Frank's Original RedHot Sauce

The "Louisiana-style" hot sauce is probably the definitive hot sauce that most people have experience of, including among it's ranks probably the single most famous brand of all: Tabasco. The race for second place is a bit more fraught, and personally for me the gap is filled by Crystal, which I discovered while I was at uni, and liked so much I could barely keep it in the house without it disappearing. In fact, I liked Crystal better than Tabasco; the flavour of the chilli is foremost, where Tabasco has more of a compromise between the vinegar and the fruit. Sadly, Crystal has more or less disappeared from UK shelves - I can only assume that the company is still recovering from the destruction of it's main factory in New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the export market comes second to their domestic trade. So the fruity cayenne flavour in Louisiana-style chilli sauces vanished from my life for several years.





Enter Frank's Original RedHot sauce. Like Crystal, Frank's has quite a pedigree, but achieved some notoriety by being the key ingredient in Buffalo wings. Possibly because of the industrial quantities needed to make Buffalo wings en masse, Frank's is gradually becoming more available in the UK, and taking over the gap left by Crystal. Having spotted it in my local supermarket, I thought I'd give it a try and see how it measures up.

Without a bottle of Crystal to compare it to, I'm making most of the comparisons to Tabasco.

Tasting Notes: Much like Crystal, and in contrast to Tabasco, Frank's aroma and flavour is dominated by cayenne. While vinegar is a key to both, it's much more muted in Frank's and the salt and spices are much stronger. While both are apparently "cask-aged", the ageing seems to do more for tabasco (which tastes a bit to me like hot balsamic vinegar rather than chilli). Frank's is about the chilli's. It's also thicker than Tabasco - while it's runny enough to pour, it's still got a bit of viscosity to it. It's not perfect though; there's a slightly waxy, bitter aftertaste to Frank's, although you'd only notice it if you were more or less drinking it straight. I don't have a bottle of Crystal to hand, but I don't remember it having that aftertaste. Also, Frank's flavour is far from subtle, and the salt is kicked up several notches over Tabasco. The effect is that where Tabasco is a condiment, Frank's RedHot sauce is, like Encona, more of an ingredient than a table sauce, beefed up to fight off other flavours when cooked into something. Still, Tabasco does seem to defeat it on heat - Frank's has the flavour of the peppers, but it's not setting fire to my mouth.

What It's Good For: Buffalo Wings, apparently. It'll certainly do as a table sauce, but better something with it's own flavour, like pizza, unless you like it salty. The sauce is designed for cooking though, so mix it in for best results.

Final Thoughts: A good alternative Louisiana-style sauce to Tabasco, but I'm still missing Crystal. I'd like to taste those two back to back, and see if I'm remembering Crystal's flavour right.

The Verdict: I'll probably keep a bottle in my cupboard, but I'll be dreaming of Crystal...