I question the choice of sauce bottle. That’s clearly sriracha, and as someone who doesn’t consider themselves a hot sauce person, it’s not hot, it just contains chillies. I don’t think anyone who goes back for seconds after melting their face would melt their face with sriracha.
Different people have different levels of heat resistance. My dad will abort mission, if you shake the pepper shaker more than once. Obviously, he doesn’t have it in him to go back for seconds. I do, but having grown up in that household, it takes a while for the same heat resistance to build up. I bought sriracha for the first time a few months ago, and you could certainly still melt my face off with it, despite me using it again and again.
My parents think a jalapeno-based sauce will kill you, and they refuse to believe there even exists anything hotter than that.
I’m SEA-n but relatively speaking I’m on the lower end of the ladder heat resistant-wise.
I was so excited when I could finally buy Jalapeno in my country cuz I wanna make Poppers. When I bit a raw one my reaction was “my dude, this is a tomato”, my western media fooled me into thinking it’s the hottest thing ever.
Then I found out about the Scoville unit and realized the Silling Labuyo we raw-dogging daily is order of magnitude hotter lol. Jalapeno actually tastes great though.
Absolutely. A very nice chili for sweetness.
Last time my parents visited us my mum had some smoked jalapeno sauce because “it looked like we were enjoying it so much”, and afterwards she thought we were trying to kill her.
My dad just said something like “no thank you, I’ve seen people eat those things on the footy show. Stupid.”
Some people say that peperroni pizza is too hot for them.
This mayonnaise is spicy.
Had the same thought. Kinda ruined effect for me
Yeah this isn’t even gatekeeping spiciness. He might as well be using a ketchup bottle
I’m convinced Sriracha is different in different places. Obviously, different brands have varied heat but the classic one available worldwide is definitely hot, it’s not extreme but definitely hot. I wouldn’t call myself a hot sauce person either but I do enjoy hot foods and condiments, I’d say about average on heat sensitivity. I know several people who just can’t have Sriracha because it’s too hot for them, and it’s easy to make something too hot with a lot of it IMO.
Their might be ghost pepper Sriracha? But yeah, normal Sriracha is a sweet pepper sauce, not a hot sauce.
I’m not too ashamed to admit that siracha will make me feel pain. I do not find the pain from spicy enjoyable tho
I think that’s the difference. Someone who does enjoy it will quickly build a tolerance to that level of spice.
My cousin once drank from a Sriracha sauce bottle like it was a water bottle because he enjoyed the flavour that much. He regretted it when he realized that his mouth had built more tolerance than his other end, though.
How does one build up a tolerance on the other end?
Spicy enemas. Or by regularly consuming so much spice that some makes it to that end, since binding to a heat receptor uses it up, as I understand it.
if there is a sriracha sauce somewhere in the world thats actually this hot I want it, but normally its nothing like this.
Since Huy Fong completely fucked over his pepper suppliers every batch is now wildly different so you never know how spicy a bottle is going to be!
Yea, what a dickhead. I never understand the mentality of a successful collaboration going to someones head getting them to think, let me just squeeze the supplier of this critical ingredient.
Case study as to why you can’t let a single customer monopolize your business income.
I am constantly surprised by the variation between bottles, I thought it was just my perception!
oh man, I had heard there were shortages, but I never knew there was drama that went as deep as it did. That was a fun read.
Underwood Sriracha is good though!
How does it comparte to original huy fong, before the pepper dust up?
Hard to say exactly without a side by side. It is very close to my recollection, maybe slightly less sweet and a bit more chili pepper and garlic flavor. Just as spicy.
I’m a big chili fan and can handle some decent heat, this comes closest: https://www.flyinggoosebrand.com/product/sriracha-blackout/
But it kind of defeats the point if Sriracha, for me at least, which is slightly hot garlic ketchup-like red stuff :)
Yeah, I agree. I’m not the biggest fan of Sriracha, but the purpose isn’t to be spicy. It’s to add spices and flavor. You can add other stuff in addition to make things spicy. Similarly, Tabasco is a seasoning. It’s technically labeled a hot sauce, but it’s very mild and there for the flavor. There’s plenty of other options to increase the heat. They serve different purposes.
