Nando's is a brand that needs no introduction, but I'm going to take a stab at giving it one anyway. A chicken restaurant specialising in Portuguese/Mozambican cuisine (well... okay, maybe cuisine is too strong a word), it's been one of my favourite chain restaurants for a long time. Given that it is basically a glorified fast-food joint - except it serves marinated chicken instead of burgers - it stood out to me in my student days for one important reason: they provided you with, and invited you to make wholesome use of, very large bottles of chilli sauce of varying heats and flavours. I used to have a competition with a regular companion at the chilli-fest to see if we could completely finish an entire bottle in one sitting.
Nando's, being a chain and with a keen eye for marketing (garnering criticism for some incendiary advertising in South Africa), have of course been selling Nando's chilli sauces in supermarkets for years. Unfortunately, a combination of tiny bottle sizes and a slightly different recipe (presumably designed to improve the shelf life - the restaurant sauces don't stick around long, especially with diners like me around) meant that I'd never taken to them, not because I didn't like them, but because it always reminded that I wasn't able to slather my dinner in the stuff as I could at the restaurant. I was occasionally tempted into trying a reasonably sized bottle of the marinade, but being a marinade rather than a table sauce, it was never really up to much.
Fast forward to about a year ago, and I spotted two "special edition" style sauces (in a large Asda, as it happens, although you can also buy them through the Nando's website). Transfixed by what appeared to be a generous portion (a whole 250ml!) of what promised to be a slightly special sauce, I had to buy both of them.
And ate all the way through the bottle without reviewing them.
Luckily, I've managed to get my mitts on a second set of bottles... and very nearly haven't gotten round to writing up a review again, so I guess I'd better use the last few drops to review the Nando's Bushveld Braai peri-peri sauce. Bushveld is a woodland region in Southern Africa, at the corners of South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe, and a Braai is a sort of Afrikaans barbecue.
Tasting Notes: The sauce, like many Nando's sauces, is runny but textured. Less usual are the occasional chunks of what appear to be green pepper (from reading the label). The smell is rich and tangy, with an edge of garlic and tomato. The flavour is surprisingly sweet, almost as sweet as a thai sweet chilli dipping sauce, but with that lovely rich, peri-peri flavour.
What it's Good For: This is a touch tricky, because the sweetness probably rules out a few obvious savoury dishes. Sauce this good is also completely wasted when added to another sauce (such as for pasta). It is pretty similar to traditional barebcue sauce with it's rich sweetness and piquancy (although it's really a different beast, since it doesn't have the dark molasses flavour of a BBQ sauce). It'd go well as a dip, or (like the label suggests) a topping for meat or sausages. It also goes well on cheese-on-toast, as long as the cheese is fairly mild.
Final Thoughts: This is a lovely stand-alone sauce, and along with it's partner (review pending!), I rate it very highly indeed. I wish it was more widely available, I'd take every opportunity to buy a bottle!
The Verdict: An unusual, delicious, Nando's-y twist on barbecue sauce.
Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts
Wednesday, 21 December 2011
Saturday, 21 May 2011
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.
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.
Scomac Hot Scotch Bonnet Sauce
This is actually an interesting variation from the normal run-of-the-mill sauces that I do, since it's made with a vague attempt at a Scottish twist. Scomac aren't really a name I'd associate with chilli sauces, or sauces of any kind (or... well, anything else for that matter). As far as I can make out they sell packaged seafood and derivative Whisky products - in fact, I strongly suspect the decision to use Scotch Bonnets was driven almost entirely from a desire to make a pun on Scotch Whisky.
Still, my curiosity was piqued, so when I spotted it in a local shop I bought a bottle. I'm a little at a loss as to how to introduce it, because I've not really come across a chilli sauce like this before. It's difficult to avoid comparisons to that great provender of South Yorkshire, Henderson's Relish (roughly similar to Worcestershire Sauce, for those of you who sadly come from other parts of the UK - for those further afield... uh... kind of like sweet and spicy soy sauce?). Like Henderson's (and unlike Worcestershire), it's vegetarian, and... well, I'm not sure I can say much else without breaking into the tasting notes, so we'll crack right on.
Tasting Notes: If you've ever encountered Henderson's Relish, you'll have a good idea what this sauce is like. Watery and pungent, a rich dark brown, it has a sweet, slightly spicy smell to it. Vinegar features heavily, and I think there's some cinnamon in there too. It does however have some texture to it; finely ground spices suspended in the liquid (so remember to give it a good shake before you use it!). Flavour wise it is quite close to Henderson's or Worcestershire sauce, but has a twist of something a bit more exotic to it. Oddly enough, it's not the chilli, but the other spices that give it that touch, and the effect is oddly reminiscent of Chilli Pepper Company's The Beast. The chilli burn is pleasant, but seems to be an afterthought, and there's no chilli flavour at all. Still, this isn't a bad thing, as the sauce has flavour in spades. It has a very slightly bitter aftertaste, a consequence of being heavily laden with spices, but feels a lot less raw than the CPC sauces did. Allegedly the sauce is made with Scotch Whisky and Scotch Whisky Vinegar (both of which I heartily approve of), but if I didn't know they were there I wouldn't be any the wiser. I think I can just detect notes of the Whiskey in the aftertaste, but only because I know it's there.
What it's Good For: Cooking. Pretty much anything you would use Henderson's or Worcestershire for, this sauce will go nicely and add a nice twist. I can see it'd also be a very nice addition to a vinaigrette. I'd be tempted to use it as a condiment (as I do with both tabasco and Henderson's), but it might be a touch too strong for that. You could use a few drops as a topping as well, but it is very runny, so only really worth it as a drop or two.
Final Thoughts: This sauce screams "gimmick". As noted above, the heat is non-specific, which slightly begs the question for why it's named after a specific breed (Scotch bonnets) if it's not either going to showcase their particular flavour, or make better use of their prodigious heat. The answer is simply because they have the word "Scotch" in the name, and I'd go further to say that this is the sole reason they even considered making a hot sauce in the first place. That's not to say that it's bad - it's actually a very nice sauce, and not a style I've ever come across before. But as is the way of gimmicks, I suspect it will fade away and never be seen again.
The Verdict: Surprisingly good condiment-style sauce, but not enough in the way of chilli. Or Whisky, for that matter.
Still, my curiosity was piqued, so when I spotted it in a local shop I bought a bottle. I'm a little at a loss as to how to introduce it, because I've not really come across a chilli sauce like this before. It's difficult to avoid comparisons to that great provender of South Yorkshire, Henderson's Relish (roughly similar to Worcestershire Sauce, for those of you who sadly come from other parts of the UK - for those further afield... uh... kind of like sweet and spicy soy sauce?). Like Henderson's (and unlike Worcestershire), it's vegetarian, and... well, I'm not sure I can say much else without breaking into the tasting notes, so we'll crack right on.
