THE SAUCE

That’s what it’s called – “The Sauce”. So, when this sauce arrived, I wondered…are the makers of this product trying to say that this is “The” Sauce to end all sauces, or are they just making it convenient for us to say “please pass The Sauce”?

As I pondered whether they are making a bold claim, I read the simple list of ingredients:

Ingredients: Tomatoes, Water, Vinegar, Habaneros, Garlic, Olive Oil, Salt, Black Pepper.

First Impressions: I love the color – it’s a beautiful pumpkin orange with tiny flecks of black pepper. The consistency is “soupy” – not too thick, not too thin. It would coat something well. It doesn’t separate much, though the olive oil makes an appearance around the edges when I pour it out on a plate. The following image is a bit blurry, but you get the idea.

When I opened the bottle and took a whiff, I caught a hint of Habanero, very little vinegar, mostly a pleasant tomatoey-garlicky smell.

Taste: I took a few swigs and got a very pleasant taste that was pretty much along the lines of what I smelled, plus a somewhat “rich” flavor that I attribute to the Olive Oil. None of the ingredients really jumps out at you – it’s just a pleasant, flavorful blend of well-matched ingredients. Salt level is just right – it’s there, but not dominant. The acid level is also discernable, but pretty tame. I think the subtle acidity comes more from the tomatoes than the vinegar, which is a pleasant departure from many of the sauces I have tasted lately. The Habanero flavor is, again, somewhat subtle, but in combination with the Olive Oil, what you get is a unique flavor I can only describe as “toasty Habanero”.

The more I get into this sauce, the more inviting I find it. After several swigs, I conclude that it would be perfect on some kind of fish. I choose Orange Roughy for its delicate, flaky consistency and wonderful mild flavor. I used to buy sole and haddock for the same flavor, but the more I cooked with those, the more I found that they go to mush very easily and also harbor tiny bones, especially the sole. Orange Roughy is caught all over the world, from the Gulf Stream waters off the Atlantic to Australasia. It is a reasonably priced fish (under $10 a pound) and it thaws well without any noticeable loss of quality or consistency.

The best way to cook your Roughy is to dredge it in flour that has a pinch of ground sea salt and black pepper, and then pan-fry it in olive oil. This gives the fish a beautiful golden crust and cooks it perfectly, while imparting the subtle flavor of the olive oil.

I couldn’t wait to try The Sauce on this beautiful piece of fish. I splashed a little on and took a bite. Absolute heaven. I then poured about half the bottle on the rest of the fish and just couldn’t get enough of the stuff – a perfect complement of flavors. Meanwhile, the heat was building.

Heat: It takes a lot of this stuff to produce a good burn, but after a half bottle of “The Sauce”, you are rewarded with the typical Hab effects – a sustained mouth burn, head sweat and runny nose. That said, I give this a 4 on the HSB heat scale of 10. You definitely want this sauce on your table to accommodate your guests who like a tasty sauce that burns steadily, but doesn’t attack.

Overall: I love the stuff, and at $4.00 per bottle, I would buy it by the case. That’s what you will need to do because this is one of those sauces you drench your food with. Enjoy it!

The Sauce
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