From uucp Sat Nov 14 03:57 EST 1992
X-VM-Attributes: [nil nil nil nil nil]
Subject: hot sauce recipe
From: "Judy Karpen"  <karpen@nrlfs1.nrl.navy.mil>
To: css
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 92 10:20:26 -0500

Here is the promised recipe for making hot pepper sauce, taken from
the Sept./Oct. issue of Organic Gardening Magazine. My comments, based
on one try, are given at the end of the recipe to minimize confusion.
Since I am quasi-ripping-off a magazine I really like, I feel obliged
to encourage you to subscribe for yourselves (no I don't work for them
or Rodale). Although not every article is relevant to everyone's
gardening interests or facilities (e.g., rice growing isn't for me),
over the past few years I've gleaned tons of useful information about
not only organic gardening techniques but also cooking, preserving,
entomology, recent advances in sustainable agriculture, etc. (end of
plug)

HOT PEPPER SAUCE

Ingredients: at least 50-60 hot peppers of any variety; 1 HEAD garlic; 1/2-1 
gal. distilled white vinegar; salt (optional)

WARNING: Make sure your kitchen is very well ventilated and plan to
stay out of there (mostly) while this stuff is cooking!!!!!!!! Second
time I did this was at night, in November, so the over-stove fan was
on but windows weren't open. Big mistake!

1) Wash and cut stems off peppers, but retain as much of the white
area under the stem to maximize heat (if desired). Finely chop peppers
and garlic (no need to peel, but separating cloves is a good idea) in
a food processor. Use protective gear (rubber gloves, safety glasses).

2) Put pepper "mash" into a sturdy stainless-steel (NOT ALUMINUM) pot
and add 1/2 gal. vinegar, plus a bit of salt (if you want).  Bring
nearly to a boil, then simmer over low heat for 2-3 hours. Add vinegar
to thin as needed.

3) Separate solids from liquids (making sure to press as much liquid
as possible from the mash), using either a food mill or a strainer.
The leftover pulp can be dried and used for hot pepper+garlic flakes.
Pour the liquid back into the pot and simmer for another hour, adding
vinegar if needed.  This step isn't absolutely required but supposedly
makes the sauce less likely to separate.

4) After the sauce cools, put into jars or bottles and store in the
refrigerator.

Yield: 2-3 quarts

My comments:

1) First I used ~65 red Thai peppers, which are small but very hot.  I
found the resultant sauce to be too thin (but hot enough), so I'd use
more peppers the next time (if you're using bigger peppers this may
not be a problem --- I suspect there's a minimum volume of pepper mush
required). Second try: used ~110 Thai peppers; better but still thin.

2) I use hot peppers constantly but I've never bothered with gloves,
etc. Guess I'm immune by now... ;*}

3) Next time I might try a different vinegar; the white stuff is sour
but otherwise uninteresting. Also, I didn't think the remaining solids
were all that flavorful, so I used them in the garden (put them around
the base of my okra plants to fend off the ants and aphids). Second
try: used some rice vinegar along with the white; tasted better.

4) Despite the second cooking, my sauce still separates (no big deal).
Again, this might be due to the low volume of peppers in the mix.
Yield: closer to 1 quart, perhaps because the mix was so thin I never
added more vinegar. I'd be interested in finding out the effects of
aging, as suggested by someone a week or so ago (sorry, I can't recall
the name). Would it be safe to leave this out of the refrigerator to
mellow, though?

Judy Karpen
karpen@nrlfs1.nrl.navy.mil     "pushing back the frontiers of science..."