I (Tully) am a firm believer in the principle that, with great editorial license comes great editorial responsibility. In an earlier post on hot sauces, I claimed that Tomazula was my favorite hot sauce. Those, my dear readers, were the claims of a deranged mind. I confused Tomazula with Picamas, which is my actual favorite. Rich, flavorful ripe chili peppers go into this sauce to give it a thick, ketchup-like consistency without the use of Guar Gum or any such nonsense. Yes, the thickness comes from adding flour. The result is that the vinegar is delightfully understated. Yes the label features a less than dynamic characterization of the people to whom it is marketed. But it is indeed a Mexican's hot sauce. It has not so much a bite as a slow, sumptuous chew. Biting-heat is a taste of Tex-Mex origin...as I understand it the premium among actual Mexicans is placed upon richness. That's a generalization, but I think it's as true as this sauce is enjoyable.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Correction
I (Tully) am a firm believer in the principle that, with great editorial license comes great editorial responsibility. In an earlier post on hot sauces, I claimed that Tomazula was my favorite hot sauce. Those, my dear readers, were the claims of a deranged mind. I confused Tomazula with Picamas, which is my actual favorite. Rich, flavorful ripe chili peppers go into this sauce to give it a thick, ketchup-like consistency without the use of Guar Gum or any such nonsense. Yes, the thickness comes from adding flour. The result is that the vinegar is delightfully understated. Yes the label features a less than dynamic characterization of the people to whom it is marketed. But it is indeed a Mexican's hot sauce. It has not so much a bite as a slow, sumptuous chew. Biting-heat is a taste of Tex-Mex origin...as I understand it the premium among actual Mexicans is placed upon richness. That's a generalization, but I think it's as true as this sauce is enjoyable.
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8 comments:
i beleive that 'bite' stuff. tabasco is all about bite, and it's tex mex to the max, from louisiana.
the other good ones are all imported.
This Habanero sauce is always shoved down our throats at the local "Mexican" restaurant (the one with more Margarita-Nights than you can shake a stick at). It has no taste to it whatsoever, but it is of Mexican origin. El Yucateco, which comes in florescent green and red. Habanero can provide excellent flavor, but only in small doses, and virtually untainted with vinegar. The same place provides (when they like me) a habanero paste, of which I can add a half-teaspoon to my enchilada-sauce and add an interesting dynamic.
As a Texan, I would like to say we enjoy our hot sauce similar to our weather. Invariably blistering for an ungodly stretch of time.
That comment makes me smile, palm boy!
I think the "no taste" rap on habanero sauce is a matter of conditioning. Habanero is the only choice for me as nothing else brings enough heat - and after years of conditioning I can taste what's going on in there just fine.
It's much like anything else, a matter of what you're inclined toward and what you want to get used to.
But I have to say - the heat/sweat/numb factor is all part of the deal. If you like that, you like that. If you don't, you don't.
No judgments were made in the filming of this movie.
One thing to be noted is that the flour added will tend to dull the heat, if I remember correctly.
By the way, thank you for coming clean on your grievous error, chickpea!
You're welcome.
Let me be clear, in response to Bubba's observation: I like screamin'-hot hot sauce as much as the next person, but as a reliable flavorizer...for my morning eggs...for my hummus, I prefer subtlety to sweat. A sauce should be edible on its own. You can't really do that with Tabasco (although I have). Adding a bit of flour does wonders.
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