Sriracha

This article is about the condiment. For the Huy Fong Foods brand, see Sriracha sauce (Huy Fong Foods). For the documentary, see Sriracha (film). For other uses, see Si Racha (disambiguation).

Sriraja Panich chili sauce by Thai Theparos Food Products (left) and Tương Ớt Sriracha ("Rooster Sauce") by Huy Fong Foods (right)

Sriracha (/sɪˈrætʃə/ sirr-ATCH-ə or /sɪˈrɑːtʃə/ sirr-AH-chə; Thai: ศรีราชา, pronounced [sǐːrāːtɕʰāː] ^ⓘ) is a type of hot sauce or chili sauce made from a paste of chili peppers, distilled vinegar, pickled garlic, sugar, and salt.^[1]

Use

In Thailand, sriracha is frequently used as a dipping sauce, particularly for seafood and omelets.

In Vietnamese cuisine, particularly in North America, sriracha appears as a condiment for phở and fried noodles, as a topping for spring rolls (chả giò), and in sauces.^[2] In Vietnam however, sriracha is not found in many restaurants and private homes, with a distinct chili sauce "tương ớt" being far more ubiquitous.^[3]

Sriracha is also eaten in soup, on eggs and burgers. Jams, lollipops, and cocktails have all been made using the sauce,^[4] and sriracha-flavored potato chips have been marketed.^[5]

Origin

The sauce was first produced in the 1940s by a Thai woman named Thanom Chakkapak in the town of Si Racha (or Sriracha), Thailand.^[6][7] The Sriracha sauce itself may be an adaptation of a Cantonese garlic and chili sauce originally from Shunde, China. In the early 1900s, Cantonese immigrants settled in Si Racha, and their garlic and chili sauce was sold in Thailand for decades before the first bottles of Sriraja Panich were produced.^[8]

Lakut Suwanprasop, son of La Orr Suwanprasop, and second-generation owner of his family business, holding a bottle of Gold Medal brand Sriracha sauce, with the brand name visible (Thai: ศรีราชา)

Variations

Thailand

Sriracha-mayo sauce

In Thailand, the sauce is most often called sot Siracha (Thai: ซอสศรีราชา) and sometimes nam phrik Siracha (Thai: น้ำพริกศรีราชา). Traditional Thai sriracha sauce tends to be tangier in taste, and runnier in texture than non-Thai versions.^[7]

In a Bon Appétit magazine interview, US Asian-foods distributor Eastland Food Corporation asserted that the Thai brand of hot sauce Sriraja Panich, which Eastland distributes, is the original "sriracha sauce" and was created in Si Racha, Thailand, in the 1930s from the recipe of a housewife named Thanom Chakkapak.^[7]

United States

In the United States, sriracha is associated with a jalapeño-based sauce produced by Huy Fong Foods^[9][10] and is sometimes referred to as "rooster sauce" or "cock sauce"^[11] from the image of a rooster on the bottle.^[12] Other variations of sriracha have appeared in the U.S. market, including a sriracha that is aged in whiskey barrels.^[13][14] The Huy Fong Foods Sriracha was first produced in the early 1980s for dishes served at American phở restaurants.^[10]

Various restaurants in the US, including Wendy's,^[15] Applebee's, P.F. Chang's,^[16] Jack in the Box, McDonald's, Subway, Taco Bell, White Castle, Gordon Biersch, Chick-fil-A, Firehouse Subs, Noodles & Company, Starbucks, and Burger King have incorporated sriracha into their dishes, sometimes mixing it with mayonnaise or into dipping sauces.^{[10][17][18][19][20][21]} The word "sriracha" is considered a generic term.^{[citation needed]}

In 2022, Huy Fong Foods Sriracha sauce temporarily halted production due to a shortage of chili peppers arising from a business dispute with Underwood Ranches, which claims Huy Fong foods misled Underwood Ranches to invest in its expansion, and then breached its oral contract to purchase at their originally agreed upon price point. This caused the price to increase to $30 a bottle or higher.^[22][23] The halt in production lasted for over a year,^[22][24] but Huy Fong has failed to acquire a consistent supply of peppers at its desired quality point since the dispute.^[22]

In popular culture

• In 2013, American filmmaker Griffin Hammond released Sriracha, a documentary about the origin and production of sriracha sauce.^[25]
• Rapper Tech N9ne released the song "Sriracha" in 2016, in which he compares his style of rhyme to the condiment.
• In 2017, the Korean trio Bang Chan, Changbin and Han debuted in the group 3Racha, taking inspiration from the sauce. Now they are part of the k-pop group Stray Kids.
• Action caper chase film Stuber (2019) ends at a Sriracha factory.^[26]
• A bottle of sriracha sauce makes a cameo in episode 5 of 2021 American television miniseries Hawkeye.^[27] The scene in which it is used was apparently improvised by actress Florence Pugh.^[28]

