Red Hot Geoff Rhyne is the genius behind the spice; the packaging of Red Clay Hot Sauce reflects it simple yet powerful punch.
SOUTHERNSPOTLIGHT Red Clay Hot Sauce: Food
Heart of Clay Using the freshest ingredients and the principles learned in the red clay fields of Georgia, Chef Geoff Rhyne has bottled more than flavor in his Southern hot sauce. by Jana Riley
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f you’re from the South, you know a little bit about red clay. You know that it sticks to your shoes, and makes your flowerbed a stone-cold mess. It makes for a road as slick as glass and leaves a stain that will still be there long after you’re gone. Chef Geoff Rhyne knows about the stuff first-hand because he spent much of his youth on a 1,300-acre red clay farm near Americus, GA, alongside his Granddaddy Jack and Grandma Mary Gilchrist. He was working as a chef de cuisine at The Ordinary in Charleston when, at the urging of executive chef and owner Mike Lata (one of the more influential people in his career), he began to dabble with fresh ingredients to create a sauce to accompany oysters. Rhyne’s idea wasn’t the typical ‘hotter than heck’ kind of sauce, but rather one that would complement seafood, fried chicken, and the many other dishes that Southerners like to jazz up. He experimented with different
peppers and vinegars, but didn’t want to fall prey to the traditional distilled vinegar-based concoction. “Distilled vinegar is great for cleaning your floors, but it doesn’t have the kind of flavor you want in a sauce.” Using white wine vinegar, Fresno peppers, and a distinctive salt, the color of the mixture he stirred up reminded him of the happy days of a childhood where his grandfather, a retired Marine Corps fighter pilot, was the father-figure that helped shape his life. “It made me think of that red clay,” he says of his recipe. The significance of that color was not lost on the chef since at the time, his elderly grandfather’s health had begun to fail. The hours tagging along with his grandparents, who were journalists for several farm magazines, instilled in him an appreciation of fresh ingredients, and the philosophy of using whatever you happened to have on hand. The chef once put that philosophy to the Spring 2019 AZALEAMAG.COM
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