I love barbecue. And BBQ. And Bar-B-Que. And however else you want to spell it. In fact, I love BBQ sauce almost as much as I love hot sauce. I’ll take any chance I get to combine the two. And this bottle of A Woman’s Scorn BBQ Sauce seems like a great opportunity.

Ingredients: Chocolate habanero puree (water, chocolate habanero peppers), tomato sauce (water, tomato paste, salt, high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, garlic powder, spices), brown sugar (sugar, molasses), honey, vinegar, molasses, spices and coloring, Worcestershire sauce (vinegar, molasses, high fructose corn syrup, anchovies, water, onion, salt, garlic, tamarind extract, cloves, natural flavorings, chili pepper extract, hydrolyzed soy and corn protein) , soy sauce (water, wheat, soybeans, salt, sodium benzoate: less then 1/10 of 1% as a preservative), liquid smoke(water, natural hickory smoke concentrate), salt, granulated garlic, lime juice (water, lime concentrate), and lemon juice (water, lemon concentrate).

That’s one heck of a list, but I don’t worry too much about ingredients. If something tastes good, then it tastes good. Why ruin the fun? I see chocolate habs as the first ingredient, and in my book that’s a great sign. Tasting the sauce straight out of the bottle was an experience. I gulped down a heaping spoonful and got a little more than I bargained for! This stuff isn’t kidding around! Rather than a BBQ sauce with some heat mixed in, A Woman’s Scorn is more like heat with some BBQ on the side! On the HSB scale this is an easy 8, maybe even higher depending on your tolerance.

I grilled some thick-cut hunks of pork over indirect heat, basting with the sauce for the last 10 minutes or so. The meat came off the grill hot, juicy, and looking oh-so delicious. I poured some extra BBQ on my plate and dug in. The first few bites were like grilled morsels from heaven. The sauce is sweet, with a bold flavor that you’re not going to miss. I tasted three dominate flavors: habaneros, brown sugar, and Worcestershire (in that order). But by the third bite, the heat kicked in. After that the morsels seemed more like scraps from hell. A Woman’s Scorn indeed! After a few more bites I was reaching for my drink, my eyes and nose a-waterin’. It was hot, but it tasted great.

The flavor, while I could still enjoy it, was amazing. A Woman’s Scorn is sweet, with a hint of smoke and that great habanero flavor. But I like to slather my food in BBQ sauce, and I just can’t do that with this one. So I’m torn. It’s a love-hate relationship: I love the taste and want more, but if I eat as much as I usually would I think my face will melt off. So, in conclusion, this is one amazingly good BBQ sauce with a very appropriate name!

Rick’s Test Kitchen
1415 South 11th Street
Lincoln, NE 68502-2203
402.742.6818
www.rickstestkitchen.com

Ingredients: water, brown sugar (sugar, molasses), habanero mash (water, habanero peppers), vinegar, honey, spices, salt.

When I first saw the bottle of Ami from Rick’s Test Kitchen, I knew I was going to try it on Indian food. The combination of the font and the label’s background just scream vindaloo or curry to me. I hope that was the intent. If it was, then I’d rate this packaging fairly high. The bottle is simple, but its unique shape (I have the 2oz sampler, but I’ve seen the bigger bottle) makes it stand out from the other, standard bottles. Of course, if the consumer isn’t supposed to be reminded of Indian cuisine, then obviously the label misses the mark. I have no idea what Ami means, nor is there any indication on the label. Kind of disappointing, but that’s a minor issue. On a side note, I’m not so sure I like the name Rick’s Test Kitchen. It sounds scary, like a lab. Is this an experiment I’m getting ready to eat?

The ingredients include honey, a fact that’s pretty obvious when looking at the appearance of the sauce. Moving the bottle, the sauce sticks to the sides in a very viscous, honey-like manner. Between that and the brown sugar, this should be a sweet sauce. Ami flows easily, but the honey keeps it from being too runny. It’s on the edge of being too thin for my tastes, but manages to stick to my food well enough. Small flecks are evident in the sauce, but nothing I can immediately recognize. The color is a pleasing shade of brown. It even looks like it should be sweet.

Using a can of off-the-shelf vindaloo sauce, some cubed chicken breast, and some hot rice I had a delicious and easy plate of vindaloo. The vindaloo sauce is sweet, and even has a bit of kick on its own. Not enough though. Never enough. So I doused my plate with Ami, using nearly half of the bottle. Vindaloo has a fairly strong flavor by itself, but the Ami refused to be overshadowed. Ami was every bit as sweet as I had expected. It has a very full-bodied, robust flavor. Most of the sweet sauces I’ve tried tend to pack all their flavor into the first taste, but then they weaken and typically rely on their heat for an aftertaste. This is not the case with Ami. It’s flavor hits strong and then stays just as long as the sauce’s bite. I’m guessing this is a result of the honey.

