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Fill in the blank: Franks is to America what Cholula is to Mexico what Sriracha is to Vietnam what ______ is to Italy.

One of my recipes which is a spin on Orichiette with Rapini, calls for hot sauce. I usually use Sriracha since it tastes good but I do find it's a clash of flavors sometimes. I'd like to replace it with an alternative that's representative of Italy. I have no experience with Italian hot sauces, what are the popular ones?

I know "sauce" has an additional meaning when it comes to Italian cuisine: I'm not looking for arrabiata or red sauce or anything like that. I mean something that comes in a bottle, perhaps crushed peppers and chilis with vinegar.

gator
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    Bottled/canned foods are in general considered low class in Europe, and chances of Italians, notorious for food elitism, having a favored bottled sauce brand is close to zero. – Davor Jul 13 '20 at 17:40
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    By the way, Sriracha is American, not Vietnamese (invented by a Vietnamese immigrant who gave it a Thai name). Looks like they have started selling it in Vietnam in the past few years: https://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-vietnam-sriracha-20170321-story.html Or are you saying that Sriracha tastes like typical Vietnamese hot sauces? That may be true. – Juhasz Jul 13 '20 at 23:32
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    @Juhasz I thought sriracha was a type of hot sauce and the brand sriracha is just a sriracha sauce? – gator Jul 14 '20 at 00:53
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    Ugh. Obscure product placement? I've lived 45 years in North America, never saw a Franks sauce before this post. I wouldn't call it quintessential. :-) – Jeffrey Jul 14 '20 at 12:53
  • @Jeffrey I guess it's who you ask: Tabasco is also one I considered but here in Canada, Franks is extremely popular. – gator Jul 14 '20 at 13:09
  • @Jeffrey Franks is very northeast/midwest. It's from Ohio originally and is the main ingredient in "buffalo sauce" (from the city in upstate New York). I would be kind of shocked if I saw it (outside of the chicken wings context) in the south, or west, or west coast. – mattdm Jul 14 '20 at 18:02
  • @mattdm that's interesting. As a Canadian, I'd of thought Franks was ubiquitous about the United States. In Southern Ontario, it's pretty much synonymous (along with Tabasco) with American hot sauce. – gator Jul 14 '20 at 18:16
  • quite interesting, I'm actually from Quebec, so the french heritage might explain Tabasco having ~ 90% market share, with, say, 10% (but growing) Sriracha – Jeffrey Jul 14 '20 at 18:20
  • Down here we get in fights over hot sauce, Crystal vs Louisiana vs Texas Pete vs Cholula. Tabasco is it's own thing. – barbecue Jul 14 '20 at 19:13
  • As a Canadian (from the west coast), I would have gone with Tabasco. Never heard of Franks. – Kryten Jul 14 '20 at 20:11
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    Here in the Pacific Northwest, Frank's is definitely available. According to *USA Today*, "McIlhenny [maker of Tabasco] has a 17.1% market share; Reckitt Benckiser, maker of Frank's RedHot, has 11.3% and Huy Fong Foods [Sriracha] has 8%" – Juhasz Jul 14 '20 at 20:43
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    @gator, David Tran, the inventor of Sriracha and founder of Huy Fong Foods, immigrated to Los Angeles from Vietnam and started making sauces that he thought would appeal to other Southeast Asian immigrants. ["His creations included his Pepper Sa-te Sauce, Sambal Oelek, Chili Garlic, Sambal Badjak and Sriracha Hot Sauce"](https://www.huyfong.com/history/). The one he called Sriracha was meant to be a version of the Thai sauce (or family of sauces) called *Sriraja, Si-racha, Sriracha, Siracha*, or something similar. They're all named after the city of Si Racha – Juhasz Jul 14 '20 at 20:56
  • How about creating your own bottled chili oil instead of buying a pre-made "sauce"? It seems to be prevalent in every Italian restaurant I've seen so far (at least where I live) – QBrute Jul 15 '20 at 07:34

3 Answers3

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Bottled hot sauce is not much in demand in Italy. I'm in central Italy, but I think in the south where spicy food is popular, chili is added fresh or dried to a dish rather than through a bottled sauce. I did find one example from Delizie di Calabria which is a common brand: http://www.deliziedicalabria.it/notizie/145-nd-sauce-la-salsa-piccante-senza-compromessi but I wouldn't call it typical. In my local supermarket (Tuscany) the only hot sauce available is Tabasco! Again, I welcome anyone from the south to correct me if I'm mistaken, but hot sauce is definitely not a thing here.Sauce shelf, Carrefour Market, Lucca

S. Tollefsen
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    I know harissa isn't Italian, but with such close geographic proximity to Tunisia, is harissa a common condiment in Italy? – gator Jul 13 '20 at 18:29
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    I don't know if you can find harissa in the south of Italy, but I've never seen it available in central/northern Italy. I have found harissa (imported from Tunisia) in Oslo, Norway though! – S. Tollefsen Jul 13 '20 at 20:51
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    @gator no, harissa is now widely known in Italy. – fqq Jul 14 '20 at 01:20
  • @gator - simply, no. Distances don't work like that in Europe. England couldn't be closer to France, but look at the two eating patterns. – Fattie Jul 15 '20 at 12:22
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I have family both in the very north and the very south of Italy.

In the north, spicy food is not super common but there is usually a jar of dried chilies in olive oil somewhere in the kitchen and they are available in restaurants.

In the south there is always either fresh/dried/in-olive-oil/powdered chilies on the table (at home and in restaurants).

But I don't recall seeing a bottle of "hot sauce" anywhere (except maybe some tabasco).

ThePainfull
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    That seems to be the consensus: chilis in oil. It reminds me of a Chinese cuisine staple: a very good Chinese restaurant near me has a little bowl of some menacingly red chili oil at every table, crushed chilis and lots of chili flakes with some spices in oil. I guess something similar is the closest hot sauce equivalent to Italy. – gator Jul 14 '20 at 13:14
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    Seems like chili oil is indeed the answer you were looking for. Sidenote : be aware that chili color has little to no relation with heat level. – ThePainfull Jul 14 '20 at 13:18
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    @gator There is a Calabrian chili paste that is basically chilis in oil crushed to a smooth paste. Not really a hot sauce, but maybe helpful! It is a little tangy and quite delicious. – le3th4x0rbot Jul 15 '20 at 00:52
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The only one I know of is the Calabrese Spread/Sauce.

Whenever I see spicy food in Italy they mostly use hot chili.

Other than that, oil flavored with spicy chili.

Max
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    do you mean 'nduja? – fqq Jul 14 '20 at 16:15
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    no, nduja is a soft sausage. – Max Jul 14 '20 at 16:26
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    What do you mean by "the Calabrese Spread/Sauce" then? (btw, 'nduja is soft to the point that is mostly used as a spread) – fqq Jul 14 '20 at 16:31
  • 'Nduja is sold in jars as a paste made from the (soft) sausage and oil, and is very often used as a 'spread' on pizza. In short, it's exactly what @Max is describing here. – 568ml Jul 15 '20 at 09:26