Preservatives in Rooster Chili Sauces

Huy Fong's Rooster brand of chili sauces have become synonymous with Vietnamese food in America. In recipes, you'll see it listed as Vietnamese chili sauce or Sriracha chili sauce.  When you go to a pho restaurant, the Sriracha bottle is on the table.

Upon reading the latest Quick Bites ("We Don't Look and Cook the Same") newsletter, Josh Levine sent me this email:

I have been enjoying Rooster brand sauces but would prefer a version without sodium benzoate (the preservative). Have you heard of someone selling such a preservative-free product -- preferably Huy Fong?

While I pride myself in reproducing some of Vietnam's best dishes such as Pho and Green Papaya salad, I would prefer to buy rather than make the above-referenced sauce.

Any sources or ideas applicable to the NYC area? I checked the Hong Kong Market in South Plainfield (a huge place) with no luck.

Unfortunately, I don't know of any such products. Josh wrote partly out of having read an article from last Thursday's (9/6/07) New York Times. The piece recapped a study published in The Lancet, a British medical journal,  about the potentially harmful effects of food coloring and certain food additives, such as sodium benzoate. The study focused on children and the conclusion was this: "Common food additives and colorings can increase hyperactive behavior in a broad range of children . . . " The 'hyperactive behavior' is clinically termed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a problem that increasingly vexes us in the 21st century.

So if your child is super hyper and not willing/able to focus, you may want to cut down on foods containing food coloring and preservatives. Coloring is important in Asian cooking and in the Vietnamese kitchen, annatto is a natural colorant but cooks also like to use heavy doses of bottled food coloring. It' s not uncommon to see large (4 ounces or so) size bottles of food coloring at Viet grocery stores. Whenever I shop for Chinese egg noodles, I inspect the label and select ones without coloring.

Often times, especially if you consume lots of prepared and/or packaged foods, you simply can't avoid coloring and preservatives. That's not to say you're going to immediately suffer strange side effects. What's important to keep in mind is toxicity level -- how much of these additives are you putting into your body? Eat too much of something and there's bound to be a negative side effect.

For instance, my mother uses a light to moderate amount of MSG in her cooking but I've never (or yet) noticed any strange health effects. On the other hand, I've suffered headaches and a racing heart after loading up on cheap dim sum laden with MSG.

To answer Josh's question, I wouldn't worry much about the sodium benzoate in the chili sauce unless he was using tons of it every day over a long period of time. For me, not consuming tons of processed foods is the best strategy to keep those additives out of my system.

Is the Rooster even necessary?

Another thing about those chile sauces -- they're not required for good (authentic!) Vietnamese food. Just use fresh kickin' hot chiles -- either Thai, serranos, or whatever you can get your hands on. That's what you'd get at many restaurants in Vietnam and at my house. I keep Sriracha and the chili garlic sauce in my fridge but reach for certain dishes (see Ashley's comment and my response below; this edit reflects her correction of my position) or only if I'm feeling absolutely lazy and need a short cut to heat. 

A well crafted pho noodle soup broth would be killed by the addition of vinegary-hot Sriracha and sweet hoisin sauce. Add a slice or two of hot chile. (With the blandish jalapenos that restaurants in America offer, I add 3 or 4 slices.) For dipping sauces and dressings, the coarse chili garlic sauce is a fine addition for when you're in a pinch. But why not chop up (or pound with a mortar and pestle) chiles and garlic instead? The flavor will be fresh and free of food color and preservatives.

Whenever I'm at a Vietnamese restaurant in the States, I ask for fresh chile (ot hiem, pronounced "uht hee-em") and shun the prepared sauces because they make all the food taste the same. At home, I keep chiles frozen in zip top bag. They're stored in my freezer door where I can get to them in a flash!

Frozen chiles keep for at least 6 months. At farmers' markets right now, you should be able to score on lots of chiles. Or, purchase a bunch at an Asian market. Regardless, think long term and lay in a supply for the cool months ahead.

Related links worth wandering to:

• Josh has great photos of ethnic minorities in Vietnam at his site: joshlevine.org (click on Vietnam's Cloud people)
• Homemade Chili Garlic Sauce recipe (posted on 10/10/07)

Comments

[Ashley]

Wow! Interesting photos of Vietnamese Cloud People by Josh Levine. I learned some new things about Vietnam: 80 million people?! Very populated for such a small country. Funny that the Cloud People don't even know that they're Vietnamese and they don't even speak Vietnamese. Interesting photos. Thanks, Josh.