Between the vindaloo and the Ami, I had a nice burn going by then end of my dinner. My nose had even begin to run, although just barely. Tasting Ami on it’s own, without the extra vindaloo sauce, I’d rate it a solid 5 on the HSB heat scale. A pleasant, sweet burn with a delicious aftertaste.

A few days later, I easily finished the bottle off on a plate of coconut curry. It was another winning combination. After the meal, I realized I had made a mistake by not trying the sauce on anything but Indian-style dishes. I can’t imagine Ami going as well with anything else, but I also can’t really say for sure without trying it. It might actually make a pretty good burger sauce, who knows? On the other hand, the fact that I was in such a hurry to have more of the sauce says something about it’s flavor. No matter it’s versatility, it tastes darn good. In other words, I am going to keep my eye out for a bigger bottle of Ami. I’ve found my new default sauce for Indian meals, and would love to try it on some other foods.

Rick’s Test Kitchen
1415 South 11th Street
Lincoln, NE 68502
www.rickstestkitchen.com

“The Hot is real. The Doc is real. Hot Doc’s is prepared by a PhD Psychologist. It’ll mess with your mind! Known to make grown men cry.”

Ingredients: hot peppers (mostly, habaneros), spices, tomato paste, onions, garlic, vinegar, sodium, lemon juice.

Hot Doc’s Hot Sauce comes packaged in a standard-looking 8oz Ball canning jar. The label is simple and looks like it was printed on a home inkjet printer. Very unimpressive, but everyone starts somewhere, right? I’ll admit, my gut reaction when first seeing this jar was far from positive, but I also know that one can’t judge a sauce by its packaging. Without opening the jar I could tell how thick Hot Doc’s was. I turned the jar upside down and watched the sauce slowly creep towards the lid.

Macaroni and cheese always needs hot sauce. Always. So I figured why not give Hot Doc’s a try? I cracked open the jar (making quite a mess in the process) and took a deep breath. It smelled like… peppers. Habaneros, to be more specific. I really couldn’t smell anything but the habaneros. Is that good or bad? I asked myself. I love habaneros, so I guess I’ll mark that as a positive even though this is supposed to be a sauce, not a puree or mash. Visually, all of the ingredients make an appearance. There’s obvious chunks and bits of onion and garlic, along with piece and seeds from the peppers. Hot Doc’s Hot Sauce smells like peppers and looks pretty good, although it’s a bit thick for my tastes.

I dropped a heaping spoonful of the uber-thick concoction on my mac and cheese and dug in. It quickly overpowered the food. The flavor was bitter and salty. While the texture looked good in the jar, it didn’t work so well in my mouth. The consistency falls somewhere between a finely-chopped pico de gallo and a relish. It’s not wet enough to be a sauce, and not dry enough to be pico de gallo. It’s not sweet like a relish and it’s way to bitter to be eaten straight like a salsa. I wondered if I just had too much at once. I spread the spoonful around my plate, mixing it in with the macaroni as well as possible. This cut down on the bitterness some, but the flavor was still far from pleasant.

One thing Hot Doc’s does right is the heat. I rank it a solid 7 on the HSB scale. By the end of lunch my nose was running and I was ready for something to drink. But I want flavor before I want heat, and that’s where Hot Doc’s comes up short. I’m not sure what the Doc is aiming for here, but I think he’s still got some work ahead of him. This might be a good base to start with when making a hot sauce, but it’s not complete. It’s too bitter, a little on the salty side, and the consistency didn’t work for me. I feel like I would need to add ingredients to the sauce (rather than add the sauce to my meals) to make it good. Hot Doc’s didn’t ruin my meal, but I won’t be using it on mac and cheese again!

