Bizzaro Siracha

by M

We have reached a new level here at THSDs.  While I have been overwhelmed with life in general... up to my neck in work, not enough time in the day, and too many freaking weddings to go to! … the THSDs has become self aware.  It’s alive, I tell you, it’s alive.  Without any work, petitioning, or Hot Sauce networking, we are getting new hot sauces left and right.  We can’t keep up, I’m getting ulcers, heartburn, flatulence, high blood pressure, I’m sweating habanero, crying cayenne, and man is it awesome.  

Unbeknownst to us, there is a cousin of the infamous Sriracha.  It’s bizarro sriracha from Hong Kong.  At first taste, I described it as earthy, then musky... yes, a muskier Sriracha.  When you start to describe something with terms like musky, you start walking a thin line.  You know the line when you smell someone cooking soup, and you’re like, “Wow, that soup smells good; at least, I hope that is soup and not BO.”  Yeah, sometimes a good lentil soup or a minestrone can smell a bit like BO.  Or, when I take blue cheese out of the refrigerator and my wife will be like, “Oh man, we need to take out the garbage”... no, that is blue cheese (we both really like blue cheese).  One time I had a salad at a Thai restaurant with a “chili” dressing.  It kind of tasted like an anchovy ate nothing but onions for days and then went jogging.  That salad was not my kind of thing, though I am sure there are many that might enjoy it.  So after sensing this muskiness, I read the ingredients.  Sure enough, fish sauce is on the list.  What the heck is fish sauce?  I mean, I know what it is, but why do they get away with just calling it fish sauce?  There are different kinds of Fish Sauce.  What kind of fish?  What parts of the fish?  How is it turned into a sauce?  I am going to invent Cow Sauce.  Who knows what is in it, but it will be cow made into sauce, Cow Sauce.  Then on the ingredients of Hot Dog packages, it will only have one ingredient: Cow Sauce.

Sauce: Sriracha Chili Sauce
Manufacturer: Lee Kum Kee
Chili pepper: Red chili (Capsicum frutescens)
Country of Origin: Hong Kong/China
Score: 6/10

This Hong Kong Sriracha walks the line with success because it is pretty good.  It gives a much funkier taste then our normal Sriracha and is different enough that if you are a die-hard Sriracha fan, you will want both bottles in your refrigerator.  Not as much heat as the normal Sriracha, which is too bad, because with the stronger, funkier taste, you may not want to apply as liberally or it will overtake your meal.
 

I give it 6/10.  A little more heat would yield a higher score, but I still prefer the original Rooster!