Bill Gets Addicted ..... To Hot Sauce

The other day as I was paying my check at my favorite Mexican hole in the wall up on Admiral, the owner/chef noticed me checking out a bottle of hot sauce he had for sale by the register. A short conversation in rapid Spanish with his wife/waitress/maitre d' followed which I could not follow. Bottom line, Oscar the chef wanted to give me a bottle of the hot sauce. I accepted it gratefully.

I am a great fan of hot sauce. I was introduced the stuff in the military by a black Marine from the Deep South I was sharing a firing position with one night over forty years ago. A runner came around with the usual C-Rat supper and canteen refills. As we were opening the the various boxes, cans and envelopes, this guy pulled out a bottle of the famous (in the Corps at least) Mcillheney's Louisiana Hot Sauce. He told me that a few drops of this fiery, pungent liquid could make anything on the C-Rat menu but "Ham and Mothe*%&*'s" edible. He passed his bottle over to me and like a person receiving their first hit of crack cocaine I was hooked. Just a few drops of that magic liquid turned the cold, gelatinous mess in a can before me into something both lively on my palate and warming to my whole body. Since that memorable evening somewhere in the tropics, I have eaten hot sauce on everything from greens to fried chicken to scrambled eggs to even ice cream and brownies. So far, I haven't found anything that hot sauce properly applied cannot improve.

But, this stuff that my favorite chef Oscar gave to me raises the bar on my hot sauce addiction. This stuff is the champagne of hot sauces. It makes most American hot sauces taste like ketchup. Made with the fiery Chile's de Arbol native to Oscar's home state of Jalisco, it is deep, complex, pungent and fiery beyond description. It is a pleasure to be enjoyed in small doses. But, the stuff is amazing. There is an ingredient in there that produces an aroma and flavor that reminds me of, of all things, bacon grease. And, being a good southerner whose Mom religiously saved the bacon grease and then cooked everything in it and served it over just about everything from the garden, this exotic product somehow produces an amazingly homey experience.

Oscar knew what he was doing. I'm addicted to the stuff now and will have to buy it from him by the case I guess every time he takes a trip home to see his family.