Spotted: Asia Super Market, Schaumburg, Illinois
Cost: $3.89 for a 32-ounce bottle
Attraction: Take out dipping sauce
Where to find: Most Asian markets, in the condiment aisle

Sweet chili sauce: You love it; you just may not know what "it" is. You look forward to it with egg rolls, and it might just be one of your favorite things about barbecue pork hum bao, because slow roasted pork encased in steamy white dough needs this sauce. Because it's sweet and hot and special and not available in your fridge. It's what forces me to get Crab Rangoon every time I order Chinese take out or Thai — even though I know that's kind of trashy and not remotely authentic — because the power of molten, crabby cream cheese dipped in sweet chili sauce compels me.

I used to live a few blocks from the biggest Asian market in Seattle, and I once spent an entire summer auditioning sweet chili sauces to find The One: Mae Ploy. Gelatinous goo the color of a Monet sunset dappled with shards of chili, it's not too sour, just sweet enough, and with just the right texture of semi-set Jell-O.

The many uses of Mae Ploy: My Mae Ploy habit first started as an offshoot of my appetizer habit, and my tendency to make a meal out of the top of a menu. Sweet seafood like crab and shrimp take best to the Mae Ploy treatment. You'll never buy cocktail sauce again for your chilled shrimp. Crab cakes get an added boost without the sour when dipped in Mae Ploy, especially if they contain any southeast Asian flavors like basil or coconut. Ditto for coconut-breaded shrimp.

This sauce was really meant for foods from the fryer. Get wonton or egg roll wrappers and roll up a smattering of sautéed mushrooms and thin sliced crunchy veggies like a cigar. Deep fry and cut into smaller sticks for thin cocktail party friendly eats. You can’t screw this up. Mae Ploy goes with just about anything on or in a fried wonton. Teriyaki hot wings, fried tofu, and a stellar secret ingredient to achieve a version of Swedish meatballs, sweet chili sauce is a must have at home to amp up all of your take out needs.

I am not afraid to admit that I love Mae Ploy with Jalapeno poppers, stuffed with — what else? — cream cheese. And if you think you're above stuffed, fried peppers, then I feel sorry for you. More Mae Ploy for me.

Maggie Savarino Dutton is an industry veteran who has played bartender, sommelier and line cook and who now consults. She writes "Search & Distill," which appears every Wednesday in the Seattle Weekly, and maintains The Wine Offensive, her blog about wine, food, and anything else that might be discussed over the bar.

"Point of Purchase" photograph by Roadsidepictures via Flickr (Creative Commons), "Pantry" photograph by Áslaug Snorradóttir.