El Sapo Salsa.

[OM3N]

Just noticed the ad on the top of the page. Has anyone tried this? I usually make salsa at home but wouldn't be averse to a cheaper (if it is cheaper?) bottled alternative. I can't bring myself to pay 130++ for imports that are mediocre at best (Although Amy's Chipotle Salsa is quite good).

[maxjay]

I've been enjoying since it came on the market.

The only advice I can give you OM3N, is buy a couple of bottles and see for yourself. Around 70 baht or so per bottle...what have you got to lose?

Of course, anything on this forum, relating to Mexican food is highly subjective. So, I'm sure the forum salsa purists will speak up. However, I grew up in California, been eating Mexican food for over fifty years, and am thankful for a good, reasonably priced salsa available here in Thailand.

Thank you El Sapo!

[Tejas]

The picante sauce is very good..........just like back home (i.e., Texas). The only problem is I never have corn chips to eat with it.

[Ulysses G.]

Doritos will do in a pinch!

[Tejas]

Doritos will do in a pinch!

Yep...........but there are no Doritos where I live..........no Western food at all, unless you call 7-11 food Western food.

Sad but true

[Ulysses G.]

No Doritos? Don't you miss civilization?

[Tejas]

No Doritos? Don't you miss civilization?

Yes.....there is no civilization without Doritos and El Sapo Picante Sauce. Tragic........

(Sometimes I do go to the big city......I just hitch up the buffalo to my fancy wheel cart and go.)

In truth, I do miss living in the big city........then after living in the big city I miss living in the country.....etc., etc.

[OM3N]

Thanks guys! Definitely will give it a go. Where is it most available? (I usually go to Gourmet Market in the Emporium).

[NanaFoods]

Thanks guys! Definitely will give it a go. Where is it most available? (I usually go to Gourmet Market in the Emporium).

Hi OM3N,

I am the proprietor of Nana Foods - we make El Sapo Salsa and Nana Pasta Sauce.

If you live in Bangkok, you can find El Sapo at your nearest Villa Market.

[onethailand]

Thanks guys! Definitely will give it a go. Where is it most available? (I usually go to Gourmet Market in the Emporium).

Hi OM3N,

I am the proprietor of Nana Foods - we make El Sapo Salsa and Nana Pasta Sauce.

If you live in Bangkok, you can find El Sapo at your nearest Villa Market.

If your usual shopping place is the Emporium (like me) - Villa is a short distance away, just take the walkway attached to the BTS, go to the end, down the stairs, then walk about 100 meters and you will find Villa Market.

[Backwoods]

I currently use the El Sappo sauces and they are not bad! And the Villa has a selection of doritos as well! I just wish I could fine Pace Picante over here. Their hot picante sauce is better than I have ever had anywhere!

[Tejas]

I currently use the El Sappo sauces and they are not bad! And the Villa has a selection of doritos as well! I just wish I could fine Pace Picante over here. Their hot picante sauce is better than I have ever had anywhere!

Interesting..........I am from Texas.......we begin eating "hot sauce" (aka. picante sauce) as babies.

I grew up loving the hot sauce at a place called El Fenix in Dallas.

When not eating there, we would always eat Pace Picante hot sauce.

To me, El Sappo's Picante (hot sauce) sauce is very similar to Pace Picante hot sauce.

If you want even more heat, just chop up one of those small, green Thai peppers and throw it in there.

That should do it. But, for me, El Sappo's Picante Sauce has just enough heat.

[kikoman]

I currently use the El Sappo sauces and they are not bad! And the Villa has a selection of doritos as well! I just wish I could fine Pace Picante over here. Their hot picante sauce is better than I have ever had anywhere!

Interesting..........I am from Texas.......we begin eating "hot sauce" (aka. picante sauce) as babies.

I grew up loving the hot sauce at a place called El Fenix in Dallas.

When not eating there, we would always eat Pace Picante hot sauce.

To me, El Sappo's Picante (hot sauce) sauce is very similar to Pace Picante hot sauce.

If you want even more heat, just chop up one of those small, green Thai peppers and throw it in there.

That should do it. But, for me, El Sappo's Picante Sauce has just enough heat.

Tejas, The next time you are in the big city, buy some corn tortillas, cut them up 4 to 6 times into triangles and fry them take them out of the pan and drain them of excess oil , add salt (if you wish) while try are hot.

good eats.

Also I live 55 kilometers out of Nakhon Sawan out in the sticks, and do my big city shopping mostly at Makro, if you have a Makro near you take the time to carefully check out all the frozen food cases, you will be surprised what you find, I found "El Charro" corn tortillas, pita bread, all kinds of different meats including beef ( the rib eye steaks are not bad after being marinated.)

