The Plate Up Chilli Sauce Play-Off - Round 2

Nando’s Extra Hot Peri-Peri Sauce
“So hot they named it twice”
First a citrus sharpness that is very very quickly followed by the glow of chilli embers that soon flare up into full tongue-tingling intensity. It has that ‘back-of-the-nose-oh-I’m-gonna-sneeze’ heat more often experienced with hot mustards and wasabi. The distinctive African flavours are certainly going on here and this would do well with chicken and white fish – a thin coating before roasting or grilling and it would work like a jerk. Even the deep ruddy orange colour conjures up African exotica and the ‘red-earth’ desert heat… Sauces based on this chilli (an African 'bird's eye') have become a distinctive component of Portuguese cookery, particularly the Peri-Peri chicken dish that is a major influence on Nando's.

Trees Can’t Dance Flaming Lips Hot Sauce
“I’ve seen trees dance…”
Well, this is a surprise. A pleasant one. Absolutely no holding back on the heat, but bags of other flavours working together – most prominently roast garlic and fruit. The sharpness comes from red wine and sherry vinegars that bring their own subtleties and contribute to the fruit. The rest of the fruitiness comes from the bell peppers that must have been all ripe and full and fleshy. A good dark, earth-tone colour flecked with chilli seeds and fragments of garlic and herbs … and they are not lying about the flaming lips sensation. It’s sensational!

If you can take the heat, this would work as a great straight dipping sauce, but for most tastes it would need to be mixed with some nice creamy Greek strained yogurt (or mayonnaise, or ketchup, etc) and it is spectacular on chips!

Cholula Hot Sauce
“Arriba! Arriba!”
Mexic-Oh-Yeah… This is the one! The fruitiness is the first thing that hits you and then there is a lovely transition into the full flavour of chillies, finely balance between the arbol and piquin, leading up to the heat that smoulders outward from the mid-palate. Oh, yes it is hot, but the flavour is so well crafted with the sweetness and sharpness off-setting the burn that you want to take it straight for the spoon, though the building heat stops you… The flavours are all presented confidently and distinctly, working together to give a satisfying array, though never detract from the primary flavour of chilli.

Versatile enough to be used and a condiment or ingredient, this would go great with anything vaguely Tex-Mex. The colour is a lovely deep warm orange and looks so attractive in the bottle with its wooden cap.

Frank’s Red Hot Original
“Tastes like an original, it does.”
Nice and assured, this is a sauce ‘in-the-style-of’ Tabasco ® and has a similar matured chilli flavour underpinned with salt’n’vinegar. This one would be very versatile and could be used in marinades and sauces, added to chilli con carne just before serving to lift the chilli flavours, and another one that is great on chips!

A classic that was famously used in the spicing for the original Buffalo Wings – so called because the recipe for coating deep-fried chicken wings was first used in Buffalo NY.
A very satisfying and fairly straight forward, yet well-balanced, sauce with a fine deep sunset colour and warmth to match…

AND THE WINNER IS…

…if you haven’t already guessed… Cholula. This was a tough Play-Off because all four were very good indeed, but one has won and it is the Mexican celebration of chilli, Cholula: such a well-crafted and balanced sauce that is fresh and fruity and flavoursome enough to perform in many and varied culinary situations, making it another challenger for the Tabasco ® range, without being a ‘clone’…

Having said that, the Trees Can’t Dance was a close runner-up and had a wonderful range of flavours whilst delivering spectacular heat. Whilst it is great straight and for dips, its robust fruit and roast garlic make it too distinctive for general uses as it would easily dominate almost any dish, but certainly one to have in the pantry.

Websites: Nando's , Trees Can't Dance , Cholula , Frank's Red Hot