+magazine+%22fire+in+the+bowl%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=6RINUvf0Kva84AP2_YCoAQ&ved=0CEgQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false
 
Maybe there's some enlightening info in there. Someone read it, lol.
 
Yeah THP, my first memory of it was at a high end Mongolian "buffet" restaurant called Jong yen Lo. I was maybe 6. They had frozen thin sliced meat, Beef, Chicken, Pork, then the vegs, and last stop was the sauce ingredients, Oil, Lemon Juice, Vinegars, Mustard, Soy sauce etc. there were about 9 things to choose from and a recipe chart for mild medium or hot. One ladle of this, two ladles of that etc. then you would hand your dish to the old guy and he would fry it all up on a big Mongolian kettle drum lookin flat top. Then he would hand it back to you and there were finishing sauces. the only two pre bottled sauces in the joint were Kikkoman Soysauce and Sri Racha. They had about a dozen of their own sauces but I remember clearly LOOOVING that Sri Racha. I was nine when me and my dad had a contest picking up peas with chopsticks. I beat him 9-7. :lol:

Another dive take out joint in Pioneer Square called Don Pei's had it too and they would sell us bottles of it for $2. I wish that place was still there... Double Beef extra sauce... topped with Sri Racha. mmmm I would get every last kernel of rice out of that styrofoam bowl with those cheap split chopsticks.
 
I love me some Mongolian BBQ - there's a place across the bay. Haven't been there in years - all you can eat for like $12, and it's pretty worth it. I generally make small bowls as I want to try several variations - I've never left disappointed. 
 
I'm pretty sure they had Huy Fong Rooster. 
 
Awesome memories Scovie! My early "chilihead" memories include eating pepperoncinis from the jar as a kid instead of pickles, and discovering how to make buffalo wings with the butter and Frank's... and that was it. Boom!
 
Had to be in '96 or about then that I had my first taste of the Huy Fong brand of sriracha.
 
It was the only condiment on the table at a little tiny hole in the wall burger joint I loved.
 
Burger Stop.
 
Anchorage, AK, on Spenard.
 
Dude made a great blue cheese 'n 'peno burger.
 
Sadly he was murdered not long there after.
 
I never went back.
 
But I remembered the burger and fell in love with the Huy Fong sheeit.
 
I don't know how many of the big bottles I've bought and eaten.
 
The big bottle last's me about 2 weeks on average these days.
 
texas blues said:
Had to be in '96 or about then that I had my first taste of the Huy Fong brand of sriracha.
 
It was the only condiment on the table at a little tiny hole in the wall burger joint I loved.
 
Burger Stop.
 
Anchorage, AK, on Spenard.
 
Dude made a great blue cheese 'n 'peno burger.
 
Sadly he was murdered not long there after.
 
I never went back.
 
But I remembered the burger and fell in love with the Huy Fong sheeit.
 
I don't know how many of the big bottles I've bought and eaten.
 
The big bottle last's me about 2 weeks on average these days.
Click to expand...
I think i hit that like button 7 times?
 
wait.... a couple more never hurt...
 
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