Original Juan's Pain Is Good Garlic Style

So in my mad rush to make up for the months without posting, I'm going to charge on and post a third review in twenty four hours - the long awaited review for Original Juan's Pain is Good Garlic Style Sauce. Original Juan are a large umbrella group who are also responsible for a line of extract sauces including Da' Bomb, which I have a couple of interesting anecdotes relating to. Another time perhaps.

The Pain is Good brand takes a different tack from extract sauces. It's all made from natural ingredients, and with it's brown paper-y label for it's hip-flask style bottle, it's going for the ol' fashioned quality direction. Nevertheless, with a big pile of Habaneros right at the top of the ingredients list, it still promises quite a punch. I chose the garlic version mostly out of curiosity; for some reason I've always thought of "chilli and garlic" sauces as being the mild variety of sauces, so I was interested at the idea that one would be placed squarely in the "hot" end. (The Pain is Good brand also has a "mild" end, although I can only assume that should be considered a relative term).

Tasting Notes: The sauce is thick and chunky, with plenty of pepper mash and coarsely chopped garlic in there. A sniff gives you a full noseful of that gorgeous smokey Habanero flavour, with the garlic a relatively subtle flavour to it. I remember on my first smell (way back in December) being surprised that there was almost no acid bite to this sauce. This is an interesting approach; vinegar is a staple in many chilli sauces simply as preservative, so it's something of a surprise to come across one without it. Tasting it, again I'm struck by a relative lack of taste in the first instance; there is a little citrus and spice in there but they're not strong. That lovely habanero flavour takes pride of place, supplemented nicely by the smoked garlic. The heat takes a while to kick in, but when it does it really ramps up and leaves you with a nice long, lingering burn, along with that great Habanero taste.

What it's Good For: Well, that's the trick really isn't it? I'm on the verge of calling this a bottle of hot pepper mash rather than a sauce per se, and that's certainly why it's lasted so long (other sauces I'm this effusive about don't tend to hang around, and pretty much everything else I reviewed since Christmas is long since polished off!) Use this as a topping for cheese on toast or pizza? Are you MAD? It tastes so nice though that it's a crying shame to cook out it's lovely flavours - my recommendation is to stir it into freshly cooked pasta sauce just before (or after) serving. Fill out the flavours it lacks with tomatoes, and there's a really kicking meal in here.

Final Thoughts: I really do like this sauce. Of those I've reviewed so far, it probably ranks top - but sadly, it really is let down by the fact that it simply doesn't stand on it's own, and that's something that's actually quite important for me.

The Verdict: a rare treat, but worth every penny.