We are a Texas Pete household; well, my half of it is. Rah buys (and I love) an absurdly tasty chipotle sauce from a specific store. I am perfectly happy putting Texas Pete on pretty much anything savory. It has a much better flavor, to my palate, than Tobasco.

As a child I was fond of Texas Pete because, despite the name, it's from North Carolina.

i confess i've never watched Braveheart yet

Ooops. Jeez.

I mean, That's for bumping the Ellay meet-up thread down, you jerkbutt!

3: But! But! But! I! Sent you! an email! And!

My robotic heart was immune to your piddling e-mails, fool.

2: The confessions are a different blog, read. =)

but Braveheart is here, so

As for the subject of hot sauces. My college roommate introduced me to one, I think it's "Tropical" on the label, sort of a rusty orange in color. So, so yummy. And hot. First really, really yummy. And then after just enough of a delay, really, really hot.

7: It's like you're a uniter, drawing blogs together!

First of all, "cold nachos" are great, though I usually employ cheddar in the place of Kraft Singles.

Yet hot nachos left to grow cold are disgusting. Paradox!

This was briefly fashionable in Britain a few years ago.

All the Scots I know are united in the belief that Gibson's was the worst movie Scottish accent ever. The better informed among them attribute this to the fact that Wallace was actually English.

I wasn't a Tabasco fan until I developed a taste for whiskey. I don't think that this is a coincidence, since it's aged in oak barrels (and in fact barrels that have been used for bourbon production).

Not that I mean to accuse you of not liking whiskey, of course. But Tabasco exists on a pretty different continuum from the purely vinegar & chili hot sauces like Texas Pete (which is fine for making wings, but is really just spicy vinegar, taste-wise). Also, put me down as patient zero in the Sriracha backlash -- no way it's good enough to justify those bottle sizes. Put me down for sambal instead.

re: 11

Actually, it's not even close to the worst Scottish accent in a movie, ever. Not while Christopher Lambert exists.

Gibson's accent is a bit all over the place, and there's a bit of comedy intonation happening, but it's not absolutely awful.

Of course, at that time, in the part of Scotland, English or Scots wasn't completely established as the first language of the people anyway.

And I don't think he actually was English.

You seem to have forgotten--or perhaps blocked out--Braveheart's crappy dialog (e.g., "Why are you helping me?" "Because you look at me that way..."), mean-spirited anti-gay agenda, and the most self-absorbed piece of shit scene ever, in which Mad Mel directs close-ups of himself in an interminable moment of extreme pain and suffering while in a Christ-like position. Fucking horrible, it is. And how many identical battle scenes can one movie have anyway? Worst movie ever.

Oh, and no comment on Cholula, other than to say that their garlic hot sauce (which is the one I keep running into) is pretty bad. Garlic salt, blech.

re: 14

Oh, the movie isn't good. Riddled with historical rubbish and ridiculous in many places. I'm just saying that his accent isn't as terrible as some people want to paint it [I've heard worse].

Sriracha is good, but my favorite hot sauce is Marie Sharp's Mild (or Hot) Habanero Hot Sauce. I prefer the mild, actually, because I can taste more of the sauce, but the hot is good, too. It's amazing on kim bob or California rolls. Also, I have an equally inexplicable affection for the movie The Postman.

I usually love Asian flavors and spices, but I find sriracha distractingly not-yummy. It has some sort of not-fresh flavor to me.

14,16:Well, yeah, but Sophie Marceau

Bufalo is a nice Mexican sauce - it has a bit of sweetness to it, which means it's not for every dish, but when it works... yum.

I never used hot sauce until I was at a diner and the waitress asked if I wanted Tabasco with my (really crispy shoestring) fries. "Uh, sure." It was great, partly, I think, because the fries were skinny enough that you could really get around a handful at a time, leading to good proportions. In general I find it very difficult to use Tabasco - enough to have some in every bite inevitably results in bites that are pure Tabasco. I'm a Frank's man for everyday use.

