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Basic Serrano Sauce

SeeYouJimmy

SeeYouJimmy

I really like the taste of a fresh Serrano so I tried to keep this sauce on the basic side. I didn't want to use anything that would overpower the taste of the Serranos. I like apple cider vinegar but thought this would alter the taste so I just went with a half cup of plain white vinegar. I used all the Serranos from my last harvest, 1.5 to 2 kilos at a guess (I don't have kitchen scales), with 2 cloves of garlic and some s/p to taste as it was cooking. There's a hell of a lot of seeds in the Serranos so I ended up putting it through a strainer before bottling. Even with just half a cup of vinegar it still came through strong so I might rethink this next time.

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Timmmy newbie said:
If your lucky the vinegar taste might go away in a few weeks.

Great colour, with all those pods it looks awsome.
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Thanks Timmy, I'm hoping 2 weeks in the fridge will mellow it a bit. I can't believe that's all I got from all those fresh Serranos. There's more pulp left over than sauce after straining.

MyWifeHatesMyObsession said:
mmmmm I can taste the omelette now :)
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The trouble is, I have no fresh pods for breakfast tomorrow :(, I picked whatever was ripe today and it's all in these 2 bottles.
 
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SeeYouJimmy said:
" I can't believe that's all I got from all those fresh Serranos. There's more pulp left over than sauce after straining."
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Keep an eye out for a food mill, at garage sales, thrift stores, maybe put the word out you are looking for one and someone might give you one. They work much better for getting the pulp through and not the seeds. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_mill


If you still have the pulp..........try drying it and then grind it in a blender or food processor for dried pepper powder/flakes. I've never tried this, but it sounds like it would work. Maybe someone else has done this?

Very nice looking sauce, I love that color!
 
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SeeYouJimmy said:
I can't believe that's all I got from all those fresh Serranos. There's more pulp left over than sauce after straining.
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Sounds like you didn't cook the sauce long enough. No reason to strain a sauce and have pulp left over not used. That's part of the sauce, you have to cook it down until it's smooth. That's why you have so little sauce. Liquid and pulp will eventually become one. You discarded good stuff!
 
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Thanks for the advice SL. THP - I did want to cook it for longer but after 20 minutes or so, it had thickened up quite a bit and I really didn't want to add any more vinegar. I might try using citrus next time to thin it out some more. In the end I was just going to use it as a paste but there were far too many seeds that really had to be removed. Hopefully I'll do a better job next time. Onward and upward....
 
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Simmer it with a lid on it and you don't lose water. It hits the top and falls back in ;). Only simmer uncovered to thicken and reduce. And if water comes out you can put water back in, no need for vinegar. I don't like adding water though so I just keep it covered ;). But if it evaporates, and you add it back, you're really not adding water to your sauce.
 
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Well what else would you suggest after what he posted? Seems he didn't know that.

You can cook a sauce for 8 hours and don't have to worry about it thickening with a tight lid.
 
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I must say that is a fantastic looking color to the sauce very nice and vibrant.
However seeds in a sauce are NOT bad mmmkay, dont sacrifice that awesome pulp for the sake of removing seeds, you will have a much tastier sauce if you keep the pulp and cook it down.
I happen to like like seeds in a sauce for the added heat/flavor but hey thats just me :D

Had to put the South Park flavor in the comment since we do have Timmmy and Jimmmy in the same post lol,
and OMG I just noticed that Jimmy's name is really Kenny! lol, will Stan and Kyle please stand up :)
 
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Shred Clay said:
I will have to try this. I love Serranos like crazy, and always put fresh serranos in my spaghetti.
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I hope you do better job than I did. :)

WickedMojo said:
I must say that is a fantastic looking color to the sauce very nice and vibrant.
However seeds in a sauce are NOT bad mmmkay, dont sacrifice that awesome pulp for the sake of removing seeds, you will have a much tastier sauce if you keep the pulp and cook it down.
I happen to like like seeds in a sauce for the added heat/flavor but hey thats just me :D

Had to put the South Park flavor in the comment since we do have Timmmy and Jimmmy in the same post lol,
and OMG I just noticed that Jimmy's name is really Kenny! lol, will Stan and Kyle please stand up :)
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You bastard! :lol:
 
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