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recipe Cloning Poblano's "Mexican Hot Sauce"

m012741k0m847

m012741k0m847

Hi everyone,
 
I've been a hot sauce fiend for a bit and my favorite, all time, are the Red Jalapeno and/or Mexican Hot Sauce produced by Poblano Hot Sauce in Tucson. I go through about 30 bottles a year; it's so good I ship it in from Tucson - it's not sold outside of AZ as far as I'm aware. They stopped producing for a few weeks last year and I thought I was out of luck forever. Fortunately they're in production again, but it was a scare! 
 
So, I am here for one reason: to recreate this hot sauce.
 
The recipe is a closely guarded secret, so there's no asking for tips or tricks from the manufacturers. I've been compiling notes for a few months now and I'm just going to data dump it here and log my progress as I go. To say I've been taking notes may be an understatement. I've scoured the internet for articles and newspaper clippings about Poblano Hot Sauce. I've search the pictures in those articles carefully to see what equipment they may have. I've read them thoroughly for ANY clue about the process or recipe.
 
The flavor is not sweet at all, just a little bit vinegary with a very clear contribution by spices. Texture is smooth with a little bit of grit from the spices. No seeds are visible.
 
If you're familiar with this hot sauce and have some thoughts - please let me know.
 
What I think I know:
 
The sauce is not cooked
  • Oil separates when left to sit for a few days; based on previous research, I suspect this may mean it is uncooked.
  • Reading local news articles about the makers states that the only piece of equipment they have is a "chile grinder"; there is no mention of a stove and none shown in any photograph of the kitchen.
Peppers and spices pickle for days at room temperature. I do not believe this is fermented.
  • ..."barrels holding jalapenos, spices, and mustard that marinate together of the course of several days".
The big unknowns are the composition of "chili peppers" and "spices"
  • surprise to no one
  • the original recipe called for chiltepin peppers, but people complained it was too hot so they no longer use chiltepins
I believe spices include...
  • mustard seed
  • turmeric
  • paprika
  • garlic powder
  • cumin (I THINK I can taste this)
 
Listed Ingredients:
 

  • Mexican Hot Sauce (In order)

    Habanero
  • Chili peppers
  • spices
  • distilled vinegar
  • mustard seed (>= 28 g per bottle)
  • salt (11 g sodium per bottle based on nutritional information, should be 28 g Salt per bottle)
  • turmeric (<= 28 g per bottle)
  • paprika
  • garlic powder


 
Articles about Poblano. This is it:

 
 

Attachments

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good point.  The jalapenos could of been ran through a hand crank meat grinder, the kind that clamp onto the edge of a table~~~  :shrug:
 
 
 
 
 
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The Hot Pepper said:
Why do you think they were fresh?
Click to expand...
 
To me its because they specified "green".  Haven't really seen any dried green jalapenos anywhere save the dregs of my own garden at the end of the year.  When they said grinding green jalapenos at night so as to not bother customers I became certain they were grinding fresh jalas because dried jalas (green/red/rainbow striped) wouldn't really smell up a joint all that much compared to fresh.
 
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and also the color.  I haven't made any hot sauces with green jalapeno powder, so I can't say for sure, but I don't think a sauce made with dried green jalapenos would have that bright color.  just 'assuming'...and we all know how that goes!  :lol:
 
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I have some green jala powder  from FirehousePantry out in the kitchen and since I'm deliberately avoiding work :lol:,  I'll play around with it tomorrow and see what powder looks like mixed into a sauce.
 
 
 
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Grinding by hand does not mean powder, in Mexico it's a rough grind, similar to the way mole is made. Ask Scovie. :D
 
From powder can make a chalky or grainy sauce in excess.
 
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Here's the "by hand" quote but also mentions a machine. Sheesh me and SL were both right. Still open to interpretation but I can see how they are fresh... :)
 
The "machine" may be in the pics, pouring out?
 
Despite the demand, the Seguras have continued to do everything by hand. "We're very old-fashioned. The only machine we have is the grinder," said Oscar's other son, Vicente, 33, as he bottled some salsa. "We do the sanitizing, the labeling, the bottling, the capping and the sealing."
 
post-14593-0-59006500-1528047159_thumb.jpg
 
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Back from vacation and just saw that this thread carried on my absence! Awesome.
 
Tonight or tomorrow I'll try to put together a recipe, adding anchos and primarily using whole peppers ground in a coffee grinder. The last version, using a finely ground chile powder, was really pasty. It tasted ok, but you guys are right that they're clearly not using prepowdered chiles.
 
Salsalady, just out of curiosity, did adding dried jalapeno powder create a neon green hot sauce? I assume it did not but curious!
 
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The jalaneno powder mixed up drab olive green.
 
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Thanks Salsalady.
 
i picked up a few different dried chiles, including pequin and arbol. I'm going to mix up another batch of sauce tonight, but when it comes to the dried chiles I'm unsure what proportions i might want to try.
 
Without any frame of reference, for the chile powder component I'm guessing:
1/3 Ancho
1/3 Pequin
1/3 Arbol
 
In addition to the jalapenos and habeneros. If you guys have any suggestions - if some of these are super strongly flavored maybe? - I'd be happy to hear them.
 
Regarding the dried vs fresh jalapeno debate, based on the proportions of ingredients on the label I think they have to be fresh. Otherwise, to have more dried jalapeno than vinegar would result basically in a paste. I think the habaneros and jalapenos have to be fresh to give up a little water. Also, the only way I can get the texture shown in Oscar's picture, where he's pouring the raw sauce into his barrel, is to use fresh peppers. That's my theory anyway.
 
Thanks again everyone.
 
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Hey team - no new sauce tonight. Ran all over Albuquerque trying to find red jalapenos. No luck, but I did find an awesome mexican grocery store downtown - "El Super" - that has a ton of dried chile varieties i had never heard of, as well as undried varieties I had. Fresh Chile Arbol! Wild. Anyway, I was able to get 2 lbs of jalapenos that were starting to turn red and they're in a paper bag with some bananas, hopefully they'll turn in a few days.
 
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Regarding the simantics...I use a machine to dice the salsa veggies, trim the veggies, by hand, mix it by hand, scoop it into the tubs by hand, call the salsa hand made...

I agree the hopper in the picture looks like an industrial blender.

M012~`~... The brown bag trick should work for those peppers.

Keep us posted.
 
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Ok...back in the day, when red Savina chiles were the hottest pepper in the world....

The deli containers were called tubs.

I went out to get a picture of the case. But now they are called 'clear plastic food containers'.

Carry on...
 
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