Hot Doc’s
175 W 500 St
Anderson, IN 46013
765.621.8894
www.hotdocs-hotsauce.com

If you’re like me, you’re wondering “What’s a Kookaburra?” Well, here’s the obligatory Wikipedia link for those interested enough to read on…

Ingredients:
Morning Afterburn - mango (43%), water, sugar, chilli (9%), salt, garlic, xantham gum (415), herbs & spices
Kookaburra Kackle - mango (51%), water, pear juice, vinegar, chilli (4%), onion, salt, mustard seed, garlic, herbs & spices

Now, this review isn’t about birds. It’s about two products from an Australian gourmet food company called The Chilli Factory. According to the labels Morning Afterburn is a “hot chilli mango sauce,” and Kookaburra Kackle is a “mild chilli mango relish.” Unfortunately, the name “Morning Afterburn” makes me think of the morning-after pill. Regardless of beliefs and political positions, that’s just not what I want to think of while eating. Other than that, the packaging is great. It’s bright and colorful, and consistent between the two products. The logo stands out, even though there is a surprising amount of text and information on the front of the label. I like the idea of adding percentages to the ingredients list, although I’m not really sure I understand them. Are they percents based on the total weight of all the ingredients before production of the sauce, or are the percentages in the final product? Or are they based on volume? And why does the xantham gum have “415″ after it? Did someone miss the shift key? Should the ‘5′ actually be a ‘%’? So I like the idea, but I’m left a little confused.

On the plate, both the sauce and the relish look appetizing. The sauce has a medium consistency. It spreads easily, but doesn’t seem to run off food with the slightest tip. Likewise, the relish was viscous enough to stay in place. Both have plenty of visible particles floating in them ranging from garlic to peppers to large chunks of mango in the relish. All in all these are two very good looking sauces.

I popped the cap on the relish first, expecting a rush of sweet mango aroma. Not so much. The onion and garlic came through loud and clear, with just a hint of mango in the background. Honestly, I was slightly disappointed. Next, I cracked open the bottle of sauce, and got a mild whiff of peppers and garlic. Neither gave me the rush of sweetness I had hoped for. In fact, there wasn’t really a rush of anything at all. The products look so delicious in their jars. If they aren’t bursting with irresistible aromas, then there must be an explosion of flavor awaiting me, right?

I spread a few spoonfuls of relish on some toast, poured some of the sauce into a small bowl, and grabbed some Tostitos. Not much of a dinner I know, but I just had an expensive weekend at the Weekend of Fire… It’s sad to say, but my disappointment continued. The lack of bouquet seemed to translate into a lack of strong flavor. I realize the relish is not a jam, even though I used it as such. I can understand why it wasn’t very sweet: it probably wasn’t intended to be. The dominant flavors were garlic and onion. Again, the mango took a back seat. The sauce was better. It was sweeter, and the mangoes mixed nicely with the peppers. The sauce didn’t share the heavy onion flavor of the relish, but the garlic was a bit strong. Personally, I prefer my sauces sweet or garlic-y, but not both.

The ingredient list doesn’t identify the peppers used, and my “chile-sense” isn’t that well-developed (yet!). The sauce didn’t seem hot enough to be habaneros, but the flavor was along those lines. The Morning Afterburn is listed as a 10/10 on the Chilli Factory’s heat scale. It’s got some bite to it, probably around a 6 or 7 in my book. I ate the hot sauce like a salsa: out of a bowl with tortilla chips. After a handful of chips, the burn started to build and stuck around for a few minutes. Not bad at all. The relish is rated as a 1/1, and that’s about right. It’s not meant to be spicy, and it certainly isn’t. The onions in the relish offer more bite than the peppers. Come to think of it, with no heat and no flavor from the peppers, I wonder why they are even there?

Wrapping this up: I’m not too impressed. Both Chilli Factory products look amazing (aside from that pesky name that I just can’t get by). The packaging and the sauces themselves appear top-notch. I could easily see myself picking either of these up off a store shelf, especially the hot sauce. But the flavor simply isn’t there to back it up. The sauce was sweeter, and would likely be good on some grilled chicken breasts, but the relish tasted like little more than onions and garlic. So, would I buy them once? Probably, because they were visually appealing. Would I buy them again? Not likely.

The Chilli Factory
2060-D Avenida de los Arboles #743
Thousand Oaks, CA 91362
805.551.8384
sales@thechillifactory.us
http://www.thechillifactory.us

When I got my first package from Nick, I ripped into like a kid on Christmas day. I pulled out each bottle, carefully unwrapped it, and set them all across my kitchen counter. I surveyed my take, trying carefully not to pass too much judgment based solely on the labels, but also making mental notes about my first impressions. Of all the bottles and jars, Coyote Trail’s New Mexico Chile Enchilada Sauce caught my eye. The label is fairly low key and very professional. It’s not gimmicky, overly bright, or too eye-catching (but that could be considered a draw back I guess).

Ingredients: water, dried roasted red chiles, modified food starch, salt, natural beef flavored base (maltodextrine, salt, soy sauce [dehydrated soy sauce {wheat soybeans, salt}, maltodextrine, salt], flavoring [soy sauce {wheat soybeans, salt}, torula yeast and autolyzed yeast], onion powder, caramel color, celery, garlic, pepper, rosemary), butter, onion powder, garlic powder, citric acid, spice.

