Posted by Tim Vidra / Monday, October 28, 2013
How To: Make Homemade Hot Sauce
When your father-in-law drops off a fresh picked bag full of late season serrano peppers, you have no choice but to make some hot sauce! With hundreds of variations in store-bought hot sauce, it is nice to pull this out of the fridge and bea able to say this is my own concoction!
Ingredients: (Adapted from Bon Appétit)
- 1 pound of fresh serrano peppers, stems removed
- 1 pound of tomatillos
- 3 whole garlic cloves
- 3T sea salt
- 1 1/2 cups of white vinegar
Begin by roasting your tomatillos and garlic under a broiler or directly on a grill, about 5 minutes, keeping a close eye and turning until skin darkens.
Once roasted, combine all ingredients (except vinegar) in a food processor, blending for about 1 minute. Once all of the ingredients are roughly combined, turn the food processor on and slowly drizzle in the vinegar, incorporating it into the spice mix.
Transfer everything to a mason jar and allow to sit on the counter for at least 24 hours, but you can let it go up to 7 days. I allowed my to sit for 5 days — the longer it sits, the deeper the flavor marinates. When you are ready to make your sauce, once again add the mixture to a food processor and pulse for about 1 minute.
Run the pulp through a fine mesh sieve, allowing the liquid sauce to drain. Using the back of a large spoon, continue to press and fold the peppers in the sieve to make sure you get all of the juice. Taste the sauce and adjust the salt to your liking. This will produce a hot sauce that really has an amazing depth of flavor. Transfer to bottles and place in the refrigerator.
You will be able to enjoy this sauce for 4 months. A fun, easy and delicious way to use up some peppers. Do you grow hot peppers and what are some of the ways you use them up?
E.A.T. local E.A.T. well
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Looks GREAT Tim....btw, Tabasco ferments it's pepper mash for THREE YEARS before adding vinegar!!! Come by and try some of our sauces some time, we've got some real flavorful burners!!!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely need to get by there! I will be in touch and stop by after my trip to NYC next week!
DeleteWow! That looks delicious! I love the green color!
ReplyDeleteIt was bright green and then after sitting it darkened a little. The final result was really really good! I made some fried green tomatoes today and drizzled some of this on them. Yum!
DeleteHi, Tim! Where did you find the bottles? The sauce looks great. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you! You can typically find these pop top bottles in most kitchen supply stores or on line at Amazon.
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ReplyDeleteLast year I threw a mix of chili peppers into a jar with some garlic and covered it in a brine (probably 3/4 teaspoon salt to 1 cup water). I let it sit on the counter for about 6 weeks, then moved it to the back of the fridge. After a few months, I pulled it out, pureed all of it, added some vinegar. The end result is very similar to tabasco.
ReplyDeleteThis year, I roasted peppers before letting them ferment in brine for a few weeks. I just started another batch of peppers I picked in the pre-frost garden wrap up and am fermenting them with garlic in a brine. I'll let you know how those turned out in a few months or so.
Becky, this was my first go at this and am totally impressed with flavor after only 5 days. I am looking forward to learning more so please do keep me posted on your hot pepper adventures!
DeleteThis looks fantastic! My husband has been making hot sauce a lot lately. He's having a blast, but sometimes cooking the hot peppers makes the air a little difficult to breathe. ;)
ReplyDeleteFaith, well because these were the raw the only issue came when I took the top off the food processor. Whew! I made some collards recently with a couple of Thai chili's and I do know what you mean about the air. I think I ran everyone out the house! Any husband tips are appreciated!
DeleteYou inspired me Tim. A friend gave me a huge bag of mixed hot peppers from anaheims to bright red chilis. I stemmed and roasted the peppers with some onion. I decided to make two sauces. One with all of the chili peppers, and I added a yellow and red Anaheim to provide a bit of flavor contrast. Then I did a large mix with serranos, anaheims, poblanos, jalapenos, and banana peppers. I let the mixtures of peppers and onions sit for 48 hours then stirred in vinegar, garlic, and kosher salt. I let that sit for eight days or so. I have just pureed everything fine, and now I am trying to decide if I want to strain them or have them as a thicker sauce. Thanks again for the inspiration.
ReplyDeleteYay! Thanks for letting me know and so happy to have inspired you!
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