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Homemade Sauce Review: Justin’s Mystery Sauce
By Buddah | October 14, 2008 | 
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Our very own Justin Eaton contacted me about setting up a secret review for a hot sauce he was working on. He had previously sent me a very tasty carrot-based hot sauce, but he told me this hot sauce would be different. I was curious, and disappointed that I would not be a part of this review. Why? Well, he wanted to get some unbiased opinions and since everyone knows him on TTF, he wanted reviewers to judge the hot sauce as if it was coming from an unknown source. The last thing he wanted was someone to hold back, so as to not hurt his feelings if his hot sauce sucked. In otherwords, judge the taste without knowing anything about the product, and he will find out if the hot sauce had potential or not. Justin also anticipated bringing some sauce to the Weekend of Fire show at Jungle Jim’s International Market in Ohio and possibly pass out a questionaire to get more feedback. He wanted the review though to be a huge part of his market research.
It sounded fair to me, so I reached out to 3 Chileheads that were not coming to the Weekend of Fire. I wanted to get BD Tastebuds involved since he was eager and from what I had read had a nice flare in his reviews. BD is a family man from Kentucky who has a love of hot sauce, but because he is far from a good fiery foods store, he wanted to try some new stuff he couldn’t get at the local mart. TTF gives him that opportunity, so welcome aboard TastetheFear, BD. I am happy to have you a part of our review team. Our second reviewer is Xero who was free from the recent Mild to Wild Pepper Company reviews, and he said he was ready for a new product. The last team member is ChileheadEd who during the summer was free to write a little, so I took the opportunity to bring the old sauce maven back to the fold. It has been a while.
Before we get to the review, I had a funny note to add that I am sure Justin will elaborate on later. Justin had gotten to the point with his sauce making that he was inquiring about taking the next steps in bottling and full production with the hot sauce. That is all well and good, if you follow the right steps and do everything you need to do in getting your product from the drawing board to the shelves of some store. It all starts with some simple rules that must be adhered to in order for you to get where you need to go to make it all workout. Well, Justin seemed to skip over Rule No. 1, and that is to write down the hot sauce recipe. A reason why the sauce never made it to Weekend of Fire. So here we are with a review, but no ingredient list. This hot sauce is indeed a mystery to even the maker, Justin.
Also to top all things off, Justin sent the bottles out with his return address on it, and Ed who knows Justin is from Michigan, deduced it was his sauce and announced it on TTF. Luckily no one ever pays much attention to Ed and it slipped by the other two reviewers who were none the wiser of this small discrepancy. I am glad Ed didn’t realize it was a limited edition or he would have shelved it as a collectible.
Despite all the things that have happened in making this mystery review, we aim to please here at TTF and we will continue with the review nonetheless. You at home can all imagine what Justin made the hot sauce with as you read our review team’s thoughts. Enjoy TTF’s first Completely-Semi Mystery Review. :|
B.D. Tastebuds
As I opened up the package I was blinded by the Bell Jar filled with orange slosh with seeds swimming around in pepper pulp. Scared? Hell yes I am. It looks to me like a scotch bonnet puree or habanero and carrots. Hmm…I guess that’s the mystery. I opened the sealed lid. The smell was not too good actually. The carrots and vinegar smell was overwhelming, but there was a peppery backlash that was undescribable. I got my trusty spoon ready, and took a thick spoonful of this mystery sauce. Hmm…very interesting. I can’t tell if it is scotch bonnets or just really hot habaneros, but it has a very hellish wallop to the tongue and throat. The heat is there that is for sure, but doesn’t last too long. It is just right actually. The carrot taste is there, and almost tastes like squash. Very organic tasting, and not the best blend of flavors, but very different. I poured a heaping amount over some chicken parmesan, and it made for quite an intense meal. It added major heat and a veggie blast to the eager chicken. I love the heat of this sauce. I wish I could tell you if it was scotch bonnets or habaneros, but with all the other veggie tastes I cannot say for sure. Maybe both, eh? Hell, either way there is plenty of heat…8/10 for sure.
Taste, hmmm…it is different and not too many sauces are anything like this one, but it is good on food by itself. Kind of overwhelming…6/10 It was actually wonderful on Bologna and Cheese. That is saying something I guess, and I like the color and the thickness, it sure is purdy! I Would like to try some other sauces by this person, the mystery sauce thing is kinda fun. I can’t wait to see how dumb or smart I look.
I give this Mystery Sauce a 6.9/10 overall. I would bet there is something out there it would be perfect on!
B.D.
XERO
Greetings all, I got an email from Buddah asking if I would like to do another review, but this one was for a sauce that did not yet exist. Of course, I jumped at the chance to try someones prototype. Now, I was expecting to get a new sauce in the mail, but when the sauce arrived I was a little surprised that it came in a bell jar with no documentation at all. There was no label, no sauce description, and no return address on the package. Even though I was expecting this sauce I had to call Buddah and make sure that this was the sauce I was expecting. He said that it was, and that put my suspicious nature at ease. I was now free to eat and hopefully enjoy.
The appearance is a mouth watering bright orange suggesting habs and carrots, and has lots of pulp. It has a very nice consistancy that sticks well to the food but with a little watery runoff. I am not very good at guessing the ingredients, but I am willing to bet that there are Habs in this as nothing else smells like a Hab. Although, I have never smelled a Jolokia. There is a sweetness that helps balance the peppers, and I’m guessing carrots, but the sweetness does not carry through to the taste. There is not too much of a vinegar smell either. The sauce actually makes you smile when you smell it.