I actually ended up using sriracha as a “cooling down”-agent for when I tested some absurd butt-blazing fire-fire-pants-on-fire hot sauce.
Last time I was at a firehouse subs, I noticed they had a spicy sauce rack with everything labeled from 1 to 10 in spiciness. They only had ones going up to 8 at the time, so I tried adding a little bit of the 8 to my sandwich. Sriracha was like a 5 iirc.
I think it was a linear scale though because I didn’t really notice anything from the little bit I put on my sandwich. Put more on the other half and even then, it didn’t leave much heat.
Yet if I eat a slice of fresh cayenne when cooking, it will burn intensely for a good 5 minutes and I know that it’s only around the middle of the spice scale, which is logarithmic.
I wish humans didn’t have the ego issue that results in “some products are labeled very spicy when they aren’t so that fragile egos can act like they can handle more spice than they really can”. I’m kinda tired of needing to calibrate every single spicy thing trying to find some good heat without worrying about whether the extreme spice warning is accurate or just playing into that ego thing. I want enjoyable heat, not burn your face off.
Though I suppose part of it might be because I don’t think a single person can accurately measure the amount of heat in a variety of sauces from mild to very hot. Your own tolerance plays an important role and everything less spicy than your ideal will seem barely spicy at all and everything more will seem very spicy.
Maybe give the Austrian https://shop.firelandfoods.at/en a try if you’re ever in Europe.
Elijah’s extreme is a really good brand
Effing hawt, and tastes pretty good
looks like the brand is in some local shops. I’ll check them out next shopping day
Chip from Megas XLR
I’ve always believed that eating really spicy food is a form of masochism.
No. It’s the only way men can experience pregnancy contractions. At least I have, once, when doing a spicy challenge. I did win it, but about 6 hours later I got some rumbly in my tumbly, then, another 3 hours later, all broke loose. The only feeling I had was pain. My stomach hurt, my intestines hurt, my butthole hurt. My body pressed itself free from this spicyness. Over an hour of contractions and pain. I was sweating, I was crying. Every time I thought it was finally over, another contraction. The heat started. It felt cold at times, before becoming hot again. And what did I do this for? Well, I got a shirt I got too fat to wear. And I got to say the best pickup line in my life: I only got this because you’re even hotter than that.
I’ll let my daughter know.
After Sriracha stopped producing, I found a big ol’ bottle of the sauce I had accidentally hidden behind some protein powder in my pantry. I enjoyed the hell out of it. slathered pizzas, spiced soup, made sriracha aoli for sandwiches. Just ran out the other day. The new tobasco brand just doesn’t have the same balance between sweet and spicy that real sriracha does. It’s a shame. I enjoyed it while it lasted, at least
Not that they need me to advertise for them, but my understanding is that there’s quite a lot of flavor variety in the “Hot Ones” sauces. I do not enjoy spiciness, so I cannot comment on their quality beyond that.
The Kent Survival YouTube channel does also frequently reference the many tastes in their sauces, but again, I cannot personally comment on quality.
One of my old co-workers literally carries around an unlabeled bottle of white sauce that he claims is both flavorful and spicy. Our other erstwhile co-workers disagree and say that the spiciness overwhelms everything else, but he swears by it. I can see if he’ll disclose what it is.
Regardless of whether you pursue any of my suggestions, I hope you find the balance you seek!
As someone who loves spicy to the point of literally sweating, do NOT get The Bomb from Hot Ones. That shit is not fit for human consumption. Literally 2 drops for a plate of food is a risk. When I first got it, I put a dab on a chip and tried it directly. The head high felt like I was on actual drugs. Once in a while, I’ll bust it out just to know I still feel. It’s not for food though.