Worth checking out.

Cheers:

[zaphodbeeblebrox]

Tejas, The next time you are in the big city, buy some corn tortillas, cut them up 4 to 6 times into triangles and fry them take them out of the pan and drain them of excess oil , add salt (if you wish) while try are hot.

good eats.

Also I live 55 kilometers out of Nakhon Sawan out in the sticks, and do my big city shopping mostly at Makro, if you have a Makro near you take the time to carefully check out all the frozen food cases, you will be surprised what you find, I found "El Charro" corn tortillas, pita bread, all kinds of different meats including beef ( the rib eye steaks are not bad after being marinated.)

Worth checking out.

Cheers:

I concur about frying up those El Charro corn tortillas to make chips. I keep a load of corn tortillas in the freezer for this purpose. Lately, however, Villa Market has been stocking Tostitos (84 baht for a bag). The white corn tortillas chips made by Tostitos I think I better than the chips you fry up yourself. Just personal taste. And Makro is probably best for those of us in the sticks, who have some freezer space and can buy things like meat and cheese in bulk.

[kikoman]

I agree with the white tortilla chips being better.

I just brought back a package of 72 count white thin corn tortillas, my wife made some taco's and told me these tortillas are completely different. smoother grain and much better tasting and cost $1.99 for 7 dozen, I wish I had gotten another package but did not know if I would have any problems with Thai Customs.

I went to goods to declare line and they just wave me through.

cheers

[kikoman]

I finally tried the El Sapo Picante Sauce, it was very impressive I used the ("Hot" flavored sauce and found it to have a great bite) for a store brought sauce with great flavor and the spices were great, But there was also a down side -it had a strong tomato flavor that I am not used to.

As we make our own salsa at home using fresh tomatoes, and it has a different tomato taste.

I chopped up about a pound of pork, added more onions and garlic, put in some Mexican oregano ,more dry chile and your hot sauce, put all in the crock pot on low at about 10 PM and by 6AM I had the El Sapo slow cooked Pork for breakfast, with some frijoles refritos and fresh home made tortillas. A breakfast that was a great start to my day. and I found a new recipe to cook up again in the near future.

All was great!

Cheers:

Edited July 25, 2010 by kikoman

[bonobo]

I finally tried the El Sapo Picante Sauce, it was very impressive I used the ("Hot"  flavored sauce and found it to have a great bite) for a store brought sauce with great flavor and the spices were great, But there was also a down side -it had a strong tomato flavor that I am not used to.

As we make our own salsa at home using fresh tomatoes, and it has a different tomato taste.

I chopped up about a pound of pork, added more onions and garlic, put in some Mexican oregano ,more dry chile and your hot sauce, put all in the crock pot on low at about 10 PM and by 6AM I had the El Sapo slow cooked Pork for breakfast, with some frijoles refritos and fresh home made tortillas. A breakfast that was a great start to my day. and I found a new recipe to cook up again in the near future.

All was great!

Cheers:

THat actually sounds pretty good.  I'm going to have to try that.

[bonobo]

Doritos will do in a pinch!

I brought back 6 huge avocados from the Philippines for carnitas, but then made more guacamole about two days later to eat with some local corn chips I bought at Villa Market (73 baht and not bad).  Unfortunately, someone found the chips and ate them, and with only THai snack food anywhere near me, I bought Cornys (sp?).  Horrible, horrible choice!!!!!!!  I never thought I would say this, but oh, if I only had Doritos!

[NanaFoods]

I finally tried the El Sapo Picante Sauce, it was very impressive I used the ("Hot" flavored sauce and found it to have a great bite) for a store brought sauce with great flavor and the spices were great, But there was also a down side -it had a strong tomato flavor that I am not used to.

As we make our own salsa at home using fresh tomatoes, and it has a different tomato taste.

I chopped up about a pound of pork, added more onions and garlic, put in some Mexican oregano ,more dry chile and your hot sauce, put all in the crock pot on low at about 10 PM and by 6AM I had the El Sapo slow cooked Pork for breakfast, with some frijoles refritos and fresh home made tortillas. A breakfast that was a great start to my day. and I found a new recipe to cook up again in the near future.

All was great!

Cheers:

Thanks for the feedback, kikoman.

I may have to put your recipe on my website... sounds yummy.

[kikoman]

Doritos will do in a pinch!

I brought back 6 huge avocados from the Philippines for carnitas, but then made more guacamole about two days later to eat with some local corn chips I bought at Villa Market (73 baht and not bad). Unfortunately, someone found the chips and ate them, and with only THai snack food anywhere near me, I bought Cornys (sp?). Horrible, horrible choice!!!!!!! I never thought I would say this, but oh, if I only had Doritos!

