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What base to use for sauce?

Omri

Omri

I'm trying to make some homemade sauces, and looking for a good base.
Some sauces I've seen are using carrots, but I was thinking more of eggplants or artichokes.
Am I making any sense? I'm also not really sure how to prepare the base.
Should I bake the vegetables? fry them? grill them, or what?
I'm looking for a tasty creamy texture. :)
 
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I'm no pro at making hot sauce like some other members here, but I say use whatever ingredients you like. if you like the flavor of eggplant better vs carrots then use those. just dont add to much other ingredients vs chiles if you're looking for a HOT sauce.

I cut the stem parts off & just threw the veggies into a chopper & diced everything up as small as they'd go, adding in some vinegar or lime juice to make the chopping go easier. & remembering how much of that vinegar/lime juice I added so I know what to add to the pot when all the ingredients are in the pot cooking (not to over do the vinegar or other liquids)

bring everything to a boil & then let it simmer for about 10-15 mins. then can or store properly as long as you have the right PH balance.
I dont know how to make that runny sauce, what I said will make the sauce a chucky style, I like it since the sauce stays on crackers or whatnot instead of running off. if you want it more runny then add more liquid of some kind.

good luck
 
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try pumpkin or potato and please let me know how it goes.

I've also thought of using green peas with green pods...

onion is good, fry it up to give it some colour (and flavour).

baking or frying can bring out stronger flavours in your vegies. I think artichokes will give you the creamy texture you are after, especially if baked with some oil and then blended. bake it with some whole garlics too!!!

I recommend that no-one cooks their chiles in order to preserve their flavour, esp habs, but the choice is yours.
 
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chilliman64 said:
try pumpkin or potato and please let me know how it goes.


I like to keep my sauces as natural as possible, so sometimes im making a hot sauce with green habaneros, but i want an orange color, i use pumpkin meat to get it there. results have always been good.
Click to expand...
 
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I made a sauce for the first time this summer using a basic recepie
12 medium Habaneros, stemmed and seeded
1/2 c Onions, chopped
2 Cloves garlic, minced
1 tb Canola oil
1 c Carrots; chopped
1/2 c Vinegar
1/4 c Fresh lime juice
mind you I added a few extra habs,,,,I didnt like it to much so I cleaned out the big bottle for another day and totally forgot about the other bottle...Other day re-organizing sauces etc in my fridge I came across this smaller bottle...man tasted good actually from sitting....thick as mud mind you but better tasting than I had origionally tasted...
Tasting that got me back in the mood to try something new...
this time im going to sit back and think of something good
 
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I just use peppers as my base and other spices and things to add to the flavor of the peppers. Enough vinegar to keep the ph down, and you have a killer sauce.

However, I blend peppers. The big trick is to know what peppers go together. Some are just awful to blend with each other....like jalapeños and piquins. Eeesh! Now, piquins and serranos? That would be really good. Add some sweet onion, garlic, some thyme....oh man, I think I just made a new sauce!!!!
 
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Id like to make a sauce to call mine..I have no intentions on going commercial and selling..I had a sauce once..it wasnt hot at all but man tasty..I forget the exact name but it was something like cheech's chipoltie garlic.. I truely loved the sauce but once again no real heat..Id like to make a sauce like that but it being a 10 10+in heat
lol id eat that by the tonne....As for blending peppers..is there a thread or 2 I could read up on??
 
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I don't think so. It's just one of the things I do....kinda like my trade mark, but anyone can do it.

It's a lot of trial and error to see what works and what doesn't. I'd be happy to help, if you need it.

You just have to do a lot of tasting and molar melting.
 
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i blend peppers to, that's mainly how i achive different heat levels.
if i want just regular heat, ill use 3 parts of say cayanne, n 2 parts of habanero, plus my other spices, but if i want it a little hotter then i go 3 parts habanero, n 2 parts cayanne, plus the other spices. actually it's quite easy, once you figure out ur own spin on the sauce that ur making.
just start out with flavors that you like. good luck
 
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I find that certain peppers hit different parts of your tongue & try to balance that without losing the flavor I was aiming for at the start.
It usually ends up containing some green (low heat) peppers to give it a bit of garden freshness along with ginger, garlic & (black or white) table pepper to round it out.
The idea of taking your first bite & nuking your taste-buds then not being able to taste the rest of the meal has never appealed to me. You can still make it damn hot though!
 
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Its probably also worth mentioning that consistency or texture is very important. For me aroma also plays a big part, smell is actually a big factor in taste. Don't be afraid to experiment with ingredients, after all that's whats going to make it 'your' sauce. Look for local ingredients as much as possible.
Above all...enjoy what you're creating. It will come through in the final product.

~must be time for me to go fishing...*hic*
:cheers:
 
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Woody used a great veg as a base for one of his limited edition sauces so he might have some good ideas. I'd love to say what kind of vegetable it was but I'll leave it to Woody if he wants to share it. It was green by the way ;)
 
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You want eggplant why not look into some Egg plant dip recipes then add more liquid ingredients .... more lime and maybe some mild vineger like apple cider vineger or even red wine vineger to eggplant...it would be athick ish sauce to allow the eggplant to show its true flavour but it would work.

say
3 eggplant (
4 or 5 garlic cloves
2 nice size onions
2 nice overipe tomatoe
Roast the above ingredients in oven until nice and brown, Make sure to save juices,
Add to blender
plus
fresh corriander
cummin powder
salt and pepper.
1 cup of lime juice and a half cup of red wine vineger.

3 or 4 jalapenos well roasted and de skinned.

Blend it all

it would be thick but eggplant is a bit out of the box for sauce base I wouldn't like to add too much vineger and the likes for over powering its subtle flvour.

In my habanero sauces I use fruits like Pineapple and mango paw paw etc all work very well with the hab flavour they tend to be sweeter style sauces so not for everyone.
 
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Try this take your eggplant do not peal cut small x into it about 6-8 of them. Take 1 clove of garlic per x hole and put garlic in roast over coals or in oven 375 till skin is charged rape real good top bottom and sides in plastic Wrap, let stand 3-5 min. cut larger end squeeze into bowl add salt pepper and any thing else you would like it is thick put taste good
Dan



LET IT BURN
 
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