I have that on hand all the time. It's excellent. I typically have 15-20 hot sauces in the fridge, usually half a dozen by them. :)

I'm not familiar with "wagon wheels" in this context. My only knowledge of them is a British cookie, and a type of pasta designed for maximum sauce-holding.

No worries. Wagon wheels are west coast slang for the round duros, like these.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...567dc98df2.jpg
Street/bicycle cart vendors sell large bags of them fried up, usually topped with lemon juice and Tapatio.

I was REALLY hoping I'd like this when it first hit the tables at the local hole-in-the-wall Mexican joint, but I have to say, I was not a fan. A true shame, since I have a literal half dozen bottles of the green habanero sauce in my fridge/pantry.

>Search this thread
"Mongoose"
>No results found

HO-LEE-CHIT guys. Cajohn's Mongoose hot sauce has flavor and lots of burn. It's worth the $13, you won't be dumping it on anything in large quantities. In my fridge I've got it, Tapatio, Sriracha, and Tabasco Chipotle (liberated from Chipotle).

I'm all out of Chamoy. :(

I had an interesting experience this afternoon which dovetails oddly into this thread.

While I was in Master Control 3, doing some software work on a couple of the caption encoders, I overheard a couple of the EICs* discussing their lunch plans. One of them had brought in a bottle of Mad Dog 357 Gold Hot Sauce (1 million Scoville), and they were debating as to how to use it.

* EIC = Engineer in Charge. The person who knows how to fix stuff on-call to the whims of the news and production departments, which can range from "Holy shit, the whole Control Room 2 switcher just crashed" to "I forgot my Twitter password."


About an hour later, I was back in the same control room, checking in to see how the updates had worked. (It went well.) One of the two engineers was visibly in distress (uncontrollable sweating and panting) and the other was in the bathroom.

Now, to be clear, these guys do not report to me. They're part of the Air Control team, and thus fall under Cathy's org chart. While our two groups work together closely, I always respect the chain of command.

None the less, I do try to cultivate the image of "the boss" in a general sense. It's an ego thing.


Being a lover of spicy foods, I sidled up into the conversation (or lack thereof.) After a few sentences, the one remaining engineer presented me with a wing that had been doused in precisely twelve drops of the liquid in question. (Beverly, the third engineer on duty at the time, had refrained from the event.)

I ate it.

No, I'm not going to lie. It was not a sauce that I enjoyed. This is one of those sauces that is hot just for the sake of being hot, with zero underlying flavor profile. That kind of shit annoys me.

It gave the expected burn on the lips and the back of the throat. But it was by no means physically debilitating. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that white, midwestern folk have no taste for spice.

On the other hand, I kind of understand their plight. It doesn't matter how many skulls and Satans and snakes you have on the label, if your sauce is nothing but pure heat with no reward, then what's the point?


Hot sauce has reached a point of utter silliness. I've heard beer critics decry the fact that the craft-brewing industry is heading towards a hops meltdown. In my experience, the hot sauce industry crossed that milestone a while ago.

C'mon, folks. This ins't a test to see who has the biggest cajones when it comes to wolfing down capsaicin. No matter how many faux-military patches you have on your bayou jacket, you will always, 100% of the time lose that competition to a brown-skinned person if it's nothing but a test of who can stomach the hottest thing imaginable.

The trick to to back that heat up with some flavor. And it's for this reason that the oldest, simplest hot sauces in the world still win. Tabasco isn't going to light any rockets on fire, but it delivers a great blend of flavor.

And that's why the present-day hot sauce culture makes no sense to me.

Getting back on point:

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f599f6fd35.png

The salmon is topped with a mix of browned butter, capers, garlic, parsley, and lemon juice.

The asparagus is prepared in a blend of mirepoix and tomato paste.

The accompaniment is some of the mellower musings of A Perfect Circle, Soundgarden, and Candlebox. (Light dish, light rock.)




The side dish starts first. Like so many things in French cuisine, Mirepoix is a fancy word for a simple concept. Finely dice onion, celery and carrot, and then saute them in olive oil on low flame for about 45 minutes, stirring only twice. The spirit of Julia Child will know if you stir a third time, and she disapproves. Basically, we're prepping a sofrito the hard way.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c4c30d8dd3.png


Next, the garnish for the fish. Put 1/3 stick of butter into a second pan, and cook over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes until it starts to brown. Then toss in about 2 Tbs of capers (why do they always come in bottle that you can't fit a tbs measure into?) plus 4-5 cloves minced garlic. Toss frequently for a minute or two until the capers just start to pop.

Back to the first pan, add about 3 oz (1/2 of the smallest tin) of tomato paste, 1 cup water, a little salt, and a healthy shot of pepper. Stir well, then toss in a large bunch of halved fresh asparagus. Mix well. Raise heat to a low boil, and stir frequently.

Heat a third, small pan on medium, with some olive oil. Place in one salmon filet, skin-side up. Lightly sprinkle the skin side with dried garlic. This one will go 4 minutes per side.

Back to the second pan (the one with the butter, capers, and garlic.) We've previously chopped a few handfuls of fresh parsley in the food processor. Add about 2/3 of it, plus several tbs lemon juice.

At this point, we're tossing the asparagus pan and the parsley pan frequently.


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a91f157bb8.png


If the dark lord Ba'al loves you, then everything will reach perfection simultaneously. Plate the asparagus first, and garnish with a bit of the remaining parsley. Then plate the fish, skin side down (as it sits in the pan, after you flipped it once and only once), and top with a spoonful of the butter / caper / garlic / parsley reduction.

Bon Appétit!

