"sriracha" news and stories

Some of you may already know that I enjoy eating the occasional gloriously messy mango whilst perched over the sink. As you can see from the above pic, that's not the only way I like to savor this supremely refreshing tropical fruit.

Years ago a friend hipped me to the practice of sprinkling my mango with salt and hot sauce. His wife was from Guyana and she always had a bottle of homemade Scotch bonnet pepper sauce. Actually it wasn't so much a sauce as a fiery mix of chopped bright orange and yellow peppers floating in vinegar. This wasn't the first time I encountered this combination though. Back in my college days me and some friends used to have contests to see who could eat the most Patak's mango pickle. Straight out of the jar, mind you, with little more accompaniment than pappadam.

I've gotta warn everyone, this edition of Midnight Snack is a tad odd. I raided the fridge and my junk food cupboard. The base for this nosh is Tao Kae Noi, strips of crispy nori seaweed with a light chili pepper flavor. Just to calm your fears, rest assured that the pink stuff is not strawberry mousse, and the red stuff is not bits of cherry.

The pink rosettes are smoked salmon pate. I guess the seaweed just wasn't fishy enough for me. I tried a few pieces with just the pate at first. The smokiness and creaminess provided a pleasing counterpoint to the crisp fried seaweed. After eating a few pieces, I felt it needed something more and not just visually. After wracking my brain, I hit upon it a dollop of Sriracha sauce.

Aha, I exclaimed to myself as I bit into one I had created the perfect snack food. For you see, after all my fussing around I concocted something that tasted like an extra-spicy barbecue potato chip.

You know it - it's the Asian hot sauce that comes in a squeeze bottle with the little green tip. In college, maybe you called it "Rooster" for the picture of the rooster on the front, like we did, because we had no idea how to say "sriracha." It's a staple. If i have nothing else in the refrigerator, like Nick, I have a half-full bottle of sriracha (because it never stays full for long).

I don't know what it is about sriracha that makes me want to put it on everything. Everything, I say, from scrambled eggs to mac and cheese to...pizza? Yes, pizza. If you're a sriracha lover, pizza is probably not even an unusual recipient for a lovely back and forth drizzle of the stuff.

But recently, on a night of Indian take-out, I found myself squeezing the stuff on my naan, as if it were completely normal. My dining companion at first gave me a strange look, then grabbed the bottle. "That's brilliant!"

What's the strangest thing you've done with sriracha sauce (in the kitchen, that is)?

The chiliheads over at the Hot Sauce Blog are apparently pizza fans as well. John recently posted the results of a tasting of six different hot sauces paired with pepperoni pizza. The sauces ranged from Cholula to Blair's Jersey Death, and in the end, PepperMaster's Hurricane Mash came out on top, garnering praise like "blissfully delightful." CaJohn's Cayenne Select and Blair's tied for second. Personally, a good shake of crushed chili flakes does the trick for me. Also, I was a little surprised that Huy Fong's Sriracha didn't show up in the tasting, as I've definitely seen it used on pizza before. Nevertheless, it's a great post.

[Photo: The Hot Sauce Blog]