Review - Crazy Good Sauces
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Crazy Good Sauces/Tiger Blood LLC owners Jim and Nikki O’Brien currently reside in the state of New Mexico - as evidenced by the Land of Enchantment's sun on the Crazy Good hot sauce bottle labels, yet I was pleased to learn that they have ties to St. Louis, especially in the case of Jim who grow up in the Gateway City, and also did chef duties here, among other U.S. cities. Not a bad little connection to have there to this humble little reviewer.
But I cannot have any bias towards regionality, as any product I'm testing out has to taste great no matter what part of God's green Earth it comes from. Two of the elixirs the couple produces - Nikki's Crazy Good Southwest Sweet Heat and Jimmy's Crazy Good Red Chile Sauce - are now under my review microscope. Let's see how it fares...
Ingredients:
Nikki's Crazy Good Southwest Sweet Heat - Poblano chile, Jalapeno, Onion, Pineapple, Habanero Chile, Sugar, Salt, Garlic, Water, White Vinegar, Liquid Smoke (Water, Natural Liquid Smoke Concentrate), Xanthan Gum (Natural Stabilizer)
Jimmy's Crazy Good Red Chile Sauce - Poblano chile, Jalapeno, Onion, Pineapple Juice, New Mexican Red Chile, Habanero Chile, Sugar, Salt, Garlic, Water, White Vinegar, Liquid Smoke (Water, Natural Liquid Smoke Concentrate), Paprika, Xanthan Gum (Natural Stabilizer)
Aroma:
Nikki's Crazy Good Southwest Sweet Heat - 4 out of 5. Bright and vinegary, with the familiar veggie-like tones of jalapenos. Traces of garlic and onions are also present, making this a mouth-watering smell eminating from the bottle.
Jimmy's Crazy Good Red Chile Sauce - 2.5 out of 5. Very, very subdued. Faint odors of red chiles and sugar are most of what I could detect. Not bad, but not much there.
Appearance and Texture:
Nikki's Crazy Good Southwest Sweet Heat - 2.5 out of 5. Looks like any good jalapeno-based green sauce, with a solid color and chunks and shreds of ingredients. How this differs from others is that Nikki's Crazy Good Southwest Sweet Heat Hot Sauce is ultra-thick and pulpy, almost to the point of being a bit to difficult to extract from the bottle. I like a nice sauce that stands at the opposing end of overly watery condiments, but I would have thinned this up just a bit.
Jimmy's Crazy Good Red Chile Sauce - 3 out of 5. This looks like a standard red chile sauce, especially the runnier variety one would douse over enchiladas. It's got heft and considerable thickness.
Taste Straight Up:
Nikki's Crazy Good Southwest Sweet Heat - 4 out of 5. Tangy, sweet, with pickled jalapeno-like overtones. I could also sense some onion and garlic, with a surprising amount of habanero heat coming up on the back end. I was expecting perhaps a touch of cilantro, but instead was met with an almost "meaty" zing of the liquid smoke, which added a dimension of complexity. Out of the bottle, it's one of the better green sauces I've had in a long time.
Jimmy's Crazy Good Red Chile Sauce - 3 out of 5. Not as tangy or perky as Nikki's is. Jimmy's has that warm, familiar sweet feel with a bulk of its flavors hitting some of the lower notes of the taste spectrum. It's almost "cool" and tomato-like in its attack, yet maintains smoothness accented by the sweet red chiles and almost lacks any acidic nature. There's a touch of mild to medium level heat in the back of the mouth.
Taste On Food
Nikki's Crazy Good Southwest Sweet Heat -
A quick test on a salty tortilla chip revealed that the sharp flavors of Nikki's stood out, and the sweeter notes blended in with the ground corn and salt tastes.
Now it was time to utilize it with some real food. A dinner at one of my favorite Mexican restaurants earned the right to be the test subject on which to put Nikki's Crazy Good Southwest Sweet Heat. My entree consisted of a large, fried chicken chimichanga with a cheesy sauce, Mexican rice and a scoopful of refried beans. I applied Nikki's Southwest Sweet Heat both to the outside and inside (it especially helped out in this respect as the shredded chicken was a bit dry) of the chimis and melded wonderfully with the texture and flavors.
I shook out a couple of globs onto rice. Again, great complimentation.
For my next test, I decided to try something else: a chicken filet biscuit. While not as bombastic as the Mexican cuisine, Nikki's proved too be an admirable sauce.
I would also recommend this on other light meats, such as chicken or fish prepared in various ways.
Jimmy's Crazy Good Red Chile Sauce -
A taste on a tortilla chip brought out expected sweet tones from the sauce. Not bad, but I wanted to see what this would be like with a meal.
I poured some Jimmy's Crazy Good Red Chile Sauce on the other half of my chicken chimi. Again, pretty decent, with the sweet and almost-tomato like rush. Yet it was missing something...perhaps a bit more heat or zing to make it stand out.
Heat:
Nikki's Crazy Good Southwest Sweet Heat - 2.5 out of 5. A lot of it's perceived bluster comes form the tartness of the vinegar, but it does pack a small punch from the habanero chiles.
Jimmy's Crazy Good Red Chile Sauce - 1.5 out of 5.
Labels:
3 out of 5. Each one had a color gradient that complements the color of the sauce inside each bottle. They're bright and colorful. They also have the symbol of the State of New Mexico. Yet...in my opinion, there's something intangible lacking on these to put these over the top graphically.
Overall:
Nikki's Crazy Good Southwest Sweet Heat - 
Jimmy's Crazy Good Red Chile Sauce - 
Good efforts from Crazy Good Sauces/Tiger Blood LLC, and give Nikki's Crazy Good Southwest Sweet Heat a big thumbs up.
Both Nikki's and Jimmy's come in 5 oz bottles and are available for $6.00 each plus shipping at http://crazygoodsauce.com.
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2012-01-19 10:45:27
2012-01-21 13:49:37
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