I like the green Tabasco.

Was The Postman an action flick? I think I read a terrible review (that is a review that said it was terrible) in National Review of all places. They used to have a really good, if slightly snobby, film critic.

But Il Postino was absolutely lovely. In fact, the review complained about the name, because it might confuse people.

I'm a Frank's man for everyday use.

I am weirdly fond of the stuff, because one can actually taste it. And it is nicely vinegary. Cook's Illustrated did a taste test and thought Frank's the best hot sauce because it actually functions as a condiment and let's you taste other things.

I'm fond of Melinda's hot sauces because they don't have vinegar and it's a very clean heat.

Was The Postman an action flick?

It's a Kevin Costner-saves-the-world-flick. In this one, Costner fights against wing-nutty salesmen for truth, justice, and the right to speedily delivered mail. I never read the NR review, but I'm a little surprised they disliked it. You'd think the movie's 4th of July patriotism would get it a place on one of their lists of best conservative movies.

I usually love Asian flavors and spices, but I find sriracha distractingly not-yummy. It has some sort of not-fresh flavor to me.

Me too. That's exactly it--there's something stale and musty about it to me.

Bah. Tabasco is just fine, in red and green. And it is not the only hot sauce (although you should be using salsa if you're going to get complicated).

As for cold nachos - there's nothing wrong with nacho chips, but putting crappy cold cheese on it is wrong.

Combining all that together this sounds like a rehash of the bland, crappy honkie food thing, like that stuff with the green beans.

max
['Wait, don't tell me! Wolf brand chili is actually really good stuff!']

And it is not the only hot sauce (although you should be using salsa if you're going to get complicated)

Salsa is a completely different thing.

I find sriracha distractingly not-yummy. It has some sort of not-fresh flavor to me.

It is remarkably good blended with lime juice, garlic, and a little ginger in a marinade. (Used to throw in kafir lime leaves, too, before I killed my tree.)

We also use the sriracha in an adaptation of my grandmas cheese spread -- a cup or so of grated cheddar, tablespoon butter, teaspoon mustard (or dijon mustard if that's what you have around), a tablespoon or two of sriracha and an egg. Blend until smooth in the food processor, spread on crackers. Two minutes under the broiler is the absolute best.

23: Exactly.

Sriracha is great. Y'all are crazypants.

(Used to throw in kafir lime leaves, too, before I killed my tree.)

Wait, you had a kafir lime tree? Tell me more, please.

32: We had one too, but CA left it outside too long one fall and kaput. It would flower and put out tiny limes, but really we just used the leaves in tom yum and the like.

rfts gets it right. Sriracha is particularly good in phở.

Tom's remarks on bourbon are going to force me to revisit the Tabasco issue with a fresh outlook. He's also spot-on about the Cholula garlic stuff. Blech.

Why does everyone want to be a hater? I like all the hot sauces/condiments mentioned in this thread. Also: the Chipotle-flavored Tabasco.

Do you guys know how to make buffalo wings better than 95% of wings you will get in a restaurant? Fry wings in oil. Remove to let them rest (this is VERY IMPORTANT for crispiness). Make the sauce--stick of butter, bottle of Frank's red hot, and like fifteen shakes of Tabasco. Dunk wings in sauce. So awesome.

Sriracha is good in pho. I also like that chinese-style chili-garlic paste, you know, usually served alongside potstickers? Whenever I make any kind of stirfry or anything vaguely East Asian that involves rice, I throw an assload of that stuff in there.

Have you guys ever had that Mexican snack which is basically giant puffed wheat things, each piece lovingly dipped in a bit of Cholula? So fantastic on a hot Chicago summer day.

I've come to accept that most hot sauce brand names are basically puerile fist-pumping—DOOD THIS SAUCE IS HOT!!1!1!one!!—but only just now did I discover that there's a category dedicated to how the product feels on exit. Ass Blaster. Bubba's Butt Blaster. Butt Twister. Hemorrhoid Helper. Queen of Farts. I wouldn't have thought that the promise of anal pain would be a selling point for anything, but I'm not in marketing.

