Photo by Angie Mosier
What a chilly 2018 it’s been so far. The cold weather is the perfect excuse to stay inside and cook something spicy to warm up those taste buds!
I love using hot sauce because it’s all in the touch and taste of the chef. One drop, a dash, or a generous sprinkle can make all the difference. Not only can you play around with amounts of hot sauce, it’s fun to experiment with different brands too. Most of us have a favorite hot sauce (naturally I am partial to LuLu’s Perfect Pepper!), but it’s also fun to keep several on hand to try out in different dishes.
LuLu’s Perfect Pepper Sauce is bottled by the friendly folks at Panola Pepper Corporation in Lake Providence, Louisiana. Let me just say, there’s a reason we call it “perfect.”
Crystal is another good one—also delicious and also made by a family business in Louisiana.
TABASCO is probably the most recognized hot sauce with the longest history, and, what do you know, it’s also made in Louisiana. TABASCO is on the hotter end of the scale, so it’s nice that it really does come out of that little bottle in distinct drops.
There are plenty of others, including Texas Pete (made in North Carolina!) and international faves Cholula and Sriracha.
Have fun gussying up your chilis, gumbos, creoles, soups, wings, fried chicken, ribs…whatever you can think of! And I’d love to know: what’s your favorite hot sauce and what do you like to put it in (or on)?
All my spicy Gumbo Love!
