When a recipe calls for 'chili sauce,' what do you use?

[Jjjr]

Just a question out of curiousity.

Whenever I see a recipe that calls for 'chili sauce,' I get a little annoyed because of the ambiguity. There are so many different brands and variations of things of varying flavor/potency/consistency ect.. that could all be technically consider a chili sauce.

What do you consider 'chili suace,' when called for in a recipe?

[Bacardi1]

Most recipes - particularly the "golden oldies" do mean "Heinz Chili Sauce" when they just say "chili sauce".

However, these days I've found some recipes use the term "chili sauce" to mean "cocktail sauce", as in the ketchup & horseradish type served with seafood cocktails. I think it really depends on the particular recipe as to how you define what to use.

[PotatoHouse]

The red can that says "Chilli Sauce" on it. Found in southern grocery stores in the chilli section.

(I am not trying to be mean, just mildly amusing)

[fat_al]

I found this thread when I was trying to figure out what "chili sauce" meant in this recipe for Henry Bain Sauce: http://www.nytimes.com/recipes/101449...

Helpful discussion. Heinz it is.

[critter101]

I use Homemade Brand Chili Sauce. It comes in a round glass jar, and is available at most grocery stores.

[EWSflash]

So do I- if I can't find it I use another brand (Heinz, maybe?)- there is no substitute for that particular kind of chili sauce, add some horseradish and lemon and it's cocktail sauce for shrimp. That's the absolute base for cocktail sauce

[laliz]

Thats the one I use too, I thought it was "homestyle" brand.
Much better.

[Bacardi1]

It would depend on the origin of the recipe.

If it was basically an American recipe, I'd use "Heinz Chili Sauce" or a compatriot.

If it was an Asian recipe, I'd be using Huy Fong's "Chili Garlic Sauce" (the "rooster" brand), which I ALWAYS have in my pantry.

For Thai - if the recipe asks for "Sweet Chili Sauce", there's NO substitute. And it's available everywhere these days.

[Will Owen]

Chili sauce used to be a much more common ingredient than it is nowadays; get an American cookbook from the 1940s and '50s and it pops up frequently. I remember it as being much more complex in flavor when it was made with sugar, but then of course my taste buds were fifty years or more younger! The only thing I make using it is a bread stuffing for baked salmon, passed along to me by the first Mrs. O, an Army brat who had it from a colonel's wife next door. It's just dry bread cubes, a little fine-chopped celery and onion, Heinz chili sauce and a bit of salt; the fish provides sufficient extra moisture. It's weirdly good. I have mixed a little pickle relish and ketchup as a substitute, which works.

[Harters]

Where I am that would invariably mean Tabasco. Anything else would be more specifically described.

[paulj]

In the USA, Tabasco would be generically called a 'hot sauce'.

Outside the USA, 'chilli' is also commonly used, isn't it?

[escondido123]

I agree paulj, though on occasion I've seen Mexican recipes that call for hot sauce and that may mean something generally sold as "taco" sauce.

[PotatoHouse]

I have usually found Tabasco referred to as "Pepper Sauce".

[paulj]

What's the context? What kind of recipe, era, ethnicity? If it's in an American cookbook or magazine, especially from a decade or more in the past, then it probably means the Heinz (or similar brand) Chili sauce, ie. a spiced ketchup. But in another context it may mean Sriracha, or one of the Chinese chili garlic sauces. And depending on the quantity, any thing that adds heat to your taste would work.

[Perilagu Khan]

I think that's bang on. Retro = Heinz, modern = hot pepper sauce (Tabasco and its epigoni).

[escondido123]

Must admit I have never used a recipe that asked for "chili sauce." Where do you tend to use it?

[OnkleWillie]

In my experience, a cup of Heinz Chili Sauce is a mandatory ingredient of meatloaf. Both my family and my Wife's have made their meatloaf that way for well over 60 years.

[Chris VR]

The only recipe I've used calling for chili sauce is meatballs with grape jelly and chili saice, in which case I buy Heinz Chili Sauce, next to the ketchup, http://www.amazon.com/Heinz-Chili-Sau...

Ingredients
Tomato puree (tomato paste, water), distilled white vinegar, high fructose corn syrup, salt, corn syrup, dehydrated onions, spice, garlic powder, natural flavoring.

[arktos]

Isn't that really just Ketchup?

[Chris VR]

Sure is similar based on ingredients. Here's Heinz Ketchup:

INGREDIENTS: TOMATO CONCENTRATE FROM RED RIPE TOMATOES, DISTILLED VINEGAR, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CORN SYRUP, SALT, SPICE, ONION POWDER, NATURAL FLAVORING.

I've only bought the chili sauce twice, to make this recipe, and it definitely has more bite than ketchup does, sort of like cocktail sauce.