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fermenting Ferments and Sauces...never ending thread.

Masher

Masher

Decided to post all Ferments and Sauces here so I can reference them for future use and updates as needed.
 
Smoked Fresno Sauce
 
Smoked with 4 cups Mesquite for 3 hrs
30 Fresnos halved
1 med onion thick sliced
1 small Scallion
1 head garlic halved
3 Fatalii halved 
 
Started this on the grill with a smoker box, but after 1hr It looked like it was drying more than smoking..
Pulled out the box smoker and placed everything back in for another 2 hrs
 

 
Really picked up the smoke, and could smell the oils released from everything.
 
Wanted more char of the peppers and decided I wanted more garlic and onion as well.
Heated up the cast iron pan and seared the peppers dry, along with another onion thick sliced, and another head of garlic,
separated into cloves with husks intact.
 
Missed the shot of the seared onion and garlic but the peppers give you a good idea
 

 
I ate one of the Fresno halves to test for taste and heat....flavor was excellent, heat was a solid 5/10
Removed most of the seeds at this point and placed everything into a pot.
 
Then added:
2 cups ACV
1/4 Cup bottled lime juice
2 Cups water
2 TBLS H. Pink salt
2 TBLS beef concentrate paste
 
Simmered 20-30 mins
 

 
Removed from heat and hit it with the immersion blender...ran it though the food mill using the medium screen
 
Finished Sauce before it was ran through the food mill...had to many sharp skins.
 

 
 
Smoky deep rich flavor. Put it on pan seared Pork Chops last night. 
 
Excellent sauce, with a nice burn....mostly all front half of the tongue...Better than I had expected!!!
 
PH is 3.7 but since I used the beef paste, I will have to pressure can this batch for storage.
 
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I previously posted a thread with a mash based off the Tims recipe after following Buddy's 2016 Ferments.
 
I am adding it here and will continue the updates in this thread:
 
Posted 15 October 2016 - 09:44 AM

And the Journey Continues   :party:
 
After spending numerous hrs searching the forums and drooling over buddy's ferments thread round two has begun.
 
Based off the Tims ingredients but used the peppers I had on hand
 
Orange Habs, Lemon Habs and Orange bells, garlic, onion, carrot, apple, canning salt (4% by weight)
 
The aroma is amazing and huge props to Buddy and his ferments thread,     :dance:
 
Day 1 ~ 10/15/2016
 

 
 
UPDATE: 10/20/2016
 
I started another Ferment as well 10/18/2016 
 
Green Chili's
Freezer Jalapenos from last season
Tomatillo roasted
Carrots
Sweet Onion roasted
Shallot roasted
Garlic roasted
Coriander seed toasted
Cumin seed toasted.
Canning Salt (4% by weight)
 
Wrapped both ferments in black hand towels and placed in an small cooler for easy storage to let them get happy
 

 
 
Took a couple snap shots of whats happening as of right now......I don't see any fermentation as of yet.
Both appear to have settled down and the cabbage leaves are now resting flat covering the mashes.
 
 
The  Tomatillo Day 2 and My Variation of the Tims Day 5
 

 
 
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I was and am solely inspired by Buddy's ferments and sauces, never saw anything like it before.....I love being a hands on guy.
 
Glad to have found this site...so many have helped me already through pm's and answering questions. 
 
 
From Seed to plant to pod to table....Very rewarding hobby.  I sure hope these kick off soon, getting a little worried seeing no action yet.
 
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Well CRAP!! looks like I have a serious salt issue on my hands....have no choice to let em run and see what happens, but I don't have very much confidence at this point.
 
In the tims and tomatillo recipes I weighed everything to the exact gram, recorded weights, did the .04% math, weighed out the salt.
 
Took separate containers and double checked math, re weighed salt to be sure...everything checked out and pics show whats in the jars.
 
I just made another which mash comes in at 1,617g x .04% gives me 64.68g, i rounded up to 65g.
 
Here's the problem...the 65g of canning pickling salt looks to be very close to approx 1/4c to 1/3c salt.
 
But the tims recipe also came in at nearly the same weight in mash..weighing that salt out at final weight i had easily a pile close to 2cups of salt.  :tear:  :tear:  :tear:  :tear:  :tear:
 
I have no idea what went wrong, if the scale is tits or what or I somehow didn't convert the measurements properly..same exaggerated salt measurements on the tomatillo recipe.
 
Without a doubt, this must be the reason the mash hasn't taken off visually by day 5.
 
I took a look this morning prior to discovering this salt debacle at both mashes, and I think I see a few tiny gas pockets formed against the glass.
 
I don't have much hope right now of success of either mash, or if they will even be edible  :tear:  :tear:  :tear:  :tear:  :tear:
 
I would bet it's safe to say that salt content is near 20% or more.
 
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     Well shit. That sucks to see all that work and delicious looking raw material get ruined by one misstep. I have attempted several mashes in years past and have had to toss every one. I do tons of canning and pickling and have successfully brewed beer before, but I just can't figure out how to mash peppers. I kind of know how you feel. 
     Having said that, I'm definitely not an expert. The only thing I can think of is that maybe your salt should've been added in proportion to your solid ingredients only (not in proportion to any liquids you added). I'm just spitballin' here, so don't take any of my "advice" to seriously. 
     If you want some professional help troubleshooting your sauce, maybe try to get a hold of Rocketman or SmokenFire. Both are not only sauce gurus but also helpful, stand-up guys. 
 
