View Full Version : Scoville Heat Units
I use pepper sauce three meals a day. I have 6 different brands in refrigerator three of which are Tabasco brand. I honestly can't say I have a favorite. I can say the hotter the better though. What's making your forehead sweat tonight?
Sriracha most of the time and Inner Beauty Real Hot sauce when I really feel like setting my ass on fire!
I grew up in Louisiana. We had stupid hot sauce drinking contests in day care of all places when I was a kid. Yeh, don't ask. Anyway I have become a fan of Louisiana Hot Sauce and Tabasco's jalapeno hot sauce. If it ain't a desert I have some kind of hot sauce on it.
-Jax
Sriracha most of the time
I have some of that stuff. It's really good. I've used it on wings.
I am by no means a connoisseur. I do have a pretty large collection of hot sauces. I am partial to the various Melinda's brand sauces for every day use. Many grocery stores will have one or two varieties, but there are many more varieties available on line and at specialty stores in the Melinda's line.
One I particularly like is their Amarillo Hot Mustard Pepper Sauce. Mix equal parts hot mustard sauce and honey to make an awesome dip that is great with egg rolls.
I also have several of the Melinda's Habanero sauces and a Ghost Pepper sauce.
Belmont31R
09-07-10, 22:46
Nothing with Habanero peppers in it. I can't stand those. Not that they are too hot but that pepper tends to remove the taste of everything else, and tastes like crap.
Ive tried better sauces but I keep Franks hot sauce around for eggs in the morning. I put black pepper on about everything I eat, and use lots of bell peppers in my cooking. Not that hot stuff really bothers me but Ive found most Habanero based sauces all you taste is the sauce.
Not a sauce, but I cook with alot of Chile de árbol/ Arbol peppers. They have a subtlety and add a little smoky flavor without covering anything up in the flavor of a dish. They do bring a decent ammount of heat at between 15 and 30,000 SHU.
There is a fella locally who makes a salsa that is without a doubt the hottest thing I have tasted that still had flavor in a good way, that is tasted good but was bloody HOT. I need to get in touch with him about a few jars, thatnks for the topic to remind me.
Anything hotter than habanero tastes like butthole, so I don't really care anymore at that point. Good, fresh roasted green is still the most enjoyable, I'll eat pounds of it until I start wondering if I need an EPI pen, it's that good.
Nothing with Habanero peppers in it. I can't stand those. Not that they are too hot but that pepper tends to remove the taste of everything else, and tastes like crap.
Ive tried better sauces but I keep Franks hot sauce around for eggs in the morning. I put black pepper on about everything I eat, and use lots of bell peppers in my cooking. Not that hot stuff really bothers me but Ive found most Habanero based sauces all you taste is the sauce.
You must have tried crappy Habanero sauces. Habaneros are one of the hot peppers that actually have a flavor of their own, unlike jalapenos. A good habanero sauce is not only hot, but a mix of various things that blend well with the habanero. And that enhances your food.
Many of the Melindas ones aren't actually even that hot as they add in a bunch of other complementary ingredients. I have had some crappy habanero sauces myself but not all habanero sauces suck.
Because I don't always want to burn my mouth, I often just use a little squirt to anhance the flavor of whatever I am eating. A little goes a long way.
3CTactical
09-07-10, 23:24
Anyone tried the Mad Dog 357 special edition? I had some colleagues have me take some of that stuff - tasted like crap and I was in the bathroom the rest of the afternoon. Mind you, I eat hot sauce on almost everything. This stuff was 750,000 scoville units. I couldn't talk for almost 20 minutes after taking that stuff.
As far as normal hot sauces, I'm usually eating Sriracha, Tapatio or Texas Pete cause it's easy to get.