[Ashley]

Hi, Andrea.
You said that it's better if we use fresh or frozen chilis rather than Huy Fong's Sriracha chili sauce. Does this apply to ALL the recipes in your book that require Huy Fong's Sriracha chili sauce? For example, your "shrimp in spicy tamarind sauce" recipe (page 113) requires Huy Fong's Sriracha chili sauce. Would this recipe taste the same if we use fresh or frozen chilis? I agree with you that Sriracha chili sauce and Hoisin sauce would ruin the flavor of a great bowl of pho. I prefer fresh chilis for pho, and I never put Hoisin sauce in my pho. But for certain "kho" recipes, Sriracha chili sauce may be better than fresh chilis? I'm not sure. I'm just asking to make sure I'm following the recipes in your book as closely as I can. Please let us know. Thank you.

[Andrea Nguyen]

Hi Ashley --- You are a careful reader and I appreciate that. You're absolutely right, in my book I specify using the Huy Fong sauces in a few recipes. In the posting above, I'm speaking to the prevailing notion that the Huy Fong sauces are the end all and be all, the most authentic, the best way of heating up Vietnamese food.

These days, restaurants define Vietnamese food to many people and just because there's a jar or bottle of chili sauce out there doesn't mean that it's the appropriate seasoning to use. Sometimes those sauces are great, like for making a little dip for coconut and corn fritters and for the shrimp in spicy tamarind sauce that you mentioned. (Btw, I'm demoing that tomorrow for 50 people and I'll have a bottle of Sriracha with me!) But in the main, I'm with the fresh or frozen chile crowd.

As for kho, I'd use fresh chiles for the pure flavor they have. No need to obliterate the complexity that caramel sauce and fish sauce bring to the table. But at the end of the day, it's up to the cook. Experiment and see. It's just food!

Thanks for your thoughtfulness and keeping me straight!

[Kevin]

I can't imagine eating so much rooster chili sauce that the preservatives are a problem. I think my body would revolt from the heat-overload and/or pain far before the preservative would do any damage. That said, I now keep chilis in the freezer too! Ooh. You mentioned caramel sauce. I ran out, and have to make more. Maybe a double or triple batch this time...

[Simon]

Andrea, there are some people in the West who can't imagine eating French Fries without ketchup, and others who scratch their heads about the ketchup and insist French Fries must have malt vinegar on them. Or must only be accompanied by mayonnaise. Me, I don't care about the Fries but I really must have some Sriracha and Hoisin for my beef Pho. In the broth, and also in my little dipping bowl set next to my big Pho bowl. Just have to have it. :-)

As for jalapenos, for some reason American growers pick those things when they're very immature - weeks before they're fully ripe - and sell them with that flawless, shiny, waxy smooth green skin. If one is used to the flavor of peppers, those are kind of disappointing and have a vegetal flavor to them. If you can grow your own, however, or get them from a local farm market, you may be able to try jalapenos that are much more mature, with those distinctive cracked and bumpy lines or scars in the skin. If you grow your own, don't harvest them till they also turn red-ripe. Those red-ripe jalapenos are the ones used to make chipotles, and they carry much more flavor (and much more heat) than a "baby" green jalapeno. Instead of a grassy, vegetal flavor, they have a hint of complex "fruit" to them. Plus, a lot more heat. And those are great to use when one is trying to limit the amount of heat for less adventurous guests and diners...

[ttran]

Andrea,

Unless I am missing something, the preservative listed on the two bottles(chili & siracha) in my kitchen show "sodium bisulfate" not "sodium benzoate." I didn't see a reference to "sodium bisulfate" in that NY Times article. I am not implying here that "sodium bisulfate" is harmless if consumed, just wanted to point out the distinction. Interestingly enough here are some primary uses listed for "sodium bisulfate"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_bisulfate

* Household cleaners
* Silver pickling
* To reduce alkalinity and pH in swimming pools
* In pet foods[1]
* As a preservative for soil samples in analytical laboratory analysis

I wonder if the animal rights activists are aware of this.

[Andrea Nguyen]

Well, I admit it. The only time I have Srirach and hoisin sauce with pho is when I mix those two things together to dip my beef meatballs. Otherwise, I like to have the broth my way -- that's without the extra sauces. To each his/her own.