They should put this on their product page as an endorsement, I know it convinced me to try some
Have you tried the one chip challenge?
I have actually tried something similar to this at a Pepper Palace! Had to sign a waiver. The heat lasted for about 20 minutes, it was way more gradual than The Bomb. The Bomb is basically like a bomb lol
If you figure out what your coworkers sauce of choice is, let me know too. I love spice, but haven’t found a good staple to keep on hand.
I’ve reached out. If he responds, I will be happy to share.
I’ve seen original Huy Fong Sriracha on the shelves again recently, you should see if you can find it.
I think the biggest concern is if they’re still using the same chilis as before. There was some falling out between Huy Fong and its supplier over payment. Not sure if they settled it though.
They did not. It was a personal relationship that went sour, so it’ll probably never happen.
I also did not care for the Tabasco version, but couldn’t articulate the reason. Melinda’s is what I finally switched to after I couldn’t find Sriracha brand. I like many of their other sauces as well, particularly their Black Truffle Hot Sauce.
*) The only socially acceptable way for a man to cry. /s
This is so me. I absolutely love Sriracha! I find it to be just the right level of spiciness for every day food. Doesn’t bother me at all. There’s plenty of other hot sauces out there that are just stupid hot and aren’t nearly as enjoyable
Try Buldak (that one from Buldak ramen but in bottle) sauce. It’s very hot but tasty.
I tried gochujiang, and haven’t looked back at sriracha even once. I highly recommend trying some! It’s got a much deeper flavor, imo
💀
Panel 4: *NNN
I enjoy spicy food once in a while, but I don’t get why anyone would actively make it extremely hot on purpose. It doesn’t enhance the taste, it actually makes the food taste less since you mainly taste the spice.
Some of us enjoy the taste of the chilis. Also a bit of enjoyment of the pain and tears
So like, a smidge of masochism of sorts?
More than a smudge. “Hot” isn’t a flavor. What you’re experiencing is pain.
Yes?
If you haven’t, read up on what endorphins do. Among other things, they suppress pain by making you feel good.
I like to describe spicy food as a way to experience a pain that is 100% not actually hurting you. All that capsaicin is doing is tricking your nerves.
I like the flavors that a lot of the lower-tier hot peppers produce. Jalapenos and Habaneros go into a lot of the food I make for myself, but that’s more of a flavor decision where the heat is a neat side effect. As you go up the heat scale, though, the flavors themselves start to get overpowered (at least for me).
There is, though, a sweet spot where the heat becomes too much for you, and your brain jumps in to help. That’s where the endorphins kick in and the experience changes from “This is too spicy for me…” to “This is best damn chicken sandwich I’ve ever had!” while mopping your brow.
Once you have a high enough heat tolerance you can start to actually taste stuff, even when it’s melting your face off.
Ghost peppers are fruity, with an almost cherry-like flavor. If you can handle them they’re a great enhancer for candy!
The title already explained it. It’s for the endorphin rush. Also, sometimes your food tastes like crap, and you just want to cover up the taste.
I generally don’t like sauce that is only hot. I like it to have flavor, too.
It’s fine if you don’t get it, but for some people the spice is as important, or more important, than the flavor
Yes, but why is it more important to you?
Piss off with that!
Am I not allowed to not understand things?
You could just explain why your opinion differs, so I might learn
I am trying not to make it a contest, but comics like this make it very difficult to hold back. I don’t think people should eat spicy food beyond their comfort zone as some kind of show of toughness. This comic seems to be revealing in being tough for eating seconds of Sriracha though. People who have this Hot Sauce Bro mentality tend to be lightweights with inflated egos.
Not sure how you are getting that from it. This is a guy enjoying spicy food and nothing more
There was another one similar to this that had a message for the cooks like “make him regret being born.”
I NOW CRAVE PAD THAI
It’s a beautiful thing.
I’m not in the office for a while but there’s a place near my office that makes pad Thai that melts my face off and their flavoring is the best I’ve ever had. I can’t be bothered to leave the house but I am so very tempted. I wish I could have it delivered!
