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consistency Making a thinner / more liquid sauce

Sluggy

Sluggy

Last weekend I've conjured up a mini batch of sauce with 7-pods, morugas, prunes, raisins, onions, several vinegars, all kinds of super secret spices  :)  ... and Tennessee whiskey...

The flavor comes in 3 waves, sweet, savory, and then hot.  Not too overpowering, I'm actually quite (bordering on "hella") pleased with the result.

Thing is the sauce came out a little firm and almost pasty, comparable to pasta sauce from a jar. So it's more like a rub, rather than a pourable sauce. 

I was wondering if there are any tricks to make the substance a little more liquid, without the obvious "just add water" solution as I don't want to alter the flavor. 

Thanks ! 


 
 
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RocketMan said:
Sounds tasty Sluggy, honestly I'd just add water to it. Especially since you don't want to change the taste any. Just thin it down to the consistency your looking for, check and adjust the Ph if needed and bottle it. 
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This. I know it isn't the answer you were looking for, but this would likely have the least detrimental affects to your sauce. Probably wouldn't take much to thin it out.
 
Edit: Instead of thinning out the whole batch. You might try a small test batch to see how your chosen thinning method works first. Nothing like making an almost perfect batch of something and accidentally altering it too much.
 
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Thanks for the suggestions folks. I might indeed take a cup or two from this batch, and see what happens if I dillute it with some water for "pourability".
Hope it doesn't shift or get lumpy though..

I went a little overboard with the clove. It's super dominant, but some cardemom, garlic, tamerind and my good buddy Jack Daniels solved it right  :)

Also two teaspoons of 1 mill SHU extract for extra whomp. Personally I cannot taste that caustic, rusty extract flavor at all, but it does enhance the "afterglow". 

 
 
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Remember that what may be a dominate flavor right after making the sauce might not be after a week or 2. Before you start to amend it flavor wise give it some time to mellow and get happy. 
 
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This might sound odd, and I have no idea what it'll do to its Ph, but from the ingredients you listed (to me) orange juice might be a fairly complimentary liquid you could use to thin it out a bit.  You might take a small sample and blend in some 50% diluted orange juice and see how it is
 
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I third (or fourth?) the water suggestion.  You can also thin with vinegar and/or orange juice, but plain ole water not alter the taste nearly as much.  Take a cup out and then add water a table spoon at a time until you've reached the pourable consistency you desire.  Once you're happy with the thickness give it a taste and see what it needs.  Seems to me your base recipe is spot on flavor wise - which is the most difficult part - so thinning to pourable is going to be easy.  :)
 
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Alrightee, OJ actually sounds like an idea worth pursueing.

I already used a little bit of it in the sauce, so a bit more probably won't hurt. 

Also helps keep the PH low.  The sauce is already quite sweet (dates, dried prunes, raisins).


thanks again for the good suggestions ! 
 
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