The worst Asian sauce is the one that combines fish sauce with hot chili sauce.

I find that Sriracha varies widely by the bottle - it can be mild or quite hot, etc. I suspect that that variation might (maybe?) have something to do with the divide on it's yumminess. (I'm on the yummy side).

If you can get Salsa Valentina in your neck of the woods, then go for it: it is a more flavorful version of Cholula. Though I've only seen it in Mexico and Texas, I have a feeling it makes it to Mexican neighborhoods elsewhere.

I use with almost anything, including fruit.

25: The old NR film critic was an aesthete who lived in New York. He was more of a money conservative. They did a fashion segment once, and he said that he wasn't comfortable wearing jeans in the country, never mind the city.

Wait, you had a kafir lime tree? Tell me more, please.

UNG bought it for my birthday one year. I'd actually been planning to buy one for him, as he cooks alot of Thai food, but my brthday is earlier. Ordered off the internet, but I can't say I'd remember from where. I want a new one -- even if I didn't use them to cook, the fresh leaves were just a delight to crumble up and smell. Mmmmmm!

I was very self-conscious one time in New York, when I put on a pair of shorts without thinking about it, and then was stuck wandering around midtown in a pair of cutoffs.

Further to 42, he was much more interested in art than politics.

John Simon was also the theater critic for New York magazine until they fired him in 2005.

Make the sauce--stick of butter, bottle of Frank's red hot, and like fifteen shakes of Tabasco.

Okay, but the bottle of Franks I have in my fridge is like the half-gallon sized thing from Costco...

46: The bottle I'm talking about is the 12-oz one, so that's a cup and a half of sauce.

Jean cut-offs with snazzy heels or heeled boots are fashionable right now. Or they were in the summer, I mean. The cut-offs have to be pretty short, mind you.

I don't think I was wearing snazzy shoes. Probably just sandals. And a t-shirt.

Actually I think we left the city for the morning to visit some friends in Queens, which is why I'd thrown it on, but then we got back midtown and ended up making a bunch of stops and getting food before heading to meet my grandparents, and that's when I felt very conspicuous and embarrassed.

Sriracha: yes! Cholula: never got the whole thing. Sure it's all right, but I prefer the humble Tapatio. My favorite: Yucatan Sunshine.

Hot sauce resides in the vast culinary space of food items about which I do not have a strong opinion, but I *can* recommend a visit to Avery Island, Lousiana where McElheny's is made. Not really an island, but a low, nearly perfectly circular mound rising from the marshes, and which is the surface expression of a thousands of feet deep salt dome. See nice gardens, birds, lots of alligators and tour the factory. A totally authentic travel experience. I say this with the confidence of someone who visited it one time in 1977.

Sriracha is the stuff I call "cock sauce", right?

I admit that my preference for Mexican hot sauces tends towards Cholulua, because I think the label is prettier, but some times it swings back towards Tapatio, when I overcompensate for the idiocy behind my original preference. I believe that Cholula is a little sweeter and Tapatio a little more picante, but again, I think that belief stems from the depiction of a woman on the Cholula bottle and a man on the Tapatio.

I rather liked Dsquared on Braveheart.

I want a new one -- even if I didn't use them to cook, the fresh leaves were just a delight to crumble up and smell. Mmmmmm!

That sounds awfully nice. What I really want, though, is the plant that produces curry leaves. It is not clear to me how feasible it is to grow one indoors.

Sriracha is the stuff I call "cock sauce", right?

Correct. We usually call it "magic rooster" sauce at our house.

Or "magic rooster sauce," I reckon.

Sriracha is the stuff I call "cock sauce", right?

For your sake, I hope not.

I really like it on pizza. Especially homemade pizza.

On the strength of 50 I just purchased some Yucatan Sunshine, which, sadly, is in no way related to Acapulco Gold.

