My brother-in-law and I both said all the things you’re supposed to say when you’re about to eat a meal that someone has taken the time and trouble to prepare. We said that everything looked wonderful and that everything smelled delicious and that the variety and color of the fare were much better than we deserved. Then we both reached for the hot sauce at the same time. I poured it over the roasted pork on my plate, and over the potatoes and over my salad as did he. Sue looked at us both and said, “Why do I bother to cook?”

We both said that we would rather put hot sauce on her food than anyone else’s, but it seems the compliment was lost on her. She picked up her plate and went to eat in another room by herself.

I don’t want to take on the food sciences, but it seems they have been extremely slow in climbing onto the hot sauce bandwagon. They keep saying there are only five real flavors: sweet, sour, bitter, salty and a new one, umami, which is the thing that makes meat and cheese taste, well, so scrumptious. All this ignores the sixth and much more popular flavor: hot sauce. Its exact flavor profile may be shrouded in mystery, but spicy hot is a basic flavor group made up of horseradish, curry and wasabi and a slew of other spices that that make bad food tolerable and good food great.