HotSauceDaily

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Review Mama Bulls Louisiana Hot Sauce on Wings

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Week of Wings II – Day 6 – Mama Bull’s Louisiana Hot Sauce

On Day 6 of our wing roundup this year, we bring you a a review of Mama Bull’s Louisiana Hot Sauce Cayenne Pepper Sauce as a straight wing sauce. No butter added, we just followed the directions on the bottle to dunk the wings in the sauce!

As a rule, I’m not a fan of Louisiana style hot sauces… but I’m getting there. Check out our review of Swamp Scum or Louisiana Gold Pepper Sauce and you will see I’m becoming a fan. This review is another great example of how a Louisiana style hot sauce is inching me closer to liking them.

Taste straight up:Rated 2.5 out of 5 Stars

Marilyn: There is a big hit of vinegar both through the smell and first taste. The taste is slightly sweet in a veggie way – probably the carrots.
Brian: At first I thought this was a very traditional Louisiana sauce, but it’s bigger than that. The flavor really pops!

Texture & Appearance:
Marilyn: I see crushed red peppers and seeds, and perhaps bits of garlic. At first I thought it may be too thin to cling to the wings, but it’s now setting up nicely and there is a thick coating on the wings.
Brian: A thin sauce with bits of garlic floating about. I also see crushed red pepper flakes and seeds. This sauce sets up nicely and clings very well to the wings.

Taste:Rated 2.5 out of 5 Stars

Marilyn: I taste vinegar first, then hot. Yes, hot hot… it’s burning my lips. Then I get a slower back of the throat burn. There’s a full flavor profile with the vinegar, heat and finally a nice warm depth of flavor. A winner with me.
Brian: A very traditional Louisiana flavor, this is a good flavor bringing on a nice medium-to-strong heat. I’m digging it. I wish we had prepped this sauce with some butter for a traditional “Buffalo” style sauce… but we followed the instructions on the bottle that said to simply toss the wings in the sauce.

Heat Level:Rated 3 out of 5 Stars

Marilyn: Make no mistake, this sauce is hot! I already said it burned me right away. Brian first thought it was mild, but then it got hotter for him.
Brian: Go figure. It was tame at first, but the more I ate, the hotter it got. I was surprised. And I grew to like it. I don’t think it was as good as other wing sauces we’ve reviewed here on HotSauceDaily.com but I would enjoy these at a local bar if they were their only offering. Just add beer!

Label/Graphics:Rated 2 out of 5 Stars – As you can see from the pic of the label above, Mama Bull’s label doesn’t exactly stand out. The words “hot sauce” are the most prominent. I think the Bull should be more “Mama-like” and less “Bull-like”. The label is just so-so. And we reviewed their “hot” version as opposed to the “mild” version which they also offer.

Overall Rating:Rated 3 out of 5 Stars – We’re awarding 3 stars for overall goodness. Heat, flavor, and consistency was pretty solid. Stay tuned for our review of Mama Bull’s Mild Louisiana Hot Sauce

Ingredients: water, vinegar, tomato sauce (tomato, salt, naturally derived citric acid), lemon juice, cayenne pepper, fresh carrots, canola oil, garlic, onion, salt, crushed red peppers, xanthan gum, spices

And here’s where you can get yourself some bottles of Mama Bull’s Sauces. Tell ’em HotSauceDaily.com sent you!

Rippin Red Wing Sauce Review

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Rippin’ Red Wing Sauces from Maryland based Rizzotti Foods LLC from Abingdon, MD are two wing sauces that meet or exceed what we like in a bottled wing sauce. Their “original” and “hot” versions are available on RippinRed.com.

As you can see below, the only difference in the ingredients is the habanero powder added to the “hot” version. Otherwise, they have “all natural” ingredients with nothing artificial. A big plus in our ratings.

Ingredients: Original cayenne pepper sauce (cayenne peppers, vinegar), fresh garlic, unsalted butter, parmesan cheese (milk, salt, rennet), modified food starch, natural gum

Ingredients: Hot cayenne pepper sauce (cayenne peppers, vinegar), fresh garlic, unsalted butter, parmesan cheese (milk, salt, rennet), modified food starch, natural gum, habanero powder

Having said that, we didn’t detect a great deal of difference of heat in the “hot” versus the “original” versions. We would like to taste a bigger hit and flavor change between the two.

These are typical cayenne based sauces with a heavy vinegar slant… fairly true to the original “buffalo style” wing sauce. What we liked were the bits of garlic floating in the sauce, as well as the “unsalted butter” and “parmesan cheese” ingredients that brings these sauces to a higher level of quality, as compared to other bottled wing sauces that use a fake butter flavor or other chemical additives to pump up the butter flavor.

