Cock™ Chili Paste with Holy Basil

Cock™ Chili Paste with Holy Basil: A Review

I have purchased quite a number of Cock Brand™ products over the years and have never been disappointed. Their Chili Paste with Holy Basil, seen pictured above, was actually purchased on a whim, put in a store cupboard, and then forgotten about for a while. When I finally opened it, however, I was very glad to have made the purchase as it turned out to be a terrific sauce for quickly putting together Thai-style Stir-fried dishes.

Appearance and Taste

The ingredients for Cock™ Chili Paste with Holy Basil are listed on the label as being, in descending quantity order, Soybean Oil, Holy Basil leaves, Garlic, Red Chili, Sugar, Salt, and Oyster Sauce.  The Chili has lent its color to the oil, as you can see in the above picture, and the Holy Basil leaves are large enough to still be identifiable.

The aroma, on opening the jar, is a little hard to describe in that no specific ingredient makes it presence known ahead of any other. In all, it smells a little like a mild XO sauce, but with a very pleasant, almost ’minty’, herbaceous quality.

As for the flavor, I found this to be terrific. It is somewhat fiery, although not blindingly so, and the oyster sauce and sugar lend it a nice umami sweetness. The Holy Basil, which can be quite pungent, even harsh, when used fresh in some dishes, is quite mellow in here and really adds a very pleasant herbal, and aromatically spicy note to the overall flavor.

Storing and Using Cock Brand Chili Paste with Holy Basil

This paste could easily be put to use as a condiment for stirring into cooked rice or noodles for a simple snack, or it could even be used in the preparation of ‘wet’ Thai-style Curries. Where the product shines, however, is as a Stir-fry Sauce. It can be added t the pan at the beginning or towards the end of stir-frying to turn something mediocre into a wonderful dish. The dish you see above, for example, is not much more complex than some squid and onion stir-fried with a tablespoon or two of the Cock Brand Chili Paste with Holy Basil. It took less than ten minutes to make and was exquisite.

For storage, you are best advised to keep the paste in the fridge once the jar is opened, but, once in there, it will last a long time. The jar pictured above was used for about a half-dozen dishes and lasted for at least four months. I am pretty confident in saying that you are almost certainly going to use up any jar you purchase well before it starts to deteriorate.

Overall

Overall, the Cock Brand Chili Paste with Holy Basil is highly recommended. It keeps well, is very versatile, and has a unique and terrific flavor that will make Stir-fried dishes shine.

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