Ask A Foreigner

Neapolitan · 02-10-2010, 10:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freebase Dali

Ranked as follows:

#1 Tobasco sauce (and all its different flavors, but the original is the best)
#2 "Louisiana" brand hot sauce (The one with the red dot)
#3-thru-idon'tcare: Everything else.

Tobasco has a long tradition here as being the most popular and most used hot sauce in and around Louisiana. It's made in Avery Island (About 5 or 6 miles away from my house) and even the salt used in the sauce is mined there and the peppers are grown there.

If you haven't tasted it, it's got a lot more kick than typical Louisiana or Crystal hot sauce. It's not as viscous, and has a more tangy flavor (original flavor).
Anyway, it's far better on a larger variety of food than the type of hot sauce you like... although I like that type as well, I just have certain applications for it. Tobasco serves nearly all my needs though.

My favorite hot sauces are Cystal, and McIlhenny Co. they have a distinct flavors from each other, I'm a little bias towards them because they come from LA, it's all a matter of opinion but I haven't yet come across a hot sauce better than those that come from Louisiana. I use Hot Sauce on all kind of foods: Chinese (chicken lo mein), Italian (pizza), Mexican (quesadillas) - it's a universal sauce! Just for the heck of it I looked up the SHU for the hot sauces mentioned.

Hot Sauces rated by Scoville Heat Units
Original Tabasco Pepper Sauce, from McIlhenny Co. 2,500 - 5,000 SHU
Frank's RedHot XTRA Hot: 2,085 SHU
Texas Pete: 747 - 1,000 SHU
Frank's RedHot Original: 450 - 900 SHU
Crystal: 400 - 800 SHU (2,000 - 4,000 SHU - I had two different sources with two totally different ratings but I think it's 400-800 because it's a mild hot sauce.)
Original Louisiana Hot Suace (red dot) n/a - I couldn't find its SHU rating.