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TipsyLilPinkMousey wrote:Looooooooooooooooooooooooove Crystal! And loved seeing they carry the huge bottles at Shoppers Food Warehouse in Manassas!
When it comes to recipes, and much to Sanjuro's point, I'll specify a brand if I've found it delivers the best results. Think about making a top-shelf margarita.

What can you compare it to? If you can?

Mmmmmmm...... margarita's......

Hey Ms Penny!!! I'd compare it to any cayenne hot sauce, but for me personally, this is the most appealing to my palate. So I'd venture to guess, the recipes are Crystal-centric because it's a fave or possibly an endorsement.

However, to another point made earlier, it could be selected for the desired hotness (Scoville scale, not SP's stripper pole scale).

If I want to make a chocolate chess pie, I go with whatever is available, but if I want to make the kick-arse version, I look for the Godiva baking chocolate. Again, top-shelf margarita versus day-before-payday margarita.

Sanjuro's tequila wrote:Many of you miss the point.. the right and specific ingrediant is absolutely crucial. No ordinary hot sauce will do. Like anything else, if you substitute, you get an inferior product. Its why most of us who care will take the time to order in the right stuff for recipes when called for.

No, I think you missed the point. Like Penny said, many of those hot sauces have virtually the same ingredients. YOU happen to have an opinion that Crystal is the best. I may agree, I may disagree (and if I ever come across a bottle I'll be sure to let you know). But the whole point of this thread was a mass market cookbook specifying an ingredient that is only found in a limited number of locales, and therefore unknown to many of the folks they're trying to sell the cookbook to. I have a recipe that I have sent to folks in many parts of the world. I know that the brand of main ingredient isn't available in all locations, so I specify "or similar best quality brand" so they don't go buy the cheapest one available and wonder why the recipe isn't as good. And for the record...I don't use "inferior" ingredients in anything I make.

And like i said, to just say "Crystal" without specifying hot sauce is assinine. I'm pretty sure those crab cakes would taste pretty nasty with Crystal ice cream...

Brown Eyed Girl wrote:

Sanjuro's tequila wrote:Many of you miss the point.. the right and specific ingrediant is absolutely crucial. No ordinary hot sauce will do. Like anything else, if you substitute, you get an inferior product. Its why most of us who care will take the time to order in the right stuff for recipes when called for.

No, I think you missed the point. Like Penny said, many of those hot sauces have virtually the same ingredients. YOU happen to have an opinion that Crystal is the best. I may agree, I may disagree (and if I ever come across a bottle I'll be sure to let you know). But the whole point of this thread was a mass market cookbook specifying an ingredient that is only found in a limited number of locales, and therefore unknown to many of the folks they're trying to sell the cookbook to. I have a recipe that I have sent to folks in many parts of the world. I know that the brand of main ingredient isn't available in all locations, so I specify "or similar best quality brand" so they don't go buy the cheapest one available and wonder why the recipe isn't as good. And for the record...I don't use "inferior" ingredients in anything I make.

And like i said, to just say "Crystal" without specifying hot sauce is assinine. I'm pretty sure those crab cakes would taste pretty nasty with Crystal ice cream...

No, I think you are choosing to ignore the point, because you want to be right.
Simply saying "hot sauce" in a recipe would be the same as saying "rum" in a drink receipe.
If you want to prepare this recipe correctly, you need to use Crystal per the chef's instructions. I think it's silly to call a cookbook assinine, because they specify a product. Could they have clarified? Yes. Should they? Not necessarily. It's their recipe.

This would apply to mayonnaise in southern recipes as well. Duke's is often specified. Old Bay is another that is specified without explanation.

Can't live without da' Crystal!!!

...and I've stopped trying to inhale dat stuff too!

I've never heard of Crystal. Not sure it is sold in this area. I use Frank's Hot Sauce. "I put that sh1t on everything".

I went into withdrawals when all the stores around me stopped carrying it. Must have been a public uproar because it came back strong everywhere a couple of months later. Meanwhile every time I went out of state and saw some I bought it up like some deranged crack addict.

I'm the same way with Plotchman's yellow mustard. That French's stuff can bite me.

But back to the point, TarheelTailgator and "Tipsy" hit the nail on the head with the analogies and stated it more eloquently than I probably could. And as always, drink references absolutely apply.

I would have used some stupid "3 dollar wine taste vs a 40 dollar wine taste" reference and been snubbed by everyone.

SMLCHNG wrote: So can you send me a bottle so I can test it?? (No Crystal's here).. Trust me, I don't use inferior products, but try to find a very close substitute in my area.

Ha ha ha ha!

