Posted on 12/11/2022 12:37:49 PM PST by DFG
From beer and beef jerky to donuts and everything at Pizza Hut, sriracha has become a culinary mainstay of America. The story of how the hot sauce came to the country is also one of immigration.
One of the earliest records of sriracha dates back to 1949, when a woman in Thailand made a chili sauce using chili peppers, vinegar, sugar, salt, and garlic. She named it after the small seaside town she lived in, Si Racha.
But sriracha in its most ubiquitous form — a plastic bottle filled with chili sauce and topped with a green cap — was brought to America by David Tran a few decades later.
-snip-
Things took a turn after the Vietnam War. In 1978, the new Communist Vietnamese government began cracking down on ethnic Chinese in South Vietnam, believing that China was using immigrants to destabilize and weaken the country's economy in the lead-up to a military attack, according to historian Gareth Porter. The suspicion and persecution of Chinese immigrants only intensified with the outbreak of the Sino-Vietnamese War in 1979.
Tran and 3,000 other refugees boarded the freighter boat Huey Fong to Hong Kong, and from there landed in America on January 19, 1979. Tran was granted asylum, and started his new life in Boston — though he didn't stay there for long.
"My brother-in-law was in Los Angeles. When we talked on the phone, I asked him, 'Do they have red peppers in Los Angeles?' He said yes. And we left," Tran told the Times in 2009.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Pingalingaling ... if you did already know this.
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Don’t dig Sriracha, too spicy. I loved spicy food and condiments when i was young, not any more. I do admire the man for creating an empire in the USA. That’s what its alll about.
I stick with Tobasco when I need a little kick.
Great story. I ditched Sriracha for Sambal Oelek a ling time ago. I like the texture and flavor better. Chiles, garlic, delicious.
I also have Black Siracha as well as green Siracha from Thailand at my little
Asian market. Good stuff indeed
I’ll check ours for that. Big Vietnamese community here.
I have sampled the Thai Siracha and it is a little different than Huy fong and that is to be expected. The black Siracha from Thailand is sweeter at first but a nice spicyness afterwords. I have the green but have not opened it yet. I don’t know about all chilies coming from the new world. That surprised me
Thanks, MHG! I’ll remember Tran every time I have it now.
I’ve been to the Mall at the Capital.
I’ve seen the Viet Nam wall.
It was somber but very moving.
Try Crystak Hot Sauce. You will not go back to Tabasco.
Biden campaigned in the early 70s in Delaware about not letting “those people” emigrate to the US. Presumably after voting to cutoff funding to South Viet Nam, after which they ran out of ammunition, and the Communists invaded.
That’s where all the “Boat People” originated - refugees fleeing from their own country.
Good question. The Huy Fong stuff, green cap Sriracha has been unobtanium around here for quite a while. The last time I ordered, they subbed a bottle of the Tabasco version, but I haven’t opened it. I still have about a 1/4 of a bottle of the original Sriracha.
I actually think it tastes a little funky, at least when used too liberally on stuff. I mean it’s OK. But, I discovered when used in smaller amounts, say in soups, stews, casseroles - it adds a really nice bit of heat & garlic. Good garlic is tough to find now, Gilroy, California bulbs aren’t sold around here any longer for some reason. So I just use it as an all purpose flavor enhancer. Good in Chicken & Rice for example.
for later
Aye.
The population of Ireland in 1840 is higher than it is even today.
There are approximately 2,000 different kinds of potatoes....Ireland had only one and it fell prey to a fungus.
I recently realized this myself! When I think that so many cuisines are *noted* for their use of tomatoes, peppers, and potatoes (Ireland, maybe not a cuisine!), I have to wonder what people ate before the New World was discovered!
And I wonder how poorer people got through the winter in Medieval times and before, considering there were no beans!
“I Did That!” he exclaimed.
Trump couldn’t do it all. Back in 2019 during the last campaign, the GOP should have brought that sort of fact up.
I’ll bet at least 80% didn’t know or had forgotten it.
> I ditched Sriracha for Sambal Oelek
I stock 6 each of the large size of Huy Fong Sriracha, Chile Garlic, and Sambal Oelek. Also that Chinese crunchy hot chile oil (I try not to read the label, it’s disturbing but good). Occasionally I’ll get the yellow sriracha but it’s too sweet for my taste.
I also like to stock El Yucateco, you can get 8 and 16oz bottles in assorted flavors, mostly Habanero variants. Often I make my own, it won’t keep unless loaded with vinegar. I prefer roasted habanero with lime juice, chopped red onion, and pink salt, no vinegar.
Next spring I’m going to start growing Thai chiles, it’s hard to find at the store here I Tucson. I so enjoy fresh chopped chile in fish sauce even though I know the salt is not all that good for you. I like to roast chile and maintain a supply of dry chile.
Living in California and East Texas has left me with a lifelong taste for spicy Asian dishes...I carry a small supply of Thai dry chile, chile arbol, and dry chipotle in my day pack, and stock vacuum-packed preserved packets with the rations in my bug-out bag...
I love the variety of types and flavors of chiles. We bought a hot sauce in St. Lucia called Baron and it’s very good. The fruitiness of habañeros and Scotch Bonnets make them my favorites. I have to have them buffered, not straight. I make a habañero salsa with grilled onion, garlic, carrots, etc. I recently started a salsa business. That may be my next product.
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