Sriracha isn’t merely hot sauce in a squeeze bottle. It’s a thing.
Rappers rhyme it. Simpsons swig it. Astronauts pack it. The spicy sauce has inspired cookbooks, lawsuits and a documentary. Its huge fan base (and lack of trademark) means the name applies to both the red sauce, green cap, rooster logo version and to its competitors. It’s a general term, like ketchup.
When a condiment can claim anything “like ketchup,” it’s a thing.
It’s also hot sauce in a squeeze bottle — jalapeno spicy, garlic-gutsy and straight-up delicious. Perks up Thai noodle, Chinese dumpling, Vietnamese sandwich and — they say — burger, pizza and watermelon.
Even inmates demand “rooster sauce,” at least according to “Orange Is the New Black.” Must mean Sriracha is the new ketchup.
Breakfast banh mi
Prep: 45 minutes
Cook: 4 minutes
Makes: 4 sandwiches
2 carrots, peeled
1 tsp. sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. plus 2 tablespoons Sriracha sauce
2 Tbsp. rice-wine vinegar
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 loaf ciabatta bread
1/2 cup mixed fresh cilantro and mint leaves
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded, sliced into matchsticks
1/2 cucumber, peeled, halved, seeded, sliced into crescents
8 slices brown-sugar bacon (recipe follows)
Canola oil
4 eggs
Pickle: Use a vegetable peeler to carve carrots into long strips. Pile strips into a bowl; rub with sugar, salt and 1/4 teaspoon Sriracha. Pour in vinegar and enough cold water to cover. Let soak at room temperature, briefly — or up to two days, chilled. When ready to build sandwiches, drain carrots, rinse and pat dry.
Mix: Whisk together mayo, remaining 2 tablespoons Sriracha, soy sauce and sesame oil. Chill this spicy sauce.
Slice: Cut ciabatta into four 3-by-3-inch squares. (Save any extra bread for crumb duty.) Slice in half horizontally. Open sandwich sets, crust down, crumb up.
Build: Spread both crumb sides of each sandwich with spicy sauce. Sprinkle both sides of each with cilantro/mint combo. Settle some jalapeno sticks, cucumber crescents and carrot curls on both sides. Fold 2 slices bacon onto each bottom half.
Fry: Place a large skillet over medium-high heat. Pour in a little canola oil. When hot, fry eggs, turning once, to your liking. It takes about 4 minutes for edges that are crisp, whites that are set and yolks that aren’t.
Serve: Top each bacon set with 1 fried egg. (They may hang over the edges a bit — that’s OK.) Close up sandwiches. Enjoy.
Brown-sugar bacon: Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Set a rack on top. Spread out 1/3 cup dark-brown sugar on a plate. Brush 8 strips thick-cut bacon on both sides with soy sauce. Press one side into the sugar. Set bacon strips, sugar-side up, on the rack. Grind on some black pepper. Slide into a 350-degree oven and bake until dark brown (but not entirely crisp), about 25 minutes. Cool.
Provenance: Adapted from a recipe by chef David Sherman, of Cafe Cito, Baltimore.
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