Published November 1, 2005. From Cook's Illustrated.
We thought Tabasco would win hands down. Not necessarily.
As often as we use hot pepper sauce in the test kitchen, we've never given much thought to brand. Considering that most are made from a basic combination of red peppers, vinegar, and salt, does brand even matter? We rounded up supermarket samples to find out.
First, we sprinkled each sample atop a portion of steamed white rice. Across the board, tasters deemed one sauce a knockout, winning points for its "bright" and "tangy" notes and potent heat. Tasters also liked a second brand that was a tad hotter. Surprisingly, the brand most often found in restaurants and on pantry shelves (including our own), came in dead last. Why? The searing heat masked any other flavor in the sauce, and most found the thin, watery body to be unappealing. "Bitter, like pepper skin," said one taster.
To see how our winner and loser would fare in a cooked application—with other flavors in the mix—we pitted them in a breakfast strata made with bread, cheese, eggs, onion, and hot sauce. The results were split. Some tasters enjoyed the hotter brand's spicier edge, while others preferred the fuller, more tomatoey complexity of the other brand. For sprinkling on top of the cooked strata, however, nearly all tasters once again picked one brand as their favorite for its fuller flavor and more "luxurious" body.
Frank's RedHot Original Hot Sauce
Frank's won points for its "bright" and "tangy" notes and potent heat, making it good enough to be not just an ingredient, but also a condiment.
