Hot stuff is awfully ripe — you can say that again! (4-4)

'hot stuff' is the definition.
(type of hot sauce)

'awfully ripe you can say that again' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
an anagram of 'ripe' is 'peri' which is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'peri' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'is' is the link.