Tasting Notes: If you've ever encountered Henderson's Relish, you'll have a good idea what this sauce is like. Watery and pungent, a rich dark brown, it has a sweet, slightly spicy smell to it. Vinegar features heavily, and I think there's some cinnamon in there too. It does however have some texture to it; finely ground spices suspended in the liquid (so remember to give it a good shake before you use it!). Flavour wise it is quite close to Henderson's or Worcestershire sauce, but has a twist of something a bit more exotic to it. Oddly enough, it's not the chilli, but the other spices that give it that touch, and the effect is oddly reminiscent of Chilli Pepper Company's The Beast. The chilli burn is pleasant, but seems to be an afterthought, and there's no chilli flavour at all. Still, this isn't a bad thing, as the sauce has flavour in spades. It has a very slightly bitter aftertaste, a consequence of being heavily laden with spices, but feels a lot less raw than the CPC sauces did. Allegedly the sauce is made with Scotch Whisky and Scotch Whisky Vinegar (both of which I heartily approve of), but if I didn't know they were there I wouldn't be any the wiser. I think I can just detect notes of the Whiskey in the aftertaste, but only because I know it's there.
What it's Good For: Cooking. Pretty much anything you would use Henderson's or Worcestershire for, this sauce will go nicely and add a nice twist. I can see it'd also be a very nice addition to a vinaigrette. I'd be tempted to use it as a condiment (as I do with both tabasco and Henderson's), but it might be a touch too strong for that. You could use a few drops as a topping as well, but it is very runny, so only really worth it as a drop or two.
Final Thoughts: This sauce screams "gimmick". As noted above, the heat is non-specific, which slightly begs the question for why it's named after a specific breed (Scotch bonnets) if it's not either going to showcase their particular flavour, or make better use of their prodigious heat. The answer is simply because they have the word "Scotch" in the name, and I'd go further to say that this is the sole reason they even considered making a hot sauce in the first place. That's not to say that it's bad - it's actually a very nice sauce, and not a style I've ever come across before. But as is the way of gimmicks, I suspect it will fade away and never be seen again.
The Verdict: Surprisingly good condiment-style sauce, but not enough in the way of chilli. Or Whisky, for that matter.
Sainsbury's Peri Peri Sauce
Holy crap, it's May and I haven't written one of these in a third of a year - disgraceful! But with some of my "real" life commitments beginning to recede, I'm going to see if I can't write a handful of sauce revies, since I have a small pile still pending. Rest assured I haven't forgotten that bottle of "Pain is Good" sauce, and a review is coming soon, but I thought I would kick off with a quick review of a little bottle of Peri Peri that I got while I was on holiday, since the bottle is about to run out.
It's a supermarket own-brand sauce, which is generally a bit of a demerit, but if anyone can pull it off I have faith in Sainsbury's (I doubt anyone will ever read these, but if by some miracle someone from outside the UK is reading this, Sainsbury's is towards the "posh" end of the supermarket spectrum, generally catering a bit more to the ethical/organic/foodie crowd). Peri-peri is also one of my favourite styles of chilli, thanks to many happy meals at Nando's, but one that seems surprisingly difficult to get right for a bottled sauce. Even Nando's don't manage it particularily well, although there are a couple of harder-to-find manufacturers (such as the excellent Zulu Zulu and Mama Africa's - the latter sadly lacking a UK importer, which explains why nobody near me stocks it any more). Still, from the minimalist labelling I was kind of expecting this to be more like a cooking ingredient rather than something I'd like to chow into on it's own.
Tasting Notes: The sauce is smooth and opaque, and neither too runny or thick. The smell isn't overwhelming, but it there's a hint of some of the spices in it. There's the faintest touch of sharpness, but it doesn't seem like acid (citrus or otherwise) is a strong player in this sauce. The taste itself is pretty subtle and underwhelming, but it does give clear space for the flavour of the peppers - I just wish there was more to it. I also tend to want peri peri sauces to have a bit more citrus to them, and without it this sauce tastes almost floury. The heat comes on slowly, and has a medium burn about expected from a mainstream supermarket product like this.
What it's Good For: I actually struggle to think. It doesn't particularily stand on it's own, and it's flavour is too subtle to be an ingredient. I've been using it as a secondary sauce added to something else on sandwiches and wraps, and even to some leftover rice, but even as a topping it really needs another sauce to fill in where it's flavours are missing. I guess if you're topping something really strong, it might be okay.
Final Thoughts: Style over substance. The more I think about it, the more I think this sauce has been designed to look right, rather than taste right. I'm convinced I can taste the flour that's been used as a thickener, and the flavours are lacklustre and half hearted. It almost has the opposite problem to the Dilita sauce I reviewed last year, and definitely better than some of the other supermarket own-brand chilli sauces I've tried (I'm looking at you, Tesco).
The Verdict: A poor show, but probably better than Dilita.
It's a supermarket own-brand sauce, which is generally a bit of a demerit, but if anyone can pull it off I have faith in Sainsbury's (I doubt anyone will ever read these, but if by some miracle someone from outside the UK is reading this, Sainsbury's is towards the "posh" end of the supermarket spectrum, generally catering a bit more to the ethical/organic/foodie crowd). Peri-peri is also one of my favourite styles of chilli, thanks to many happy meals at Nando's, but one that seems surprisingly difficult to get right for a bottled sauce. Even Nando's don't manage it particularily well, although there are a couple of harder-to-find manufacturers (such as the excellent Zulu Zulu and Mama Africa's - the latter sadly lacking a UK importer, which explains why nobody near me stocks it any more). Still, from the minimalist labelling I was kind of expecting this to be more like a cooking ingredient rather than something I'd like to chow into on it's own.
Tasting Notes: The sauce is smooth and opaque, and neither too runny or thick. The smell isn't overwhelming, but it there's a hint of some of the spices in it. There's the faintest touch of sharpness, but it doesn't seem like acid (citrus or otherwise) is a strong player in this sauce. The taste itself is pretty subtle and underwhelming, but it does give clear space for the flavour of the peppers - I just wish there was more to it. I also tend to want peri peri sauces to have a bit more citrus to them, and without it this sauce tastes almost floury. The heat comes on slowly, and has a medium burn about expected from a mainstream supermarket product like this.
What it's Good For: I actually struggle to think. It doesn't particularily stand on it's own, and it's flavour is too subtle to be an ingredient. I've been using it as a secondary sauce added to something else on sandwiches and wraps, and even to some leftover rice, but even as a topping it really needs another sauce to fill in where it's flavours are missing. I guess if you're topping something really strong, it might be okay.
Final Thoughts: Style over substance. The more I think about it, the more I think this sauce has been designed to look right, rather than taste right. I'm convinced I can taste the flour that's been used as a thickener, and the flavours are lacklustre and half hearted. It almost has the opposite problem to the Dilita sauce I reviewed last year, and definitely better than some of the other supermarket own-brand chilli sauces I've tried (I'm looking at you, Tesco).
The Verdict: A poor show, but probably better than Dilita.
Saturday, 29 January 2011
Cöttáge Dêlĭght Speciality Foods Hot Sauce Three-Pack
So, it's the end of January and Christmas is a fading memory - I should really be getting around to reviewing my Christmas Loot. I have a couple of nice new chilli sauces to write about, specifically my first try of a "Pain is Good" sauce, and finding a type of Tabasco I hadn't tried before has prompted me to do a quick survey of the Tabasco family, which I'll hopefully get round to before all the bottles are empty. This review, however, is a triple bill of sauces that I got twice as a gift from two separate people. Luckily, they're yummy enough that I'm not complaining, and was quite pleased that I've been able to munch through them at a steady pace, and still had the second set of bottles available for this review. What are these sauces? The Cottage Delight Speciality Foods "Hot Sauces" three-pack.