It was posted on this thread but fry your own corn Chips! Check back on this thread and it has the information that may be useful to you, Best fry the imported brand made with white corn, but any brand of corn tortilla will do in a pinch.

Cheers:

[zaphodbeeblebrox]

Doritos will do in a pinch!

I brought back 6 huge avocados from the Philippines for carnitas, but then made more guacamole about two days later to eat with some local corn chips I bought at Villa Market (73 baht and not bad). Unfortunately, someone found the chips and ate them, and with only THai snack food anywhere near me, I bought Cornys (sp?). Horrible, horrible choice!!!!!!! I never thought I would say this, but oh, if I only had Doritos!

It was posted on this thread but fry your own corn Chips! Check back on this thread and it has the information that may be useful to you, Best fry the imported brand made with white corn, but any brand of corn tortilla will do in a pinch.

Cheers:

El Charro makes good tortilla chips in Thailand, sold at Villa and Carrefour. Sometimes Villa stocks Tostitos, which are white corn tortilla chips made by Lays/Pepsico. I'm not a big fan of Doritos, and, at the price charged in Thailand, opt for the fry-your-own method.

Kikkoman - any chance of growing white corn in Thailand?

[kikoman]

Doritos will do in a pinch!

I brought back 6 huge avocados from the Philippines for carnitas, but then made more guacamole about two days later to eat with some local corn chips I bought at Villa Market (73 baht and not bad). Unfortunately, someone found the chips and ate them, and with only THai snack food anywhere near me, I bought Cornys (sp?). Horrible, horrible choice!!!!!!! I never thought I would say this, but oh, if I only had Doritos!

It was posted on this thread but fry your own corn Chips! Check back on this thread and it has the information that may be useful to you, Best fry the imported brand made with white corn, but any brand of corn tortilla will do in a pinch.

Cheers:

El Charro makes good tortilla chips in Thailand, sold at Villa and Carrefour. Sometimes Villa stocks Tostitos, which are white corn tortilla chips made by Lays/Pepsico. I'm not a big fan of Doritos, and, at the price charged in Thailand, opt for the fry-your-own method.

Kikkoman - any chance of growing white corn in Thailand?

I Am trying to grow some as we speak, Results look promising.

This is the same crop as these pictures below, 20 days later -some of the stalks are 7 foot high.

Also on my other thread another person shows his crop of masa corn.

Cheers:

[Jimmyd]

I tried to find El Sapo Salsa in Villa Pattaya yesterday--I couldn't find it and I looked quite hard. They had some at Best Supermarket in North Pattaya, but there were only about 4 bottles, 2 each of medium and mild and I wanted spicy.

Any chance of a restock? Is it available anywhere else in Pattaya?

[NanaFoods]

I tried to find El Sapo Salsa in Villa Pattaya yesterday--I couldn't find it and I looked quite hard. They had some at Best Supermarket in North Pattaya, but there were only about 4 bottles, 2 each of medium and mild and I wanted spicy.

Any chance of a restock? Is it available anywhere else in Pattaya?

Villa Pattaya just ordered a case each of Jalapeno and Picante (the hot one).

They should have received by yesterday at latest, I would think.

Perhaps it didn't make onto the shelves yet when you were there.

I'd say, try again at Villa - and ask the section manager to look in the back room if you can't find them.

Thanks for your perseverance.

Other stores that carry El Sapo in Pattaya are Foodmart and Friendship (both on the south side)

And thanks for your info, as well.

Seems I need to have my wife contact Best.

Edited July 28, 2010 by ChefHeat

[Jimmyd]

Thanks.

Edited August 10, 2010 by Jimmyd

[Hans Brix]

Never seen plain doritos here without that soldium flavoring glues to em. I'll pass on that junk but plain doritos would be awesome but they aint here!

[NanaFoods]

Never seen plain doritos here without that soldium flavoring glues to em. I'll pass on that junk but plain doritos would be awesome but they aint here!

Actually I got some "plain" Doritos at Villa a few times.

However, after learning the dangers of MSG, even though I am not allergic to it, I am still trying hard to avoid eating foods with MSG, and have found Doritos to be quite full the stuff.

