I love spicy food. I love feeding others spicy food even more.
I was inspired by the Hot Ones show on YouTube — was fascinated in particular by "Da' Bomb" — how it would make almost every single person on that show cry.
Here's a nice compilation for reference: youtube.com/watch?v=GDEVOCTW4qk
I've been collecting good quality sauces from a good 4-5 years at this point. And along with that, one of my favorite activities has been to invite friends / colleagues to my place and feeding (tiny amounts) of hot sauces and seeing them cry.
A classic case of schadenfreude even.
The Scoville Scale
Is IMO useless.
I've had sauces that have hit up to 2.1 Million Scoville Units and NOT hit as much as some others.
For the uninitiated, wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale Scoville scale is a measurement of spiciness of chili peppers and other hot substances, recorded in Scoville heat units (SHU).
The Last Dab Apollo from Hot Ones is supposed to be 2.1M SHU, but a good number of people claim it never hits them the way some others do.
Da Bomb
You ask ANY hot sauce enthusiast for a recommendation and I'm very very certain this'll be in their top 3.
It's just THAT good.
SHU-wise it's nothing special. Da' Bomb comes in 3 variants — Beyond Insanity, Ground Zero, and The Final Answer.
What's used on the show is the Beyond Insanity variant, which is what I used to have until earlier this year.
Got my hands on Ground Zero and my god! It's pure liquid hell.
I am yet to try out the "The Final Answer" and I do not know if I'll be alive after consuming it. It is very very difficult to purchase it from India (at a reasonable price).
I've made far too many people cry from Da' Bomb. If you want to try it, you should come to place ;)
Useable Sauces
I'd like to highlight 2 sauces:
- Naagin Sauce - the normal version
- Wood Street Sauce Co. - Fresno chili
Both of these are genuinely tasty!
I really enjoy imitating the show with the a lineup of sauces with increasing heat:
My collection at it's peak (in terms of quantity):