The pack contains a neat little traffic-light "mild, medium and hot" sampling (or rather, "Hot and Sweet", "Very Hot", and "Seriously Hot" - but as a purveyor of mainly non-spicy food products, such labels mean very little). The green one is a "Mexican Hot & Sweet Jalapeño Sauce", the yellow a "Very Hot Cajun Sauce" which seems to be a nice mustard-based sauce pepped up with some C. chinense, and the "Seriously Hot Caribbean Sauce" which seems to be a vehicle for Scotch Bonnet's and Habanero's, and looks suspiciously like Encona's famed Scotch Bonnet sauce.
Before we continue, I just want to flag up something which my pedantic side noted and has been triumphantly crowing over Cottage Delight for since I got the sauces. While (gratefully) none of the sauce titles include the word "Habanero", in all the ingredient lists and descriptions they consistently misspell the most beloved of C. chinense peppers as "Habañero". This is the most common example of a mistake called a hyperforeignism, where accents and diacritics are erroneously applied to a word of foreign origin. The tilde (that little squiggly line, which is correctly applied in Jalapeño) denotes that the "n" sound is pronounced with a "ny" sound (ha-la-pen-yo*). There is, however, no tilde in Habanero, and (apparently) it doesn't even make sense for there to be one there anyway (although I don't speak Spanish, so I can't confirm that). For this reason, I am going to bask in my smug superiority and relentlessly mock this otherwise laudable food company by spelling their name "Cöttáge Dêlĭght" for the rest of this review.
Tasting Notes: All three of these sauces have a thick-but-runny consistency, with shreds of fruit and spices in them. As a fan of runny liquid sauces like Tabasco, or the ones from the South Devon Chilli Farm, this is a little offputting - especially in the Jalapeño sauce, which is clear and smooth and... well, to my thinking, wants to be a lot runnier than it is. It has been thickened with Xantham gum to make it almost have the consistency of a glaze, or possibly a Thai sweet chilli dipping sauce (which, incidentally, is a style of sauce I'm not over thrilled with in general). Perhaps that makes it more useful in the kitchen - it's certainly a lot less likely to run off whatever surface you pour it on, so it probably copes better with a sandwich that a runny sauce would - but if you're dashing it onto something like tabasco it doesn't mix or spread effectively. The smell is quite mild, no overpowering vinegar smell, and there are notes of the rich jalapeño chilli in there. As the name suggests, this is a quite sweet sauce, and the flavours balance quite well with a nice warm glow. Interestingly, there's a detectable trace of black pepper in there which is a nice touch.
Next up is the cajun sauce. As an opaque mustard-yellow sauce, the thickness seems much more appropriate here, but at this point it makes it a bit difficult to pour. These seem to be 60ml "taster" bottles, so a larger bottle might solve that. The smell has a lovely sweet American mustard tone that's also forward in the flavour. The chilli's come in last, but the chinense chillis are definitely there in the aftertaste, and leave a pleasant but not overwhelming warmth as they pass. It might just be my deadened tongue, but I actually don't taste that much difference between the "Very Hot" Cajun and the merely "Hot" mexican. It is a touch hotter, but I doubt I'd have been able to tell if I wasn't told beforehand.
Lastly, the Caribbean sauce. It's really difficult not to make comparisons with Encona here, since the sauces are so similar. In fact, comparing the ingredients list, I find that they're the same - right down to the proportion of pepper mash in each (64%). Still, they are slightly different sauces - the Encona is slightly more opaque, and the spices are a touch richer in the Cöttáge Dêlĭght sauce - but you'd be hard pressed to tell them apart unless you were sampling them back to back (like I just did. Om nom nom). Not that this is a bad thing, as such - Encona is a firm favourite of mine. But I don't need to track down a delicatessen and pay through the nose to buy Encona.
What's it Good For
The first two of these are lovely rich sauces with quite complex flavours that I think work best as "topping" sauces for pepping up something with a milder flavour, like a ham sandwich. Their thickness makes them better for toppings rather than as condiments (like Tabasco), and the complexity would make them a waste to use in cooking. Both of them would make quite nice dipping sauces, although if you want to do this go for the larger bottles (Cöttáge Dêlĭght sell them individually at 220ml). While I've acquired the taste for Encona more or less on it's own or as a topping, and so will happily munch on the Caribbean Hab and Bonnet sauce in the same way, the salt-heavy flavour probably lends itself better to use as a cooking ingredient.
Final Thoughts
I'm actually really torn as to which of the milder sauces I prefer. They both have a lot of really nice flavour going for them, and have new and interesting aspects that I don't often find the "mainstream" sauces. I'd like to be a bit more generous with both of them, but with such small bottles I could quite easily polish them off in a single serving. I'm particularily pleased with the Jalapeño sauce, which has an interesting combination of lovely flavours. I have once before had a similar mustard-style sauce as the Cajun (and other sauces in this style certainly exist) but I haven't tried one in years, and it's a welcome try of something new. It's hard not to be a little disappointed with the Caribbean sauce which is (to all intents and purposes) Encona - of course it does what it does perfectly well, I was hoping for something a touch more original (and it makes me wonder whether the Jalapeño sauce, which I'm so impressed with about it's original, might be similarily stealing a recipe from something I haven't tried yet).
I'm not necessarily convinced by the names either - Jalapeño's are certainly mexican, although the "Mexican Inspired" recipe seems to have been anglicised (black pepper, while not unheard of, is not a common spice in Mexican or even in "Tex-Mex" cuisine). To great effect, I should add, but still. Both the "Cajun" and "Caribbean" sauces claim to be "West Indian inspired", and while the West Indes is pretty much synonymous with the Caribbean, I'm struggling to link Louisiana's Cajun populace to it. Still, this is just nitpicking over what are really nice sauces (I'm probably being extra harsh about a mild marketing gimmick because of the whole "Habañero" thing).
The Verdict: Worth a try if you can find it. Better still, convince someone to get you some for Christmas!
* if your ordering them from a certain purveyor of pizza's Sheffield that shall remain nameless, Cha-la-pee-no is more likely to be understood.
The pack contains a neat little traffic-light "mild, medium and hot" sampling (or rather, "Hot and Sweet", "Very Hot", and "Seriously Hot" - but as a purveyor of mainly non-spicy food products, such labels mean very little). The green one is a "Mexican Hot & Sweet Jalapeño Sauce", the yellow a "Very Hot Cajun Sauce" which seems to be a nice mustard-based sauce pepped up with some C. chinense, and the "Seriously Hot Caribbean Sauce" which seems to be a vehicle for Scotch Bonnet's and Habanero's, and looks suspiciously like Encona's famed Scotch Bonnet sauce.
Before we continue, I just want to flag up something which my pedantic side noted and has been triumphantly crowing over Cottage Delight for since I got the sauces. While (gratefully) none of the sauce titles include the word "Habanero", in all the ingredient lists and descriptions they consistently misspell the most beloved of C. chinense peppers as "Habañero". This is the most common example of a mistake called a hyperforeignism, where accents and diacritics are erroneously applied to a word of foreign origin. The tilde (that little squiggly line, which is correctly applied in Jalapeño) denotes that the "n" sound is pronounced with a "ny" sound (ha-la-pen-yo*). There is, however, no tilde in Habanero, and (apparently) it doesn't even make sense for there to be one there anyway (although I don't speak Spanish, so I can't confirm that). For this reason, I am going to bask in my smug superiority and relentlessly mock this otherwise laudable food company by spelling their name "Cöttáge Dêlĭght" for the rest of this review.