My preference for mexican, however, is stuff you can buy from a restuarant in Mesa, AZ called Matta's. They've been in Arizona since the 30s or 40s and have the best hot sauce. They used to have a place down on Main street, but closed down a few years ago except for a takeout place in east Mesa. They recently opened a new place at the Rivermark shopping area by Bass Pro - still great food. The hot sauce is not too hot(but still hot enough for me), not too mild and has tons of flavor.
tiger seven
09-08-10, 09:08
You must have tried crappy Habanero sauces. Habaneros are one of the hot peppers that actually have a flavor of their own, unlike jalapenos. A good habanero sauce is not only hot, but a mix of various things that blend well with the habanero. And that enhances your food.
I couldn't agree more. Love habaneros! All of my favorite hot sauces use them and I cook with them all the time. Jalapenos add very little heat and taste like something that was scraped from the bottom of a dumpster, and they overpower the flavor of everything else so all you taste is wretched jalapeno.
My favorite hot sauce is El Yucateco Kutbil-Ik, the "original Mayan recipe." Hot and delicious!
http://www.elyucateco.com/english/products/sauces/kubil-ik.html
Derek
My favorite hot sauce is El Yucateco Kutbil-Ik, the "original Mayan recipe." Hot and delicious!
http://www.elyucateco.com/english/products/sauces/kubil-ik.html
Derek
That is actually a very good one and very inexpensive one and is available at local grocery stores here. Good call.
jklaughrey
09-08-10, 10:46
Because it is all I ever used growing up in Northern Mexico....err Los Angeles!
rubberneck
09-08-10, 10:53
If you are looking for really, really hot sauce then buy a bottle of Dave's ultimate insanity. Insane is a fairly accurate description for how friggin hot that stuff is. I don't know if they still do it but they used to make you sign a waiver before selling it to you.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave's_Gourmet
Littlelebowski
09-08-10, 10:56
I eat fresh Serrano peppers. Screw hot sauce.
My wife grows her own peppers and makes hot sauces with jalapenos, serranos, chiles, habaneros and some hybrids. I like them all. Her fresh jalapenos have the most flavor for me. She stuffs them with a cream cheese mixture then grills them. My favorite hot food snack.
To answer your question, I really don't like any of the sauces you listed. My least favorite is Tabasco or similar sauce. They have way too much vinegar for my taste.
Of the commercial sauce I agree with others who chose Sriracha. It has A LOT of garlic though if that's not your thing. I don't care for it much on mexican food but anything else is fair game. It doesn't get any better for eggs in the morning.
jklaughrey
09-08-10, 11:16
I have tried Dave's never again, couldn't taste for awhile. When we had cookouts and grilled Carne etc... some of our friends would poach meat off the grill so we would spike a few scraps with Dave's. That poaching shit stopped fairly quickly after they got a big suprise from "Dave".
rubberneck
09-08-10, 11:27
I have tried Dave's never again, couldn't taste for awhile. When we had cookouts and grilled Carne etc... some of our friends would poach meat off the grill so we would spike a few scraps with Dave's. That poaching shit stopped fairly quickly after they got a big suprise from "Dave".
LOL. If used correctly it can be really nice. Half a drop in a large bowl of chilli gives you a really nice burn without destroying the food. Used like tabasco... well it seems like you know what that outcome is.
tiger seven
09-08-10, 12:26
The great thing about having SO many hot sauces to choose from is that some add pure heat, some add flavor with a little heat, and some add flavor with a lot of heat. And then there's such a wide range of flavors, from sweet to vinegary to smoky to garlicky to whatever else and with some so complex they're hard to describe, that there really is something for everyone who likes hot and spicy food, as well as "the right sauce" for any dish. Half the fun is trying out new ones, and matching them to different foods. I've certainly come across hot sauces I didn't care for, but rarely have I found one so awful it was inedible.
This thread is making me hungry! :)
Derek
Well since I'm out of Hot sauce. I did pick up a small red habanero pepper. I used a small amount with what I cooked last night. I cut off a small piece too taste test how hot it is.
The great thing about having SO many hot sauces to choose from is that some add pure heat, some add flavor with a little heat, and some add flavor with a lot of heat. And then there's such a wide range of flavors, from sweet to vinegary to smoky to garlicky to whatever else and with some so complex they're hard to describe, that there really is something for everyone who likes hot and spicy food, as well as "the right sauce" for any dish. Half the fun is trying out new ones, and matching them to different foods. I've certainly come across hot sauces I didn't care for, but rarely have I found one so awful it was inedible.
