fermenting Advice for a first timer - Bhut ferment

[Tigeris]

First off, I'd like to really complement your community here. You've provided a ton of great information in the sticky's that really helped me understand what I'm doing by trying to make a sauce.

I grew my first pepper plant this year - a Bhut. When peppers started appearing, I realized that I didn't know what to do with these too-hot-to-just-eat peppers. Now they're on the verge of ripening and I think I'd like to make a sauce with a few. I'd like to make a sauce with a heat somewhere between Tobasco's and El Yucateco's Green Chile Habanero. I'd like it to be savory and smokey. Finally, I think I'd like to do a ferment. I'd love it if somebody wouldn't mind giving me some critique on the recipe I'm thinking about.

• 1-2 Bhuts w/out seeds (not sure what they'll weigh until I pick them - thinking I should use somewhere around 30-60grams)
• 3 Banana peppers - roasted (note: not Hungarian Wax. Sweet pepper similar to a bell pepper)
• 1 small, fresh tomato
• 1 head fresh garlic
• 1 strip bacon - cooked
• 1/2 yellow onion - caramelized
• 1/2 yellow onion - raw
• 1 Tbs dark brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp liquid smoke (unless I can find a way to incorporate smoke otherwise)
• Oak chips (in cheesecloth - removed after ferment)
• 3 tsp whey starter from yogurt
• Distilled water w/pickling salt to cover peppers

I'll run everything through a food processor for a couple spins - not enough to puree.

There seems to a lot of love for carrots here for making a good texture. I'm not a huge fan of orange roots (yams, carrots, etc) so I haven't included it. I'm wondering a red potato would have a similar effect on texture. Obviously, though, I've already deviated a lot from the standard cannon here and don't want to go further overboard on my first sauce.

 

[RocketMan]

The carrot flavor will just be blended into the final overall flavor. It's actually a pretty mild flavor and will really fade into the background. If you want to use some potato try using sweet potatoes. I've used them several time and they really add a rich creamy character to the sauce. Red potato will probably work too but I've never used them. If you ever think about using Plantains, use alot less than you think you might need. I used them once and wound up with a paste. they're really starchy!

 

[Tigeris]

If you ever think about using Plantains, use alot less than you think you might need. I used them once and wound up with a paste. they're really starchy!

This is good to know! From NutritionData we can find the starch content for my red potatoes and compare it!

***Plantains (raw):~15.0g/100g or 15% by weight
Red-skinned Potatoes:16.0g/100g or 16% by weight
Sweet Potatoes:12.7g/100g or 12.6% by weight
Carrots:1.4g/100g or 1.4% by weight

***So unfortunately, we don't have data on starch for raw plantains. I used plantain chips which appear to be fried. Let's assume that two thirds of the mass is lost in the process of turning the plantain into a chip and no starch is added or lost. We can say roughly that a plantain has 16g of starch per 100g. This is pretty close to a brute force calculation from carbs on raw plantains: Total: 31.9 - 2.3g(fiber) - 15.0g(sugar) = 14.6g left. So let's say it's close to 15 and leave it at that.


Sadly for me, this means that red potatoes are a poor substitute for carrots (which also add 4.7% sugar by weight). I'll do some more research and see if I can't come up with another vegetable that may give a good consistency without that carroty taste.

 

[RocketMan]

Carrots are by far the most used in sauce production and the fact that it's the lowest is interesting. Not much is needed then to maintian the consistency of a sauce. I have also found that when i use some form of starch I haven't needed to use anything such as Xanthian Gum to maintain the sauce. I have also considered using Yucca, Tarro and Tapioca in sauces.​

 

[Tigeris]

For reference:

Cassava (also called yuca or tapoica): ~35% starch by weight; 1.7% sugar by weight.
Taro: ~22% starch by weight; 0.4%sugar by weight

Neither of these have given values for starch - this is an assumed number from the remaining carbs. In practice it may be lower.

 

[RocketMan]

I dont think that using the higher starch ones is out the window, just means to use less in the batch. I thought that using 2 plantains in the batch I made would be good. Now I'd probably start off using only 1/2 of a plantain and adjust from there. Oh, I didn't mention it before but I'm pretty sure that all of that starch is what soaked up all of the heat in the batch. The night I made it there was plenty of fire but a week later it was all flavor and no heat. So I might double up on peppers too.

 

[Tigeris]

That's a good point. What I'm taking from this is:

• Starches soak up heat, so account for this
• A little starch makes for good sauce consistency
  • More starch produces a thicker sauce
    • Ergo, too much starch results in a paste

I'm going to even take it a little further and say that disregarding cooktime

• Starch content is the dominant factor on the thickness of a sauce.

Assuming this is true, what I'd like to do would be to calculate an ideal starch range for sauces! . Does anybody have a recipe (ideally by weight) that turned out with a really great consistency? I'll also browse the forums to see if I can find any.

Also, does anybody have any other factors which they believe contribute to the thickness of a sauce? According to salsalady's 101 topic, fiber at least has a small effect.

Additional Assumption: When people talk about carrots adding a good consistency, they mean a good thickness.

 

[Littlejoenc]

Could you not just use the corn starch you get at the store?
It has no flavor and I don't think any sugar.
Just a thought....

 

[RocketMan]

Tigeris - I think of Consistency as yes thickness but also as the texture of the sauce. Certain ingredients can give you a nice smooth sauce with a good thickness which for me is about a medium thick sauce. That means thin enough to flow easily but thick enough to stay where you put it.

Littlejownc - Corn Starch could be used but typically Xanthan gum is used instead. It's not so much to thicken the sauce but more to help keep it in suspension.