I use "Rooster" chili sauce for everything. (Actual Name: Sriracha from Huy Fong Foods.) I didn't realize that it is a hugely popular phenomena in North America, as the New York Times points out in this article.
Sriracha has proved relevant beyond the epicurean realm. Wal-Mart sells the stuff. So do mom-and-pop stores, from Bristol, Tenn., to Bisbee, Ariz.UPDATE: I should have highlighted the humorous part of the article:
Sriracha is a key ingredient in street food: The two Kogi trucks that travel the streets of Los Angeles, vending kimchi-garnished tacos to the young, hip and hungry, provide customers with just one condiment, Huy Fong sriracha.
Recently, Huy Fong’s sriracha found its place in the suburbs. Applebee’s has begun serving fried shrimp with a mix of mayonnaise and Huy Fong sriracha. They followed P. F. Chang’s, another national chain, which began using it in 2000, and now features battered and fried green beans with a sriracha-spiked dipping sauce, as well as a refined riff on what both Applebee’s and P. F. Chang’s call dynamite shrimp.
He could never have expected what he found, one recent afternoon, as he trolled the Internet in search of what fans of his sauce have wrought.UPDATE II: I substituted the picture with one of my own. Click to expand it. There's something strangely attractive about the container.
Mr. Tran scanned pictures of 20-something women in homemade Halloween costumes designed to resemble the Huy Fong bottle. He navigated to one of two sriracha Facebook pages, the larger of which has more than 120,000 fans.
He retrieved a favorite picture, of Travis Mason, a 36-year-old coffee salesman from Portland, Ore., who commissioned a tattoo of the Huy Fong logo on his left calf. “I’m always interested in what they do,” Mr. Tran said, his voice filled with genuine wonderment.
Where do you buy it in Canada? I have never seen it before.
ReplyDeleteIn Vancouver, you can get it at any regular grocery store. I thought it was easily available here because of the large Asian community, but apparantly it is wide spread.
ReplyDeleteAfter discovering this a few years ago, I barely use Tabasco sauce anymore.
I love the zesty zing of Tobasco sauce. The burn that follows almost has addictive qualities for me. How would you describe the flavour of this Rooster sauce?
ReplyDeleteIt definitely has a zing, slightly more pure, if that makes any sense.
ReplyDeleteBecause it's a paste, rather than a pure liquid, you can spread it out more. For example, a chicken salad sandwich. You have to be judicious with your drops of Tabasco, but with Rooster, you mix it so it evens throughout the whole thing. You get a good hot bite, everytime.
In that sense, it works so well with a hamburger. Again, it's difficult to place drops on a burger, but Rooster can be spread like a normal condiment.
And it burns. Unfortunately for my stomach, I love firey food.