Mark’s Hot Sauce – Fermented Kimchi Hot Sauce

Bitter: 🟡🟡○○○

Salty: 🟡🟡🟡○○

Sour/Tangy:🟡🟡🟡○○

Sweet: 🟡○○○○

Umami: 🟡🟡🟡○○

Heat: 🟡🟡○○○○○○○○

Quick Flavor Notes: Fermented, Garlic, Sour, Onions

Recommended: Yes

Texture: Medium and chunky

Ingredients: Vegan Kimchi (by Soora MTL – Napa cabbage, Korean radish, green onion, fresh ginger, Gochugaru, sea salt), distilled vinegar, aged Thai Chilis, fresh garlic*, fresh green onion, fresh ginger*, apple cider vinegar*, gluten-free soy sauce (water, soybeans, salt, sugar, brewing starter – aspergillus sojae). *Organic

Mark’s Hot Sauce was founded in 2014 by chef Mark Cregan. Mark had grown up with a love of cooking but it was a semester abroad in Barbados while studying Environmental Science at Montreal’s McGill University that ignited his love of hot sauce. Following his graduation he realized that a life in science didn’t have the same draw as the kitchen so Mark found himself working in some of Montreal’s most noted restaurants, one of which, Mais, made their own house hot sauce which let him learn the fundamentals. While working in the kitchen of other Montreal restaurants Mark continued to develop his own hot sauces at home and after testing them on family and friends eventually launched Mark’s Hot Sauce in Montreal, becoming the first craft hot sauce maker in the city and predating big names such as La Pimenterie and Microsaucerie Piko Peppers.

This hot sauce first appeared on Hot Ones in season twenty-four in the number three position. This was the second Mark’s hot sauce to appear on the show following his Barbados Style which appeared in the same position in season fourteen. I happen to love Kimchi so I was excited to finally open this one up. Mark’s Fermented Kimchi Hot Sauce begins with, well, Kimchi, and in this case it looks like he went to Soora, a Montreal based Korean food producer instead of making it in house. While I’ve had vegan kimchi that’s actually tasty I still feel that it’s a shame that they chose that route in a kimchi-based hot sauce as the saeu-jeot (Korean fermented shrimp) and fish sauce used in traditional kimchi add a ton of umami and depth of flavor. For heat this sauce has both gochugaru, Korean chili flakes, and aged Thai chiles. Aged on a hot sauce label typically implies fermented, though I’d like to know why labels rarely actually state fermented for products that are. Aromatics that mirror those used in the kimchi including green onions, ginger, and garlic fill the sauce out along with soy sauce to help add some of the umami back from the missing seafood in the kimchi base. The soy sauce used does at least look all-natural with traditional ingredients such as soybeans, water, salt and aspergillus sojae, a type of koji mold.

Mark’s Fermented Kimchi Hot Sauce is pleasantly chunky in texture with bits of vegetables and peppers in the mix with a medium consistency. The fermented kimchi does come through in the aroma though not quite as funky as I personally prefer my kimchi to be. Kimchi is at the forefront of the flavor as well, though again not as funky as it could be the fermentation does come through. I imagine Mark’s decided to go for a less-aggressive fermented flavor in this sauce as to not turn off people who may not like the funk. One nice thing about it is that while this sauce has plenty of acidity it’s not vinegar-dominant, with the lactic acid from the fermentation softening the vinegar flavor. Something I’m not as on-board with is the choice of Thai chiles for the main heat driver. The more hot sauces I have based on them the more I find that I’m not a huge fan of their flavor. Thai chiles tend to have a certain musty earthy sourness and a fairly simple flavor profile that I find detracts more than they add to a sauce, and that’s the case here as well. Going back to some positive elements the onions and garlic come through and this sauce does indeed have a nice umami savory flavor. It is a bit more salty than I’d prefer, something that may be less noticeable were it more traditionally tangy. Heat level is quite low. Korean gochugaru chile flakes are usually very mild and the Thai chiles aren’t present in enough quantity to provide any real burn.

I always have a bag of kimchi in my refrigerator and I use it with a variety of foods – pierogis, sandwiches, hot dogs, dumplings, steak, etc, so I expected this sauce to go well with a wide variety of foods also. I had some pork and shiitake pot-stickers I’d been wanting to try so after frying them up I paired them with Mark’s Fermented Kimchi Hot Sauce and found them to work great together – the brighter brinier flavors of the hot sauce bringing contrast to the fattier earthy dumplings. I recently picked up some dried black garlic seasoning from Trader Joe’s (it’s awesome BTW) and I’ve enjoyed putting it on sliced turkey, cheese, and salami roll-ups. Dipping those in Mark’s Fermented Kimchi Hot Sauce took them to the next level with the rich garlicky umami of the seasoning blending perfectly with the salty tangy umami of the hot sauce. Finally Korean-Mexican fusion has proven to be one of the most successful east-meets-west fusion cuisines out there, so I tried this on some steak and shrimp tacos and it’s phenomenal with both. Being garlicky, oniony, chunky, and ferment-y it’s like an Asian salsa that still has flavors reminiscent of the Mexican style.

While I wish Mark’s had made this funkier, thrown some fermented seafood in, and chosen a different pepper for the heat, those are all just nitpicks and the sauce is still delicious. This one gets my full recommendation. If you like kimchi (and who doesn’t) this is a bottle you should pick up. This sauce is also all natural with no artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, or thickeners.