Tasting Notes: All three of these sauces have a thick-but-runny consistency, with shreds of fruit and spices in them. As a fan of runny liquid sauces like Tabasco, or the ones from the South Devon Chilli Farm, this is a little offputting - especially in the Jalapeño sauce, which is clear and smooth and... well, to my thinking, wants to be a lot runnier than it is. It has been thickened with Xantham gum to make it almost have the consistency of a glaze, or possibly a Thai sweet chilli dipping sauce (which, incidentally, is a style of sauce I'm not over thrilled with in general). Perhaps that makes it more useful in the kitchen - it's certainly a lot less likely to run off whatever surface you pour it on, so it probably copes better with a sandwich that a runny sauce would - but if you're dashing it onto something like tabasco it doesn't mix or spread effectively. The smell is quite mild, no overpowering vinegar smell, and there are notes of the rich jalapeño chilli in there. As the name suggests, this is a quite sweet sauce, and the flavours balance quite well with a nice warm glow. Interestingly, there's a detectable trace of black pepper in there which is a nice touch.
Next up is the cajun sauce. As an opaque mustard-yellow sauce, the thickness seems much more appropriate here, but at this point it makes it a bit difficult to pour. These seem to be 60ml "taster" bottles, so a larger bottle might solve that. The smell has a lovely sweet American mustard tone that's also forward in the flavour. The chilli's come in last, but the chinense chillis are definitely there in the aftertaste, and leave a pleasant but not overwhelming warmth as they pass. It might just be my deadened tongue, but I actually don't taste that much difference between the "Very Hot" Cajun and the merely "Hot" mexican. It is a touch hotter, but I doubt I'd have been able to tell if I wasn't told beforehand.
Lastly, the Caribbean sauce. It's really difficult not to make comparisons with Encona here, since the sauces are so similar. In fact, comparing the ingredients list, I find that they're the same - right down to the proportion of pepper mash in each (64%). Still, they are slightly different sauces - the Encona is slightly more opaque, and the spices are a touch richer in the Cöttáge Dêlĭght sauce - but you'd be hard pressed to tell them apart unless you were sampling them back to back (like I just did. Om nom nom). Not that this is a bad thing, as such - Encona is a firm favourite of mine. But I don't need to track down a delicatessen and pay through the nose to buy Encona.
What's it Good For
The first two of these are lovely rich sauces with quite complex flavours that I think work best as "topping" sauces for pepping up something with a milder flavour, like a ham sandwich. Their thickness makes them better for toppings rather than as condiments (like Tabasco), and the complexity would make them a waste to use in cooking. Both of them would make quite nice dipping sauces, although if you want to do this go for the larger bottles (Cöttáge Dêlĭght sell them individually at 220ml). While I've acquired the taste for Encona more or less on it's own or as a topping, and so will happily munch on the Caribbean Hab and Bonnet sauce in the same way, the salt-heavy flavour probably lends itself better to use as a cooking ingredient.
Final Thoughts
I'm actually really torn as to which of the milder sauces I prefer. They both have a lot of really nice flavour going for them, and have new and interesting aspects that I don't often find the "mainstream" sauces. I'd like to be a bit more generous with both of them, but with such small bottles I could quite easily polish them off in a single serving. I'm particularily pleased with the Jalapeño sauce, which has an interesting combination of lovely flavours. I have once before had a similar mustard-style sauce as the Cajun (and other sauces in this style certainly exist) but I haven't tried one in years, and it's a welcome try of something new. It's hard not to be a little disappointed with the Caribbean sauce which is (to all intents and purposes) Encona - of course it does what it does perfectly well, I was hoping for something a touch more original (and it makes me wonder whether the Jalapeño sauce, which I'm so impressed with about it's original, might be similarily stealing a recipe from something I haven't tried yet).
I'm not necessarily convinced by the names either - Jalapeño's are certainly mexican, although the "Mexican Inspired" recipe seems to have been anglicised (black pepper, while not unheard of, is not a common spice in Mexican or even in "Tex-Mex" cuisine). To great effect, I should add, but still. Both the "Cajun" and "Caribbean" sauces claim to be "West Indian inspired", and while the West Indes is pretty much synonymous with the Caribbean, I'm struggling to link Louisiana's Cajun populace to it. Still, this is just nitpicking over what are really nice sauces (I'm probably being extra harsh about a mild marketing gimmick because of the whole "Habañero" thing).
The Verdict: Worth a try if you can find it. Better still, convince someone to get you some for Christmas!
* if your ordering them from a certain purveyor of pizza's Sheffield that shall remain nameless, Cha-la-pee-no is more likely to be understood.
Thursday, 25 November 2010
The Chilli Pepper Company Part II: The Beast
Being an economic type, when I decided to avail myself of The Chilli Pepper Company's Naga Viper/Terminator sauce, I felt honour bound to buy something else to justify the packaging and transport costs. Scanning their extensive list, I picked one more or less at random: "The Beast" (reviewed by Darth Naga at the ChileFoundry here).
I mentioned in the last post about how I'm not overly fond of the overly bloke-y trend in naming chilli sauces - at some point I might get round to putting together a commentary post on the issue - and this sauce (and many of the others like it) come across as kinda cheesy. Still, it's not about the name, it's about the sauce.
It's also worth highlighting that the CPC a company that seems to principally grow many varieties of chillis (check out their awesome array of seeds and powders for sale), and has been placing more and more emphasis on producing really hot chilli sauces without using extract (a la the super-hot ranges from Dave's Gourmet, Blair Lazar and Hot Headz). Their rumoured success in breeding a super-hot variant of Naga (the so-called "Viper") will certainly help them in this endeavour. But how does the Beast weigh up?
Tasting Notes: The first thing that hits me is the sweet, spicy flavour; fruity with a strong cinammon note and a pleasant undercurrent of vinegar. It smells, basically, like a english chutney. The sauce was runnier than I was expecting (given I was expecting chutney after that lovely smell!), but the flavour really doesn't let it down. One of the key ingredients in this sauce is mango, and that really forms the sweet and sour core of the flavour. The spices are strong and pleasant too. One minor gripe is that the flavour is a little raw, but heck, it's a sauce - very few of them stand up well to necking the bottle. The chilli comes in quite late, strong and low, but stays with you.
What's it Good For: It's got a complex, spicy, chutney-ish flavour that would be completely wasted in cooking, so that's out from the start. I've used it on cheese-on-toast, but it'd be worth going for a mild cheese so that you get the most of it's flavour. I've also found it's quite nice added to a simple salad dressing to give it a bit of kick - probably best with something like a balsamic dressing that doesn't have a complex flavour of it's own. Like chutney, it's good on cooked meats and in sandwiches, but for me it suffers for being just a bit too runny. Given it has enough of a flavour to stand on it's own, the best thing I've found for it is leftover boiled rice (probably a bit much to make a whole meal out of, but with a mixed into a tablespoon or so of rice makes a very nice side). It's a versatile condiment, and I'm very sad at how fast I'm getting through it!
