Review: Dr. Craig’s Caribbean Hot Sauce…
Dr. Craig’s
Caribbean Hot Sauce
First impression: Open up and ‘say ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!’ So says Dr. Craig’s Caribbean Hot Sauce! ‘Serve with Love’, is scrawled below the title. Listed below this seems to be more sage advice from Dr. Craig ““ ‘Thank you for letting me bring spice into your life ““ check out my website for some delicious recipes.’ Okay groovy, let’s see what the website has to offer as far as something to make with this sauce. Hmm, well no recipes are listed as of yet, but we are assured that they will be coming soon. The 5 oz. bottle sells for $8.00 on the website, but according to the website this also includes the shipping costs. The website also states that a minimum order would be 2 bottles. What if I only wanted 1 bottle?!? I partly decided to do this sauce early because when it arrived, the cap was cracked, yet the seal seemed to still be intact. So I figured that now was a good time as any. Since there aren’t any suggestions on the website and I had some ground sirloin in the fridge, hamburgers it’s going to be!
Ingredients: rice vinegar, pineapple, habanero peppers, garlic, onion, orange juice, honey, cornstarch, chili pepper, Jamaican allspice, lime juice, lemon juice, pepper, curry powder, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate to extend freshness.
Appearance/Smell/Taste: Yes, it’s true that sodium benzoate is derived from berries. But like many food additives and preservatives used by the food industry not enough continual testing is performed to deem long term exposure and usage to be safe. Here is an interesting article published by The Independent which is a UK news outlet. Before twisting off the cap I gave the bottle a hearty shake. Took a snoot full of some Caribbean paradise to see what I was up against. Hmm, interesting smell indeed as the allspice stands right out to my nose. Yet there is a back hint of sweet-fruitiness. As I pour out a helping onto a tasting spoon I notice that the sauce is kind of thin and runny. Although it doesn’t seem too runny for my liking, it’s close. As I poured it onto the spoon, the sauce was having a hard time staying in place without wanting to run all over my plate. I’m not giving up on this sauce yet, as the smell is somewhat intriguing to me. The first taste on my tongue is a light sweetness with a quick sharp heat that sticks around for a good 10 seconds before it really fades away. So with that continuing on with my red meat kick, I’ve decided to do up some burgers with the added touch of some Roasted Onion Salsa! This is now my favorite way to make burgers, just a ¼ cup per pound will make a tasty and juicy burger! I’m going to melt some Swiss cheese over this mamma too! Can’t leave out the cheese now can I?!?
It’s doing something as easy as mixing in a good salsa into some ground beef to make a total change to a regular old burger or meatloaf. Topping it off with some melted Swiss and then a hearty helping of Dr. Craig’s Caribbean Hot Sauce is just what the Dr. ordered. And in this case, that Doctors name is Craig! After mixing the salsa well into the ground sirloin and making patties, I placed them into the well heated broiler. I wasn’t in the mood to light the grill to cook 2 burger patties, so I decided to fire up the broiler. Besides what’s making this whole review deal so interesting, is that I get to try all these different spicy hot sauces and other delicious condiments! And take note, that I said 2 patties. That is because I will be doing an independent review of this great spicy mustard that I found at the recent Bower’s Chile Pepper Festival! So this will ideally kill two birds with one stone! Without further ado I bring you the synopsis of Dr. Craig’s Caribbean hot sauce paradise.
Complement to meal: You can see in the photo that the sauce was having a hard time staying on my burger. After pouring a good heap on top, most of it slid off in every direction. Thankfully I had a hearty piece of whole grain flax seed bread to catch the runoff. As I take the first bite all I can taste is burger. The flavor of the sauce really got lost in the food. Surprising as the flavor was nice initially by itself. Since it was on the lighter side, I decided that I really needed to pour this one on to get the full effect with food. I’m quite certain many of you have done this before too. Pouring a nice heap of hot sauce on every single bite of your meal. So this is what I did to finish off the burger! Adding a nice blob to each and every bite definitely helped me get the flavor of the sauce with my food. It still has that light initially fruity sweetness, and the heat stays at a solid 4, almost a 5 perhaps. This might be slightly off because I’ve consumed at least a 1/3rd to almost ½ the bottle eating one burger. Overall I think that Dr. Craig is onto something here with his Caribbean Hot Sauce. I personally would prefer a bit more substance to this sauce so it could cling to food better. This might also help with the flavor not getting lost as well. The nit pick of the preservatives is going to hurt his rating with me of course. And to boot there is sodium benzoate AND potassium sorbate in here to preserve freshness. In my opinion these can be left out. There is enough vinegar and acid from the juices to prevent spoilage. So grab yourself a banana daiquiri, a hot babe, and some food to slather up with some of Dr. Craig’s Caribbean Hot Sauce! ““Lars-
Initial impression: 7/10
Ingredient quality/content: 6/10
Flavor/textue/smell: 5/10
Heat: 5/10
Overall: 5.75/10
Dr. Craig’s
MFD. By Bobbees Bottling
Louisburg, NC 27549
443/739-6203
[email protected]
Submit recipes: (please send him some as there aren’t any on the website as of this review)
[email protected]
