Bitter: ⭐⭐✰✰✰
Salty: ⭐⭐✰✰✰
Sour/Tangy: ⭐⭐⭐✰✰
Sweet: ⭐⭐✰✰✰
Umami: ⭐⭐✰✰✰
Heat: ⭐⭐⭐✰✰✰✰✰✰✰
Quick Flavor Notes: Fruity, tangy, smoky, deep
Texture: Medium-thin with some pepper bits
Recommended: Yes
Ingredients: Healdsburg, CA grown habanero, carrot, Preston’s olive oil and white vinegar
Mateo Granados, now a private catering chef, has previously helmed multiple Bay Area and California Wine Country restaurants while also working on his own line of hot sauces inspired by the flavors of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Based out of Healdsburg, CA, a small town in the Sonoma County wine region Mateo uses locally grown habaneros as well as as many other locally grown ingredients as possible. He makes four different habanero sauces and I decided to open this one, the “Amarillo Rostizado” first.
The name of this sauce brings up some questions for me. Amarillo, yellow in Spanish, typically refers to a sauce made from yellow peppers and while there’s perhaps a hint of yellow to this sauce it’s more of a dark brown to my eyes. Looking up rostizado shows that it’s a term usually associated with Mexican rotisserie chicken, though I suppose anything could be rostizado-d, so perhaps the habaneros for this sauce are roasted in a similar fashion. The ingredients list itself is dead simple with only four – locally grown habaneros, carrots, vinegar, and olive oil. Such simple sauces don’t leave anywhere to hide and to really shine depend on the highest quality ingredients. According to the bottle the habaneros used in this sauce are the ones left to ripen longest on the vine and thus have the most heat and the biggest flavor. You do get a big habanero aroma when giving the bottle a sniff. Texturally this sauce is medium-thin and while not chunky there are bits of real peppers inside.
On his website Mateo Granados has tasting notes on his various sauces that are similar to what you’d see from a winery, which makes some sense given his location. For this sauce the notes say flavors of mandarin orange and clove should be noticeable and though I’m not sure if it’s just the suggestion of those flavors that made them pop out to me, but I can actually taste the essence of orange and clove in this sauce, despite neither ingredient being used. The sauce has some smoky and charred flavors which does lend to the theory that the habaneros are roasted for this sauce. What strikes me most about it however is how complex and developed the habanero flavor is. I’ve mentioned it before but quality of ingredients absolutely matters. Going with locally grown peppers from one of the richest agricultural regions in the nation means these peppers are packed with more flavor and more heat. Many habanero sauces made from commodity peppers lack both heat and complexity. El Yuca Amarillo Rostizado is simultaneously fruity, smoky, vegetal, earthy, and spicy in ways beyond just heat, though this does have more kick than the average habanero sauce. The carrots in the sauce also add just a touch of underlying sweetness and there’s a good amount of acid from the vinegar plus a richer mouthfeel from the olive oil.
Habanero sauces are pretty well universally applicable and I found that to be the case here as well. Even though this sauce doesn’t have the flavors of a traditional Mexican sauce such as cumin or Mexican herbs it’s still amazing with tacos and on nachos. It’s a pal to pizza and with its high acidity it was great to kick up some clam chowder. Excellent with a hot tuna melt and even great taking spoonfuls straight out of the bottle.
Needless to say Mateo Granados “El Yuca” Amarillo Rostizado gets my highest recommendation. This sauce hits all of my pleasure points – made simply with the highest quality locally-sourced ingredients and becoming something that transcends the sum of its parts. This sauce is also all natural with no artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, or thickeners.
by MagnusAlbusPater
2 Comments
Bitter: ⭐⭐✰✰✰
Salty: ⭐⭐✰✰✰
Sour/Tangy: ⭐⭐⭐✰✰
Sweet: ⭐⭐✰✰✰
Umami: ⭐⭐✰✰✰
Heat: ⭐⭐⭐✰✰✰✰✰✰✰
Quick Flavor Notes: Fruity, tangy, smoky, deep
Texture: Medium-thin with some pepper bits
Recommended: Yes
Ingredients: Healdsburg, CA grown habanero, carrot, Preston’s olive oil and white vinegar
Mateo Granados, now a private catering chef, has previously helmed multiple Bay Area and California Wine Country restaurants while also working on his own line of hot sauces inspired by the flavors of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Based out of Healdsburg, CA, a small town in the Sonoma County wine region Mateo uses locally grown habaneros as well as as many other locally grown ingredients as possible. He makes four different habanero sauces and I decided to open this one, the “Amarillo Rostizado” first.
The name of this sauce brings up some questions for me. Amarillo, yellow in Spanish, typically refers to a sauce made from yellow peppers and while there’s perhaps a hint of yellow to this sauce it’s more of a dark brown to my eyes. Looking up rostizado shows that it’s a term usually associated with Mexican rotisserie chicken, though I suppose anything could be rostizado-d, so perhaps the habaneros for this sauce are roasted in a similar fashion. The ingredients list itself is dead simple with only four – locally grown habaneros, carrots, vinegar, and olive oil. Such simple sauces don’t leave anywhere to hide and to really shine depend on the highest quality ingredients. According to the bottle the habaneros used in this sauce are the ones left to ripen longest on the vine and thus have the most heat and the biggest flavor. You do get a big habanero aroma when giving the bottle a sniff. Texturally this sauce is medium-thin and while not chunky there are bits of real peppers inside.
On his website Mateo Granados has tasting notes on his various sauces that are similar to what you’d see from a winery, which makes some sense given his location. For this sauce the notes say flavors of mandarin orange and clove should be noticeable and though I’m not sure if it’s just the suggestion of those flavors that made them pop out to me, but I can actually taste the essence of orange and clove in this sauce, despite neither ingredient being used. The sauce has some smoky and charred flavors which does lend to the theory that the habaneros are roasted for this sauce. What strikes me most about it however is how complex and developed the habanero flavor is. I’ve mentioned it before but quality of ingredients absolutely matters. Going with locally grown peppers from one of the richest agricultural regions in the nation means these peppers are packed with more flavor and more heat. Many habanero sauces made from commodity peppers lack both heat and complexity. El Yuca Amarillo Rostizado is simultaneously fruity, smoky, vegetal, earthy, and spicy in ways beyond just heat, though this does have more kick than the average habanero sauce. The carrots in the sauce also add just a touch of underlying sweetness and there’s a good amount of acid from the vinegar plus a richer mouthfeel from the olive oil.
Habanero sauces are pretty well universally applicable and I found that to be the case here as well. Even though this sauce doesn’t have the flavors of a traditional Mexican sauce such as cumin or Mexican herbs it’s still amazing with tacos and on nachos. It’s a pal to pizza and with its high acidity it was great to kick up some clam chowder. Excellent with a hot tuna melt and even great taking spoonfuls straight out of the bottle.
Needless to say Mateo Granados “El Yuca” Amarillo Rostizado gets my highest recommendation. This sauce hits all of my pleasure points – made simply with the highest quality locally-sourced ingredients and becoming something that transcends the sum of its parts. This sauce is also all natural with no artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, or thickeners.
Sounds great, can’t believe I haven’t had this one despite being made in my neck of the woods