This thread is making me hungry! :)
Derek
My sentiments exactly. I have not used hot sauce in a while because now I can make my own salsas and mate them to whatever the dish is. I personally like my salsas so hot it feels like you got punched in the tongue but it also has to compliment whatever the meal is as well.
Moose-Knuckle
09-08-10, 14:40
I voted for other, being a Texican I started eating salsa as a baby before I could chew solid food thanks to my grandmother. :D
My favorite hot sauce to date comes from Belize, they make the best habanero sauces. You can always tell by the color if a sauce is going to be flavorful or not. The more orange it is the better!
http://mariesharp.com/
http://jardinefoods.elsstore.com/view/product/?id=57301&cid=3336
Semper Paratus
09-08-10, 18:09
Melinda's 4X select is my hot sauce of choice. SIgnificantly hotter than Tabasco but wonderful full bodied flavor.
Melinda's 4X select is my hot sauce of choice. SIgnificantly hotter than Tabasco but wonderful full bodied flavor.
Thats the one I like the best. But for some reason the stores I've gotten it from. Don't sell it any more. All I see is 3X. I like the 4X better.
DaBears_85
09-08-10, 18:30
I usually use Tabasco Habanero at least once a day. It's hot, but also has a nice fruity undertone to it due to the papaya, mango, and banana purée that it's made from.
Sometimes, if I'm feeling brave, I'll use Jolokia hot sauce:
http://www.hotsauceworld.com/jolokia.html
The Bhut Jolokia is the hottest Chile pepper in the world with a Scoville rating somewhere around 1,000,000. In comparison, a Habanero pepper has a Scoville rating on average of around 300,000. It's not for the faint of heart...
I love hot sauces
There are some great Habanero sauces that have good flavor.
I like Green Tabasco on trout and eggs with sour cream and some form of cheap caviar
I like the Chipotle Tobasco on lots of things
I like the normal Tobasco on many things but it is the one for oysters hands down and I carry a big bottle of it over sees in my pack
Do not like Tobasco's Habanero version
I love Cholula on any Mexican food when good salsa is not around
Peri Peri peppers on chicken
Srirachi in anything asian
Fresh serrano peppers are my go-to-peppers which you can actually find in many African countries
Hate bell peppers taste like they were made by Dupont
I've always wanted to try the hot sauce called SMACK MY ASS & CALL ME SALLY...any one tried it?
I spent two summers working in Albuquerque, and went from a hill boy with no stomach for anything approaching hot to a lover of the green chili. I'll eat them in eggs, in oatmeal, in meatloaf, whatever. If it's savory, it can go with green chilies.
As for the sauces, I've not tried all that many, but I do like the chipotle tabasco.
http://www.hotsauceworld.com/jolokia.html
The Bhut Jolokia is the hottest Chile pepper in the world with a Scoville rating somewhere around 1,000,000. In comparison, a Habanero pepper has a Scoville rating on average of around 300,000. It's not for the faint of heart...
I have the Melinda’s Naga Jolokia Hot Sauce that is on that page. It is a good sauce. It is not that hot because they don't overload the sauce with the pepper. It is hot. Quite hot. But it does not taste much hotter than a good habanero sauce due to how they blend it. Very good. Different taste than the habanero.
I also have the Melinda's Scotch Bonnet Sauce which I like a lot as well as the Melinda's Red Savina [one of the hottest forms of habanero and up to almost double the SHU of most other habaneros] and some of Melinda's Christmas Sauce one and some of the other habanero ones. I vary what I use depending on how I feel.
