Chili Sauce - Styles of Hot Sauce - The Americas

The Americas

• Mexico - Mexican hot sauce typically focuses more on flavor than on intense heat. The sauces are hot, but the individual flavors of the peppers are pronounced. Vinegar is used sparingly or not at all. Chipotles are a very popular ingredient of Mexican hot sauce. Some sauces produced in Mexico are high-vinegar-content similar to the American Louisiana-style sauces. Mexican-style sauces are also produced internationally (e.g. Huffman's Hot Sauce and Kaitaia Fire from New Zealand). Some less hot sauces, like achiote or adobo, are used basically as part of some dishes, but they are used as a condiment, too. Sometimes they come in a green variety.
  • Valentina, a traditional Mexican sauce
  • Búfalo, a popular Mexican sauce
  • Chile de Arbol, very hot, similar to cayenne peppers, used in the popular Torta Ahogada dish
• United States: Most often called hot sauce, they are typically made from chili pepper, vinegar and salt. Peppers used are often of the varieties cayenne, jalapeño and habanero; chipotles are also common. Some hot sauces, notably Tabasco sauce, are aged in wooden casks similar to the preparation of wine and fermented vinegar. Other ingredients, including fruits and vegetables such as raspberries, mangoes, carrots, and chayote squash are sometimes used to add flavor, mellow the heat of the chilis, and thicken the sauce's consistency.
  • Artisan hot sauces are becoming very popular in the United States. Some of the companies producing these sauces are
    • CaJohn's
    • Heartbreaking Dawn's
    • Hellfire Hot Sauce
    • High River Sauces
    • Hotline Sauces
    • Defcon
    • Race City Sauces
  • Louisiana-style: Louisiana-style hot sauce contains red chili peppers (tabasco and/or cayenne are the most popular), vinegar and salt. Occasionally xanthan gum or other thickeners are used.
    • Crystal Hot Sauce
    • Texas Pete
    • Frank's Red Hot
    • Louisiana Hot Sauce
    • Tabasco sauce
    • Trappey's Hot Sauce
    • Landry's Hot Sauce
  • Chili pepper water: Used primarily in Hawaii, this concoction is ideal for cooking. It is made from whole chilies, garlic, salt, and water. Often homemade, the pungent end product must be sealed carefully to prevent leakage.
  • Sriracha sauce A traditional Thai hot sauce, made primarily of ground chilies, garlic, vinegar, sugar, and salt. Often called "rooster sauce" after the most widely sold U.S. brand's label.
  • A very mild chili sauce is produced by Heinz and other manufacturers, and is frequently found in cookbooks in the U.S. This style chili sauce is based on tomatoes, green and/or red bell peppers, and spices; and contains little chili pepper. This sauce is more akin to tomato ketchup and cocktail sauce than predominantly chili pepper-based sauces.
  • New Mexico: New Mexican style chile sauces differ from others in that they contain no vinegar. Almost every traditional New Mexican dish is served with red or green chile sauce. The sauce is often added to meats, eggs, vegetables, breads, and some dishes are, in fact, mostly chile sauce with a modest addition of pork, beef, or beans.
    • Green chile: This sauce is prepared from any fire roasted native green chile peppers, Hatch, Santa Fe, Albuquerque Tortilla Company, Bueno and Big Jim are common varieties. The skins are removed and peppers diced. Onions are fried in lard and a roux is prepared. Broth and chile peppers are added to the roux and thickened. Its consistency is similar to gravy, and it is used as such. It also is used as a salsa.
    • Red chile: A roux is made from lard and flour. The dried ground pods of native red chiles are added. Water is added and the sauce is thickened.
• West Indies - Hot pepper sauces, as they are most commonly known there, feature heavily in Caribbean cuisine. Like American-style sauces, they are made from chili peppers and vinegar, with fruits and vegetables added for extra flavor. The most common peppers used are habanero and Scotch bonnet, the latter being the most common in Jamaica. Both are very hot peppers, making for strong sauces (e.g. Capt'n Sleepy's Quintessential Habanero, or Matouk's). Over the years, each island developed its own distinctive recipes, and home-made sauces are still common.
  • Antigua - "Susie's Hot Sauce", a mustard based hot sauce.
  • Barbados - Bajan pepper sauce, a mustard and Scotch bonnet pepper based hot sauce.
  • Dominica - "Bello Hot Pepper Sauce", a hot sauce made from scotch bonnets, manufactured by Perry W. Bellot, LTD, a family owned business that has been manufacturing this hot sauce for over forty years.
  • Haiti - Sauce Ti-malice, typically made with habanero, shallots, lime juice, garlic and sometimes tomatoes
  • St. Lucia - Baron Hot Sauce, manufactured by Baron Foods Limited using fresh local Scotch bonnet peppers, mustard, garlic, onions to focus more on flavor than heat profile.
  • Puerto Rico
    • Pique - habaneros with orange
    • Sofrito - small piquins ("bird peppers") with annatto seeds, coriander leaves, onions, garlic, and tomatoes
  • Jamaica - Scotch bonnets are the most popular peppers used on Jamaica. They are often pounded with fruits such as mango, papaya and tamarind.
    • Pickapeppa sauce
    • Grace's Hot Pepper Sauce
    • Encona and Dunn's River brand is the choice for WestIndians in Britain
    • Goldson's MoreFire! Hot Sauce (1st place winner of a 2011 Scovie Award)
  • Virgin Islands - Asher (from "limes ashore"), made with lime, habaneros, cloves, allspice, salt, vinegar, and garlic.
• Belize
  • Melinda's, made with habaneros, carrots, onions
  • Marie Sharp's, commonplace in Belize
  • Hot Mama's, another hot sauce from Belize, winner at the 2006 Fiery Food Challenge with its Sweet Pepper Sauce and 2007 Scovie awards
• Panama
  • Picante Chombo D'Elidas is a popular brand in Panama, with three major sauces. The yellow sauce, made with habanero and mustard, is the most distinctive. They also produce red and green varieties which are heavier on vinegar content and without mustard.
  • Sista 100% Natural Pepper Sauce is a gourmet authentic Caribbean flavor pepper sauce/seasoning. Family recipe made using the "aji chombo" (Scotch bonnet/habanero peppers). It was a winner of a 2009 Scovie Award.