I’m not much for following recipes, but eventually I made it to the grocery store and bought the ingredients listed on the back of the sauce jar. Enchiladas don’t get much simpler than this: ground beef, onion, cheese, and tortillas. Oddly enough, the Coyote Trail sauce isn’t listed in the ingredients. The instructions direct you to use the sauce, but they never say exactly how much. I decided early on to use the whole jar.

When I cracked it open, I got a noseful of that very unique dried chile smell. It was glorious. The sauce has a very smooth, blended consistency with a few visible specks but no chunks or seeds. I grabbed a spoon and dug in. Yikes! The sauce was bitter, with an odd beefy aftertaste. Because of the dark color I had expected something sweeter, more along the lines of a mole-style sauce. The flavor hinted at the dried chiles I smelled earlier, but the bitterness was overwhelming. Not a good sign, but I hoped actually cooking with it would help things.

30 minutes later I had steaming hot beef enchiladas, filled and smothered with cheese and Coyote Trail New Mexico Chile Enchilada Sauce. I don’t have a big enough vocabulary to describe how good they smelled. I don’t like using the oven in the summer, but the smell alone was worth it! I let them cool just long enough to prevent a severely burnt mouth, and then began eating. Devouring is probably a more appropriate word! Coyote Trail is almost the perfect enchilada sauce. The bitter taste was gone completely. The chile flavor had increased, and the somewhat beef-like aftertaste went well with the other ingredients. There’s not much heat here. In fact, it might not even register for the seasoned chileheads. I’d call it a 3 on the HSB scale. If you’re looking for heat, you’re going to have to bring your own. The Coyote Trail sauce supplies more than enough flavor and aroma, but not much heat.

These were easily the best enchiladas I’ve ever prepared, and with fewer ingredients! I’d like to see a hotter version of the sauce, though. But even mild, it was delicious. Next time I’ll add some dried habanero powder to the filling mixture and I think it will be perfect.

New Mexico Chile Company LLC
5555 Zuni Rd SE 20-109
Albuquerque, NM 87108
505.629.4312
http://www.coyotechile.com

Opinions are like elbows, everyone has two. And sometimes reviews blur the line between opinions and facts. That was the inspiration for the “Face Off”. Here’s how it works: Two reviewers, one sauce, identical meals, and zero conversation. Ethan and Newman tried “Hillbillie Sweet Gormay Salsa: Hot” on Identical meals at the same time, and then without any discussion, separated and wrote two reviews.

Ingredients: Tomato Sauce, Ketchup (tomato concentrate, high fructose corn syrup, vinegar, salt, onion powder, spice, and natural flavors) diced tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, onions, green bell peppers, brown sugar, distilled white vinegar, tomato paste, habanero peppers, garlic.

Newman’s Take
On first look the packaging of Hillbillies Salsa looks pretty common. There’s nothing particularly bad, just nothing particularly special. But just like books and their covers, packaging can be deceiving. Prior to Ethan’s arrival I cheated, and tried some of the salsa on a plain ol’ tortilla chip. I didn’t hate it but, I didn’t love it. I read up on Hillbille’s with the provided materials, and the manufacturer suggests it be used as a ketchup substitute. So we went and picked up some burgers.

Bouquet: You open the jar and the dominant smells are sweet pickle relish, and tomatoes. Overall it’s pretty pleasant as salsa aromas go.

Texture: This salsa is by no means thick and chunky but it does “hold together” nicely, and you don’t need to look too closely to find a pepper or onion chunk.

Taste: On a chip it’s nothing to write home about. But on a burger it’s dope. Ethan and I started eating and about two minutes later the burgers were gone. The sweet relish taste is subtle, the tomatoes are perfect, and the heat is deceptive and delayed. I ate most of the burger before the heat crept in and bit a little. I plan on buying again, and use this as my “first choice” ketchup replacement.

Medal Round:
Package: A Bronze
Heat: A Bronze
Taste: A Gold
Overall: A Silver (taste can carry you a long way, baby! )

Ethan’s Take
I love salsa. It’s common for me to eat half a jar in one sitting without even realizing what I’ve done. Of course, the more salsa I eat the more demanding I become. I almost can’t eat mass-produced store bought salsa anymore. It all tastes the same: tomatoes and onions. When I opened Hillbillie salsa, that’s what I smelled. In fact, it smelled a lot like ketchup. So when Newman suggested we try the salsa on hamburgers (which the salsa’s promotional flyer suggests) I agreed.

