Many thanks to my friend RETRO ROMPER for another wonderful gift, the gift of hot sauce! And here, we have quite a unique offering from Oso Pepper Company, the CRY OUT FIVE-CHILI SAUCE. Now, because I am a benevolent, forgiving creature, I will not harp on -- nor will I even mention -- the fact that "pepper" and "chili" are both incorrect terms when discussing the main ingredient of all hot sauces, the chile. So, like I said, I'm not going to pick on them for that, and I won't even bring it up, or say a single word about it, especially not in this paragraph.
This sauce is, I can confidently state, unlike any other, and it starts before you even open the bottle, with the bottle itself. A delightful little wide, stubby bottle, perfect for grabbin' hold of and shakin' onto whatever you got on your plate!
Retro kept trying to warn me that it was a "chunky" sauce, but I don't think that's quite right. There are definitely ingredients in there that you can still recognize, but more than chunky, I'd say it was thick. The chunks are often not even seen due to the very substantial nature of the sauce itself.
A sauce that thick, you would think you'd have trouble getting out of the bottle, but due to the wide mouth of the bottle, and the expert craftsmanship of the sauce itself, pouring is a dream. Neither flowing out uncontrollably, or resisting, this is a sauce that wants to be loved, and leaves you unable to resist it in turn!
But what of the flavor? Well, my friends, this sauce and its five "chilis" (not bringing it up) is an absolute flavor bomb! The aroma hints at the habaneros within, but there is a much deeper thing going on here, and once you begin to taste, the bomb explodes, leaving no part of your tongue or brain ignored. Herbal, slightly sweet, fresh chile flavor everywhere, and an acidic backbone (due in large part to one of its oddest ingredients, tomato paste) leave you in a sea of deliciousness, and wanting to dive even deeper!
The paste, I believe, is what also gives it much of its thick mouthfeel, and makes sure that the sauce doesn't just glance off your tongue, making the sauce seem "larger" than most. If there is a downside to this, is that the paste also seems to give the sauce a slightly... well, pasty feel to it, but this is easily forgiven, what with all of the other great things going on here.
I would recommend using it only as a "topper" for things like eggs, meats, tacos, etc., and not as an "ingredient", such as you might mix in to a chili, stew, or soup. It is definitely a sauce that needs to be enjoyed in its pure state, as it comes out of the bottle.
I got my bottle less than a week ago, and I'm already halfway through it, which speaks also to its versatility. It's not a good "ingredient", as I said before, but it goes well on top of pretty much anything.
I give Oso Pepper Company's Cry Out Chili Sauce four and a half "peppers" (not bringing it up) out of five!
The top two ranks in the Ben Parrish Sauce Hierarchy which I am just making up right now because Retro wanted to hear how this one stacks up, are "Legendary" and "Beloved", Legendary being the absolute pinnacle of sauces which I am never without, and which nobody should ever be without.
In the Legendary status, we have Retro's other recommendation, Palo Alto Firefighter Sauce, one of the all-time greats. Cry Out lands squarely in the Beloved category. I cannot say whether I will always have it on hand, but when I do, I am happy, and always looking forward to grabbing that stubby little bottle and going to town!