See also

• List of hot sauces
• List of sauces
• Nam chim - Thai dipping sauces
• Nam phrik - Thai chili pastes

References

1. "What is sriracha?". Cookthink.com. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
2. Moncel, Bethany. "The History and Uses for Sriracha Sauce". The Spruce Eats. Retrieved 2019-04-29.
3. Nguyen, Andrea. "Sriracha Taste Off: Thailand vs. America vs. Vietnam". Viet World Kitchen. Retrieved 2024-11-17.
4. Magazine Monitor (December 21, 2013). "Sriracha: How a sauce won over the US". BBC News. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
5. Shyong, Frank (April 12, 2013). "Sriracha hot sauce purveyor turns up the heat". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 6, 2012. Retrieved June 29, 2013. Roland Foods in New York makes its own variety, Sriracha Chili Sauce, in a similarly shaped yellow-capped bottle featuring two dragons instead of a rooster. Frito-Lay is testing a sriracha-flavored potato chip, and Subway is experimenting with a creamy sriracha sauce for sandwiches.
6. Khaleeli, Homa (2 October 2014). "Hot right now: how Sriracha has become a must-have sauce". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
7. Nguyen, Andrea (March 4, 2013). "The Original Sriracha". Bon Appétit. Retrieved June 29, 2015. The Thais also make many versions of [sriracha] sauce... which tend to be more liquid and pourable than Huy Fong's. Sriraja Panich has a lovely balance of bright chili heat, delicate sweetness, vinegary tang, and garlicky backnote.
8. Everything You Know About Sriracha is a Lie., retrieved 2023-07-05
9. "Sriracha: How a sauce won over the us". BBC News. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
10. Edge, John T. (May 19, 2009). "A Chili Sauce to Crow About". The New York Times. p. D1. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
11. Usborne, Simon (November 20, 2013). "Sriracha hot sauce: Heated dispute". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 2022-05-24. Retrieved June 29, 2015. But like most obsessives, Erskine is fiercely loyal to 'rooster sauce' as some know the brand (in the US it is sometimes also called 'cock sauce').
12. Sytsma, Alan (February 2, 2008). "A Rooster's Wake-Up Call". Gourmet. Archived from the original on December 2, 2013. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
13. Fanous, Angelina (March 6, 2014). "Sriracha Aged in Whiskey Barrels Is Better than the Original Sauce". Vice. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
14. Birdsall, John (March 6, 2014). "A Woman in SF Is Barrel-Aging Sriracha, and It's Awesome". Chow. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
15. "BACON SRIRACHA FRIES". Wendy's. Archived from the original on 29 November 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
16. "Sriracha Pizza & Wings". Domino's UK. Archived from the original on 2017-02-02. Retrieved 2017-01-24.
17. "Subway's Sriracha Sauce Goes National, and It's Good". Taste. The Huffington Post. November 7, 2013. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
18. "White Castle Introduces New Full-Flavored Sriracha Chicken Sliders" (Press release). White Castle. May 31, 2014. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
19. Hannan, Caleb (February 21, 2013). "Sriracha Hot Sauce Catches Fire, Yet 'There's Only One Rooster'". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on February 23, 2013. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
20. Harris, Jenn (February 25, 2015). "Taste-testing Taco Bell's new Sriracha Quesarito". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
21. "Burger King brings the heat with Extra Long Sriracha Cheeseburger". Fox News. October 22, 2015. Archived from the original on October 23, 2015. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
22. Castrodale, Jelisa (2023-06-26). "Bottles of Sriracha Are Selling for Over $30 as the Shortage Enters Its Second Year". Food & Wine. Retrieved 2023-11-03.
23. Spiler, Samara (2023-11-04). "Where's my Sriracha? The Spicy Consequences of Breaching Oral Contracts". University of Miami Law Review. Retrieved 2024-08-13.
24. Kagan, Isabelle; Brown, Kaleb A. (2023-07-17). "There's a Sriracha hot sauce shortage—here's where to buy and substitutes to try". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2023-11-03.
25. Anderson, L.V. (2013-12-12), "Sriracha the Movie: Griffin Hammond's documentary about David Tran, reviewed.", Slate, retrieved 2017-12-20
26. Ruth (July 15, 2019). "FlixChatter Review: STUBER (2019)". Flix Chatter. Retrieved October 25, 2024.
27. Shure, Marnie (2022-01-13). "Hawkeye's Sriracha Cameo Was All Wrong, And We Can't Figure Out Why". The Takeout. Retrieved 2024-07-15.
28. Russell, Shania (2021-12-22). "Florence Pugh Improvised The Hot Sauce Detail In Hawkeye Episode 5". SlashFilm. Retrieved 2024-07-15.

External links

• Media related to Sriracha sauce at Wikimedia Commons