One thing I really like is what we call "Cheese Crispies" (basically a form of quesadilla). I use a multi grain or whole wheat tortilla, stick a bunch of cheese on it (I use the 4 cheese mexi blend from costco or just straight cheddar), stick it under the broiler until it bubbles and starts to turn brown, and remove. Fold in half and enjoy. My kids eat them plain. I like to stick a spoon or two of picante sauce or salsa on and a couple squirts of whatever hot sauce, usually a habanero on, on and mix it and spread it around before I fold in half. I have eaten these since I was a kid in the early 70s (using white flour tortillas of course -- I did not start to use the whole grain or wheat tortillas until the last 10 years as I stopped eating most white flour things if I can help it).
How to fix your burning tongue problem.
If you eat habaneros or other hot peppers and get something too hot and burning for your mouth. Do NOT drink water. The oils in the pepper are what are burning your mouth. Oil and water do not mix.
Drink cold milk (as close to whole milk as you can). Or better yet, eat some ice cream (good creamy kind -- not low fat). Works much faster and much better.
A friend of mine in the NYC area, who is president of big SW consultancy and who in the past was a VP of IT at a big brokerage house etc (many many moons ago in the early 90s or late 80s) and who knows a LOT of people has or had two annual large get togethers for his friends, employees, customers, competitors, etc. One of which was a chili party. He is also a hot sauce connoisseur and has a very large collection of peppers as well as hot sources. I tried a very thin slice of one of the hotter cultivars of the habanero at his place once. He is the one who clued me in to the ice cream thing and he always has lots of ice cream at his parties available for people who get in over their heads...
Moose-Knuckle
09-09-10, 01:00
How to fix your burning tongue problem.
If you eat habaneros or other hot peppers and get something too hot and burning for your mouth. Do NOT drink water. The oils in the pepper are what are burning your mouth. Oil and water do not mix.
Drink cold milk (as close to whole milk as you can). Or better yet, eat some ice cream (good creamy kind -- not low fat). Works much faster and much better.
A friend of mine in the NYC area, who is president of big SW consultancy and who in the past was a VP of IT at a big brokerage house etc (many many moons ago in the early 90s or late 80s) and who knows a LOT of people has or had two annual large get togethers for his friends, employees, customers, competitors, etc. One of which was a chili party. He is also a hot sauce connoisseur and has a very large collection of peppers as well as hot sources. I tried a very thin slice of one of the hotter cultivars of the habanero at his place once. He is the one who clued me in to the ice cream thing and he always has lots of ice cream at his parties available for people who get in over their heads...
Yeap dairy is the trick, I've seen extreme cases well the meringue of pies will put the fire out.
I like Chipotle sauce thats about it :)
but when I lived in the Caribbean
about the second day the guy who owned the dive center we were hanging out up walks this little kid about 5 holding a pail ?
so Stanley walks up and reaches in and pulls out this little folded fried tortila thing ? hands it to me takes one himself and reaches in and pulls out a coke bottle with some holes punched in some top on it ? pours all this sauce on his ! I ask if its hot ? he says NO MAN !!! covers mine and says you have to eat them like this and pops it in his mouth ! I should have been smarter than this :)
needless to say the little boy thought it was funny watching me roll around and Stanley had a good laugh
the little boy made daily rounds to the dive centers tasty little treats :) but no sauce for me after that lesson
a lot of homemade sauces down that way ! some good some insane !
when I lived down their chocolate was the key to calming the fire !
A Perk of Our Evolution - Pleasure in Pain of Chilies - NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/science/21peppers.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
My wife and I LOVE HOT AND SPICY FOOD. We have over 300 different bottles/types of hot sauce; they have there own pantry even.
One of my day to day favorites is "melinda's" XXX habenero picante sauce. IT is tasty as hell and pretty hot (Not very hot on my scale, but very hot on most peoples scale).
Ass Burner is another good and tasty hot one.
Tabasco is not hot at all, just vinegar like and nasty. Cholula is the only "table" hot sauce I find in restaurants regulary that is good enough to use.
We even grow our own peppers and the like and make our own hot sauce; to date only one other human being other than my wife and myself has been able to handle our sauce without violently sweating and literally crying from the experience. That person could barely stand the heat, but didn't lose five pounds in sweat and tears like the others did; he still drank about ten glasses of water and ate a whole pint of ice cream afterwords though.
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