Final Thoughts: I really love this sauce. Given it was filler on my order, I'm really pleased at discovering it, and next to the slightly disappointing Terminator/Naga Viper, I'm really happy with it. (May even buy again, if I get the chance!) The only niggle flavour-wise is how raw the vinegar and spices taste. I noticed this about the Terminator too; both sauces leave me with the feeling that these are "home-made" small batch sauces (certainly compared with bigger labels like Blair's or Tabasco). If there were some way to take the edge off it without killing the lovely flavour, this sauce would be more or less perfect.
There is, however, one nagging problem which I really have to flag up. Upon re-reading Darth Naga's take on this excellent sauce from December 2009, I found this:
The Verdict: This is a really great, flavoursome sauce, and definitely worth the postage cost.
I mentioned in the last post about how I'm not overly fond of the overly bloke-y trend in naming chilli sauces - at some point I might get round to putting together a commentary post on the issue - and this sauce (and many of the others like it) come across as kinda cheesy. Still, it's not about the name, it's about the sauce.
It's also worth highlighting that the CPC a company that seems to principally grow many varieties of chillis (check out their awesome array of seeds and powders for sale), and has been placing more and more emphasis on producing really hot chilli sauces without using extract (a la the super-hot ranges from Dave's Gourmet, Blair Lazar and Hot Headz). Their rumoured success in breeding a super-hot variant of Naga (the so-called "Viper") will certainly help them in this endeavour. But how does the Beast weigh up?
Tasting Notes: The first thing that hits me is the sweet, spicy flavour; fruity with a strong cinammon note and a pleasant undercurrent of vinegar. It smells, basically, like a english chutney. The sauce was runnier than I was expecting (given I was expecting chutney after that lovely smell!), but the flavour really doesn't let it down. One of the key ingredients in this sauce is mango, and that really forms the sweet and sour core of the flavour. The spices are strong and pleasant too. One minor gripe is that the flavour is a little raw, but heck, it's a sauce - very few of them stand up well to necking the bottle. The chilli comes in quite late, strong and low, but stays with you.
What's it Good For: It's got a complex, spicy, chutney-ish flavour that would be completely wasted in cooking, so that's out from the start. I've used it on cheese-on-toast, but it'd be worth going for a mild cheese so that you get the most of it's flavour. I've also found it's quite nice added to a simple salad dressing to give it a bit of kick - probably best with something like a balsamic dressing that doesn't have a complex flavour of it's own. Like chutney, it's good on cooked meats and in sandwiches, but for me it suffers for being just a bit too runny. Given it has enough of a flavour to stand on it's own, the best thing I've found for it is leftover boiled rice (probably a bit much to make a whole meal out of, but with a mixed into a tablespoon or so of rice makes a very nice side). It's a versatile condiment, and I'm very sad at how fast I'm getting through it!
Final Thoughts: I really love this sauce. Given it was filler on my order, I'm really pleased at discovering it, and next to the slightly disappointing Terminator/Naga Viper, I'm really happy with it. (May even buy again, if I get the chance!) The only niggle flavour-wise is how raw the vinegar and spices taste. I noticed this about the Terminator too; both sauces leave me with the feeling that these are "home-made" small batch sauces (certainly compared with bigger labels like Blair's or Tabasco). If there were some way to take the edge off it without killing the lovely flavour, this sauce would be more or less perfect.
There is, however, one nagging problem which I really have to flag up. Upon re-reading Darth Naga's take on this excellent sauce from December 2009, I found this:
I undid the bottles cap and held it to my nose [...] Naga. Thats it, seriously! I can just smell pure naga coming from this bottle.I've been sniffing this sauce again for the last half hour, and chilli is definitely not the dominant smell coming off it. This isn't a bad thing, of course - as I've said, I love it - but it's hard to escape the fact that this seems to be a different sauce from the one that D.N. is reviewing. Also, after the stern warnings on the side of the bottle ("Extremely hot... Use where extreme heat and flavour are required" "BEWARE!! Once eaten this will hurt") I have to say I was disappointed by how mild this sauce was. This sauce is probably comparable in heat to Tabasco. At first I thought it might be because I was tasting it straight after this, but subsequent tastings have disabused me of that notion - my bottle of this sauce is just not that hot, despite boasting that it contains "13 fresh Naga Morich per bottle". Again, CPC is primarily a chilli farm with a sideline in making sauces with their produce: I'm not sure if this points to variation in the heat of their Naga's or batch variation between sauces, but it's worth saying that when it comes to heat, your mileage may vary. Caveat emptor and all that. But hey, if all you want is heat, this probably isn't the sauce for you anyway.
The Verdict: This is a really great, flavoursome sauce, and definitely worth the postage cost.
Wednesday, 24 November 2010
The Chilli Pepper Company Part I: The Terminator
I'd like to say that the recent hiatus has been because I was saving myself for something special, but in reality I'm just a massive pile of procrastination. Still, I've eventually succumbed to the tasty delights of an internet chilli sauce order, in the form of two lovely sauces from the Chilli Pepper Company. I confess to being a giant sucker for hype in almost everything that I go after, and after some kerfuffle on the intertubes about a strain of chilli bred specifically for hotness and dubbed the "Naga Viper". Individual peppers are being touted as the hottest on record, hitting 1.3 million scoville's (although the folks at the CPC are cautious about their claims). To put this in perspective, the hottest sauce I own (Da' Bomb's the Final Answer - review forthcoming - which is basically pure extract) only just pips it, racking up 1.5 million SHU's.
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.
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.
Tuesday, 3 August 2010
Dave's Gourmet Insanity Sauce and Ghost Pepper Sauce
I'm going to say right up front that I'm seriously not a fan of "enhanced" chilli sauces á la Dave's Gourmet, Hot Headz and the like. I'll admit that I've not tried many, but since getting a hold of them can often be tricky (I'm in mail order country for most of the fun sauces - you'll notice that a good few of these reviews are supermarket pickups!), I'm usually reluctant to give yet another variation of mediocre-sauce-with-added-capsaicin a try.
Still, a couple of weeks after starting this blog, I was excited to spot some surprising additions to the depressingly restricted "hot sauces" shelf at my local Tesco - not one, but two of Dave's Gourmet sauces (later flagged up by the ChileFoundry here). Supermarkets stocking super-hot sauces is not surprising in itself - my first experiences were with a bottle of Who Dares Burns picked up from my local Sainsbury's - but Hot Headz are a UK company and only got sporadic support; Dave's Gourmet is probably the leading American brand for this kind of sauce, and the original Insanity Sauce is frequently a top ten seller from the big UK specialists. It's interesting to speculate on what the story is behind what must be a massive export deal, how long it'll last (not long is our guess), and what effect it will have on specialist sellers. The last is particularily poignant since Tesco's are undercutting them by about 30% before postage, and may also be chomping into their supply - Scorchio are listing the Ghost Pepper sauce as "out of stock". Connection? Who knows.
Still, since I was grumping about the idea of spending a packet on mail-order sauces I was anticipating not liking at all, I thought I'd take advantage of Tesco's probably limited offer and grab both of them to review. I promise, I'll get round to reviewing something a little more exotic than the "bought from Tesco's" fare I've been on so far.