Marilyn: As always, we still prefer to combine our own ingredients to achieve the flavor profile we like (hot sauce, garlic, butter, cilantro, etc. i.e. our famous Sriracha Wings), but these bottled wing sauces gave us more true “Buffalo-Style” wings than we’ve ever gotten in any other jarred wing sauce…. they even beat out Hooters in my opinion. So kudos to Rippin’ Red for making a great “out of the jar” wing sauce. The garlic won me over, and they both make the grade.

Brian: These are quality sauces that any wing lover would be happy to serve to their friends at a football game. But. And it’s a BIG but, compared to what you can make from our recipes or other sites’ recipes, these are sauces that make things quick and easy. You cook the wings, you douse or toss them into the sauces, and voila! … you have hot, spicy, garlicky wings.

Our final rating: The “Original” version – 4 out of 5 peppers – The “Hot” Version – 3 out of 5 peppers. They are both so good, and for a bottled sauce, you cannot go wrong.

Ordering: You can purchase Rippin’ Red with this link:

And be sure to visit RippinRed.com and check out their Reviews Page for other bloggers’ take on these sauces.

Sriracha Garlic Wings 2010

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Week of Wings – Day 7 – wraps up with our signature wings recipe that features Sriracha sauce, tons of garlic and cilantro with lime juice. This is our ultimate wings recipe – our favorite.

Sriracha Garlic Wings Recipe

sriracha garlic wings finished

Sriracha garlic wings. Sriracha HOT chili sauce, crispy chicken wings, and tons of garlic make these hot and savory wings the *best* chicken wings we’ve ever cooked!
The wings are first marinated, then baked for 20-30 minutes before being deep fried to crisp them up. Then, you toss them in the Sriracha, butter, cilantro, garlic and lime sauce before serving. Yum!!!
We’ll repeat the recipe at the end of this post.

The basics:

  • 4 pounds chicken wings, cut up (serves 4)
  • 1-2 quarts vegetable oil for deep-frying

For the marinade:

  • 1/8 cup ground coriander (2 Tbs)
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 Tbs kosher salt
  • 1/8 cup extra-virgin olive oil(2 Tbs)

Step 1. In a large zip-lock bag, as seen above, combine coriander, cumin, salt and olive oil. Toss in the wings and massage the bag to coat. Refrigerate at least 4 hours, or overnight. Though the volume of the marinade seems small and barely coats the wings, it is critical to the success of this recipe.

Step 2.Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place wings in a single layer on a large, rimmed baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Bake for about 30 minutes, until wings are firm, but not done. (They’ll finish cooking in the deep-fryer). Remove them from the oven and place on a platter to dry before frying.

For the sauce:

  • 1/2 cup Hot Sriracha chili sauce (or to taste)
  • 3/4 stick (6 tbl) unsalted butter, melted
  • 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
  • finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime
  • 4 large cloves garlic, minced

Step 3. In a clean bowl, blend cilantro, minced garlic, lime zest and juice, and melted butter. Add 1/2 cup Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce, combine and set aside

Step 4.Working in small batches, deep-fry wings until crispy and browned, 2-4 min. Drain briefly on paper towels, then toss the hot wings in the sauce. Let the wings sit for 2-5 minutes before serving so the flavors soak into the wings.

plate of sriracha garlic wings

Step 5.Serve hot, on a platter with your favorite side dishes.

Click here for a great and easy blue cheese dip recipe

That’s our easy to make blue cheese dip with cool cucumber spears. Yummy!

The original recipe by Cleveland, OH, Chef Michael Symon, is in the Feb ’08 issue of Food and Wine Magazine.
Huy Fong Sriracha Sauce needs no refrigeration.

Here’s the full recipe without interruption:

The basics:
* 4 pounds chicken wings, cut up (serves 4)
* 1-2 quarts vegetable oil for deep-frying

For the marinade:
* 1/8 cup ground coriander (2 Tbs)
* 1/2 tsp ground cumin
* 1 Tbs kosher salt
* 1/8 cup extra-virgin olive oil(2 Tbs)

For the sauce:
* 1/2 cup Hot Sriracha chili sauce (or to taste)
* 3/4 stick (6 tbl) unsalted butter, melted
* 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
* finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime
* 4 large cloves garlic, minced

1. In a large zip-lock bag, combine coriander, cumin, salt and olive oil. Toss in the wings and massage the bag to coat. Refrigerate at least 4 hours, or overnight. Though the volume of the marinade seems small and barely coats the wings, it is critical to the success of this recipe.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place wings in a single layer on a large, rimmed baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Bake for about 30 minutes, until wings are firm, but not done. (They’ll finish cooking in the deep-fryer). Remove them from the oven and place on a platter to dry before frying.
3. In a clean bowl, blend cilantro, minced garlic, lime zest and juice, and melted butter. Add 1/2 cup Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce, combine and set aside
4. Working in small batches, deep-fry wings until crispy and browned, 2-4 min. Drain briefly on paper towels, then toss the hot wings in the sauce. Let the wings sit for 2-5 minutes before serving so the flavors soak into the wings.
5. Serve hot, on a platter with your favorite condiments