Sodium bisulfate gives a new cleansing meaning to Sriracha and Chili-garlic sauce. How do you pickle silver?

[Lili]

Yeah, the only time I have the Sriracha is the 1tsp in the dipping dish with the hoisin and the couple of squirts into my Banh Mi sandwich.

My aunt makes a great Chili-garlic sauce that I'm pretty sure doesn't contain any preservatives. I think the large amount of sugar in her sauce is more than adequate for preserving the chili. And we store it in the fridge for immediate use or in the freezer for longer storage.

Maybe the take home lesson is all is good in moderation, or make your own chili sauce if you're sensitive to preservatives.

[Chuck]

Fresh chili peppers are definitely the way to go. There's no point of masking well prepared food with the vinegar and sugar found in the rooster sauces.

I always have either fresh or frozen Thai, habanero or rooster spur chilies at home. Instead of the chili garlic sauce, I prefer making my own by pureeing fresh chilies. The shelf life is shorter than rooster sauce but it's pure, wonderful heat.

These days, I actually bring my own chilies to restaurants, if I can remember. The salty, oily chili sauces you find at some Chinese places are awful and don't get me started on Tabasco... it's not hot sauce, it's a vinegar sauce!!!

[Andrea Nguyen]

Now Lili and Chuck, we ALL WANT recipes for your homemade versions. There's a Vietnamese-style sate chile sauce on this blog that was sent in from Atlanta:

http://vietworldkitchen.typepad.com/blog/2007/07/lemongrass-chil.html

But Lili, how does your aunt make hers?

Chuck, what do rooster spur chilies look like? And do you just use the puree straight? Let us know!

The only other person I know of who brings her own chilies to a restaurant is Mrs. Hieu, my mother's 70-something-year old friend. Love it.

[Michelle]

I'm glad to get validation on the no hoisin sauce/ srichacha thing in a perfect bowl of pho. I like to leave it out, but my mom, who is a purist in her own right on may things, complains "That is not the true Vietnamese way."

[Lili]

This is what I can remember from watching her a few years ago:

- grind up fresh ripe chilis (I can't say which she uses, she grows it in her backyard), in a blender, I think.

- then into a huge wok where she adds crushed garlic and lots of sugar.

- she cooks it up, stirring with her spatula, until it's cooked.

- the sauce goes into large plastic or glass containers, whatever she's managed to find/recycle.

- These jars go into the freezer.

Sorry, I don't have more details or measurements, and I highly doubt my aunt measures anything out. It's all by feel, just the way my mom cooks too.

[Chuck]

My parents created the homemade chili garlic sauce and of course, they also do everything by eye. I've been trying to document their recipes before they are lost. Here's the recipe...

Fills a 26 oz spaghetti jar
- 1 to 1.5 lbs of habanero peppers
- 1/2 bulb of garlic
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/4 cup of white vinegar

Puree in a blender. You can cut the heat by adding red bell peppers and using less hot peppers. Or you can use red Thai chili peppers or any other red pepper at your desired heat level. It should last 1 to 2 months in the fridge.

Here are some pictures of rooster spur peppers...

http://petterssononline.com/habanero/peppers.php?action=variety&id=138

[Andrea Nguyen]

Lili and Chuck, Many thanks for passing along your family's hot secrets! That's a great way to use the summer's soon-to-be-gone crop of chiles. Hmmmmm... I'm sweating as I ponder making a batch of each of these.

So rooster spur peppers look like small versions of Thai chiles. Thanks for the link.

[Josh Levine]

What a useful and interesting thread, thanks Andrea for posting it -- also glad to share those Vietnam photos with this community so thanks again...

So, my conclusion based on my original query about preservative-free sauces? (I didn't include the fact that this sauce is currently the only food we eat regularly *with* preservatives, partly b/c I guess that older food has duller tastes, so I was trying to get it off that list) > > > > I am inspired by Lili and Chuck to try and make the sauce -- and I am also going to try and grow some chiles! (Was already planning on trying to grow a bit of ngo gai and a couple varieties of hard-to-find basil...)

We'll see how all this pans out!

[Andrea Nguyen]

Josh, you started all of this and it's just fabulous. Yep, let's try out Lili and Chuck's homemade sauce and see... Again, thanks for the photos of the hill tribe peoples.

[Sara Kit]

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