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cooking cooking time for sauce

SavinaRed

SavinaRed

I know that when I make a spaghetti sauce I cook it for several hours sometimes as long as 8 hours. Now would this be the same with a hot sauce ? The longer my spaghetti sauce cooks and simmers the better it gets.
 
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Minimum 10 minutes at a boil.  After that....it's up to you!  Some do simmer their sauces for hours because the flavors will change, meld, mellow....
:)
 
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Depends on sauce and peppers, desired flavor and consistency. For thicker sauces I sometimes like a silky consistency more like ketchup, which requires a longer cook. A shorter cook it would be more... granular (for lack of a better word)... like the small bits that make up applesauce. I like that too. It depends on the sauce. A shorter cook, it will taste fresher. But some flavors may not meld and you may be getting properties from the peppers you don't want, as in perfumy notes, etc. Really it depends on what you are after. Taste as you go, stop when you like. 
 
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The Hot Pepper said:
Depends on sauce and peppers, desired flavor and consistency. For thicker sauces I sometimes like a silky consistency more like ketchup, which requires a longer cook. A shorter cook it would be more... granular (for lack of a better word)... like the small bits that make up applesauce. I like that too. It depends on the sauce. A shorter cook, it will taste fresher. But some flavors may not meld and you may be getting properties from the peppers you don't want, as in perfumy notes, etc. Really it depends on what you are after. Taste as you go, stop when you like. 
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My personal preference is a fresh taste not cooked lol. So maybe salsalady's suggestions of the 10 minute rule might work out best for what I like.
 
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If refrigerating you don't have to cook. I agree a short cook would work if you like the fresher taste. Or you can add some elements later in the cook as well, and get your base smooth and melded.
 
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Keep in mind LD usually roasts most of his ingredients, onions, peppers, etc. so they go into the pot cooked. Unlike raw peppers and onions which are going to cook differently and taste different from a raw state.
 
Take all these tips and experiment. You will find your own groove. 
 
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I use raw onions - the trick there is to process all the ingredients - if everything is chopped to bits, it tends to cook a lot more evenly. :)


I used to do much longer cook times, but since my copacker uses a gas fired kettle, time is $

So I do all my prototyping to simulate their processes - it's the best way for me to simulate a batch that's at scale (e.g. 100 or 300 gallons vs 1 gallon)

There's no way I'd be able to make a sauce that required reduction in their kettles - it'd cost a fortune.
 
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The Hot Pepper said:
If refrigerating you don't have to cook. I agree a short cook would work if you like the fresher taste. Or you can add some elements later in the cook as well, and get your base smooth and melded.
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i have always wondered if you don't cook it or do a short cook like the minimum 10  minutes how long it will last in the fridge? I know it will depend on the ph level, but say it is a around 4 or a little above.
 
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i don't like to boil my sauces, now that said, I'll bring them to a boil, maybe 5 minutes max then I bring them down to a simmer, BIG difference there's, for another 45 to 60 minutes. To me a simmer will do everything boing will to soften ingredient and evaporate off excess water without the "chaos" as LD puts it that comes from boiling.

I would recommend that you take a portion of what you have and process it as say, simmer, blender, simmer, pack and see if you get what your looking for. If not adjust and try again till you do.
 
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parker49 said:
i have always wondered if you don't cook it or do a short cook like the minimum 10  minutes how long it will last in the fridge? I know it will depend on the ph level, but say it is a around 4 or a little above.
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Just to clarify something: 10 mins at 190-200 degrees is not a short cook time. Totally sufficient for pasteurization.

The pH question is far more significant. ;)
 
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