Dave's Gourmet is seen by most people to be the "original" super-hot chilli sauce, since he was apparently the first person to come up with putting capsaicin (listed as "hot pepper extract") straight into his sauce rather than cooking pepper mash, allowing it to be much hotter than it's peers. At the original Insanity Sauce's debut at the National Fiery Foods show in 1992, the "enhanced" sauce took many people by surprise, causing at least one case of fainting. Because of valid safety concerns, the organisers banned the sauce from tastings at the next years event, handing Dave's Gourmet the notorious reputation of being the only sauce ever banned from the event, which the brand has traded on ever since. Insanity Sauce effectively invented the "super-hot" category, which was rapidly filled up by similar sauces from companies like Blair's Death Sauce and UK based Hot Headz. A discussion of the super-hot category, the oleoresin capsaicin "arms race" and the debate over whether they should even be considered sauces at all is a post in itself.
It's an interesting pair I've picked up. Of course the Insanity Sauce is the original super-hot sauce, but the Ghost Pepper sauce - reinforced with the Naga Jolokia, the worlds hottest chilli as of 2007 - is one of the newest sauces from Dave's Gourmet. I'm reviewing them together because I genuinely can't face doing two Dave's Gourmet reviews twice in succession.
Tasting Notes: From the start, it's clear these two are different beasts. The Insanity sauce is a much darker, like the Hot Headz variety I'd tried previously, while the Ghost Pepper is a bit lighter, orange-y sauce. A smell confirms - the main aroma of the insanity is actually a tomato, although with touches of spice; the Ghost Pepper is definitely chilli all the way down, and has more in the way of vinegar. I'll admit, I was pleasantly surprised by the smell of both, I was expecting the smell to be a lot nastier than that. Both have a slightly thicker consistence than I was expecting - I don't have a bottle of WDB for comparison, but I remember it being a good deal runnier - these guys have the consistency of ketchup. A taste lets the Insanity sauce down, though. While it does try hard to have flavour in and of itself, it's just overwhelmed by the chemical taste of the chilli extract. Obviously it has a healthy kick to it, but it's hard to think of another term for the flavour besides "unpleasant". The Ghost Pepper scores miles better; this is a sauce that has been crafted for flavour rather than kick-your-head-in-heat. In my humble opinion it's let down somewhat by the bitterness of the extract, but that's always going to be a tradeoff with the super-hot sauces. Personally, I'd be interested to taste the same sauce without the infamous "hot pepper extract" on the ingredients list; but then, that's not really what you buy a Dave's Gourmet sauce for, is it?
What's it Good For: In the case of the Insanity Sauce, I'm sorely tempted to say "Huh, absolutely nothing". In the couple of weeks since picking it up, I've tried it in a handful of things while cooking, and frankly if you can taste the sauce itself, it's been to the detriment of the dish. Now this isn't a bad thing so to speak - it's easy enough to add a few drops to a dish with a strong flavour to pep up the heat without getting the chemical taste - but frankly, I already have a little bottle of this for that, and I really struggle to see why I'd need something that tastes just as vile, but isn't as hot. Also, the consistency is just a little bit wrong for this usage - it's just too thick to add a small amount. It's about the right consistency to add a few splotches on some cheese-on-toast, if you were enough of a heat-junkie that you didn't mind that your cheese-on-toast tasted like it was topped with used engine oil. As for the Ghost Pepper - well, despite my prejudices, I'm actually quite impressed with this one. The flavour is more natural (although with a big spike of unnatural-tasting bitter extract), so I could just about see it topping something like a pizza or cheese-on-toast; and the flavour is almost strong enough to compete as a topping-sauce for soup or pasta or something. Tipping it into a sauce while cooking would be a bit of a waste, since you'd lose the subtlety of the flavour, and it doesn't quite have the strength to stand up like some other super-hot sauces. It's well worth the extra couple of pounds, so if it's a choice between one or the other it's a no brainer - and don't be put off giving it a try if you plumped for the Insanity Sauce last time.
Final Thoughts: Insanity Sauce: it's not the worst in it's class, but I really don't see why this is so popular when there are so many better sauces out there. I'm already wondering if there's someone I can palm it off on who'd appreciate it more than me. Ghost Pepper: This is more like what a super-hot sauce should be, about the right balance of flavour and heat for it's class. That said, I probably wouldn't buy it again, 'cos I prefer food not to taste like tear gas, however slightly. If you're a chilephile like me, it's worth a shot while it's cheap in Tesco's though.
The Verdict: Have a try, but probably only once.
Still, a couple of weeks after starting this blog, I was excited to spot some surprising additions to the depressingly restricted "hot sauces" shelf at my local Tesco - not one, but two of Dave's Gourmet sauces (later flagged up by the ChileFoundry here). Supermarkets stocking super-hot sauces is not surprising in itself - my first experiences were with a bottle of Who Dares Burns picked up from my local Sainsbury's - but Hot Headz are a UK company and only got sporadic support; Dave's Gourmet is probably the leading American brand for this kind of sauce, and the original Insanity Sauce is frequently a top ten seller from the big UK specialists. It's interesting to speculate on what the story is behind what must be a massive export deal, how long it'll last (not long is our guess), and what effect it will have on specialist sellers. The last is particularily poignant since Tesco's are undercutting them by about 30% before postage, and may also be chomping into their supply - Scorchio are listing the Ghost Pepper sauce as "out of stock". Connection? Who knows.
Still, since I was grumping about the idea of spending a packet on mail-order sauces I was anticipating not liking at all, I thought I'd take advantage of Tesco's probably limited offer and grab both of them to review. I promise, I'll get round to reviewing something a little more exotic than the "bought from Tesco's" fare I've been on so far.
Dave's Gourmet is seen by most people to be the "original" super-hot chilli sauce, since he was apparently the first person to come up with putting capsaicin (listed as "hot pepper extract") straight into his sauce rather than cooking pepper mash, allowing it to be much hotter than it's peers. At the original Insanity Sauce's debut at the National Fiery Foods show in 1992, the "enhanced" sauce took many people by surprise, causing at least one case of fainting. Because of valid safety concerns, the organisers banned the sauce from tastings at the next years event, handing Dave's Gourmet the notorious reputation of being the only sauce ever banned from the event, which the brand has traded on ever since. Insanity Sauce effectively invented the "super-hot" category, which was rapidly filled up by similar sauces from companies like Blair's Death Sauce and UK based Hot Headz. A discussion of the super-hot category, the oleoresin capsaicin "arms race" and the debate over whether they should even be considered sauces at all is a post in itself.
It's an interesting pair I've picked up. Of course the Insanity Sauce is the original super-hot sauce, but the Ghost Pepper sauce - reinforced with the Naga Jolokia, the worlds hottest chilli as of 2007 - is one of the newest sauces from Dave's Gourmet. I'm reviewing them together because I genuinely can't face doing two Dave's Gourmet reviews twice in succession.
