Hot Sauces in Louisiana

by: Wesley

People often think of the Tabasco brand when talking about “Louisiana style” hot sauces. Tabasco’s popular blend of cayenne pepper (a type of red chili), vinegar, and salt is appreciated worldwide, has a tradition dating back over almost 150 years. Tabasco is privately owned by the McIlhenny family, in New Iberia. While Tabasco may be the most famous Louisiana-produced hot sauce, there are other popular producers of cayenne based hot sauces in Louisiana, notably Crystal hot sauce by Baumer Foods in New Orleans, Louisiana Gold by Bruce Foods in New Iberia, and Trappey’s Hot Sauce formerly of Trappey’s Fine Foods in New Iberia, but now of B&G Foods - imported from Columbia.

As tasty and traditional as “Louisiana style” hot sauces are, the vinegary flavor often found in them doesn’t mesh well with many dishes, and the salt content is usually very high. So what options do we have? There are a wealth of delicious choices, some milder, but most much hotter than what we might normally reach for in the pantry. Tabasco even has sauces featuring jalapeño peppers, habanero peppers, and chipotle peppers, and these sauces provide a radical taste departure from the Tabasco, and compliment different dishes than the traditional cayenne sauces. Now, let’s say we move just a little outside of Louisiana - Texas, Mexico, and Belize produce delicious sauces, and precious few of them feature cayenne as the main flavor element. Cholula hot sauce from Mexico is flavored with piquin peppers and chili arbol. Melinda’s hot sauce, based in Irving, Texas, and Marie Sharp’s, out of Belize, feature habanero peppers as the main pepper in their sauces. Instead of using vinegar like “Louisiana style” sauces, these habanero sauces use lime or carrot juice, along with garlic and other spices, to flesh out the sauce.

So there is more to hot sauce than cayenne, vinegar, and salt, but what’s the point? Well, there are other peppers out there, besides the ones commonly found in North America, like the naga jolokia (AKA the “Ghost Chili” or “King Cobra Chile”), an Indian, Scoville scale breaking, pain inducing red demon, but it’s reserved for the foolish or very brave. A naga jolokia based sauce isn’t going to be poured on your pizza anytime soon. The Scotch bonnet, on the other hand, is a variety of habanero that’s a staple in Jamaican cuisine, and is very popular in the US.

Maybe I’m jaded, or maybe I’ve just abused my tongue for too long, but I no longer get a rise out of the traditional “Louisiana style” hot sauces. They can provide a hint of heat, but to get enough to make an impression; I’ve poured too much vinegar and salt onto my food. Habanero sauces are nice, in that there is much more heat per drop, plenty of flavor, and a lot less vinegar (if any at all). If you find that you are in the same boat as me, disappointed in the salty red stuff, do you self a flavor favor and pick up a bottle of something new.

The best selection of hot sauces that I’ve found is the Beef Jerky Outlet across from the Bass Pro in Denham Springs, LA. They have a great selection of serious and novelty sauces, along with their dried meat products. They have a cute gimmick featuring “The Source” extract (absolutely NOT a sauce), daring you to taste a drop. Do yourself a favor, and don’t do it. It might impress your other coon-ass/redneck/frat-boy friends, but to me it’s as impressive as volunteering for a swift kick in the scrotum. Their website features clips of the daring tempting fate with “The Source.” Stick to their sauces and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the amazing variety available.

Sauces Mentioned in the Article:

http://www.tabasco.com/main.cfm

http://www.baumerfoods.com/

http://www.lagoldhotsauce.com/

http://www.bgfoods.com/brand_trappeys.asp

http://www.cholula.com/

http://www.melindas.com/

http://www.mariesharps.us

The Jerky Outlet in Denham Springs

http://www.dojerky.com/