Chilli Sauce Reviews - Page 003

Reviews of Chilli Sauce Products by a
Former Industry-Insider

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Traffic Light Scoring System

0-3/10 = crap, 4-6/10 = average, 7-10/10 = great!

Manufacturer: McIlhenny Company (USA)

Style Classification: Steak Sauce (also called Brown Sauce)

Appearance: 8/10

First up, the bottle and labelling look very good and obviously has the full power of McIlhenny's marketing people behind it.

The sauce is nice and thick and looks like it would coat and stick to anything it's poured on. This is something you should always look for in a steak sauce - if it just runs off the meat and lays on the plate, it's not working.

You can clearly see black specks of spices throughout the dark brown colour which bodes well for the flavour potential.

Despite knowing that it's a mass produced, gloablly marketed product, this sauce just looks right !

Ingredients: 7/10

Tomato Puree (Water, Tomato Paste), Distilled Vinegar, Corn Syrup, Raisin Paste, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Salt, Tabasco Brand Pepper Sauce (Red Pepper, Distilled Vinegar, Salt), Crushed Orange Peel, Spices, Caramel Color, Potassium Sorbate, Xanthan Gum, Dried Garlic And Onion.

Now, while corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup are linked to obesity in the USA, I don't believe that the small amount of sauce that you use at any one time is of any significance.

Aroma: 7/10

Vinegar, spices and a little citrus are the aromas that hit you up front. Vinegar is by far the strongest component.

Flavour: 7/10

Vinegar is the first flavour to hit you. Next you get the spices coming through and then the fruity, tomato base starts to appear. Finally a long, lingering tail that hangs around for quite a while, reminding you of the vinegar and those spices

For me the vinegar is too overpowering to really eat this sauce on it's own, even for sampling. Not a criticism - just a comment on most steak sauces - a symptom of the style.

However, it is reasonably true to it's traditional style roots, despite a few modern shortcuts in the ingredients.

Overall, a good flavour that just begs to be put on something so that you can really appreciate it.

Overall: 7/10

This sauce is true to it's type and tastes as a traditional steak sauce should - sharp and spicy.

That is why they have such a presence of spices, salt (originally from anchovies) and those sharp, astringent flavours such as tamarind (now commonly replaced by vinegars).

Overall, a pretty good sauce.

Improvements:

I guess getting back to more traditional ingredients would be the improvement I would suggest. But that's hard to do when you manufacture at the volume that these guys do.

• put the tamarind back in
• put the anchovies back in
• use sugar instead of corn syrups

Matching it with food;

• grilled meat – the sharp flavour is a good match.
• works with eggs and omelettes.
• I like dipping salted fries or wedges into this sauce - the flavours just work.

Heat: 2/10 (doesn't affect Overall Score.

Very mild heat that is really only there at the back of your palate once you've swallowed the food.

Ingredient Alert: None (see ingredient review above)