---------------------

List of Doritos Flavors that contain MSG:

• DORITOS® Blazin' Buffalo & Ranch Flavored Tortilla Chips

• DORITOS® COLLISIONS® Hot Wings and Blue Cheese Flavored Tortilla Chips

• DORITOS® COLLISIONS® Pizza Cravers and Ranch Flavored Tortilla Chips

• DORITOS® COLLISIONS® Zesty Taco and Chipotle Ranch Flavored Tortilla Chips

• DORITOS® COOL RANCH® Flavored Tortilla Chips

• DORITOS® Diablo Flavored Tortilla Chips

• DORITOS® Last Call Jalapeno Popper Flavored Tortilla Chips

• DORITOS® NACHO CHEESE® Flavored Tortilla Chips

• DORITOS® Reduced Fat COOL RANCH® Flavored Tortilla Chips

• DORITOS® Reduced Fat NACHO CHEESE® Flavored Tortilla Chips

• DORITOS® Salsa Verde Flavored Tortilla Chips

• DORITOS® Spicy Nacho Flavored Tortilla Chips

• DORITOS® Spicy Sweet Chili Flavored Tortilla Chips

• DORITOS® Taco Flavored Tortilla Chips

• DORITOS® Tacos at Midnight Flavored Tortilla Chips

• DORITOS® Toro Habanero Flavored Tortilla Chips

• BAKED! DORITOS® NACHO CHEESE® Flavored Tortilla Chips

• DORITOS® NACHO CHEESE® 100 Calorie Mini Bites Flavored Tortilla Chips

• DORITOS® NACHO CHEESE® Flavored Tortilla Chips 6 Count Singles

• DORITOS® NACHO CHEESE® Flavored Tortilla Chips 12 Count Singles

List of Doritos Chips that do not contain MSG:

• DORITOS® Toasted Corn Tortilla Chips

----------------------

Source: http://www.msgexpose...ly-bold-indeed/

Edited August 18, 2010 by ChefHeat

[theseahorse]

Actually I got some "plain" Doritos at Villa a few times.

However, after learning the dangers of MSG, even though I am not allergic to it, I am still trying hard to avoid eating foods with MSG, and have found Doritos to be quite full the stuff.

---------------------

Although I'm not a fan of any additive to foods and as a chef have never added msg powder to any of my dishes, I'm still shocked with the amount of people who seem to think MSG is so bad for you. What part of MSG are you scared of? Soduim as we all know is just salt, not good for us no, but as a chef I'm sure you would never send a dish out without seasoning it with salt first. And Glutimate is naturally occuring in so many foods, even breast milk has glutimates in to encourage babies to drink more. If you refuse to eat msg I'm guessing you never eat any Japanese soups as the dashi is made from Kombu and I'm guessing you never eat Parmesan or Rouqefort, even the fresh tomatoes you make your delicious Nana sauces out of have quite a high content of glutimates in them. A handmade cheese and tomato pizza has more glutimates in than a bowl of chow mein!

MSG is not a manufactured chemical like so many people think. It originally came from Kombu, but now comes from fermenting wheat and is mixed with nothing more than water and salt. No official board has ever announced that MSG is bad for you. Even though the 'msg is bad for you' myth is mainly an American thing, the American Food and Drug Administration has always found it safe everytime they have tested it. In the EU and Austraila it is on the list of the safest additives that are commonly used in foods.

I'm not saying everyone should add msg to everything, as a chef I personally feel it's cheating, but there is no difference between the glutimates we all eat every day in fresh foods and msg that is added to Asian cuisine.

Here's a list of a few things that contain glutimates, so if you don't eat anything with msg in you'll need to cut these out too!

So you think you don't eat MSG? Think again...

Free glutamate content of foods (mg per 100g)

roquefort cheese 1280

parmesan cheese 1200

soy sauce 1090

walnuts 658

fresh tomato juice 260

grape juice 258

peas 200

mushrooms 180

broccoli 176

tomatoes 140

oysters 137

corn 130

potatoes 102

chicken 44

mackerel 36

beef 33

eggs 23

human milk 22

Edited August 18, 2010 by theseahorse

[NanaFoods]

Its not the toxicity that is the biggest issue, though it is a neurotoxin, some call it an excitotoxin as it stimulates pleasure centers in the brain and causes people to eat more - which is how and why people can become addicted to food that contains it - such as junk food.

But, the main concern seems to be with connections to obesity -- search "MSG Obese Rat."

here is one study's abstract:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T0S-4DTTKXK-1&_user=10&_coverDate=04%2F15%2F2005&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1435201451&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=069d070e7712e19efe540cae8b0facb0

This is a cheap way to make obese rats for lab studies on obesity, diabetes, and other related health problems.

Glutamates occur in nature, sure, but there is a difference with "free glutamates".

[powderpuff]

Chef Heat.

I am always on the lookout for Enchalada Sauce.

Wondering if there is a market for that product?

TIA.

btw - El Charro supply the corn chips to most of our favorite Mexican Rest.

Never see them in the stores - only Danitas - I prefer Frito Lay - but I would buy El Charro if they were in TOPS etc.