Showing posts with label Habañero. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Habañero. Show all posts


Inspired by this video in which a young lad ate a hot pepper and then proceeded to panic and seize to the point of rubbing habañero-tinged saliva all over his own face, my wife decided to photograph me eating a fresh, raw habañero pepper.  This was way back in 2007, apparently during an era when it was impossible to photograph me at home with a shirt on.

This photo was the result:

I intelligently prepared a paper towel with which to rub habañero saliva into my eyes.
She was actually quite disappointed with the results.  At this point in time, I was by no means a super-powered capsaicin warrior, but I was clearly already habituated enough to eating hot, spicy foods to not have a full-on meltdown at the heat level of this pepper.  The pepper was very hot, for sure.  And I was clearly suffering.  In the photo, my face is noticeably red and I'm sweaty and panting.  But her desire to see me absolutely lose my shit was clearly thwarted.  I didn't scream.  I didn't roll around on the floor.  I didn't run in circles with cartoon smoke coming out of my ears.  I barely drooled.

She told me, "I needed you to shit blood out your eyes."

My verdict:  Habañero challenge passed!

Her verdict:  Habañero challenge failed!
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I can't keep this sauce on my shelf.  I go through it so fast.  The savory, lightly smoky flavor and really excellent heat-per-dollar ratio make it a no-brainer favorite.  I put a little bit too much of it on pretty much everything.  And I can get it for under two bucks at just about any grocery store near me.

It's distinctly hotter than the other El Yucateco offerings, but not so hot that I ever hesitate to reach for it.  And the flavor is just miles above the brand's other variations.
A closeup to show off the beautiful texture - the ingredients don't list any food coloring.

I tried it for the first time just a few months ago and I've gone through several bottles.  I wish it came in a big-ass bottle like Sriracha does.  I'd sleep with it next to me.

Cheap.  Delicious.  Hot.  Favorite.

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As an early Xmas gift, my wife and I received a really nice bundle of three Pain Is Good hot sauces from a friend (thanks, Jennifer!).  One was an old favorite, one was a sauce I'd tried before and didn't hate and the third was new to me and has now become a solid favorite.

I was introduced to this brand years ago at a Ross (Dress for Less!) of all places.  They usually have a tiny aisle full of weird "discounted" kitchen gadgets and such and the next aisle over is usually stocked with odds and ends of snacks and stuff like cocoa mixes, weird cookies and occasionally random hot sauces.  I was probably drawn to the sauces by the eye-catching label art, featuring various faces contorted in hot sauce-induced agony (ecstasy?).  But their respectable heat and good attention to flavor kept me coming back for more.


Pain Is Good Batch #37 Garlic Style Hot Sauce
This is one I'd had before and liked it well enough, but not enough to buy it over and over again.  It has decent heat and a very sharp flavor.  Not quite in that hated Tabasco range of vinegary garbage flavor, but enough to overpower the garlic just enough.  But a little on some potatoes or on pasta or in a soup is fine if you're in the mood for a more piquant flavor and some heat.  It's not my favorite, but I'm not kicking it out of my food-bed.


Pain Is Good Batch #114 Jamaican Style Hot Sauce
This one's definitely an old favorite.  I think this is the first one I ever bought from this brand and I've purchased it several times since.  It was my introduction to habañero-based sauces as well as to jerk spices in general.  I really like the flavor on this one.  It's sweet from the pineapple juice and the jerk spices give it an exotic kick.  I liberally use it on foods with existing flavor profiles that are probably not appropriate for the addition of jerk seasoning because I'm a goddamn savage.  Italian pasta?  Yep.  Now it's Jamaican jerk Italian marinara, motherfucker!  Chinese fried rice?  Yeah!  Welcome to Jamaica!  On a side note, Pain Is Good also makes a Jamaican Pineapple Salsa that's milder, but has the same flavor profile as the Batch #114 sauce.  It's really, really good.  I actually avoid getting it because we go through it too fast to justify the price tag.


Pain Is Good Habañero Pepper Sauce
I'd never tried this particular one before and it's such a new favorite that the bottle's already almost empty.  When I first got it, I swabbed some on my finger and tasted it and immediately let out the longest "Mmmmmm".  (This, by the way, is my usual method odf first tasting any hot sauce.)  It's mustard-based and tastes like a delicious barbecue sauce with a really nice level of habañero heat.  It's savory and smoky and tangy.  I'm still a savage, so I also throw it on pasta and soup and such, but because of the mustard and barbecue aspects, it's really perfect for slathering on burgers and sandwiches.  I'm definitely a fan of this one and need to pick up some more soon.  My bottle's woefully close to empty.

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Lest you think I only ever give hot sauces good reviews, here's one I do not particularly enjoy.

El Yucateco Black Label Reserve (or Black Label Reverse, as their website currently says) is what I think of as a gimmick sauce.  The company describes it as a "dark, smoky habañero sauce" which is absolutely accurate.  Upon opening it, you get blasted in the face with the burnt, smoky smell.  And the flavor follows right along.
Industrial byproduct or hot sauce?
After our usual finger-swish test, my wife declared, "This tastes and smells like a tire fire."

It's really too much.  There are just not many foods I not only want to make spicy, but also want to add "I accidentally burned this" flavoring to.  The sole context I've found in which is doesn't immediately make my food seem inedible is dribbling a little bit onto some steak.  The excessively smoky flavor at least evoked meat cooked over a fire.  But even then, I felt like I was unfairly fucking with the flavor of some really nice tri-tip.  The heat was perfectly respectable and the smokiness was almost convincing when paired with the beef, but I still couldn't bring myself to use more than a few drops on one little corner of my food before resuming enjoying the rest with some Kutbil-Ik instead.

So unless you really, really want to impress your friends with a weird jet-black sauce that smells like the company just figured out a sexy-sounding way to get rid of their burnt habañeros, I say give this one a pass.

The good:  Same low price as other El Yucateco sauces locally, habañero heat is as promised.

The bad:  Horrible flavor that comes after all other flavors with a blowtorch and burns off their heads in front of their families.
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Due to the taxing rigors of modern life, I often find myself flat broke.  But despite my empty wallet, I still crave delicious, delicious heat.  Some of the best, most delicious hot sauces have price tags that are not always justifiable when it comes to making a choice between doing laundry that week or feeling my mouth burn after I eat some mac and cheese.  So I'm always on the lookout for hot sauces that combine good flavor and decent heat for not much money.

I picked up a bottle of Mexico Lindo Salsa Habañero Roja at a local El Super* for just over a dollar.  It comes in a little plastic squeeze bottle and claims high heat.

 And it turns out it has a very good heat-to-cost ratio.  For a dollar, it really delivers on the heat. 

Its flavor is definitely heavy on the vinegar tang, but not in a musty barrel-aged Tabasco way.  It basically tastes like the standard green hot sauce flavor that you'd squirt on a taco, but with a really respectable habañero heat level.  Sort of like a much hotter version of El Pato's Jalapeño hot sauce, but maybe not quite as tasty.  Similar, though.

And use it on tacos I have.  I've also used it happily in soups, on eggs, on pizza, on pastas and in burritos.  Basically anywhere you like a green taco sauce-style sauce, but want some to turn up the excellent spicy heat.

My bottle of this sauce is almost completely empty.  Will buy again.  A definite no-brainer for the price.

*El Super is a chain of grocery stores in the Southwestern U.S. for those in other parts of the country.
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