Tasting Notes: From the start, it's clear these two are different beasts. The Insanity sauce is a much darker, like the Hot Headz variety I'd tried previously, while the Ghost Pepper is a bit lighter, orange-y sauce. A smell confirms - the main aroma of the insanity is actually a tomato, although with touches of spice; the Ghost Pepper is definitely chilli all the way down, and has more in the way of vinegar. I'll admit, I was pleasantly surprised by the smell of both, I was expecting the smell to be a lot nastier than that. Both have a slightly thicker consistence than I was expecting - I don't have a bottle of WDB for comparison, but I remember it being a good deal runnier - these guys have the consistency of ketchup. A taste lets the Insanity sauce down, though. While it does try hard to have flavour in and of itself, it's just overwhelmed by the chemical taste of the chilli extract. Obviously it has a healthy kick to it, but it's hard to think of another term for the flavour besides "unpleasant". The Ghost Pepper scores miles better; this is a sauce that has been crafted for flavour rather than kick-your-head-in-heat. In my humble opinion it's let down somewhat by the bitterness of the extract, but that's always going to be a tradeoff with the super-hot sauces. Personally, I'd be interested to taste the same sauce without the infamous "hot pepper extract" on the ingredients list; but then, that's not really what you buy a Dave's Gourmet sauce for, is it?
What's it Good For: In the case of the Insanity Sauce, I'm sorely tempted to say "Huh, absolutely nothing". In the couple of weeks since picking it up, I've tried it in a handful of things while cooking, and frankly if you can taste the sauce itself, it's been to the detriment of the dish. Now this isn't a bad thing so to speak - it's easy enough to add a few drops to a dish with a strong flavour to pep up the heat without getting the chemical taste - but frankly, I already have a little bottle of this for that, and I really struggle to see why I'd need something that tastes just as vile, but isn't as hot. Also, the consistency is just a little bit wrong for this usage - it's just too thick to add a small amount. It's about the right consistency to add a few splotches on some cheese-on-toast, if you were enough of a heat-junkie that you didn't mind that your cheese-on-toast tasted like it was topped with used engine oil. As for the Ghost Pepper - well, despite my prejudices, I'm actually quite impressed with this one. The flavour is more natural (although with a big spike of unnatural-tasting bitter extract), so I could just about see it topping something like a pizza or cheese-on-toast; and the flavour is almost strong enough to compete as a topping-sauce for soup or pasta or something. Tipping it into a sauce while cooking would be a bit of a waste, since you'd lose the subtlety of the flavour, and it doesn't quite have the strength to stand up like some other super-hot sauces. It's well worth the extra couple of pounds, so if it's a choice between one or the other it's a no brainer - and don't be put off giving it a try if you plumped for the Insanity Sauce last time.
Final Thoughts: Insanity Sauce: it's not the worst in it's class, but I really don't see why this is so popular when there are so many better sauces out there. I'm already wondering if there's someone I can palm it off on who'd appreciate it more than me. Ghost Pepper: This is more like what a super-hot sauce should be, about the right balance of flavour and heat for it's class. That said, I probably wouldn't buy it again, 'cos I prefer food not to taste like tear gas, however slightly. If you're a chilephile like me, it's worth a shot while it's cheap in Tesco's though.
The Verdict: Have a try, but probably only once.
Monday, 19 July 2010
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...
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...
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
Encona Hot Pepper Sauce
After kicking off with a disappointing show by Dilita, I thought I'd compensate with one of my long-time favourites: Encona. Apparently the full title of this little number is "Encona West Indian Original Hot Pepper Sauce", but it'll always be "Encona" to me. While I'm pleased to say that it's been gaining popularity (along with other "world cuisine" brands) in recent years, Encona has a long pedigree in the Afro-Caribbean community, with it's maker Enco going back to the 1930's. Enco's recent expansion has probably been driven by it's 2007 takeover by a larger Caribbean food company Grace; the takeover was marked by a rebranding of Encona and an expansion of their sauce range.
Encona was my first taste of the super-hot Capsicum chinense chillies (made with Scotch bonnets and Habaneros) and I'd be surprised if I've spent more than a few weeks without a bottle in my kitchen ever since. Also, being the first chilli sauce I really took a liking to, I do slightly regard this as the benchmark by which other sauces should be judged - Darth Naga at the ChileFoundry is a little less impressed. Also, this is definitely an "old fashioned" chilli sauce that was presumably intended to be a replacement for C. chinenese for those who couldn't get a hold of it, rather than a sauce in it's own right. So in many ways, it's kind of fighting different battles to "modern" hot pepper sauce, like comparing cooking chocolate to Dairy Milk. So with that in mind, here's my thoughts.
Tasting Notes: The sauce is bright orange, and has a strong rich smell that's dominated by the chillies, although there's a strong acid bite to it. The spices are definitely there, it's salty and a bit sharp, but they really compliment the Scotch bonnet's characteristic flavour rather than adding to it. To some extent that's all there is to this sauce: chillies with preservatives like salt and vinegar, so it probably loses on complexity. It has plenty of texture to it, with lots of chilli mash in there - although this is a downside if you buy the squeezy bottle, as it frequently jams the rubber nozzle - there's a knack to getting the amount you want, but be careful when you first use it, or you could end up with your food drenched in it. And you do want to be careful, because it's hot; but unlike other sauces in this heat range, it doesn't compromise on flavour - the rich flavour of the chillies is foremost.
What it's Good For: Would it be trite to say "everything"? Seriously, this is a staple in my kitchen for a reason: it's incredibly versatile. It works well as a table sauce, and can stand up to strong flavours - I find it's great with ketchup on bacon sandwiches. It's also hot enough to use in cooking without getting lost, and gives that lovely habanero flavour to sauces. I've been known to mix it with sour cream to tone down the heat, just to get that lovely chilli taste - and you know you've found a good sauce when you can take the heat out and it's still nice. That said, it has a bit of an acid bite that make it a little unpalatable on it's own, so I do tend to have it in combination with other stuff, unlike more inventive sauces that could stand better on their own.
Final Thoughts: Hot, tasty, versatile, readily available. If you haven't tried it, give it a shot - you might just find you keep a bottle in your kitchen cupboard too. On the downside, though, it really is a bit of a one trick pony: there's not a great deal of artifice here except letting the peppers shine. If this was the only bottle in your kitchen cupboard, it'd be a pretty boring collection, so be prepared to mix it with other stuff to get the best out of it. Still, it is a damn good trick.
The Verdict: My essential chilli sauce.
As mentioned, Encona do have a broad range of other sauces, but on the whole I've found them disappointing and unmemorable compared to the "original". At some point I might get round to doing the others, but don't hold your breath.
Encona was my first taste of the super-hot Capsicum chinense chillies (made with Scotch bonnets and Habaneros) and I'd be surprised if I've spent more than a few weeks without a bottle in my kitchen ever since. Also, being the first chilli sauce I really took a liking to, I do slightly regard this as the benchmark by which other sauces should be judged - Darth Naga at the ChileFoundry is a little less impressed. Also, this is definitely an "old fashioned" chilli sauce that was presumably intended to be a replacement for C. chinenese for those who couldn't get a hold of it, rather than a sauce in it's own right. So in many ways, it's kind of fighting different battles to "modern" hot pepper sauce, like comparing cooking chocolate to Dairy Milk. So with that in mind, here's my thoughts.
