Chilli Sauce Reviews - Page 005

Reviews of chilli sauce products by an former industry-insider

Traffic Light Scoring System

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

Disaster Bay Chipotle Sauce

Name: Disaster Bay Chipotle

Manufacturer: Disaster Bay Chillies Pty Ltd (Eden, New South Wales, Australia)

Style Classification: Chipotle

Appearance: 9/10

Uniquely shaped bottles and labelling make this a product that grabs your attention immediately without being ostentatious. It speaks of quality product.

With no artificial colouring this is a dark red- brown sauce with obvious chunks of ingredients throughout. This is obviously not a highly processed product, something that again signifies quality. There are obvious chilli seeds, tomato seeds, and pieces of onion ,tomato skin, and chipotles.

Looks very appealing

Thick. Really thick – it actually piles up and supports it’s own weight to a large degree.

Everything to this point indicates that this is a quality product. I’ve never come across a sauce that does so with greater impact.

Ingredients: 10/10

Fresh tomatoes, freshly smoked chipotles(20%), onions, lemon, smoked garlic, malt vinegar, treacle vegetable oil, black strap molasses, brown sugar, salt.

In complete contrast to the El Yucateco Chipotle sauce where the two most abundant ingredients were water and sugar syrup, this product has fresh tomatoes and freshly smoked chipotles. This is a premium list of ingredients that I can not see any way of improving.

Aroma: 10/10

I poured the first sample into the bowl in the photo and within 5 minutes the aroma had filled our high-ceilinged dining room.

Rich tomato, smoke, vinegar, garlic and molasses elements flood the olfactory nerves. Pure sensory pleasure and I am literally salivating now in anticipation of tasting this sauce.

Flavour: 10/10

That sweetness has a nice depth of flavour to it as well in contrast to the empty sweetness of the high fructose corn syrup in the El Yucateco.

Overall: 10/10

This is a high quality sauce that brings out the best in all the ingredients.

If your were looking for an example of the flavour of chipotles to show someone who had not tried them before this would be the perfect product to do it with.

I’m a big fan of it and look forward to using up the extra bottle s that I have.

Improvements: There’s nothing here to improve upon. Over the coming months you’ll see that that is not a phrase I use lightly.

You’ll remember that for the El Yucateco Chipotle, among other things, I suggested that adding some citrus may be an improvement to alleviate the heaviness of the smoke. The presence of lemons in the sauce is there for exactly that reason and it is also helped along by the large amount tomatoes that are present as they are also a good source of fruit acids

Matching it with food;

• My personal favourite use for this is on grilled red meat – beef and kangaroo in particular. The smoke and other flavours in the sauce are helped along by the smoke flavour imparted to the meat in the barbecue.
• Mix it with good, egg mayonnaise and use it as a salad accompaniment or as a spread in sadnwiches and quesadillas. Or even as a dip !

Heat: 5/10 (doesn't affect Overall Score.

It’s very much a full palate heat for me. Warm but not hot, as reflected in the heat score. It lasts 2-5 minutes depending on your tolerance.

For those with a low tolerance, simply mix it with a little egg mayonnaise to reduce the heat without diminishing the flavour.

Ingredient Alert: None