Man I went to this Thai food place and they repeatedly warned me about how hot it was and I’m like pfffft I’ve had had and most places that warn you don’t live up to it. But man was it way to damn spicy, the next morning my pee burned and I was on the toilet half the day
I always say “if you aren’t making me sign a waiver, I can handle it”
Then I had a place make me sign a waiver
I’ve had hotter… But not much…
WANT
This shit is like me. If I’m going to a Thai place I’m not a regular at, it’s pretty much impossible for them to serve some white guy the hot stuff. Even actual “Southern Thai hot” isn’t hot enough for my screwed up tastes to catch a real heat buzz, so normally what I get served seems heatless to me.
What usually gets the point home is telling the waitress its good tasting, but bland, and asking if I could have some birds eye pepper to put extra on it. For all the talk about how hot Thai food is, all they actually use are birds eye peppers (fresh, or dried and ground), which are around as hot as a Serrano pepper, or about half to a third as hot as a habanero. So for someone who can just eat a habanero, them going weak on the birds eye means I’m really not getting the kick I crave. Asking specifically for the hottest thing they put in their food (just me knowing what peppers they are) usually takes care of it.
I enjoy eating habanero peppers! Good flavor! Makes good salsa too.
We have a lot of tourists and “Thai hot” still doesn’t get you anywhere. You have to make (good natured) threats to get the real deal.
“The only way I will send this back is if it isn’t spicy enough. Tell the chef he has a weak little Denmark pallette who thinks a bell pepper will burn his lips off.”
This is dumb. Pad Thai is not a spicy dish in Thailand.
Ask for some som tam with that text.
I remember our first bottle of Sriracha lasted about two years because we thought it was so spicy. Now they are lucky to last two months and we always add something spicy to give it some kick because we find it too bland now.
EDIT: For context, when we eat Thai or Indian we ask for “thai hot” or grandma’s style (the cook is the owner’s grandmother). Thai hot is perfect. Grandma is trying to kill me.
My friends told me they changed the recipe, so that might be why
Same recipe, different suppliers because they tried to screw over their biggest pepper supplier (Underwood Farms) who now make their own brand of Sriracha. In 2022, it was hard to find the Huy Fong brand and they said it was due to draught in Mexico, but they would have had plenty of they weren’t trying to cut out their original supplier who has now gone their own way.
I believe it. I get a Sriracha like red pepper sauce at Korean market and it is significantly hotter. I would not be surprised if Sriracha may have reduced its spice level for a wider audience.
Supplier change, but that isn’t it. By 2013 Sriracha wasn’t hot enough for us anymore. We used it like ketchup at that point. I think it was 2002 when we got that first bottle.
I always did think it was a bit tame, like a slightly spicy catsup, so that makes sense… Would like to try the full heat version now
Where I live (Norway) there’s 3 different bottles available, they’re all exactly the same and you have to look at the ingredients to find out which one it is (chili content %)
There’s one in grocery stores, it’s not spicy at all.
There’s a different one available for wholesale (the ones restaurants have) which has some heat.
Then there’s the import one I find in Asian grocery stores which actually has some spicyness to it.
FYI: https://www.chilisauser.no/produkt/daves-gourmet-sir-ouch-a/
Ain’t cheap though…
The “extra hot” sriracha in the imports is good.
I usually just go for a Korean Raman at this point. They at least live up to their label. I’ve also taken to making my own sauces at home with peppers from the imports.
You challenged Grandma. Grandma doesn’t fight fair, and she’s heard about packing heat and made it her own. You have to see it through now. Eat enough of her food and you’ll be inducted into a secret order of endorphin lovers.
I need to find this Grandma, this sounds like a fight I’d be happy to lose
I like that his fork melted. That’s a nice touch.
I know someone exactly like this. Frequently complains about the burn and heartburn, and keeps doing it anyway.
This is literally my dad lol
