Karma Sauce – Burn After Eating

Bitter: 🟡🟡🟡○○

Salty: 🟡🟡○○○

Sour/Tangy:🟡🟡○○○

Sweet: 🟡○○○○

Umami: 🟡🟡🟡○○

Heat: 🟡🟡🟡🟡🟡🟡🟡🟡🟡○

Quick Flavor Notes: Astringent, Bright, Garlicky, Earthy, Savory

Recommended: Yes

Texture: Very thick almost like a paste

Ingredients: Brutally hot peppers*, white vinegar, garlic, salt, ajwain seed, amchoor, hing powder (rice flour, gum arabic, asafoetida, turmeric), ginger extract. (*A Secret blend of the world’s hottest peppers that may contain Ghost, 7 Pot Primo, Scorpion, Reaper, and 7-Pot Brown).

Karma Sauce’s founder, Gene Olczak, was previously an engineer for NASA and it seems a little bit of intrigue from working on Top Secret government projects never left him. With a name playing off of the spy-thriller trope of “burn after reading” and a label filled with spy references and appearing to burn off of the label you know this is going to be a fun and very hot sauce. In fact this is supposedly the second-hottest sauce in the entire Karma lineup second only to Ashes 2 Ashes, so I was excited to give it a try.

Burn After Eating plays a bit tongue-in-cheek with the pepper blend (if they told you they’d have to kill you) but the mix includes super hots such as ghost peppers, 7 Pot Primos, reapers, scorpions, and 7 pot browns. After that this sauce takes inspiration from Indian cuisine. Coming in right behind the peppers, vinegar, and garlic are ajwain seeds. These are seeds from an herb that grows throughout India, Central Asia, and the Northern Africa. They’re used both in traditional medicine, as a breath freshener, and in food in the region and have a flavor that’s similar to a very pungent oregano mixed with thyme, menthol, and turpentine. Next is amchoor which is a powder made from dried green mangoes and is used in Indian cuisine to bring a sour, tangy, and fruity flavor to dishes. Finally with have Hing which is a spice blend flavored primarily by asfoetida. Asfoetida is the resin or sap from the giant fennel plant native to India. In its pure state it has an intense sulfurous smell and has the nickname “devil’s dung” but when cooked that sulfurous aroma disappears and it takes on a deep savory flavor similar to garlic and onions. In fact followers of Jainism, a religious movement in India who observe an extremely strict vegetarian diet, typically use Asfoetida or Hing in place of onions or garlic because they avoid eating root vegetables as those kill the plant when consumed.

Opening up the bottle of Burn After Eating and you’ll be immediately struck by the aroma of super-hot chiles as well as some exotic spices. A single sniff is all you need to know this sauce means business but when you pour some out (or try to) you’ll discover that this is one of the thickest sauces on the market. It doesn’t pour so much as you have to vigorously shake the bottle to release little clumps, it’s much more of a paste than a liquid sauce. It’s clear that a large proportion of this sauce is chile pepper and the first taste more than confirms that. I took perhaps a teaspoon of this straight on my first taste and I immediately got hiccups, sweats, and a runny nose. The heat comes on immediately and then builds from there. This isn’t a sauce to be trifled with, it’s one of the absolute hottest sauces I’ve ever tried and the only reason it’s not getting a 10/10 heat rating is because apparently Ashes 2 Ashes is even hotter, similar to how I felt with Primo’s Peppers Swampadelic. You get the flavor of those super-hot chiles and the astringent flavors that come with them but also plenty of that chile fruit, it’s clear these are high quality peppers. There is a strong medicinal flavor from the ajwain seeds which accentuates those astringent notes as well as a fruity tart flavor from the amchoor. The garlic flavor comes in strong right after the initial pepper rush and is enhanced by the onion garlicky Hing both of which also work with the earthier pepper notes to give this sauce great balance and a savory presentation.

For anyone considering this one I found this to be hotter than other super-hot sauces I’ve tried. There’s more heat here than in Garlic Reaper, Aka Miso Ghost Reaper, Red Ghost Reaper, and Goblin Blood and much hotter than Tabasco Scorpion. Only Swampadelic, The Rapture, and Queen Majesty Sicilian Scorpion really hit the same from what I’ve tried thus far. The paste-like consistency of this without any thickening agents means that this is about as close to pure pepper mash as you’re going to find in a commercial sauce. A little bit goes a long way and while it’s absolutely delicious, it will also wreck you.

I tried this out first with pizza and I thought it was a solid combo though the strong flavors of this sauce can overwhelm even a meat lover’s pie. What was surprisingly great was using this on a Red’s bean and beef burrito. I would have never expected the Indian flavors to go well with Mexican ones but this sauce was absolutely perfect with the creamy savory beans and seasoned beef. Of course I couldn’t not try this with Indian food and it’s a great pairing there as well. I loved this with tandoori chicken and with Chicken Chettinad, the flavors are a perfect match and it adds a ton of heat that also blends perfectly with the chutneys and Indian pickles I always get on the side.

Karma Sauce Burn After Eating gets my full recommendation. If you’re looking for a delicious sauce with a unique flavor profile and major major heat this is one to pick up. Just be warned, you may end up on a watch list so be on the lookout for black vans parked outside.