A few weeks back, David Lynch of TorchBearer Sauces, contacted me about their line of sauces. A little while later a package of 8 sauces, minus one shipping casualty, arrived in a nice little gift basket. After a little research on the sauces and reading the recommended recipes, I’ve decided to split the reviews of these products up, so each one will be getting individual consideration. Plus, I might send some of the sauces out to the guest bloggers.

So, per my usual MO, I went for the hottest one first. Slaughter Sauce. Pretty intimidating name for such a little jar.

Description from site: This is the HOTTEST natural sauce in the world, and topping out at an astounding 67,582 Scoville without using any chemicals, Slaughter is our hottest sauce (by far). It has been known to take a moment or two to hit, but everyone will know when it does. You can definitely taste more of the habanero flavor in Slaughter, but maybe it’s not the great taste you’ll notice. It makes a fantastic gift, but please make sure its going to someone who can appreciate the heat or at least a good fire.
Available in 8 oz. jars.

Like any good Chile head, prior to eating a sauce, I check out the ingredient list before putting it in my mouth. Like checking under the hood of the car before you buy, gotta know how it works and how it’s going to perform.

Slaughter Sauce Ingredients: Habanero Peppers, Carrots, Onions, Mandarin Oranges, Tomato Concentrate [Water and Tomato Paste, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup, Vinegar, Salt, Onion Powder, Spice, All Natural Flavoring], Salt, Chili Powder & Black Pepper.

Now, with habanero peppers as the first ingredient I can see why it has a Scoville Rating of: 67,582 - and yes, that’s an officially tested rating.

Initial Thoughts: Upon opening the jar, I noticed the thick consistency. Super thick consistency really. Putting the jar to my nose, I couldn’t smell anything other then the peppers, which is a pretty promising sign. Since Slaughter Sauce is so thick, I used a spoon to taste the sauce directly. While the sauce itself is super thick, it’s not chunky so it spreads very well. After a few tastings I could identify the habanero, carrots, onions and black pepper - but no real mandarin flavor or sweetness that the ingredient list may suggest. And this is one case of the description being accurate, the heat doesn’t sneak up on you until you’ve reached that third taste and then it hits fairly suddenly. My nose started watering and I even teared up a bit. But after a minute, it was gone and I went back for more.

Super thick consistency, but not too dry.
The Food Test: Since this one is so hot, I knew the wife wouldn’t let me cook with it, so I lugged the jar around with me for a few days (refrigerating of course) and put it to several food taste tests.
Breakfast: Chosen medium: Bagel & Cream Cheese - I don’t normally eat a bagel for breakfast, in fact lately I’ve been eating fruit, but fruit and a habanero pepper paste don’t really mix so I had to change things up. I spread the Slaughter sauce on my bagel, mixing it with the copious amount of cream cheese the counter guy gave me. Slaughter sauce acts almost as a sandwich spread, which works well for the bagel test. Passed with flying colors, the heat was well balanced by the cream cheese and bagel.
Lunch: Chosen Medium: What the local cafe calls Flank Steak with Fancy Onions and Potatoes - what I call ass. Now, normally I wouldn’t have gone for the “special” bar at lunch, but I wanted to see how this sauce would help the taste of some less then worthy food. Now, you cannot underestimate how bad this lunch looked. So bad that I couldn’t bring myself to take a photo of it. The flank steak was cooked in some sort of pseudo gravy with a grayish tinge. The potatoes were average at best. I dumped about 1/2 the jar of Slaughter on the pile of dung and dug in. The heat of Slaughter really improved the taste of the meat and actually got my nose to run and eyes to water - again. Good stuff. However, eating meat & hot sauce for lunch probably wasn’t the best idea. My stomach was still burning just a bit from the bagel, so adding this to the mix made the rest of my day fairly uncomfortable.
Dinner: Chosen Medium: Taco Express Al Carbon Tortillas. I love these tortillas, $1.69 each for a little bit of heaven wrapped in a homemade tortilla. This I regard as the ultimate test for a hot sauce. Slaughter Sauce worked well, either spread in the tortilla or as a taco dip. Again, the heat of the habanero comes through with each bite, opening up my sinuses and making my taste buds jump for joy.

Overall:

This one reminds me a lot of the PepperMaster’s Hurricane Pepper Mash - pure pepper flavor. With a thick consistency, this sauce makes an excellent spread either on sandwiches, bagels or on crackers. If it wasn’t quite so hot, I would recommend using it as a salsa. In fact, I might just try that out with the little bit I have left. Chiliheads will love this one and appreciate all the work that David and his partners put into the creation. The weaklings out there will be “Slaughtered” by Slaughter sauce, but it’s still worth the try. Coming soon: reviews & recipes of the other 7 sauces by TorchBearer.

Note: Slaughter Sauce and the remaining TorchBearer products will be available for purchase online in the next few days!

Also, Dr. Biggles did a review on MeatHenge