Flavoured hot sauces

Hot sauce was supposed to be my loophole. Big flavour, tiny amount, no harm done.

The trouble starts with the flavoured versions. Chipotle versions in particular carry more sodium and more sugar than the original. Same brand, same bottle shape, different label, worse deal.

So I buy the original, and I use it sparingly. A few drops, not a pour. Even the original isn't free, so it gets treated like a seasoning, not a sauce.

If I want something smoky, I put smoked paprika or cumin into the dish itself and let the hot sauce just be hot. That way I get the smoke and the heat, and neither one comes with a side of salt and sugar.

It's a small thing. But a lot of this turned out to be small things, one after another, until they added up to something that mattered. This is one of them.