Why are Americans so smitten with Sriracha?

Actress Eva Longoria and Chef Michael Symon join the Lay's brand at the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013, in New York, to introduce the three Lay's "Do Us A Flavor" contest finalist flavors - Lay's Cheesy Garlic Bread, Lay's Chicken & Waffles and Lay's Sriracha flavored potato chips - now available on store shelves nationwide.

(

Diane Bondareff

)

Sriracha hot pepper sauce is huge in the U.S. So big that the potato chip maker, Lays is making a bag featuring the flavor. We’ll talk about why people love sriracha so much with Randy Clemens, who wrote the book, "The Sriracha Cookbook."

Americans. Love. Sriracha. If you needed any more evidence of that, just find a bag of Lays potato chips.

The hot sauce is one of three new flavors the chip-maker is trying out in grocery stores, along with chicken and waffles and cheesy garlic bread. Consumers can vote on which flavor they like the most.

The American brand is so popular, you can get homemade onesies, iPhone cases, and high-heeled shoes, all covered with the product's iconic red rooster.

That brand, Huy Fong, is headquartered in Rosemead in the San Gabriel Valley. In case Sriracha isn't on your list of favorite things yet, Randy Clemens, author of "The Sriracha Cookbook," and the forthcoming, "The Veggie Lover's Sriracha Cookbook" is here to give us some tips on how to use the spicy sauce and fill us in on a little about its history.