But first things first. The packaging, including the overalls-wearing pepper-toting “hillbillie,” is cute, but certainly wouldn’t get me to pick up a jar off the store shelf. As I mentioned, when I opened the standard 16 ounce jar I smelled ketchup. The salsa’s consistency is a lot like most of the major brand salsas I can find at my local grocery chain. It’s well blended with a few chunks to improve the appearance. The liquid part of the salsa always seems mysteriously, unnaturally thick. Nothing out of the ordinary here; it looks a lot like any other salsa.

Now for the good part: it tastes much better than your ordinary salsa! My first bite was underwhelming. Hillbillie Sweet Gormay Salsa tastes quite a bit like ketchup, which I’ll admit disappointed me at first. It claims to be sweet, and it certainly is. In fact, the overall flavor was quite a bit like sweet relish mixed with ketchup. The heat was practically non-existent. But I kept eating, and the taste improved. The heat built up over time, never becoming anything unbearable but definitely making itself noticed. I’d still consider it a mild salsa, maybe a 4 on the HSB heat scale, but those less accustomed to the heat might call it a medium.

On a cheese burger, the flavor really took off. The relish/ketchup combo complemented the beef perfectly. As I warmed to the sweet flavor, I started dipping my fries in the salsa. I devoured the burger, trying to eat it quickly so the salsa didn’t drip out of the bun and onto the wrapper below. Try as I might, I couldn’t catch it all. Luckily I had enough fries to mop up the leftovers.

When all was said and done, I was left wanting more. A lot more. Hillbillie Sweet Gormay Salsa comes highly recommended from this reviewer.

A&I Sauces
624 West Church Street
Galion, OH 44833
419.468.5053

Please welcome Ethan to the HSB with his first review! Nando’s eXtra Hot has been my favorite Nando’s sauce for quite some time (with the exception of the limited edition Bottled Fire) and I’m glad to see someone new enjoyed the sauce as well. Welcome to the HSB Ethan!

I’ll admit it: I’m not a fan of peri-peri peppers. I’ve tried various peri-peri sauces, and have even grown a few varieties of bird’s-eye peppers in my own garden. While the peri-peri’s heat may compare to some habanero pods, I just don’t like the flavor as much. To make things worse, peri-peri sauces taste “mustardy” and I don’t like mustard.

So why did I pick Nando’s eXtra-hot Peri-peri Sauce for my first review? For starters, I didn’t want to kick things off by reviewing a sauce that I already loved (or hated). I wanted to try something fresh and new. Second, while I had sampled some of Nando’s products before, I had never really given them a fair try. I wanted to cook a meal specifically aimed at this sauce and give it every chance to shine. I flipped through some cooking magazines and found an easy recipe simply titled “Grilled Fish.” Someone worked long and hard on that one. But the recipe sounded like the perfect opportunity to crack open a new bottle of Nando’s and dig in.

Ingredients: Water, Vinegar, Salt, Lemon Puree, Serrano Peppers, Onion Puree, African Bird’s Eye Peppers (Peri-peri Peppers), Sunflower Oil, Cayenne Pepper, Xanthan Gum, Paprika, Garlic, Propylene Glycol Alginate

The Nando’s packaging looks first-rate, with a clean label and nice fonts. I’m not so sure it would stand out on a grocery store shelf, but it’s not gimmicky which earns it a few points in my book. The sauce itself has a very nice consistency, pouring easily and staying put on the food. Bits of peppers, seeds, and other ingredients are clearly visible giving the sauce a very pleasing appearance. It smells absolutely delicious, almost begging me to drink straight from the bottle! On the HSB heat scale, I’d call this a 5: a nice, comfortable medium. The flavors blended well with the lime juice and onions on the fish. Rather than overpower or ruin the flavor of the fish, the sauce improved it. This sauce is sweet, with a hint of lemon and garlic. Just like the label implies, Nando’s Peri-peri sauces definitely go best on chicken and fish. I wouldn’t go so far as to call this a “Specific Application Sauce,” but I don’t see myself getting too adventurous with it.

Overall, I like it more than I like the other peri-peri sauces I’ve tried, but that’s not saying much. I won’t be eating it straight from the bottle (although the aroma tempts me!) but I’ll probably break it open again the next time I grill. If you’re like me and prefer the flavors of other pepper varieties I don’t think you’ll miss much by skipping this one, but if you like peri-peri peppers this is definitely a sauce worth trying.

Imported By: Nando’s Chickenland, Inc
1041 West 18th Street
Suite A205
Costa Mesa CA 92627
800.625.2657