The Naga Vipers aren't generally available yet (although chilli veteran Darth Naga from the ChileFoundry scored a couple with horrifying results), but the CPC are making a minimalist chilli sauce made with the Vipers and the current heat record holder, the Bhut Jolokia. As I was going through a periodic extreme heat phase when I saw the ChileFoundry video, I jumped at the chance to grab a bottle of the stuff, which was sadly delayed for almost a month. In that time, the indefatigable Darth Naga not only reviewed the sauce, but managed to convince the CPC to change it's name to reflect the growing internet fame of the superhot Naga Viper chilli. As he remarks, my bottle of "The Terminator" is now limited edition, since the sauce is now simply called "Naga Viper" - however the contents remain the same.
I've been a fan of the "minimalist" sauces for a while now. The Godfather of hot sauces, Tabasco, also has only three ingredients (cayenne peppers, vinegar and salt), and in my opinion still holds it's own against other sauces, but my interest in them was reinvigorated by the South Devon Chilli Farm's impressive range of single variety sauces. For that reason, I had high hopes for this one.
For the record, I prefer "Naga Viper". There's a tendency with hot sauces to give them obnoxiously laddish names, which really puts me off. But I'm not here to review the CPC's branding choices, I'm here to review some chilli sauce. So let's go!
Tasting Notes: Much like Tabasco and the SDCF sauces, this is an incredibly runny sauce, but has a fairly rough chilli mash in it. The nose is chock full of that unique Jolokia smell. Having got my mitts on a few fresh Dorset Naga's from Tesco since I reviewed the Dave's Gourmet Ghost Pepper Sauce, it's interesting to go back and compare the two sauces. The Terminator has a great freshness to it, and really captures the complexity of the Naga flavour, wheras the Dave's Gourmet sauce seems to be trying to shoehorn it into a Habanero-ey flavour. Since the peppers are clearly distinct, and the CPC sauce does more justice to the distinction, I'm inclined to come down on it's side. But then, is the flavour of the raw chilli really that good a thing? I'll confess, I'm slightly coming down on my "Naga's, f*** yeah!" phase and trying to decide what I really make of them. Naga's definitely have a slightly more floral, almost soapy quality to them over other C. chinense varieties, like the Hab's, which is quite pleasing to smell, but the jury's still out on whether it makes for good eatin'. But at any rate, this sauce does what it's supposed to, which is to showcase the fruit's unique flavour. Surprisingly, since vinegar is the only non-chilli ingredient, the sauce doesn't strike me as that sharp. The flavours of the fruit really take the fore in this sauce, and the taste really does do justice to the nose. On the down side, that flavour comes with a strong bitter taste, which rather spoils the effect. But it has to be said, this sutff really does pack a punch - taken neat it will leave a burn in your mouth long after you've swallowed it. In pure kicking power, this one can easily hold it's own against extract sauces.
What's It Good For: Surprisingly, given how hot it is, it seems to lose it's raw killer potency pretty quickly. I suspect drizzling it directly on to your chips might be a bit of overkill, but I've used it in most of the ways I use Tabasco with a fair success; in soups, on pizza, stirred into leftover rice from an indian curry. The floral taste of the Naga's is lovely, although it still has a bit of an acrid tang to it (I'm not sure whether this is the vinegar or an effect of the raw chilli pepper). At any rate, you'll probably only need a dribble of the stuff at a time, and it should last you.
Final Thoughts: Since Naga/Bhut Jolokia/Morich's are the sexy-sexy-hot-hot thing at the moment, I really really want to like them, and this sauce makes a fair stab at presenting the new generation of super-hot-right-off-the-vine chilli's in a simple sauce. But somewhere in me I'm wondering whether I really like the flavour of the Indian C. chinense varieties as much as the richer, darker flavour of Caribbean chilli's like Habanero's. (There's some suggestion that a few interesting varieties from Trinidad are about to make waves, but they haven't made their way into any sauces yet!). Still, it's probably not fair to fault the sauce for the failings of the fruit it's made from. Still, the Terminator/Naga Viper sauce does have some failings. It has upsettingly acrid notes running through it that are sadly quite hard to ignore, and I'm not sure that's just from the shocking heat of it's fruit. With the breeding of a fruit that is apparently four times as hot as Dave's Gourmet Insanity Sauce, and the bottling of a minimal sauce that's squarely in the super-hot category, I can't help thinking that this is a game changer for the super-hot market, with heavily extract-based sauces outclassed by simpler, cheaper, more flavourful sauces. Time will tell.
I made the comparison of these "simple sauces" to Tabasco at the top - well, Tabasco isn't quite as simple as it's ingredients list suggests, being aged in oak to give it a lovely mellow flavour. I really wonder what a gourmet sauce would result if the Naga Viper sauce was treated in such a way; it might well loose it's trademark pungency, but would it smooth out the flaws in it's flavour? We will probably never know.
The Verdict: All in all, this is a damn good Naga sauce, and I'm sure I'll reach the bottom - eventually.
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