If people ever asked me the secret to my cooking, and I can't imagine why they would, I'd tell them it's Sriracha. As someone whose menus rotate between fish tacos, tofu scrambles, and fried eggs, the hot chili sauce is a life saver. I don't have to worry about the nuances of things like spices and flavors when I can just squirt out a couple thick red lines of the stuff across my food and call it tasty. And that's to say nothing about the amount I use in restaurants. So I've been watching the Southern California battle between the Huy Fong Foods Sriracha plant and its hometown of Irwindale with much concern. According to the LA Times, some Irwindale residents think Sriracha is far too stinky (and troublesome to their health) and have forced Huy Fong Foods to halt production of my favorite mealtime accessory until mid-January! Now some might say there are other brands of chili sauce out there, but Sriracha fans know nothing beats that rooster!
According to the LA Times: "A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled in November the plant must stop any odor-causing productions immediately until experts could identify and mitigate the smell.
"But at the time, Huy Fong officials did not anticipate production delays because they had finished grinding chilis for the year and simply needed to mix and bottle the sauce.
"The company began to comply with the state's hold period this week, said operations manager Donna Lam. Sauce suppliers will not be able to restock until mid-January."
This means Sriracha fans need to stock up on rooster bottles, along with bottles of Chili Garlic and Sambal Oelek, while this damn thing gets figured out.
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