Sriracha

Use

In Thailand, sriracha is frequently used as a dipping sauce, particularly for seafood and omelets.

In Vietnamese cuisine, particularly in North America, sriracha appears as a condiment for phở and fried noodles, as a topping for spring rolls (chả giò), and in sauces. In Vietnam however, sriracha is not found in many restaurants and private homes, with a distinct chili sauce "tương ớt" being far more ubiquitous.

Sriracha is also eaten in soup, on eggs and burgers. Jams, lollipops, and cocktails have all been made using the sauce, and sriracha-flavored potato chips have been marketed.

Origin

Sriracha chili sauce was officially born in 1932, the same year that marked the Siamese Revolution, transitioning Thailand into a constitutional monarchy. That year, La-Orr Suwanprasop, a native of Sriracha who had settled in Bangkok, began producing and selling her own chili sauce. Her product won a gold medal in a competition during the Constitution Celebration. She attempted to register the brand under the name “Sriracha Chili Sauce” after her hometown, but the authorities denied her request, as it was the name of a district. Ultimately, she had to use the brand name “Gold Medals” instead. However, Gold Medals chili sauce remained a small-scale household industry with limited production capacity, which prevented it from gaining widespread recognition. Even today, The Gold Medals is still available on the market, retaining its original label design since 1932.

The internationally renowned Sriracha chili sauce is the “Sriracha Panich” brand, which was first sold in 1935. This recipe was created by Thanom Chakkapak, a native of Sriracha, who established a chili sauce factory in Si Racha, Chonburi Province. Her sauce became a well-known local product. Later, in 1984, Thai Theparos Company acquired the business and its recipe, expanding distribution both domestically and internationally. The brand remains widely recognized around the world.

The Sriracha sauce itself may be an adaptation of a Cantonese garlic and chili sauce originally from Shunde, China. In the early 1900s, Cantonese immigrants settled in Si Racha, and their garlic and chili sauce was sold in Thailand for decades before the first bottles of Gold Medals and Sriraja Panich were produced.

Variations

Thailand

In Thailand, the sauce is most often called sot Siracha () and sometimes nam phrik Siracha (). Traditional Thai sriracha sauce tends to be tangier in taste, and runnier in texture than non-Thai versions.

In a Bon Appétit magazine interview, US Asian-foods distributor Eastland Food Corporation asserted that the Thai brand of hot sauce Sriraja Panich, which Eastland distributes, is the original "sriracha sauce" and was created in Si Racha, Thailand, in the 1930s from the recipe of a housewife named Thanom Chakkapak.

United States

In the United States, sriracha is associated with a jalapeño-based sauce produced by Huy Fong Foods, which is sometimes referred to as "rooster sauce" or "cock sauce", from the image of a rooster featured on each bottle. Other variations of sriracha have appeared in the U.S. market, including a sriracha that is aged in whiskey barrels. The Huy Fong Foods sriracha was first produced in the early 1980s for serving at American phở restaurants.

Various restaurants in the US, including Wendy's, Applebee's, P. F. Chang's, Jack in the Box, McDonald's, Subway, Taco Bell, White Castle, Gordon Biersch, Chick-fil-A, Firehouse Subs, Noodles & Company, Starbucks, and Burger King have incorporated sriracha into their dishes, sometimes mixing it with mayonnaise or into dipping sauces. The word "sriracha" is considered a generic term.

In 2022, Huy Fong Foods sriracha sauce temporarily halted production due to a shortage of chili peppers arising from a 2016 business dispute with Underwood Ranches, which claims Huy Fong Foods misled Underwood Ranches to invest in its expansion, and then breached its oral contract to purchase at their originally agreed upon price point. This caused the price to increase to $30 a bottle or higher. The halt in production lasted for over a year, but Huy Fong has failed to acquire a consistent supply of peppers at its desired quality point since the dispute.

In popular culture

• In 2013, American filmmaker Griffin Hammond released Sriracha, a documentary about the origin and production of sriracha sauce.
• In 2017, the Korean trio Bang Chan, Changbin and Han debuted in the group 3Racha, taking inspiration from the sauce. Now they are part of the k-pop group Stray Kids.
• A bottle of sriracha sauce makes a cameo in episode 5 of 2021 American television miniseries Hawkeye. The scene in which it is used was apparently improvised by actress Florence Pugh.

References

References

1. "What is sriracha?". Cookthink.com.
2. Moncel, Bethany. "The History and Uses for Sriracha Sauce".
3. Nguyen, Andrea. "Sriracha Taste Off: Thailand vs. America vs. Vietnam".
4. Magazine Monitor. (December 21, 2013). "Sriracha: How a sauce won over the US". [[BBC News]].
5. Shyong, Frank. (April 12, 2013). "Sriracha hot sauce purveyor turns up the heat". [[Los Angeles Times]].
6. Khaleeli, Homa. (2 October 2014). "Hot right now: how Sriracha has become a must-have sauce". [[The Guardian]].
7. Hammond, Griffin. (November 28, 2013). "Sriracha - Documentary".
8. "Everything You Know About Sriracha is a Lie.".
9. Nguyen, Andrea. (March 4, 2013). "The Original Sriracha". [[Bon Appétit]].
10. "Sriracha: How a sauce won over the us". [[BBC News]].
11. Usborne, Simon. (November 20, 2013). "Sriracha hot sauce: Heated dispute". [[The Independent]].
12. Sytsma, Alan. (February 2, 2008). "A Rooster's Wake-Up Call".
13. Fanous, Angelina. (March 6, 2014). "Sriracha Aged in Whiskey Barrels Is Better than the Original Sauce".
14. Birdsall, John. (March 6, 2014). "A Woman in SF Is Barrel-Aging Sriracha, and It's Awesome". [[Chow (website).
15. Edge, John T.. (May 19, 2009). "A Chili Sauce to Crow About". [[The New York Times]].
16. "BACON SRIRACHA FRIES". Wendy's.
17. "Sriracha Pizza & Wings". Domino's UK.
18. (November 7, 2013). "Subway's Sriracha Sauce Goes National, and It's Good".
19. (May 31, 2014). "White Castle Introduces New Full-Flavored Sriracha Chicken Sliders". [[White Castle (restaurant).
20. Hannan, Caleb. (February 21, 2013). "Sriracha Hot Sauce Catches Fire, Yet 'There's Only One Rooster'".
21. Harris, Jenn. (February 25, 2015). "Taste-testing Taco Bell's new Sriracha Quesarito". [[Los Angeles Times]].
22. . (October 22, 2015). ["Burger King brings the heat with Extra Long Sriracha Cheeseburger"](http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2015/10/22/burger-king-brings-heat-with-extra-long-sriracha-cheeseburger/). *[[Fox News]]*.
23. Castrodale, Jelisa. (2023-06-26). "Bottles of Sriracha Are Selling for Over $30 as the Shortage Enters Its Second Year".
24. Spiler, Samara. (2023-11-04). "Where's my Sriracha? The Spicy Consequences of Breaching Oral Contracts". University of Miami Law Review.
25. Kagan, Isabelle. (2023-07-17). "There's a Sriracha hot sauce shortage—here's where to buy and substitutes to try".
26. Anderson, L.V.. (2013-12-12). "Sriracha the Movie: Griffin Hammond's documentary about David Tran, reviewed.". [[Slate (magazine).
27. Shure, Marnie. (2022-01-13). "Hawkeye's Sriracha Cameo Was All Wrong, And We Can't Figure Out Why".
28. Russell, Shania. (2021-12-22). "Florence Pugh Improvised The Hot Sauce Detail In Hawkeye Episode 5".