I understand your point on the ingredients being the same. Naturally, all ice cream contains the same ingredients "Milk, cream, sugar" but you cant say that there aren't differences depending on the QUALITY of the ingredients used or the process/methods in which they mix them (e.g.: ben and jerry's vs Breyers). I think the same is true for hot sauce or whatever else (even reflecting back to the point of the thread on the recipe calling for something specific.)

Well, you can order a bottle from their site for 66 cents, but if you PM me your deets I will be happy to ship you a bottle.

I don't mind use of the name brand in the recipe, but I wish it was a complete listing, as I said before. Rather than just saying "Crystal", why not say "Crystal Hot Sauce"? Clears it all up quite nicely.

Meant to add ... never meant to cause all this controversy

Tarheel Tail-Gator wrote: If you want to prepare this recipe correctly, you need to use Crystal per the chef's instructions.

Sanjuro's tequila wrote: I understand your point on the ingredients being the same. Naturally, all ice cream contains the same ingredients "Milk, cream, sugar" but you cant say that there aren't differences depending on the QUALITY of the ingredients used or the process/methods in which they mix them (e.g.: ben and jerry's vs Breyers).

Excellent points on cooking! My mother would share her recipes with her friends. They would come back and say, "Mine didn't turn out like your's!" So then my mom would get more specific. Whether it was brand of ingredient or technique or tools used, some of those can make a huge difference in the outcome. I will say a biggie was when someone used margarine instead of butter. Mom specified butter for a reason.

Back to TTG's point, I would say correct preparation means, "If you want to go home and have your crabcakes taste like our's, this is how we do it."

(and yeah yeah, I know, how many cheese recipes are in the Mousey household?)

BeautifulSwimmer wrote:I don't mind use of the name brand in the recipe, but I wish it was a complete listing, as I said before. Rather than just saying "Crystal", why not say "Crystal Hot Sauce"? Clears it all up quite nicely.

Agree! Before I moved to TTG's great state, if I read "Duke's" in a recipe, I would have been in the same boat as you about reading "Crystal."

BeautifulSwimmer wrote:Meant to add ... never meant to cause all this controversy

Sometimes it's hard to predict which threads will head south

chippewa wrote:

BeautifulSwimmer wrote:Meant to add ... never meant to cause all this controversy

Sometimes it's hard to predict which threads will head south

What do you have against "the south"? Is this some sort of northern regional yankee slander?
I am beyond offended and sick and tired of these types of asinine slurs ........

We use mostly Frank's hot sauce. Never heard of Crystal's.

I remember my folks using Tabasco when I was a kid. It wasn't until I had a concessions job at a stadium that I paid attention to other brands of hot sauce. (I was introduced to Texas Pete for making our hotwing sauce) Later introductions included Frank's, Cholula, and Crystal.

I found a few others when the girl-keet had a science project on the "anti-bacterial-ness" of Capsaicin.

Sanjuro's tequila wrote:
I'm the same way with Plotchman's yellow mustard. That French's stuff can bite me.

Mrs. TTG insists on Plochman's as well.

I'm a definitive mustard snob.

Stadium Mustard (which I import from Ohio) for dogs and brats and Inglehoffer Stone Ground "Full Strength" for sandwiches. Both are brown mustards, but quite different from a French's Spicy Brown or a Grey Poupon.

Tarheel Tail-Gator wrote:

Sanjuro's tequila wrote:
I'm the same way with Plotchman's yellow mustard. That French's stuff can bite me.

Mrs. TTG insists on Plochman's as well.

I'm a definitive mustard snob.

Stadium Mustard (which I import from Ohio) for dogs and brats and Inglehoffer Stone Ground "Full Strength" for sandwiches. Both are brown mustards, but quite different from a French's Spicy Brown or a Grey Poupon.

Boy, it is a small world! I've always wanted to try Stadium Mustard, but promised myself I never would until I had it on a hotdog at an Indians game!

chippewa wrote:

BeautifulSwimmer wrote:Meant to add ... never meant to cause all this controversy

Sometimes it's hard to predict which threads will head south

Sanjuro's tequila wrote:

Tarheel Tail-Gator wrote:

Sanjuro's tequila wrote:
I'm the same way with Plotchman's yellow mustard. That French's stuff can bite me.

Mrs. TTG insists on Plochman's as well.

I'm a definitive mustard snob.

Stadium Mustard (which I import from Ohio) for dogs and brats and Inglehoffer Stone Ground "Full Strength" for sandwiches. Both are brown mustards, but quite different from a French's Spicy Brown or a Grey Poupon.

Boy, it is a small world! I've always wanted to try Stadium Mustard, but promised myself I never would until I had it on a hotdog at an Indians game!

I used to buy Ball Park mustard (which was similar to Stadium) in stores down here. Then, it disappeared. I buy Stadium by the 12 pack.