Crisp & Juicy

[notoriouslyKEN]

Has anyone ever eaten Crisp & Juicy chickens before. I fear that they are only in the DC Metro area, but they have amazing rotisserie chicken. They also have a creamy hot sauce that is simply divine. It goes great with the chicken, but I also use it in the black beans and rice or french fries. Has anyone tried this hot sauce and can replicate it? Or does anyone know of a creamy hot sauce recipe? I'd love to have something similar to this.

[phatch]

Never had it.

I'm wondering if the hot sauce might not be a variation on Big Bob Gibsons's White Barbecue sauce. He uses it mostly for chicken and the recipe is all over the place. http://tinyurl.com/37x7fg will get you started.

[notoriouslyKEN]

Thats an interesting looking sauce. I have never heard of white BBQ sauce before. It looks like it gets rave reviews too. Maybe I will have to try it someday.

It doesn't appear to be what I am lookign for though. It is much thinner than Crisp & Juicy's. I was talking to a lady at my work about the sauce today and she said she has tried to replicate it many times with no luck. Crisp and Juicy is a hispanic chicken joint, and she was born in Mexico. If she can't replicate it, I do not know how much success I will have with it. She was thinking the base is mayo while I was thinking sour cream. I might try and play around with some different recipes tonight.

[Mezzaluna]

I'm sure I saw this on Food TV once. Now that I see the recipe, it looks a lot like creamy cole slaw dressing with hot pepper subbed for sugar.

[Nick341]

Originally Posted by phatch

Never had it.

I'm wondering if the hot sauce might not be a variation on Big Bob Gibsons's White Barbecue sauce. He uses it mostly for chicken and the recipe is all over the place.

I like such dishes.

mmmmmmmmmm mouth watering indeed


LOL

[hank_freid]

Hi,
I love Crisp & Juicy - though I will say that I've not been to any other Peruvian chicken place. I like the quarter dark (I think the dark meat is MUCH more flavorful when prepared this way) with yucca fries. I also like that they have fried plantains available.A few things that I don't care for - the sauce (I find the chicken better without it); the "salad" that comes with the platters (why bother?); and the roll that comes with the platter. All I want is the chicken and fries, but it is cheaper to order the platter than just chicken and fries.

[shakeandbake]

You can make chipotle mayo, it might taste like the creamy hot sauce you are looking for. A small can of chipotle peppers in hot sauce will make a pretty good size batch.

[boar_d_laze]

Based on your description and the difficulty your Mexican friend had in deconstructing, it seems as though you've run into what I call "Armenexican Garlic Balm." I can't say about "Crisp and Juicy," but if their sauce is very heavy on the garlic, it's a take on something that first took-off in Los Angeles at a place (then a chain) called Zankou's and went monster. Both Zankou's and the sauce are ubiquitous in the Hispanic/Armenian and Hispanic/Asian (don't ask) areas of greater L. A. The heat in the sauce -- which is much condiment as sauce -- comes entirely from garlic.

How to know: Do you sweat garlic after eating? Are you incredibly thirsty? Do Koreans suddenly find you irresistible? Do vampires avoid you?

Anyway, here's a "running recipe" for Armenexican Garlic Balm:

• Cut two medium russet potatoes into rough chunks. Boil until (over) cooked. Drain thoroughly.
• Peel and crush -- or crush and peel -- 10 cloves of garlic. (Seem like a lot? It is.)
• Throw the garlic in the blender or processor with the juice of 1-1/2 lemons and a tsp of salt. Puree. Add the potatoes and puree.
• With machine running add 1/2 to 3/4 cups oil in a steady stream, until desired consistency is reached. (The restaurants use lighter oils, like corn and canola.)
• Chase with Tums.

But wait! There's more!

Alabama White Sauce

"White sauce" aka Alabama white sauce, is an Alabama variation on Carolina style mustard barbecue sauces, that's been around for awhile. Unlike mustard sauce which is usually a pork thing, white sauce is more or less chicken specific. Bob Gibson did not invent it. Bob Gibson's particular recipe is good, but nothing like original, unique, or even idiosyncratic. Gibson's "originality" is the addition of horseradish -- which, face it, isn't all that original. Usually, white sauce is not what anyone would call "hot." In fact, it is usually the least challenging of barbecue sauces. Like most American style barbecue sauces, it's flavor profile is sweet and sour overlaid on something else -- in this case, mayonnaise. Typical of the south-east, it's more sour than sweet. It's basically cider vinegar, mayo, sugar with a touch of pepper flakes or a dash of hot sauce. You can make it hot by adding more red pepper or hot sauce, but it's a bad idea.

