Hot Stuff
For most of my life, I hated hot sauce. It’s not that I don’t like the heat — I’ll eat nearly any kind of chicken that’s drenched in wing sauce, and that’s little more than hot sauce and butter — so there was really no plausible explanation for my aversion to the stuff. And then, in the waning days of my 20s, a coworker shared a secret: I didn’t hate hot sauce. What I hated was Tabasco.
Drop your regular hot sauce and give this a try.
With all due respect to the McIlhenny family, there isn’t a drop of flavor in the classic Tabasco hot sauce. Heat, yes; I learned the hard way from cleaning up a shattered bottle that the stuff burns like hell if it gets into a cut or hangnail. But flavor? No.
I tried several other brands of sauce, but the classic pepper sauce that I settled on as my personal favorite was Cholula. Try it on an omelette someday. Trust me, it’s a whole new flavor experience.
But then, one day at Chipotle, I noticed that Tabasco had two other flavors: milder jalapeno and, appropriately, chipotle. I tried both and while the jalapeno isn’t bad, I find the green color to be a total turnoff. But the deep red, smoky flavor of the chipotle won me over. I love this stuff. If I didn’t already have too much crap in my bag, I’d carry a bottle around with me to salvage mediocre burritos and tacos (and possibly breakfasts).
Do yourself a favor: if you enjoy flavor more than just heat, give this stuff a try. Better yet, invite me along for a burrito.