Tasting Notes: The sauce is bright orange, and has a strong rich smell that's dominated by the chillies, although there's a strong acid bite to it. The spices are definitely there, it's salty and a bit sharp, but they really compliment the Scotch bonnet's characteristic flavour rather than adding to it. To some extent that's all there is to this sauce: chillies with preservatives like salt and vinegar, so it probably loses on complexity. It has plenty of texture to it, with lots of chilli mash in there - although this is a downside if you buy the squeezy bottle, as it frequently jams the rubber nozzle - there's a knack to getting the amount you want, but be careful when you first use it, or you could end up with your food drenched in it. And you do want to be careful, because it's hot; but unlike other sauces in this heat range, it doesn't compromise on flavour - the rich flavour of the chillies is foremost.
What it's Good For: Would it be trite to say "everything"? Seriously, this is a staple in my kitchen for a reason: it's incredibly versatile. It works well as a table sauce, and can stand up to strong flavours - I find it's great with ketchup on bacon sandwiches. It's also hot enough to use in cooking without getting lost, and gives that lovely habanero flavour to sauces. I've been known to mix it with sour cream to tone down the heat, just to get that lovely chilli taste - and you know you've found a good sauce when you can take the heat out and it's still nice. That said, it has a bit of an acid bite that make it a little unpalatable on it's own, so I do tend to have it in combination with other stuff, unlike more inventive sauces that could stand better on their own.
Final Thoughts: Hot, tasty, versatile, readily available. If you haven't tried it, give it a shot - you might just find you keep a bottle in your kitchen cupboard too. On the downside, though, it really is a bit of a one trick pony: there's not a great deal of artifice here except letting the peppers shine. If this was the only bottle in your kitchen cupboard, it'd be a pretty boring collection, so be prepared to mix it with other stuff to get the best out of it. Still, it is a damn good trick.
The Verdict: My essential chilli sauce.
As mentioned, Encona do have a broad range of other sauces, but on the whole I've found them disappointing and unmemorable compared to the "original". At some point I might get round to doing the others, but don't hold your breath.
Monday, 12 July 2010
Dilita Afrikana Peri-Peri Hot Sauce
Visiting Tesco's recently, I came across a brand of peri-peri sauce that I hadn't spotted before, and immediately made a grab for it to see what it was like. I'm fond of african-style chilli sauces (thanks mainly to Nando's, a UK chain of afro-portuguese restaurants built around a their peri-peri sauces, but also the delicious Mama Africa's sauces and a few others), so this newcomer had a lot to live up to.
While not a brand name I've particularily heard of before, Birmingham-based Dilita have apparently been around for a while. Reading between the lines of their website, they appear to be an Indian food manufacturer who are diversifying their sauces.
Tasting Notes: So is it any good? Well, right off the bat this sauce hits you, not with the dark heat of chilli, but with a raw kick of citrus. Now this is no bad thing in itself - lemon is a key ingredient in peri peri sauces, and I wouldn't take it away for the world - but in this sauce it comes off as smelling slightly acrid and artificial. Tasting it reveals another disappointment; instead of the fruity bite of fresh lemon, we get a bitter taste, as if it used only the rind. While all the peri-peri flavours are there (although biased heavily towards lemon) it's unbalanced, slightly unappetising, and overall, bitter. The texture is mostly smooth, but very oily - it splits really easily, so give it a shake before using - but it has the odd bit of chilli mash and seed for texture. The skin is a little annoying - it doesn't seem to have much flesh attached to it and just sticks to your throat; it'd probably be slightly nicer if it was properly homogenised. For heat it's passable, although it's probably mid-range for this type of sauce - the hot end of both Mama Africa's and Zulu zulu - heck, even Nando's - would kick the crap out of this one, and taste a damn sight better to boot.
What it's Good For: Difficult to say. Usually peri-peri sauce is great on grilled cheese, or as a thick condiment, but the acrid flavour is a little offputting. I find myself adding it to sauces to try and hide the failings of it's flavour. It's passable as long as it's playing into the flavour of the dish, but really, if you can taste more than a hint of it, it's too much. And what's the point in that?
Final Thoughts: Really, what this reminds me of is lime pickle, with the citrus turned up to eleven, and the spices adjusted to make it a bit more african-y. Which is odd, because I like lime pickle - bitter and sharp and oily - but this sauce manages not to be nice like lime pickle or nice like peri-peri. And it is definitely possible to do indian fusion (I promise, I'll review some of the lovely sauces from Mr Vikki's at some point) - but this is not it.
The Verdict: Give it a miss, really. There are better sauces out there.
Still, worth dismissing Dilita altogether? Not so fast. I've found at least one positive mention of their sauces on the magical intarwebs - a Green Habanero Sauce - perhaps they'll fare better when they're not trying to ram as much lemon peel into their sauce in an attempt to make it "african"? Well, we'll see - while I don't think I'll be trying any of their range with "peri peri" in the title (of which there are four), if I spot the others I'll probably give them a try.
While not a brand name I've particularily heard of before, Birmingham-based Dilita have apparently been around for a while. Reading between the lines of their website, they appear to be an Indian food manufacturer who are diversifying their sauces.
Tasting Notes: So is it any good? Well, right off the bat this sauce hits you, not with the dark heat of chilli, but with a raw kick of citrus. Now this is no bad thing in itself - lemon is a key ingredient in peri peri sauces, and I wouldn't take it away for the world - but in this sauce it comes off as smelling slightly acrid and artificial. Tasting it reveals another disappointment; instead of the fruity bite of fresh lemon, we get a bitter taste, as if it used only the rind. While all the peri-peri flavours are there (although biased heavily towards lemon) it's unbalanced, slightly unappetising, and overall, bitter. The texture is mostly smooth, but very oily - it splits really easily, so give it a shake before using - but it has the odd bit of chilli mash and seed for texture. The skin is a little annoying - it doesn't seem to have much flesh attached to it and just sticks to your throat; it'd probably be slightly nicer if it was properly homogenised. For heat it's passable, although it's probably mid-range for this type of sauce - the hot end of both Mama Africa's and Zulu zulu - heck, even Nando's - would kick the crap out of this one, and taste a damn sight better to boot.
What it's Good For: Difficult to say. Usually peri-peri sauce is great on grilled cheese, or as a thick condiment, but the acrid flavour is a little offputting. I find myself adding it to sauces to try and hide the failings of it's flavour. It's passable as long as it's playing into the flavour of the dish, but really, if you can taste more than a hint of it, it's too much. And what's the point in that?
Final Thoughts: Really, what this reminds me of is lime pickle, with the citrus turned up to eleven, and the spices adjusted to make it a bit more african-y. Which is odd, because I like lime pickle - bitter and sharp and oily - but this sauce manages not to be nice like lime pickle or nice like peri-peri. And it is definitely possible to do indian fusion (I promise, I'll review some of the lovely sauces from Mr Vikki's at some point) - but this is not it.
The Verdict: Give it a miss, really. There are better sauces out there.
Still, worth dismissing Dilita altogether? Not so fast. I've found at least one positive mention of their sauces on the magical intarwebs - a Green Habanero Sauce - perhaps they'll fare better when they're not trying to ram as much lemon peel into their sauce in an attempt to make it "african"? Well, we'll see - while I don't think I'll be trying any of their range with "peri peri" in the title (of which there are four), if I spot the others I'll probably give them a try.
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