(serves 4 – figure 1lb wings per person)

Defcon Sauces Defense Condition

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We cooked another huge batch of wings yesterday for our “Week of Wings” series. I know what you’re thinking, “How many wing sauces can HotSauceDaily review in a week?” The answer… a lot! Well ok, 7. But the wing sauces we feel you need to know about today are brought to you by John Dilly of Defconsauces.com.

And while all 3 varieties are really a Cayenne Pepper based flavor, Defcon brings some class to the table with the addition of the cream and white wine vinegar. Kudos to John Dilley for “classin’ up da joint”!

All 3 sauces look the same in the bowls, and you’ll see that other than “pepper extract” in #1, they all share the same ingredients.

We followed our normal 3-step cooking procedure for wings…. bake, fry, and toss. For step-by-step instructions for making great hot wings at your house, check out Day 6

Defense Condition #3 – Low Heat – Ingredients: aged cayenne peppers, distilled vinegar, water, salt, garlic powder, cayenne peppers, cream, white wine vinegar, natural flavors. All natural. No MSG. Gluten free.

Defense Condition #2 – Medium Heat – Ingredients: aged cayenne peppers, distilled vinegar, water, salt, garlic powder, cayenne peppers, cream, white wine vinegar, natural flavors. All natural. No MSG. Gluten free.

Defense Condition #1 Extreme Heat – Ingredients: aged cayenne peppers, distilled vinegar, water, salt, garlic powder, cayenne peppers, cream, white wine vinegar, natural flavors, pepper extract. All natural. No MSG. Gluten free.

Defense Condition #3 – Low Heat

Marilyn: The mildest wing sauce has a great flavor profile. I can feel the heat on the front and middle of my tongue. You could serve this to wing fans and get raves all around, but folks who like it hot better step up to the next level, Defense Condition #2.

Brian: This is the mildest of the Defcon wing sauces. It has a good flavor, but it’s so mild I would consider it “comfort food” flavor – kind of tame.

Defense Condition #2 – Medium Heat

Marilyn: There you go, this is the one! The heat fills my mouth but doesn’t reach the back of my throat, so I can eat a lot of these…and I did!. I think you definitely want to have enough bleu cheese dressing and cucumber and/or celery to cool you off, but the flavor is wonderful. There’s a little lip burn, but that could be due to the winter weather here… or all the hot sauce we eat 🙂

Brian: Wow! This is a perfect Wing Sauce! The flavor profile is very similar to that of the Low, but with more heat for an extra punch. I notice that the ingredients of Low and Medium are identical, but obviously there’s a lot more fire in this batch.

Defense Condition #1 – Extreme Heat

Marilyn: First bite reveals a great flavor, but WHOA! No matter how much bleu cheese, celery, and cucumber spears I consume, I just can’t seem to cool off. This is definitely one for the hard-core fans with the genetic ability to tolerate tons of heat, AKA Mr. HotSauceDaily, my hubby.

Brian: This is the hottest Defcon wing sauce, with the exception of Zero, which sold out. This sauce has lots of flavor and lots of heat, thanks to the addition of extract. Even with the heat, you can still taste the chicken, so it provides a nice balance for the heat-lover’s wing recipe. It’s near the top of my tolerance for heat, but I wouldn’t mind the next notch up. Defcon has managed to provide heat with flavor, and we’ll be using his sauces again at our next soiree!

And finally, if you use parchment paper as we’ve been preaching all this week, your cleanup with be a breeze!

A big thanks to John Dilley and Defconsauces.com for some great products.
Shop for all these great sauces at the Defcon Sauces Store!

We hope you’ve checked out our podcast, HotSauceWeekly where this week in Episode 14, Scott Roberts reviews Defense Condition #2!
And for more great Wings recipes, check out his ScottRobertsWeb.com for 15 other wings recipes here.

How To Make Great Hot Wings At Home

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Week of Wings – Day 5 – Wings 101

Tips for making great hot wings at home.

We use a 3 step process:
1. bake the wings
2. deep fry the wings
3. take ’em swimming in the sauce

We cut the wings into flaps and drummies, discarding the tip (or freezing them to make chicken stock later), then dry them thoroughly with paper towels. It’s important to dry them thoroughly before baking. This helps prevent the skin from shrinking up.

