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Sauce making process questions

cdubb2010

cdubb2010

Hi everyone,

Im a total beginner to making sauce so i need some help getting started. Im on a quest to make that perfect sauce for my taste buds :onfire:. can some lay down a list of materials i need to make a small batch? im sure ill need a blender but the process from the is completely unknown to me. Can someone fill me in one this?
 
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I do not know if there is such a thing as the “perfect” hot sauce, everyone has different tastes and heat tolerances. What I make for myself vs. that to be given away often are entirely different. That said, yes you need a blender. Also, a reasonably fine wire mesh strainer, a couple of large mixing bowls and a large pot. There is some controversy on the straining aspect of sauce making. I fall into the camp of no seeds or other debris in my sauce. I like it clean and smooth. The following sauce recipe makes a very HOT sauce. Since I do not know what type of chiles you’re using, you may wish to tone it down some for a first attempt.

12 Roma Tomatoes – quartered
2 Large Carrots - chopped
1 Large Onion – chopped
15-20 Harbanero peppers (Caribbean Red)
5-6 Bhut Jolokia or other super hot
10 Cloves roasted garlic

Enough water to cover. Simmer for one hour. Process in Blender. Strain. Yields appx. 6 cups of raw sauce.

Add to raw sauce:
1T Oregano
½ t Cumin
1T Kosher Salt
2t Honey
1T Fresh grated Ginger
½ C White Distilled Vinegar (not cider vinegar)
½ C Red Wine Vinegar

Simmer one half hour stirring occasionally.

Yield: 6 one half pint jars.

Options:
Tequila
Lime juice
Xanthum Gum (a thickening agent)

I hot water bath process my sauce (cannning). Otherwise they have to remain refrigerated. Also, refrigerate after opening. I’m very diligent about cleanliness while doing this. I boil my canning jars for 20 minutes to make sure I kill any of the nasties.

Experimentation is half the fun when creating hot sauces, what ingredients to use and what doesn’t work. Here is a link to various hot sauce recipes:

http://www.pepperfool.com/recipes/hotsauce_idx.html

Good Luck!
 
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Hey man you can start with a blender/food processor and a pot. That's all you need to get started, after that you can expand.
 
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You probably want some pH test strips or a pH meter to check for proper acidity. That is if you're canning/bottling the sauces and not just using it fresh
 
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You may already know this, but good latex (powder free) are a necessity when working with hot peppers. Documenting your sauce experiments really well is also good. Down the road a piece you may want to get a precision scale for measuring the specific weights of ingredients you use. All this is fine and good, but THP's advice is great - just start simply with a blender/food processor and a pot, then grow as you gain experience.
 
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Things you will need:
1 large pot
1 sauce pan
1 understanding wife that doesn't mind having her kitchen pepper sprayed
1 good friend to help rate and taste test your sauce experiments
1 good dog to look at you pitifully when you royally f*** up a sauce

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Southwindcome said:
Here are nitrile gloves in action:

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I am shown using a juicer to extract the sauce from the mash. I got it for $10 at a thrift store and it made the process easy.
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Thia is too good. But a bit over the top.

For a first batch keep it small and simple. You first must learn what the hot peppers do to the mix. You can always use this first hot sauce to make the 2nd by simply dumping this into the next batch so nothing wasted.

Take a jar and put in hot peppers now fill the jar about full with vinegar. Remove both and grind up. return to jar and use the hot sauce. This is the basic. You should do this with a few different hot peppers. some mild and some med and super hot.

Everything else is simply an attempt to change the flavor of this basic hot sauce.

I make and eat mostly basic hot sauce. If I want other flavors then I put those in the food. That way I can make many different foods from the same hot sauce.

Please notice I did not add salt and I did not boil the mix. Salt and boiling will change things.

Good Luck this is all you need to know. Pretty easy. Oh yes when working with the real hots it is best to grind them up outdoors.
 
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Ok I plan on putting my sauce in a typical hot sauce bottle with the orifice reducer. Do I still need to boil the sauce in the bottle using a canner. I will be adding vinegar
 
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jwood said:
Ok I plan on putting my sauce in a typical hot sauce bottle with the orifice reducer. Do I still need to boil the sauce in the bottle using a canner. I will be adding vinegar
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No, you just need to hot-pack the sauce into sterilized jars if your pH is correct and proper temps are achieved. I'd think that boiling a woozy would likely melt the orifice reducer and the cap may explode off the bottle or also melt
 
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If you are using vinegar once the peppers have fermented, is there a vinegar to mash ratio. I came across a few saying 1/4 cup to 1pound of mash, to 1cup vinegar to 1 pound of mash
 
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