We decided to re-visit our friend CaJohn’s hot sauces and review another one he recommended for us to try. The fact that this is a serrano sauces makes it a little different, as there are a dearth of serrano sauces out there compared to the plethora of jalapeno, chipotle, and habanero sauces. Lime is usually such a good taste in most hot sauces, so this seemed to be a combo that had some seriously good potential.

This sauce is one of CaJohns’ Gourmet Sauces, which also include a chipotle and a curry fruit one as well. They all share a list of fabulous ingredients, and this one’s include:

Ingredients: serrano chiles, apple cider vinegar, ancho chiles, New Mex chiles, lime zest, roasted garlic, cumin

Serrano peppers are usually fairly hot, but notice the fact that there are also some ancho and New Mex chiles in this sauce…which will tone down the heat a smidge and add a little earthiness to its flavor (from the ancho). All the ingredients are natural, so that fact earns a gold star right away. The description of the sauce from the website:

The great taste and medium heat of the Serrano chile with the earthy flavor of our chile lime seasoning. Add the robust flavor of roasted garlic and a hint of cumin, and you have a wonderful Southwestern sauce that’s great on Tex Mex or Mexican dishes.

Tex Mex or Mexican dishes? Since those two are some of our favorites, we decided to try some of that to give this sauce a proper taste-testing experience.

Taste: I carried this sauce around for about a week to try it on some different foods, but even slurping some off my fingertips was a pleasure. It has perfect consistency, somewhat less viscous than ketchup, and pours easily from the bottle. I couldn’t discern any one scent other than lime, but its aroma wafts that combo of chile peppers that makes me salivate. Serrano does seem to be the dominant taste, but it you can discern the ancho in it as well. The lime, while present, is a nice aftertaste which doesn’t adversely affect the taste. I would call the heat about a 6.5/10 and very manageable.

Even though hospital food usually scarcely qualifies as real food, I gave this sauce a whirl with some quesadillas and with burritos. With both, the flavor of the food is enhanced and you appreciate the sauce whether used as a sort of dipping sauce (like with the quesadillas) or slathered within (like the burrito). Even better was this hot sauce with some chicken with green chile, which we made during a previous review. Since many Tex-Mex dishes use green chile, this sauce having some of that makes it blend in so very well. The heat is a medium simmer, and just kept my heat sensors at attention without making ‘em suffer.

Overall recommendation: It would be a mistake to limit using this hot sauce to just Tex Mex and Mexican food, although that is certainly is its strength. Because of its taste and heat level, this hot sauce has tremendous utility potential in a variety of dishes from complex to mundane. Heck, I carried this sauce and poured it liberally on foods for a week and was generally pleased each time. Yes, it’s essentially a serrano sauce with a little seasoning added…but it just plain works!! It’s not exactly simplicity at its finest, but this sauce is one I would buy if I was out of it. In fact, I had to keep it away from Linda so I didn’t have to share.

Shhh!!! Don’t tell her about it…it’s all mine! Damn good sauce.