Season the wings with salt and pepper or your favorite spices like Tony Chatchere’s or Todd’s Dirt or a jerk seasoning (Captain Thom’s Jerk Seasoning), and stick in the fridge to air dry uncovered for an hour or so – even overnight is ok. If you’re using a wing sauce with a lot of salt, bake them plain.

Bring the wings to room temp.

Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Note: If you’ve ever baked wings on a baking sheet, and sprayed it with oil, or coated them with oil to keep them from sticking, you know you have a sticky mess to clean up. USE PARCHMENT PAPER (no oil needed) and you and your dishwasher will be happier. We promise!

Bake at 375 degrees for 20-30 minutes. Remove the wings from the baking sheet and let them “dry out” on a platter for at least 10 minutes to absorb any excess moisture (water & fat).

Fry in small batches, 5-8 wings at a time. We fry our wings in our Le Creuset Dutch Oven.

We used to use a FryDaddy deep-fryer, but it doesn’t hold the heat as well as a good enameled cast iron Dutch oven does. If all you have is a FryDaddy or other electric fryer, just allow time between batches for it to heat back up, because each time you place food in those fryers, the oil temp drops.

After deep-frying, place briefly on paper towels to absorb the excess oil, then toss them in your favorite wing sauce while they’re still hot. Let them sit a minute to soak up the sauce and regain their crispiness, and you’re ready to enjoy perfectly cooked wings!

Serve with celery sticks and our easy to make blue cheese dip. For a new and different twist, try some cucumber spears along with your favorite ranch or blue cheese dip. NOM!

44 Wings sauce

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Sadly, 44 Wings are Out of Business.

That’s right, on Day 4 of Week of Wings we’re featuring the “44 Wings” brand sauce from Tampa, Florida.

Ken Michaels of 44WingSauce.com sent me his “Medium” and “Hot” versions to review. This is a review of the Medium sauce.

Marilyn, a.k.a. @HotSauceChick on Twitter and I both agreed that the Medium is a great product.

44 Wing Sauce. “Darn Tootin’ It’s Good” Medium

This is a wing sauce that has all the ingredients already mixed in. Just heat before using – yet another wing sauce that needs to be heated before use, but at least the instructions are on the label. And there is no reason to add anything else. Our initial impression is that it has a nice consistency, light and perfect for coating your wings.

After baking and frying the wings and tossing them in this sauce, the vinegar edge first detected when poured from the bottle gave way to a sweet, fresh flavor. A wonderful infusion of herbs, spices and honey gave these wings a unique flavor profile. I love the aromatic essence that rosemary and other herbs lend to chicken, and, though not listed (various spices), they are definitely present in this sauce.

If there ever was a “gourmet-style” wing sauce, this would be it. In fact, it could be marketed as a “Gourmet Glaze”, as it would be perfect on ribs, shrimp, and poultry.

Ingredients: honey, peppers, vinegar, salt, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, butter flavoring, and various spices.

Game Day Eats sauce

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In honor of Superbowl Sunday we present the
Week of Wings – 7 days and 7 recipes for delicious hot wings.

Day 3 – Game Day Eats – Wing Sauce Especial

We cooked up a batch of wings to try the Wing Sauce Especial from GameDayEats.com. Let me say right up front that this sauce has a very traditional “buffalo wing” flavor and although there’s no butter in it, there’s a “fat” content that replaces it. Probably from the oils and whey.

You cannot use this sauce straight from the jar. It needs to be heated before use. I emphasize this fact, because there are no instructions on the label. Perhaps Curt will address this with his next label run.

I love the “cling” and gloppiness and how it adheres to the wings. The finished texture is almost perfect. But then again, I’m a big fan of Hooter’s Wings and how their sauce “clings” and gets absorbed into the wing. I think Wing Sauce Especial gets pretty darn close to that.

The flavor has a big hit of vinegar, and the heat level is about medium. And with the Cayenne Red Peppers, this sauce is very much like a Louisiana-style hot sauce for wings.

So for a Buffalo style wing sauce from a jar, GameDayEats has nailed it. I would recommend this to anyone wanting a quick, easy way to get some good Buffalo wings going.

Ingredients: Aged cayenne red peppers, vinegar, water, salt, spices, vegetable oil blend (partially hydrogenated soybean oil, liquid soybean oil, hydrogenated cottonseed oil), water, whey (milk), soy lecithin, vegetable mono and diglycerides, potassium sorbate (to protect quality), citric acid, artificial flavor, betacarotene (color)

Curt Johnson of GameDayEats.com sells his Wing Sauce Especial here in 16 oz pint jars.

Update: 01/13/13 Sadly, this sauce is not longer available.


And don’t forget to try our Easy Blue Cheese Dressing recipe that you can make at home to go with your wings! We guarantee that you will love it.

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