If you’re unfamiliar with Asian food products, you may have yet to discover Sriracha sauce. Huy Fong’s red sauce comes in a squeeze bottle with the signature green cap and white rooster displayed across the front.
Sriracha is made from chili peppers, garlic, sugar, salt and vinegar. Its market has traditionally been the Asian community, but this sauce is making its way into mainstream American cuisine.
Major restaurant chains such as Applebee’s, Fleming’s steakhouses and P.F. Chang’s have incorporated Sriracha into items on their menus. Applebee’s serves fried shrimp with a mayonnaise and Sriracha dipping sauce. Fleming’s uses the sauce in their lobster en fuego glaze. P.F. Chang’s uses it to spike dipping sauces and in their dynamite shrimp.
Contrary to popular belief, the Sriracha actually originated in America in Los Angeles, Calif. David Tran, the creator of Sriracha and Huy Fong Foods, Inc., created the sauce with the Vietnamese community in mind. Tran intended it to be used with pho, a Vietnamese soup. He wanted Sriracha to appeal to more than just Asians, yet he did not expect the sauce to become so popular.
Kogi trucks on the streets of Los Angeles provide Sriracha as their single condiment. Lay’s recently came out with Sriracha flavored potato chips. Walmart even sells it.
In my opinion, Sriracha has the potential to be the next big thing in condiments, similar to Nutella. A few years ago Nutella, which originated in Europe, was an obscure product to Americans. Now it is extremely popular. If Sriracha continues at the rate it’s going, this spicy chili sauce will become just as widely popular and mainstream in America.
