Simple sauces vs lots of ingredients???

[DelawareDave]

So I see all these recipes with like 30 different ingredients, roasted this and that, blood of your fist born, etc... And I'm just over here with my peppers, salt, and lacto fermentation... Oh and a little vinegar to finish sauce... I don't know why but in the 10 plus years I have been making hot sauce I find I just really like simple sauces. I feel like all the other ingredients just cover up the wonderful flavor of the peppers! Who else is with me on this???

 

[Steveoh]

Since I've started fermenting my sauces, all but one have had Peppers, Salt, Water.  The one batch I deviated was to add garlic. 
 
I do mix up the peppers on some batches.  A milder sauce usually has Chile de Arbol as the base, with some ripe Jalapeños, or maybe some ripe Tabascos, or Seranos. 
 
The Habanero sauce will sometimes have Scotch Bonnets or one or two Bhut Jalokia.  But I don't add spices, and really don't much care for sauces with spices and other additives.  And since I've been fermenting, I no longer much like vinegar in hot sauces.
 
For me it's the aroma and flavor of the peppers that needs to stand out. Hot is good, but not blow my head off hot. 
 
steveoh
 

 

[Jase4224]

I like all any type of hot sauce as long as it suits the meal.

However when I make my own ferments my challenge is to get balance and complexity from just the chillies alone. I like to make a blend that gives as much to the senses as possible. Only other ingredients are salt and vinegar to finish.

 

[SavinaRed]

It all boils down to personal preference with how a person likes their hot sauces. I know when I make a sauce with Brazilian Starfish or Bishops Crowns I keep it really simple because those peppers have such a good fruity flavor to them and I want that to stand out ibn the sauce. Now with the superhot chinense types of peppers I like to add more ingredients to the sauce.