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If you have ever been to a Thai restaurant, you will most definitely be familiar with the omnipresent bright red bottle. Inside the bottle is Thailand’s most famous sauce. Sriracha is a spicy chili sauce named after the coastal town of Si Racha in eastern Thailand where it was first produced and served in local fish restaurants. Sriracha (Thai pronunciation: See-rah-chuh) typically consists of chili peppers, vinegar, garlic, sugar and salt.

Certainly, the taste of both the traditional and the internationally popular Sriracha sauce is mainly dominated by its main ingredient, the chili pepper. Along with this, the other ingredients are contributing to the hot, sweet and spicy taste. In contrast to the famous version produced by Huy Fong Foods, the traditional Thai sauce tends to be tangier in taste, and runnier in texture.

In Thailand, the original sauce most commonly goes by the name of sot Siracha, or less frequently nam phrik Siracha. The industrialized version by Huy Fong Foods earned the nicknames “rooster sauce” or “cock sauce” in the United States because of the rooster logo on the bottle.

Pringles chips with Sriracha hot chili sauce flavorWhat Do Thai People Use The Sauce For?

In Thailand, people most commonly use Sriracha as a dip, particularly for seafood. But the chili sauce now appears in various other cuisines, predominantly in South East Asia.

In Vietnam, it spices up Phở and fried noodles or works as a topping for spring rolls. In western countries, it increasingly refines sandwiches, kebab and burgers. Even jams, lollipops and chips exist today based on the typical flavor of Sriracha.

Who Invented Sriracha?

Although there is no official confirmation, the Thai brand Sriraja Panich claims that the original Sriracha evolved in the 1930s in Si Racha. Allegedly, a housewife with the name Thanom Chakkapak had come up with the very first recipe.


More To Discover


If you do not want to fall back on the commercial sauce, simply create your own Sriracha! Here is a traditional recipe for you:

 

 


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Images:
Sriracha Sauce lined up at ShopHouse Restaurant 3 by Ted Eytan, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Sriracha Hot Sauce Bottles Freshii Restaurant Family by Steven Depolo, licensed under CC BY 2.0
Pringles Sriracha by Mike Mozart, licensed under CC BY 2.0