Holy hot sauce!
By Caleb Parker
Picture of Fire N’ The Hole, provided by fire-n-the-hole.square.site
Tis’ the season of fire and flames! Despite the wintry cold and icy billowing breezes, there’s one place in Owasso that stays fiercely fiery year-round. Fire N’ The Hole, a specialty hot sauce business on Main Street, brings an entirely new meaning to the worlds of spicy and savory sustenance. But what really lies inside these gleaming bottles of death stacked upon the scary shelves in the store?
After suffering through a multitude of flavors and feeling my taste buds melt in agony, I finally sat down with a cold, sweet and refreshing glass of milk while reviewing some of the best sauces in town.
Flavor Over Fire - Spice Level 3-5.5/10
If you’re searching for sugary and somewhat spicy flavors to begin your inflammatory adventure, then look no further; these sauces provide sweet and tame flavors that pair wonderfully with wings, barbeque and Mexican dishes.
3/10
Fire N’ The Hole’s Mango Habanero house sauce has a delightfully sweet and fruity taste, with its mango flavor shining brightly despite the small kick of habanero in the background. This sauce has substantially less heat than most other sauces and instead has a sugary aftertaste that could only hurt the weakest of sauce-tasting mortals.
5/10
As we continue through the pearly gates of flavor, we head now to the Tomatillo Jalapeño. This house sauce instantly hits you with slightly stronger heat compared to the likes of the mango. Paired best with nachos and tacos, this sauce is most similar to green salsa, still having a calmer heat level than the average salsa.
4/10
Aloha, “Greetings!” exclaims the Pineapple Mango house sauce. At first taste, an instant wave of savory flavor hits the tongue, followed by a slight sting in the roof of the mouth. Though not as spicy as the tomatillo, it passed the mango habanero in the heat index.
3.5/10
Though it sounds intimidating, the Thorn hot sauce has more bark than bite, offering a sweet barbeque taste that leaves you wondering where the fire went. Despite the low temperature levels, Thorn still makes an impressive debut; the sauce would reach its true potential when used as a glaze or dipping sauce for wings, brisket and all things BBQ.
Double Takes - Spice Level 6-7.5/10
Unfortunately, the convenient sweetness and painless happiness ends here—the heat from these next sauces will have anybody second-guessing their ability to continue through the approaching agony.
6.5/10
As the bottles o’sauce heat up, the amount of beckoning bliss begins to dwindle. With a potent flavor and noticeable increase in heat, the Jalapeño house sauce isn’t playing around. In terms of liquid consistency, the sauce held up incredibly well and was evenly balanced, not being too thick or too runny. Yet, while it still holds a delicious and potent palate, the sweetness is gone; now, the spice levels are hitting the back of the throat, and they aren’t willing to leave.
7/10
Yikes. The Habanero Garlic is the first sauce on the list that really begins to light the stove. Its considerable jump in heat makes it a great choice for specialty dishes, and the garlic flavor isn’t lost in the house sauce’s dense, lethargic layers. This is an all-around great choice for cooked meats and reaches its potential when used alongside Mexican food.
7.5/10
By now, all the sugared flavor from before is gone, leaving nothing but the heat and the raw flavor of the puréed peppers; Dawson’s Original hot sauce is no exception. With a habanero taste that feels like a tabasco sauce on steroids, the pepper flavor hits hard against the roof of the mouth and isn’t afraid to scare even the bravest of connoisseurs away.
Liquid Lava - Spice Levels 8-9.5/10
These sauces mean business. If you ever come across these glass flasks of acid, dive into their flame-like pits at your own risk; only the most courageous souls can return alive.
8-8.5/10
Both the Scorpion House and Scorpion Disco sauce drive the heat through the roof, giving subtle and short-lived nostalgia to the fruit flavor from the beginning. Scorpion peppers naturally have a slow wind-up for heat, with a harsh yet sickly sweet fruit flavor that begins to spread throughout the sinuses. Though not the spiciest on the list, these sauces are sure to shed tears, regardless of one’s expected spice tolerance.
9/10
Next up, you guessed it: the Carolina Reaper. The Regret Reserve and Fire N’ The Hole’s Carolina Reaper House Sauce hits hard, spreading slowly throughout the mouth and not letting go of its grasp on the gullet. Its flavor is still found, however, among the internal combustion happening on the surface of the tongue. There’s somewhat of a sweet flavor, though not as fruity as the scorpion, giving the slightest hint of sugar amidst the pain.
9.5/10
Ouch! The Grinders Death Nectar earns the hottest spot on the list, producing a painful taste that no other sauce could. With barely a hint of sauce it stings and spears even the strongest of taste buds. As soon as it touches the tongue, it spreads throughout the rest of the mouth and lingers along the inner throat’s lining.
What makes this sauce so scorchingly hot is the habanero pepper extract used instead of the plain habanero. When sauces use an extract, they primarily use the pepper’s placenta, containing the highest amount of capsaicin without being overshadowed by the water content naturally occurring in most of the pepper. This is why the Death Nectar’s pepper of choice, the Habanero, is so much spicier in the nectar than the other sauces; though habaneros are considered less spicy, using an extract is closer to using pure, hot capsaicin (the chemical alkaloid found in the chili pepper family). Taste at your own risk—this “nectar” is closer to a semi-sweet poison!
In my opinion, the Habanero Garlic is the best option on the list. The garlic flavor is not overdone, giving the habanero room for the spotlight. I’ve used this sauce countless times for nachos and enchiladas, and it packs an amazing punch of heat without sending my tastebuds to the emergency room.
If you ever get the chance, try some of these tasty sauces at Fire N’ The Hole on Main Street! Whether you’re looking to warm yourself up or you’re like me and just enjoy burning your tongue off, grab a bottle of hot sauce this winter while patiently waiting for the summer heat to kick in.