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using a food mill when making sauces

salsalady

salsalady

eXtreme Business
I did a little "for fun" hot sauce this fall and thought I'd share the food mill pictures.  The sauce was 1/2 fermented and 1/2 fresh.
 
Ferment-
red jalapenos
garlic
onion
apples
Caldwells starter-diluted
 
ran the ferment for about 6 weeks, no particular reason why, that's just how long it worked out.
 
 
fresh-
red jalapeno
red bell
onion
garlic
apple juice
pears
 
Cooked up the fresh and fermented, hit it with the immersion blender then flat pans in the refer for several days
 
 
When I finally got time to run it, here's how the food mill process came out. 
 
This is about half of the batch, 5 quarts (4+L) of sauce , 2 cups tailings-
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These were recycled bottles with new caps, so I didn't have a box to use for the Invert portion of the process.  These bottles are up-ended in a dish rack-
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use what you have, get creative ...
 
 
8 pints with a boiling water bath.  pH was <3.0 with no vinegar.
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It does take a bit of time to work all the sauce through the food mill, I probably spent an hour working ~3 gallons of sauce and ended up with 10 quarts of sauce and 4 cups of tailings.  The tailings can be dried and powdered, I don't have the time right now for that, so I just pitched it.  We like the texture of the sauce without the seeds.  It's a thick sauce but without the hard bits of seeds and skins.  I'm hoping that after the further cooking and processing the consistency will have smoothed out even a bit more. 
 
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Thanks.  We've had a chance to try the sauce on several things and I took some over to a family gathering.  It's a medium heat, ever-so-slightly sweet, and does not have a strong fermented flavor, but it is in there.  
 
Consistency after running through the food mill and cooking a bit more before processing is really nice.  It does separate a bit, like when used on nachos.  The liquid seeps down and leaves the bulk of the pulp, but we're OK with that.  If this were to be a production sauce, I'd look at using some xanthan to keep it emulsified with no separation.  
 
I'm bummed out that my BlendTec carafe blade has seized up or the sauce would have been reeeeaaaaallly smooth.  The rubber around the spindle got really dry.  I've been soaking it with mineral oil in attempt to revive it, we'll see if it works.  
 
Anyway, it was a fun project the yielded a sauce the family will eat.  :)  Mission Accomplished!  
 
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Looks great.  Quick question on straining...
 
I've done two batches now, and both end up on the watery side after I strain the mash and push the juice out with a spatula.  In both cases I ended up adding the blendered mash back into the sauce, or most of it anyway, to get the desired consistency.
 
Do others have this experience?  I am thinking what is the point of putting it through the strainer now....just need to blend and add in brine/vinegar to desired consistency?
 
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What kind of strainer? You should be using a sieve and using a wood dowel to push the pulp through. This should give you a more creamy consistency. Just straining it and using a spatula is not going to give you what you want.
 
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kjwalker said:
Looks great.  Quick question on straining...
 
I've done two batches now, and both end up on the watery side after I strain the mash and push the juice out with a spatula.  In both cases I ended up adding the blendered mash back into the sauce, or most of it anyway, to get the desired consistency.
 
Do others have this experience?  I am thinking what is the point of putting it through the strainer now....just need to blend and add in brine/vinegar to desired consistency?
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I use an oxo food mill on my mash.  After going through the mill it goes into a pan and is given a final blend prior to hot packing.  I know some people around here use strainers or a chinois for their sauces with good results.  Are you cooking your mash before straining?  
 
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No cooking at all....and the strainer is just a normal wire basket (such an amateur...haha).
 
I can't find a food mill here so might have to continue doing how I am...the results are pretty good but feel like I'm not doing it right.
 
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kjwalker said:
No cooking at all....and the strainer is just a normal wire basket (such an amateur...haha).
 
I can't find a food mill here so might have to continue doing how I am...the results are pretty good but feel like I'm not doing it right.
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I'd put it through a blender on liquify for a while. That should do it for now.
 
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kjwalker-
cook the sauce to soften the pulp, then run through a blender.  That will break up the pulp quite a bit.  Then try working the pulp through the wire mesh strainer with the back of a spoon.  Scrape the pulp off the mesh and work it through again.  You should see a lot more pulp working through. 
 
Wire mesh strainer isn't amateur, it's using what you have.  I see you are in Shanghai. People can often find food mills at garage sales and in thrift stores over here.  Not sure about where you're at.  Put the word out that you're looking for one.  Maybe a friend or family member has one they'd loan or gift to you.  Good Luck!  and Have Fun! 
 
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Don't forget to collect seeds from peppers you find and like.
 
Then, you can grow them yourself next year. :idea: 
 
There's some good peppers with Thai origins.
 
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:lol:  Yea...tailings.....the leftover bits.... :lol:
 
For the food mill or coal mining tailings is not the desired product.  But ...if something can be done with the tailings to use it again, then that's a good thing!  I have previously used tailings, dried them out and ground up to powder, and they worked very well. This year, I just did not have time to deal with it.   
 
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