OMG you guys people are so swipple. This is like the valley girl corner of the bar, right?

(/affection, eye-roll)

How many kinds of hot sauce do you own, parsimon?

(/silliness)

(Me, only one. I tend to like my spice more from chile peppers and ground cayenne than bottled sauces. Easier to control the variables).

61: Sadly, I usually have just a big bottle of Crystal Hot Sauce in the cabinet. I go though it. I haven't attended to the vagaries of hot sauce ingredients for some time, which does make me sad.

I have, though, recently come into a big stash of ground flax seed, and have just explained to my roomate about the need to include some of it in the homemade granola he's about to make. Also in any muffins he may make.

Mm, I've never used ground flax. I like using the whole seeds in granola, on the top of oatmeal, and in yogurt.

What's the protocol for using ground flax? (Does it have more or less protein content than wheat flour?) (Should I just look it up?)

63: There is a previous discussion on this blog about this, which I won't search for at this time: long story short, the whole seeds go right though you, man. You might as well be ingesting pebbles, so no: you need to grind them.

Oh, I just like the way they taste, and I like extra crunch in those things. I'm not deluding myself on the health benefits.

But I do want to know how to actually use the flour! I'll google.

65: I gather you're referring to something that might be called (ground) flax flour? Which is not the same as the ground flax seed I refer to.

Someone here clearly needs to get her flax straight.

Heh, Stanley.

And sorry, parsimon, I call any grain/seed that's ground: flour. I'm sure that's not taxonomically correct, sorry for the confusion. I've just never seen it ground before, so I was curious as to how you'd use it.

I've just never seen it ground before, so I was curious as to how you'd use it.

Ground flax seed looks similar to wheat germ, if you've seen that. It's rather grainy, but not as large-grained as, say, bulghur wheat.

It's not powdery -- which is what I tend to think is needed in flour. So you'd use ground flax seed as an additive in things: in or on granola, in/on oatmeal, cereal, in yogurt, in baked goods. The point is that if you're adding regular old (pretty, attractive!) flax seeds to things, you may like the crunch, but you're not getting any of the ultra fantastic amazing and not to be disregarded nutritional value you can get from flax.

Someone here clearly needs to get her flax straight.

Just flip to the relevant entry in Flax on File.

Yep, I'm aware of the nutritional issues; I just really like things you have to chew. (See thread on candy).

I use wheat germ all the time in much the same way, so perhaps I should keep my eye out for the ground flax seed. I'm sure it's hiding in some corner of the co-op, there's just so many options that it is easy for things to hide if you're not looking for it.

(I was indeed imagining something a bit more finely ground than it sounds like it is).

Thanks!

70: I was once sent, over the phone lines, some information about a thing that flax was like.

I forget most of the relevant details, but was my first and only flax simile.

^it

A tiff of the hat to Stanley for that one.

so perhaps I should keep my eye out for the ground flax seed

Perhaps? Perhaps?? Omega-3 fatty acids! Pfeh, if you just want things you can chew or crunch on, add sesame seeds, or sunflower seeds or whatever. They're cheaper. Sunflower seeds are way cool in their own right, of course.

I must go.

Omega-3 fatty acids!

That's what the sardines are for.

Did anyone else get the sense that I horrified parsimon so much with my callous disregard for the nutritional properties of flax that she had to leave?

She's on a flax-finding mission.

Oh dear, the puns are endless, aren't they?

78: That much ought to have been flaxiomatic.

76.2: Hell no. Battlestar Galactica was on, and then I had to tend to some granola and receive instruction on the watering of the 28 (!) lettuce seedlings in the greenhouse/basement. Which is kind of more than we need.

Sardines I can't abide, so I guess we're all on our own omega-3-wise.

Historians can't bear to look away from their flax.

Heh. I am watching BSG too! (Albeit on DVD).

