Are there any secrets to getting hot sauce to the consistency of say "El Yucateco" hot sauce? I just love the consistency of the host sauce. Its just right. Of course i've tried to blend my sauces very fine in the blender and then leave them unstrained. You just end up with a gloppy mess when you try to poor them out of the host sauce bottle. Maybe strain the host sauce & use some kind of thickner (maybe Xantham gum?) or is it some type of industrial process not available to the home cook?
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consistency Hot Sauce Consistency?
- Thread starter Ncage1974
- Start date
You didn't cook it long enough for the pulp to cook down into a sauce. Think of tomato sauce. When starting with fresh tomatoes, it's chunky, untill you cook it until smooth. It can be as smooth as silk.
Oh you didn't cook it at all? Oh well there's the problem lol. 
Just because you don't serve it hot, most sauces are cooked. BBQ sauce, hot sauce, steak sauce, just like marinara, other sauces, etc.
Just because you don't serve it hot, most sauces are cooked. BBQ sauce, hot sauce, steak sauce, just like marinara, other sauces, etc.
hay Ncage! I loved you in Peggy Sue Got Married
I don't know how you're making your hot sauce (fermented or no, etc), but here's what I've done to good effect:
1. Make your mash and cook it down. (or ferment it for x amount of time and then cook it down)
2. Put your cooked mash through a food mill. I use one I got from Target for $25. It's got 3 different plates for different consistencies.
3. For a thinner sauce (ala Cholula) I will use the fine mesh plate in the food mill. For thicker sauces (ala Sriacha) I will use the #2 or 3 mesh plate.
4. Once you've finished I usually will put them through at least one (or three) good cycles in a blender - this helps keep the sauce from separating.
The larger mesh plates have bigger holes, so they allow more pulp to go through into what will be your finished product. The last batch I made was on the thinner side, but I noticed it was thinner than I wanted as I got towards the end of my mash. So I switched out to a larger mesh plate to get more pulp and was very pleased. Helpful Note: Sometimes you will have to scrap the bottom of the food mill to get all the pulp that accumulates on the bottom of the plates, as that's what's going to give the sauce more viscosity.
Hope this helps!
I don't know how you're making your hot sauce (fermented or no, etc), but here's what I've done to good effect:
1. Make your mash and cook it down. (or ferment it for x amount of time and then cook it down)
2. Put your cooked mash through a food mill. I use one I got from Target for $25. It's got 3 different plates for different consistencies.
3. For a thinner sauce (ala Cholula) I will use the fine mesh plate in the food mill. For thicker sauces (ala Sriacha) I will use the #2 or 3 mesh plate.
4. Once you've finished I usually will put them through at least one (or three) good cycles in a blender - this helps keep the sauce from separating.
The larger mesh plates have bigger holes, so they allow more pulp to go through into what will be your finished product. The last batch I made was on the thinner side, but I noticed it was thinner than I wanted as I got towards the end of my mash. So I switched out to a larger mesh plate to get more pulp and was very pleased. Helpful Note: Sometimes you will have to scrap the bottom of the food mill to get all the pulp that accumulates on the bottom of the plates, as that's what's going to give the sauce more viscosity.
Hope this helps!
The first secret is a good blender. I just replaced my old blender w/ a testosterone-laden boat engine and it made a world of difference. Then if it's too thin, add more carrots, onion, garlic, etc. Whatever you want. It's mostly a ratio of wet to dry ingredients. Just experiment. Then again, you may cook it and find you didn't even need to ask this question 
use a vitamix or other very high speed blender - even a good stick/immersion blender won't leave any bits or chunks if you give it a while. personally, I don't like to cook down sauces, especially non-ferments or bright citrusy peppers like fataliis, datils, etc. - I don't think those benefit from fermenting or cooking and just blending them very well with vinegar or alcohol to make them shelf-stable with a little salt added makes a killer, super-simple sauce. To thicken I use xanthum gum - just shake a little bit at a time in during the blending process and wait at least a minute between adding more since it takes a little to "set up". it also keeps the ingredients from separating or settling, is cheap, all natural, etc. etc.
Foley food mill then a fine mesh strainer if needed. You can use a blender for longer instead but after a while the blades get dull and if you run it for too long then it starts chopping up the seeds... at least on mine, maybe I shouldn't have sharpened the blades.
Guess I should mention I don't de-seed manually, rather letting the food mill do that for me. I've used xanthan gum in the past but now only do that if I'm making a sauce for someone who only wants a tiny bit of heat and still a pure pepper flavor without using other ingredients that add their own flavors to thicken it.
On a side note, the slime in okra is chemically related to xanthan gum. I've been considering tossing a couple okra into a batch of sauce to see how it turns out.
Guess I should mention I don't de-seed manually, rather letting the food mill do that for me. I've used xanthan gum in the past but now only do that if I'm making a sauce for someone who only wants a tiny bit of heat and still a pure pepper flavor without using other ingredients that add their own flavors to thicken it.
On a side note, the slime in okra is chemically related to xanthan gum. I've been considering tossing a couple okra into a batch of sauce to see how it turns out.
I never find the need to strain ANY sauce. I cook until silky smooth. Think of tomato sauce. You start with whole peeled plum tomatoes. At first, its chunky. Cook it down long enough, it's smooth.
Straining removes pepper pulp. Pepper pulp will eventually break down, so don't strain it. That's pepper flavor!
Straining removes pepper pulp. Pepper pulp will eventually break down, so don't strain it. That's pepper flavor!