Scottish

Scottish Syrup

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Another week has arrived, dear readers, and it’s time for another review. But, this time, it isn’t just any old tuesday. It’s shrove tuesday – Now more commonly known as pancake day – and that’s my favourite food-based holiday. So you’d better believe I’ve got something special, sweet and spicy to slather over my breakfast, lunch and dinner:

This is Mack Chilli’s Ginger Ninja and, as much as it may look like a thai sweet sauce, the label assures me otherwise. Because it is, in fact, a chilli syrup, made from the pride of Mack’s home country and mine. The bright, orange, scottish soda that is Irn Bru.

With its appropriately orangey and almost bubblegum fruit flavour, the Bru might not be my favourite fizz but it certainly is an iconic one. And one that I still very much enjoy, despite its touch of bitter quinine.

Yet a huge part of its identity comes from that very quinine and how the subtle bitterness is brought out by the drink’s bubbles. In order to provide a sharp quality which contrasts with its sweet base flavour.

Can today’s chillies do the same?

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Bonnie Bit Hotter

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Happy tuesday again, everyone! Today, I’d like to welcome back to the stage The Bonnie Sauce Co., who previously wowed me with an excellent and unexpectedly herby Smoky Chipotle sauce.

This week, they return with something (or things) a little bit hotter. Two more products which, just like in last week’s review, highlight the difference between scotch bonnets and habaneros.

But, as you can see from the photos above, these are not the same yellow pepper sauces and their use of red chilli changes the equation quite considerably. Let’s give them a go and find out how, shall we?

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Bonnie Wee Spice

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Hey folks, I’m scottish and I’ve mentioned that a few times on here. Especially when highlighting companies from my homeland. But, as much as I appreciate scottish sauce, I don’t actually live there and I haven’t done so in many years.

I only see the high profile stuff. The Singularity Sauce Co.s, who make big internet appearances, and the Foraged Fires, who shock social media with their wild ingredients.

The smaller companies do pop up online, occasionally, but even when they do, they don’t always make a good impression. Like today’s jalapeño and chipotle pair:

Two products from The Bonnie Sauce Co., in edinburgh, who’s website is grey, gloomy, uninviting and full of desaturated, off-colour images of their craft. Of sauces which actually look quite enticing, in real life, yet might well have gone entirely untasted if my relatives hadn’t found them in person, while visiting my sister.

So, before we begin today’s review in earnest, I’d like to take a brief moment to thank my family for their find and remind you all that not everything is as it appears online.

Then we can give them a closer inspection.

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A Local Last Dab

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Just the one, this week, my friends, but it’s sure to be a right doozie. ‘Cause, today, we’re looking at Singularity Sauce Co.’s Reapers & Mangoes. The only independent number ten to grace Hot Ones’ table since the advent of 📽️The Last Dab📽️.

Unlike most of the show’s line-up, however, this isn’t another pricey, american import. And, while I’m grateful to Hot-Headz for stocking so many of those, it’s also nice to see Hot Ones showcase a product made here in the UK. In scotland. The country of my birth.

It’s a rare, local highlight, in amongst their otherwise states-centric assortment, and its spot as the final sauce affords it great clout. So, throw in one of my favourite fruits and you just know I had to get my hands on a bottle.

Yet it wasn’t nearly as quick of a pick up as I’d hoped. Because I wasn’t the only one aboard the hype train.

It was going far, it was going fast and it was going… to take months for the next batch to ferment, back when I got in touch.

I’m afraid that it just wasn’t possible to write this review, back when it first saw that january feature. But it is now and I’m eager to make up for lost time.

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Ooft! That’s Hot!

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So, folks, I talked a bit about Carrington’s Flaming Chup in last week’s harissa review and I thought that that would be a great excuse to follow up with another of their products, today. A post on their Chillichup, which I’ve had in reserve for a while.

Then Encona came along, however, with an even more ketchup-y rework of their old “Carolina Reaper Sauce”. And I just couldn’t do it.

Two ketchups in a row was too much. So, instead, here are couple of other sauces that I’ve had on the back burner for a bit. The original and chipotle versions of Ooft!, from Island Girl Ltd:

Another small company, run by a couple in scotland, using an old, trinidadian family recipe. Though not, perhaps, the mustard-based one you might expect.

No, today’s sauce gets its extra zing from a large, white radish, known as either daikon or mooli, depending on your region. And that, my friends, is utterly unique.

I’ve never seen that ingredient in any other chilli product and I’m very curious to see what it does for Ooft!

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Scotch Rarebit

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Hey there, everyone. Today, we’re going to be working on a rarebit. Or, as it’s sometimes known, a posh cheese on toast.

It’s a quick and simple recipe but not so simple that it’s just slapping cheese onto bread and grilling it. That’s regular cheese on toast and I’d be embarrassed to post anything that basic.

No, today’s recipe involves a proper cheese sauce, with strong, dark, savoury, boozy overtones, just like the traditional british dish. Only, for mine, I’m paying a little homage to my scottish origins and changing up the alcohol.

Instead of beer, I’m using 📽️ The Whisky Sauce Co’s Scotch & Bonnet Beverage 📽️ – Legally not a hot sauce and definitely not a sauce that is hot.

BonnetBev

It was, however, rather delicious and utterly perfect for today’s recipe. Just expect it to be rather milder than the last.

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