Here's a basic recipe which makes about 1 quart:

Ingredients:

2 cups mayonnaise
1-1/2 cup cider vinegar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup white sugar
4 tbs honey
1/2 tsp salt
Pinch of cayenne pepper, or a few dashes of your favorite hot sauce.
Fresh, coarse ground black pepper -- to taste (about 1/2 tsp)

Technique:

Add the vinegar to the mayonnaise a little at a time and mix in, so mayonnaise doesn't break. Blend in the remaining ingredients, except black pepper. Add just enough black pepper so you can see a few flecks here and there when blended.

Hope this elucidates,
BDL

[Gummy-Bear]

Originally Posted by shakeandbake

You can make chipotle mayo, it might taste like the creamy hot sauce you are looking for. A small can of chipotle peppers in hot sauce will make a pretty good size batch.

Another way is to mix chipotle Tabasco sauce and mayo. We do that with Cajun shrimp boils.

[boar_d_laze]

This thread was getting sidetracked by chipotles and Armenians and whatnot, so, just for the h*ll of it, I decided to do your research, and find out what's in Crisp and Juicy's hot sauce.

It's a typical Peruvian sauce called crema de rocoto, made from mayonnaise, cream, garlic, lemon and rocoto peppers. A variety of recipes abound -- in Spanish (search terms: "receta de crema de rocoto"). I took the liberty of synthesizing a few down to their most basic elements and writing a basic recipe for you in English. English is nice.

But a couple of thoughts before going there:

Rocoto peppers are nothing like chipotles.

Chipotles are smoked, dried jalapenos. They are often packed, reconstituted in a can with a little of the reconstituting liquid, and a mixture of dry spices. In Spanish, a dried spice mixture is called an adobo. The liquid causes the chile and the adobo to inform each other. The whole thing is called "chipotle en adbobo," is available darn near everywhere and is popular with everyone. Too popular. Pinche gabachos. FWIW, Tabasco brand chipotle hot sauce is the ultimate pizza condiment. No kidding.

Rocotos, on the other hand are, not dried, not smoked and not particularly hot. If you're Mexican or Thai they aren't hot at all. If you're from Baltimore or Northern Virginia, you, like the Peruvians, might find them slightly picante (spicy).

If you can't find rocoto peppers, the closest things would probably be poblanos, pasillas, or reconstituted mulatos or anchos. Whatever you get, try and get them as red (as opposed to green) as possible.

Here's a typical recipe for crema de rocoto, but you'll have to adjust it to get the balance you want.

Ingredients:

2 whole, red rocoto peppers
1-1/2 cups prepared mayonnaise + 1/2 cup for the sauce
Juice of 1 lemon + 1 juice of 1 lemon for the sauce
2 tbs garlic paste (crushed garlice rubbed to a paste with a little oil and salt) or aji amarillo paste
1/2 medium onion, rough chopped
2 tbs sugar for the blanch + 1 tbs for the paste + 1 tbs for the sauce
1 tsp celery seed, crushed, or, 1 tsp celery salt
2 tbs vinegar
1 cup cream
Splash of white wine
Salt
Pepper

Technique:

Core, seed and de-vein the peppers. Bring a quart of water with 1 tbs sugar and 1 tbs vinegar to the boil. Blanch the peppers, and drain them. Pour off the water, and using fresh water, sugar and vinegar, repeat.

Puree the peppers in a blender or processor. Mix the peppers, onion, mayonnaise, garlic, celery, and lemon juice and sugar together in the blender (this is rocoto paste). Set aside 1/2 cup and store the remainder, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for future sauces.

Mix 1/4 cup of your rocoto paste with 1/2 cup cream, and a tsp of sugar. Blend and taste. Adjust to your preference with the remaining rocoto paste, lemon juice, cream, sugar, and mayo. Adjust for salt and pepper.

Notes:
1) Remember the flavors will take several hours to marry; and.
2) Write down your final proportions so you're not playing mad scientist every time you want sauce.

This ought to put it to bed,
BDL

[Mezzaluna]

Anyway, here's a "running recipe" for Armenexican Garlic Balm:

• Cut two medium russet potatoes into rough chunks. Boil until (over) cooked. Drain thoroughly.
• Peel and crush -- or crush and peel -- 10 cloves of garlic. (Seem like a lot? It is.)
• Throw the garlic in the blender or processor with the juice of 1-1/2 lemons and a tsp of salt. Puree. Add the potatoes and puree.
• With machine running add 1/2 to 3/4 cups oil in a steady stream, until desired consistency is reached. (The restaurants use lighter oils, like corn and canola.)
• Chase with Tums.

I've seen similar recipes for the Greek sauce, skordalia. Skordalia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia When I ate it in Greece with fried fish, it used bread as the thickener.

[RickBwarn]

"chase with tums"

How comical, you think it's that bad?

[boar_d_laze]

Originally Posted by RickBwarn

"chase with tums" ... How comical, you think it's that bad?

[emphasis and ellipses added]

Bad no? Bad idea to eat late if you have GRD? Yes. Worth it? I think so.

BDL