Ok, that’s it, I’m done. I’m not going to look anymore, the pinnacle has been reached. I’ve found my new favorite streak sauce. Originally I thought A-1 was good, but no more, for I have discovered Three Hot Tamales Garlic Lovers Steak Sauce.

Ingredients: Tomatoes, distilled vinegar, Cayenne Mash (Cayenne peppers, vinegar, salt, water), sugar, roasted garlic, Habanero peppers, Kosher salt, spices.

This miracle of culinary delight combines Cayenne for a nice little bite and Habanero for a fruity taste and heat staying power. That combined with the tomatoes, roasted garlic, and salt basically blows away anything else that I have ever tried. The bonus is that this really does have a large garlic taste to it. The more and more I eat this sauce the more and more I like it. In order to do it justice, I gilled up some late night filet mignons on the bbq.

Being a two tiered experiment, I took one filet and covered it in the sauce and left the other one plain so I could dip it in the sauce. Both provided interesting results. I tasted the covered meat first and the immediate flavor that hits is a mixture of tomatoes and sugar, making the first bit one that awakens the taste buds. The garlic died down a bit but was definitely still detectable as was the salt. It has a low level heat that sticks around like a good friend with nothing to do and nowhere to go. The Cayenne bite is what hits first and the overall tongue tingle of the Habanero is the true main ingredient of the linger. My suggestion for cooking with this sauce is to both marinate the meat in it and also use a flavor injector to get the sauce nice and deep into the meat.

Next steak was the “naked” one. I poured out an ample supply of the sauce next to it and started dipping. PERFECTION HAS BEEN REACHED! This is at least 300x better than A-1 Steak sauce. Directly out of the bottle is the way you should use this because all the flavors come out at once. Again, the first thing that hits you is the sugar but it’s not too sweet. The flavors compliment the meat nicely but not to the point of overwhelming it.

The sauce also has a nice texture to it but that’s one of the things that is lost when cooked. The texture is just another one of the features that makes this a perfect compliment to meat. The texture of the sauce is a beautiful contrast to the texture of the meat and when dipped, it gets into the nooks and crannies of the meat, adding a whole new level to your dining experience. My only warning with this sauce to leave it out of the fridge for about an hour before use to bring it closer to room temperature. The cool sauce contradicts the hot temperature of grilled meat.

Taste 10 (I’ve been giving out alot of 10’s lately), Heat: 4

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