This morning I put some on little sausage and egg sandwiches with provolone cheese on my best china. (OH, I finally found my camera after the move). The heat level is perfect. It’s hot enough for chileheads, and for those who arent, they taste it, and say “wow that’s hot”, and then keep right on eating. I gave some to a few friends.
This is a great sauce. I like it even more than Blair’s Pure Death. That being said, and since there was no label, I would like to recommend a name for this sauce. “Xero’s Magical Mystery Sauce” has a nice ring to it, but I’m sure they already have one picked out.
Tastes of Opportunity:
For every review I will probably eat a breakfast burrito- great
Home made cheeseburgers- outstanding
Potato crusted Cod- Eh, good, but better without. It clashed with the pickles in the tartar sauce.
Mixed with Sour Cream for vegi dip- excellent.
Lets just say that I tried it on everything and I love it.
ChileheadEd
Buddah asked me if I would be willing to review a new sauce from a commercial maker and I happily agreed. I received a Mason Jar in the mail from an “anonymous” source, and while I was expecting a “professional” sample from Buddah, I deduced from the return address that this “secret” sample was in fact from Justin (our Major commercial sauce maker).
Now being the busy professional procrastinator that I am, the sample sat for a while ( long enough that Buddah threatened to send the sauce mafia after me if I didn’t finish the review), and finally I got to it!
The appearance in the jar was good. It was a nice golden color and was thick, but sloshed around easy enough, and had lots of “stuff”. It had good consistency, right between thick and thin. I opened it up and gave it the old smell test and was pleased to get a rich and pungent scent of fresh habanero pepper not much else. I took a spoon and gave it the straight taste test. The sauce was fresh, clean, simple and a good amount of heat. It had a nice front of the tongue tingle which lasted just a few minutes. I would give it a 6 on a scale of 10. It had the flavor of the fresh peppers, I cant really say what else was in it. It didn’t seem like too much else, but I liked it. I made some Cajun Catfish for dinner, and used a good teaspoon on every bite. The sauce enhanced the flavor of the fish without overpowering it. I don’t think the other half of the jar is going to last too long!
I think that the “superhot” sauces are fun, but I wouldn’t ruin my food by putting them on it. This definitely falls into the “edible” sauce category, good job on your first prototype Justin!
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Topics: Friends, General, Hot Product Reviews, Reviews | 16 Comments »
Way to go Justin! Write everything down though!
Hey look I’m #1 and #2
good reviews guys. Way to justin! now just remember how you made it and get going with it.
i did write the recipe down and changed it many times, problem is i lost the recipe. i talked to jimcambell and cajohns himself and got alot of help figureing out what i would have to do to make and sell it and i even had a co packer for it and everything. unfortunatly the copacker ended up falling through also and i was told not to trust him after all the other storys i heard i decided it was a good idea. then while looking for a diffrent co packer i lost the recipe. i can reproduce it except for the homemade seasonig mix that i made such a large batch when i made it that i havent remade it for almost 2 years. the base of the sauce is 75% bannana peppers and 25% scotch bonnets. it also has vinegar water honey my homemade seasoning mix and corrots. i always enjoyed reading the homemade sauce reviews on thp.com when they did it and want to thank buddah for setting this up. i gatta get back to work but ill talk more latter after i actually read the review.
Justin sent me the last of the sauce the other day, and I will be bringing it with me to FMK for all of yous to try.
I would like to thank my review team- ChileheadEd, Xero and newcomer BD Tastebuds on his first of what I hope will be many more reviews. Welcome to the TTF Review Squad BD!:tu:
Another great review! The sauce looks dang tasty Justin, looking forward to trying it at FMK, if
hasn’t eaten it all yet! 
That’s it, you get none!
Nice going Justin. Sounds like a winner!
:nerd:….I think your power as the sauce guru had gone to your head.
See?
Thanks for the review guys, and welcome aboard BD…
Justin, go and get yourself hypnotized so you can remember the ingredients. I have eaten it all and I need more. If you cant find a decent co-packer then send me the recipe and I will pack it under my label, deal?
Seriously, I need more. You’re right :nerd:, I did miss Ed’s comment.
Welcome, BD.
Great review everyone and good to see BD Tastebuds back over at TTF.
Justin sent me one of his ho-made sauces for a contest I won on TTF and it was great stuff. If this was anything like that then I’m sure it was an excellent sauce.
Justin – I’m not vearly as knowledgeable as CaJohn or Jim Cambell but if there’s ever a question that I can help you out with on getting your sauce produced then please don’t hesitat in contacting me.
once the overtime slows down im going to get back to work on it. i can reproduce the recipe but i know its in the house somewhere. i remember sticking it in a cookbook or magazine somewhere. and the seasoning i remember most of i just need to find a place to buy jolokies for a decent price because theres dried jolokies in the seasoning. everything else in the seasonig i grew myself.
the sauce i sent you was an earlyer test batch (the same that buddah had) the only diffrence was that it was all habaneros as the base pepper and the finished recipe is 75% bannana peppers 25% scotch bonnets. i also added just a little more honey and also added more vinegar and water to thin it out some.
I got to taste this at FMK, but never had a chance to actually eat it on anything. But what I had I really liked. I definitely liked it well enough to buy it, if you ever actually do anything with the recipe.
I don’t think I’ve ever had a sauce with a banana pepper flavor like that! That’s what made it stand out so well.