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Sriracha

As a serious writer, I never employ pathetic puns, so I'll not be tempted to refer to today's ingredient as a hot topic. Or a spicy subject. That treatment might meet with a chili reception from my editor.

If you've you guessed that sriracha is a hot sauce, without my using a single pun, congratulations!

Basics: Sriracha is a Thai coastal town, but its namesake is not a just a Thai sauce. The world's largest sriracha manufacturer, in California, was founded by a Chinese immigrant from Vietnam. Vietnamese noodle shops often feature sriracha-bottle centerpieces.

This condiment and handy cooking ingredient resembles thick ketchup, but squeeze some into your pho and you'll know instantly that it is not made of tomatoes. Sriracha is derived from sun-ripened jalapeño peppers, plus garlic, salt and vinegar.

Although hot-sauce devotees rank sriracha's heat as "medium," it packs a wallop -- the heat seems to intensify in liquids, so add drops, not tablespoons, to your spring-roll dipping sauces unless you're fireproof. Tabasco sauce may be hotter, but sriracha adds sophisticated layers of flavor along with its pleasant heat.

Selecting: During one of Chef Russell Siu's 3660 on the Rise cooking classes, someone asked which sriracha he recommended. "The one with the rooster label," he answered, holding up a red squeeze-bottle. Most chefs (and countless sauce fanatics who e-mail love notes to the company) seem to agree that Huy Fong Foods' Rooster Sauce is tops.

Huy Fong's founder, David Tran, left Vietnam for Los Angeles in 1980, peddling his homemade sauce door-to-door from a Chevy van to restaurants and markets. Today, Tran's sauces are a $12 million-a-year international business.

Storing: The familiar rooster bottles contain no water or artificial colors, but do contain preservatives that keep them fresh almost indefinitely when refrigerated.

Uses: Many luscious recipes for Asian dishes feature sriracha (try the Thai Ahi Tartare in Beverly Gannon's "Hali'imaile General Store Cookbook" for starters), but the sauce also adapts well to non-Asian dishes.

As a condiment, it gives zip to hot dogs, pizza and hamburgers, and former Tabasco aficionados now squeeze sriracha into shrimp sauces, gaspachos and Bloody Marys. Huy Fong's Web site carries a knock-out, four-ingredient Buffalo Chicken Wings recipe.

Where to find: In supermarkets, with other Asian sauces. The 17-ounce bottle (less than $4) will warm your heart; the 28-ounce one will heat your Montana cabin for an entire winter!