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Hybrid Mode 01 said:
     Well shit. That sucks to see all that work and delicious looking raw material get ruined by one misstep. I have attempted several mashes in years past and have had to toss every one. I do tons of canning and pickling and have successfully brewed beer before, but I just can't figure out how to mash peppers. I kind of know how you feel. 
     Having said that, I'm definitely not an expert. The only thing I can think of is that maybe your salt should've been added in proportion to your solid ingredients only (not in proportion to any liquids you added). I'm just spitballin' here, so don't take any of my "advice" to seriously. 
     If you want some professional help troubleshooting your sauce, maybe try to get a hold of Rocketman or SmokenFire. Both are not only sauce gurus but also helpful, stand-up guys. 
Click to expand...
 
Salt was weighed by the weight of the vegtables only.....could have been a fat thumb mistake on the calculator? 
 
Either way....I am continuing on with them.  They are mixed, possibly fermenting at a slower rate.
 
If it does indeed work, I will try the potato trick and see if enough salt can be pulled out to at least save the two batches  ;)
 
Onward and upward as the saying goes.
 
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So......Here is trial #3 based off Smokinfires "EASY" thread recipe.
 
Weights are the same as the recipe, but I went with Fresno's, Fatalii's and a small hand full of undersized left over Bhut Jolokia's.
 
I did recalculate the salt though to verify I was at .04% of the total weight....then mixed up a 3.6% brine to cap off the mixture.
 
Looks really good, and I tasted a spoonful as well....great heat and aroma.
 
The ingredients:
Peppers
Carrots
Onions
Garlic
Salt .04% by weight
 
3.6% brine to cap off mash and cabbage leaves.
 

 
 
The Mash 
 
 
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I really need to get you away from using the seasoned rice vinegar. :Those are for salads and sushi rice preparation. Plus they usually contain added salt. :D
 
Go to your local Asian market and look for Korean brown rice vinegar. They even offer it in double strength %8
 
When mirin will be too sweet just get a cheap sake. Add some rice syrup if you want it slightly sweet. I make my own rice wine which taste very similar to mirin. I can ferment it dry or sweet.
 
This is the cheap sake i use for cooking
http://www.gekkeikan-sake.com/product/Traditional
Traditional_750ml.jpg

 
 
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The mirin gallon was gifted to us....we make sushi 2-3 times a month usually.

Nothing fancy...just WA coast Albacore for spicy tuna rolls and the usual cali rolls etc

I will upgrade the vin when the jug runs out.
 
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Taste update:
 
http://i.imgur.com/OabF2h6.jpg
 
I had enough leftover from these two mixes to fill half a quart jar each...so they have been sitting in the cupboard with just a t-shirt cover and ring cap to ferment.
 
As stated somewhere above, my calculation in salt and math ended up with some crazy salt % for my best guess around .20% instead of .04% as desired.
 
The smell is excellent and the mash looks semi translucent bits so I just took out a TBLS and added it to 2 eggs in an Omelet.
 
I could taste the lightly sour ferment and was delicious and I used no salt for the hash browns and cheese filling, but a slight hint of salt was coming thru but not the desired heat.
 
So I added another TBLS dabbed across the surface of the 2 egg Omelet.....The flavor is great, the heat is there and desired Chinense habanero.......
 
BUT.....the salt is straightforward and over powers the flavor of the food and the mash as expected  :tear:  :tear:  :tear:
 
I wanted to use this mash whole, no cooking, no straining etc.....but it would appear the salt content will be unbearable.
 
 
I guess next step is try cooking it and add potato as I have read to try and pull enough salt out to be able to consume.
 
 
Really bummed about the 2 half gallons of mash still fermenting.....good learning experience, just wish results would have been error free.
 
 
EDIT:
Upon searching the web...Using potato is a myth at best and if it could be used, I would need 10lbs for a half gallon mix and still not pull enough salt to make it palatable.
 
So...next step is blend in 2 whole yellow peppers, 1 mango, cook the sauce and dilute with Cider vinegar to taste.
(Read Acid in cider vin may help blend and reduce salt taste with over salting)
 
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Update: on Tims and the Tomatillo
 
Total disasters....Salt content cannot be fixed.
 
Tried simmering with potato slices....slices are too salty to eat, mash remains to salty to eat.
 
Tried introducing more peppers and carrots in the simmer along with raw Mexican sugar....no luck.
 
The Tomatillo recipe actually formed a 3/4" salt cap i had to break through.
 
The flavor of the Tomatillo was excellent...but the salt taste was putrid.
 
I will make the Tomatillo again flavor wise...obviously with correct salt measurement.
 
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Final update on the Red mash: Just about 90 days in. It developed a dark layer in top 1" of mash and cabbage leaves, it was removed with a spoon and discarded.
 
Here's what it looked like after removing the darkened 1" layer PH was 4.6

 
Put it in a large stainless pot with 2 cups filtered water and brought to a boil, then reduced heat and simmered reducing by 25% in volume.
 

 
Pulled out the stick blender and pureed, then back to the heat, added 2 cups water, 2 cups w/vinegar, 3 Tbls Mexican raw sugar and 1 Tbsp lime juice.
Simmered 5 mins, then hit it again with the stick blender.
Checked PH..3.7 Checked temp....holding at 212F
 
Placed into bottles and jar held in over 30mins at 200F, inverted the bottles 15mins after filling..the jar will be used right away and stored in the fridge.
 
Two 275ml bottles, 2 re-used soy sauce bottles, and a half pint jelly jar.
 
Very  bold spicy heat, slight hint of lime, just enough sugar to balance out the salt from fermentation.
I didn't run this thruogh a food mill, I wanted a thicker sauce and wanted to keep the seeds as well.
 

 
 
 
 
 
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