Alternatives to Sriracha during the Great Shortage

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Got this for Christmas last year. Lasted about a month. Very delicious. Organicville Sky Valley Sriracha Sauce

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Chinese chilli oil. I prefer it to Sriracha personally or indeed Thai chilli oil. A little goes a long way but it’s possibly as addictive as crack.

Or just make your own. It’s pretty easy I imagine.

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We tear through lots of hot ingredients in our house. Sriracha is low on the list. It’s sort of the Mad Dog of spicy sauce to me. Certainly gets the job done, if that’s all you want.

1 Red Chile flakes Good on pizza, sandwiches, in soups, pastas, stir fry, etc. We keep 2 or three shakers of it and buy in bulk. Different brands and different cultivars for different dishes.
2 Jalapenos not that great flavor, but cheap way to add bulk heat. Pickled ones with movie popcorn are great.
3 Red Chile powder Soups, sauces, etc.
4 Green Chile Hamburgers, soups, stir fry This is the king of chiles, but harder to get here.
5 Chipotle powder Used to supplement the above and add smokey flavor. Also good on home popcorn
6 Green chile flakes substitute for red chile flakes in lighter dishes
7 cayenne for fast heat. Not a fan, but it has uses.
8 Tobasco / Franks hot sauce
9 Melinda’s hot sauce This might be the closest thing I use instead of Sriracha

When possible, I import my stuff from New Mexico. They treat chiles the way Californians and French treat wines. Culivar, source, growing conditions, season, prep method, and so on are common dinner conversation for this one ingredient. Heat and flavor are both important. And if you haven’t a green chile cheeseburger, then you’ve missed out on one of life’s great pleasures.

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2012’s remaining habaneros, jalapenos, scotch bonnets, chinese five color, and Thai finger all roasted then pureed together with enough white vinager to preserve, plus a dash of lemon or lime juice. Pressure can, and we’ll be set for a good 6-8 months. If we run out of homemade, Valentina (Mexico) is our go-to store bought hot sauce.

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It’s really quite easy to make a really good homemade version, really easy. Here’s a good recipe

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You can still get Sriracha, it just won’t be Huy Fong Sriracha. Shark Sauce, mentioned in the article, is Sriracha.

Here’s a list of some others, taste-tested.

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There used to be a place that sold every imaginable variety of hot sauce and peppers about a block from where I work.

It would be the ideal place to look for Sriracha alternatives, but it burned down. True story.

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Yes Valentina and Tapatio are fine alternatives. They are soooooo cheap in Texas! A quart jug is about two bucks or less at the HEB. But I’m with you on making it at home. Super easy.

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I use only a little sriracha. I expect my current bottle of Huy Fong is going to last me through the shortage.

If not, I’ll probably switch to sambal oelek for a while.

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Back in the old glory days when Huy Fong Sriracha wasn’t sold as a commodity on the AMEX, I used to put about 5 pounds of chicken wings in a big ziplock bag and absolutely smother them with Sriracha sauce. Left them in the fridge for a day or two, to soak up all that hot garlickyness, then slow bbq’ed them until the meat fell off the bone. THOSE WERE THE DAYS. Oh, and those suckers qualified as HOT. About 3x as hot as a regular buffalo wing.

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Trader Joe’s sells their own brand of Sriracha. I have most of a bottle sitting in the cabinet; it’s yours for the cost of shipping.

I love me some sriracha, but (in my not so humble opinion) their garlic chili paste is superior in almost every regard.
http://www.huyfong.com/no_frames/garlic.htm

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My favorite Sriracha is the Lee Kum Kee brand. It isn’t full of preservatives like the Huy Fong.

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i prefer shark brand myself. i’ve got two unopened liter bottles of it in the spice cabinet… i think i’m good to go.

One word: Harissa.

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That’s a small-looking bottle of Shark Brand. I’ve never seen it in anything but 750ml bottles.

Of course, it’s just one of many different chile sauces I keep on hand.

It’s a fairly different animal, but if you ever get a chance to grab a bottle of Salsa Lizano from Costa Rica, it’s phenomenal.

Oddly enough, Tapatio is also in our fridge and these sauces are similarly cheap all the way up here in Michigan, but you have to look a bit harder to find them.

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There’s a sriracha shortage? Oh no- what are all the Brooklyn Hipsters going to do for lunch?

Actually, since most of them just keep the bottle on their desk as an ironic status symbol, they’ve got plenty of reserves to not eat during the shortage. Crisis averted.