And I knew, just teasing. (Can you tell I'm a wee bit bored? I hate it when my plans get canceled, even if staying in with Battlestar isn't such a bad thing).

eb! That's so terrible it's great!

Battlestar Galactica was on

ZOMG wtf was with caSting John Hodgman as the doctor? So distracting. Willing suspension of disbelief straight out the window.

-S+s. Apologies, am mildly Becks-style.

84: Oh. Yeah, my friend shouted out "John Hodgman!" and I said "What? Oh, yeah, weird, I see." I dunno. Comedic effect not really called for there.

82.2: I hate it when my plans get canceled

With respect to the getting, or having, of plans cancelled, I haven't really registered Friday nights as necessarily going-out nights for some time, probably a function of being self-employed, so that people's usual Monday-to-Friday mindset doesn't register, and working routinely on Saturdays anyway. I've been ruminating on this.

John Hodgman is a hero, who enjoys a tasty cocktail.

I tend to work much of the weekend too, and my going out on Friday doesn't consist of much more than beers and dinner with friends. I'm a creature of habit and I feel like I should spend Friday nights doing nothing of consequence, but sometimes I have a hard time doing so if I've got work to do, as is pretty much always the case. Having plans makes it feel like since I'm doing something social it's perfectly ok to get nothing done.

My co-op sells Bob's Red Mill Organic Flaxseed Meal, which is quite a tasty option for all your flaxseed needs. I generally just eat a teaspoon or two in the morning, rather than cooking it into anything. I usually put half of it into a jar and freeze the other half; it does go rancid somewhat easily.

90: Ours carries Bob's Red Mill, so I bet we have that. Hm. I'll have to rethink my flax needs. If it makes a good substitute for my beloved wheat germ, I could definitely see switching over.

In case you would like to know, our beautiful friend purslane is the greatest gift to our mandibles known in our own back yards:

Purslane contains more Omega-3 fatty acids (alpha-linolenic acid in particular[4]) than any other leafy vegetable plant. Simopoulos states that Purslane has .01 mg/g of EPA. This is an extraordinary amount of EPA for land based vegetable sources. EPA is an Omega-3 fatty acid normally found mostly in fish, some algae and flax seeds.

This is serious blessing-quality stuff! You may well have it growing in your garden or whatever you may have. I thought it was just a pretty little thing that ran around here and there. No, eat it! It's good. Peppery/citrusy, kind of.

it does go rancid somewhat easily

I thought about that. Any ground seed's value is usually in its oil, and the oil can go rancid, so I was thinking that this ground flax seed I've inherited from my mom should really be in a tightly sealed jar in the fridge.

I got a bunch of flour, including rice flour (never used that) from her house as well. What do I do with all this stuff.

Lastly, Parenthetical, I don't think you need to substitute one thing for another; why would you do that?

Variety? I eat wheat germ because it's what I grew up with. Might as well try something new every once in awhile!

(And I like getting food tips from pretend internet people!)

Variety would be having both wheat germ and (ground) flax seed, but who am I to explain.

Flaxonomy is a complicated subject.

er, strike the signature on 96; that was me.

I suspect that I'm just not being clear, parsimon. Sorry. I shouldn't try to comment on less than 5 hours of sleep, it's just not a good idea.

99: Yeah, okay, later.

ohforgodssake If I can't laugh now -- I'm sorry. 100 is me.

Clearly I need to go to bed.

O wad some Pow'r the gif to gie us
To see oursel's as others see us

Tell me that sometime, Stormcrow.

This thing really is great.

Wow, we totally have purslane growing in our "garden." And we love a wide variety of greens. Of course, we also eat a lot of sardines. But still!

104: Actually pars, 103 was a belated and self-indulgent follow on to my 74, my thoughts transported to the higher realms of subtle comedy by spending a fair bit of the intervening hours listening to a young Iranian harpsichordist from Stanford playing Bach (PBUH) with a local early music group.

Cholula good.

Braveheart, otoh--I can't believe you admitted that in public.