To stray back to your story real quick. I have tried the 357, and da-bomb. They both suck ass. Hot ass sauces can have flavor, good flavor too. And as a white midwestern pleb who has tried a few of the hot sauces I can absolutely tell you some are better than others. Proportion has a lot to do with it too. Sometimes I just put a baby drip into an entire dish just give it a little physical taste without all the sweating.

Same here. I consider a light sweat and slightly runny nose by the end of the dish just the right amount of spice. Maybe less sometimes.

Being an old fart now (37 last week), the super spicy stuff kills my stomach and is no fun when exiting the next day.

For those of you that like actual flavor with your heat, I've been a big fan of the Puckerbutt-branded sauces. https://puckerbuttpeppercompany.com/collections/sauces

Voodoo Prince Death Mamba was one of my go-to's, and was less watery/vinegary than a lot of the sauces out there. Great flavor compared to most.

Heartbreaking Dawns 1498 ranks up there as well, but is not a Puckerbutt branded sauce.

Mongoose tastes amazing. Really adds something special to hamburgers, or when mixed in to chili or wing sauce. Wingstop's Atomic wings are just hot for heat's sake, and taste terrible.

Not all of us pale folk are so averted to heat. I was such a regular at a local Indian joint that the wait staff quit asking me if I was sure I wanted "authentic" level spicy.

I haven't touched sriracha since 2017 cause that's the basic b fuccboi hot sauce. lao gan ma is fun for cooking, otherwise, i've switched to lacto-fermented Sichuan skyfacing chili doubanjian made with Sichuan broad beans. It makes a killer Chongqing hot pot. (can't attach pics cause IG is down)

if going mexican, LA's very own Salsa Sinaloan is fantastic on mariscos as well as pambazos and torta ahogadas.

I find this pair of statements amazing.

This one came out looking not quite as fantastic as I'd hoped, but the flavor was 10/10:

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3c306f8577.png

Slightly prep-heavy.

Shred one Persian cucumber with the coarse grater. Zest one lemon, then slice in half. Dice two roma tomatoes. Mince 2-4 cloves garlic (I love garlic more than you might.) Finely chop one shallot. Chop about 1 lb of potatoes (I used the little yukon gold variety) coarsely. Slice 1 lb of chicken breast into coarse cubes.

Toss the potatoes in olive oil with some salt and pepper, plus the lemon zest. Bake at 425° for 25 minutes.

Mix the cucumber and garlic with about 1/2 cup Greek yogurt, and set aside.

Toss the chicken with your favorite Greek seasoning blend. Put the chicken into a medium-hot pan with olive oil for about 4 minutes, covered. Add the shallot, and 5 minutes more. Toss in the tomato, give it another two minutes, and that's it. Stir occasionally.

Plate, squeezing one lemon-half onto the chicken and potato. Top the chicken with the yogurt sauce. Top the potatoes with crumbled feta and goat cheese.

Makes three servings. All of them amazing.

Tonight, Banh Mi lettuce wraps.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...32764213f4.png


Why lettuce? Why not?

In the crock pot we have a wascally wabbit covered in fresh cracked black pepper, sea salt, minced garlic. It rests on a bed of leeks, kale, shallots, 6 cherry tomatoes, celery, diced uncured bacon, homemade pork neck-bone broth, and half a diced serrano pepper.

No actual recipe, just throwing some fresh stuff in the pot and seeing what comes out. Been working on eating alternate meats and vegetables for variety and this is part of that endeavor.

Last crock pot recipe we did had two large turkey drumsticks, 1/4 calabaza squash diced, celery, onions, a bunch of diced scallions, and 2 tablespoons of garam masala seasoning. It came out very well.

This is why :likecat:

Bravery, and a "what the hell' attitude are how amazing dishes are born.

Crock pot meals are so easy in this way. The Turkey leg and calabaza dish was just done because the two were at the little market around the corner. That's how the rabbit came in as well. Just like when our ancestors did it, whatever you happen to catch or kill or find ends up in the stew pot. Spices really made the turkey dish. Garam marsala can make anything taste nice.

A variation on a pork tinga taco recipe I've had sitting around for a while.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3759151ac5.png



Subbed ground turkey for ground pork.

Start by making a simple guacamole. Really, just mashed avocado, powdered garlic, and lime juice. No need to be fancy here.

Cook 1lb ground turkey until browned, and set aside.

Dice 1 red onion and one jalapeno. Simmer on low in olive oil. Towards the end, add 6 cloves minced garlic.

Combine with the meat. Add 3 oz tomato paste (1/2 of the small can), some cilantro, some minced chipotle peppers (I used the canned variety, packed in adobo sauce) and about 1/2 cup water. Simmer to reduce. Season with cayenne powder, cumin, dried paprika, oregano, salt and pepper, to taste.

Plate by first laying down a schmear of the guac, then the mix, and top with your favorite soft cheese. (I had crumbled goat cheese in the fridge.)

Tonight:

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...14a68acb54.png

Pan-seared salmon topped with a mix of softened butter, honey, and crushed red pepper flakes. The side is zucchini, which I browned in the good pan in several batches (then tossed into the large saucepot for finish-simmering), plus one carton of halved cherry tomatoes (seared separately in the good pan) along with 4 cloves crushed garlic, one bunch diced green onion, and seasoned with basil and dried shredded lemon peel, plus a pinch of salt.

(You have to really nail the timing on the photo. The butter starts to melt and slide off the fish almost immediately after it's applied.)

This dish had ALL of the flavor.

Mise:

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e9016731bf.png



Action shot:

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...893ce2c091.png


This one is definitely going into the "do again" pile.