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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:

 
 

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I never thought about the term 'tubs' before until Boss mentioned it. It was what the containers used to be called. Now it sounds funny.

Called up the supplier and ordered cases of tubs and lids~~~
 
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Sheesh! That dude is whacked! Doesn't he know to use 1250 bottles of Lucky Dog instead of Tapatios?!?!???
:rolleyes:. Rookie!


:Lol:!
 
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Attempt #4:
 
After some discussion in the previous posts, I've made the following changes to my method:
  • No finely ground chile powder; all chile ground at home in a coffee grinder or with immersion blender
  • Added some dried chile pepper variety
  • Added red jalapenos; bought them green and let them ripen in a paper bag with a banana for 1.5 weeks
  • Tried to increase fresh pepper volume, hoping to get some water from the habaneros and jalapenos
  • Bathed in a 200 gallons of Tapatio
 
Recipe:
 
3 oz white vinegar
1 oz water (to reconstitute slightly dried out hab's and jala's)
 
2.3 oz Habanero
2.6 oz Red Jalapeno
 
Dried Chiles:
  • 0.9 oz Ancho, seeded and ground
  • 0.5 oz Arbol, seeded and ground
  • 0.1 oz Pequin, seeded and ground
  • 1 oz hot red chile, seeded and ground
Spices:
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp mustard seed, whole
  • 1/4 tsp paprika
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric
  • 1/8 tsp cumin
Method:
Blend all with an immersion blender.
 
First impression:
A little pasty, but not as bad as last time. I'm starting to think that either there's a lot more fresh hab or jala peppers than vinegar; i don't know how else the sauce can be as thin as it is with less vinegar than dried pepper.
 
Recall the ingredients list on the bottles lists habanero, then red jalapenos, then spices, then vinegar. This means that there is at least as much habanero, at least as much red jalapeno, and at least as much "spices" as vinegar. We'll see if it doesn't become thinner as it rests, but I'm wondering how I could make a thinner sauce without deviating from these ingredient proportions. How can you thin a hot sauce without adding water? Here are some ideas:
 
I just realized that the mexican hot sauce has chile in the ingredients; their red jalapeno hot sauce has red jalapenos instead. I used both in this case - I think the meatier red chiles seem to be the biggest culprit when it comes to making the sauce pasty.
 
I think I'll wait and see if the sauce improves. I may entertain adding more vinegar in a few days if necessary to tone down the flavor and thin out the sauce, if needed.
 
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Did the peppers smell like bananas? :P
 
Did you smell like Tapatio!
 
Okay I think you are onto something here.
  • Vinegar, yes is way down on the list (if you are indeed recalling correctly). This may mean this is all fresh peppers, considering the water content of fresh peppers vs. dried.
  • I'd only use spices I could detect and not anything that would create more mass. Also, spices do not have to be dried. Garlic can be minced, etc. FDA's definition: SPICES - General Definition - Aromatic vegetable substances, in the whole, broken, or ground form, whose significant function in food is seasoning rather than nutrition. They are true to name and from them no portion of any volatile oil or other flavoring principle has been removed. Detect any "fresh" spices, or little bits?
  • Make sure you are using a 5% or lower vinegar. This allows you to add more w/o it tasting too vinegary as compared to say, a 7%. More water, less acetic acid.
  • Don't cook out your water, use a covered pot. At the factory it may cook in a sealed chamber meaning no water is lost, this would allow you to add a little in the homemade process. It does not say water on the label but just means none was added, if you are losing some just add back. The original water content of the peppers etc. may all have been used.
 
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Thanks for the suggestions THP!
 
Regarding the ingredients, fortunately I don't have to remember I have a few bottles in the pantry. The ingredients are listed below. The only difference between "mexican hot sauce" and "red jalapeno sauce" is that one has "chili peppers [sic]" and one has jalapenos.
  • Mexican Hot Sauce (In order)

    Habanero
  • Chili peppers (for Red Jalapeno sauce, this is "jalapenos")
  • 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


 
Vinegar, yes is way down on the list (if you are indeed recalling correctly). This may mean this is all fresh peppers, considering the water content of fresh peppers vs. dried.
I think you may be right It's funny I added ancho's because the brand is "Poblano", when it might make more sense just to add Poblanos!
 
I'd only use spices I could detect and not anything that would create more mass. Also, spices do not have to be dried. Garlic can be minced, etc. FDA's definition: SPICES - General Definition - Aromatic vegetable substances, in the whole, broken, or ground form, whose significant function in food is seasoning rather than nutrition. They are true to name and from them no portion of any volatile oil or other flavoring principle has been removed. Detect any "fresh" spices, or little bits?
 
I've been adding ground dried chile peppers to make up the "spices" listing. The other spaces I add are listed individually on the label, aside from cumin, which I think I taste faintly.
 
Make sure you are using a 5% or lower vinegar. This allows you to add more w/o it tasting too vinegary as compared to say, a 7%. More water, less acetic acid.
 
I use 5% vinegar, but I'll consider diluting it.
 
Don't cook out your water, use a covered pot. At the factory it may cook in a sealed chamber meaning no water is lost, this would allow you to add a little in the homemade process. It does not say water on the label but just means none was added, if you are losing some just add back. The original water content of the peppers etc. may all have been used.
 
I don't believe this sauce is cooked for the following reasons, but I take your point:
  • The oil separates out when the jars sit, which is something I read is more common to uncooked hot sauces
  • I can't find an oven or stove anywhere in the photographs
  • In one of those news articles, they state that the only piece of equipment they own is a grinder, and that they do everything by hand, then they mostly just list bottling. No heating or cooking anywhere.
 
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don't dilute the vinegar more than 5%. 
 
Equipment-in post #29, if you look in the background, you can see the blender base (looks like #12 written on it) and a second unit right behind his arm.  I wouldn't count a refrigerator or stove as 'equipment'.  Or a sink.  That's just basic furnishings of a kitchen.  I can't tell what the gentleman is pouring into.  It almost looks like a ceramic or metal container, which could be on a stove.  If t
 
Measurements- remember that this is a very old recipe and they did measurements differently prior to process authority regulations which require everythign measured in grams.  It is very likely they measured out 1 cup of chopped fresh habanero, which would weigh about half as much as 1 cup of vinegar.  They may have included water sufficient for processing and not listed it on the label (ie grinding the chiles and making them soupy like in the photo)- 
1 cup chopped fresh habanero
1 cup chopped fresh fresno
1 cup vinegar
 
not accounting for the dry spices, the above would be fairly liquidy.
 
Keep at it!
SL
 
 
 
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salsalady said:
They may have included water sufficient for processing and not listed it on the label (ie grinding the chiles and making them soupy like in the photo)- 
Click to expand...
 
I believe in this case you need to list it.
 
One thing I notice is spices is listed before vinegar. This tells me it is something substantial like a pepper(s) they are hiding to keep the recipe a secret. And like I stated, it does not have to be dried. FDA states it can be whole or ground, and does not get into drying. And peppers do classify as spices.
 
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Salsalady - thanks for the input.
 
Vinegar - Roger. I should probably invest in some pH monitoring equipment if I start adding water at all. Checking the pH vs the real thing would be a valuable comparison metric for future batches.
 
I see what you're talking about in that photo - that could be a stock pot or something. The thing he's pouring into is, based on other photos, a 50-ish gallon plastic "drum" for lack of a better word with a large screw top. I can't get the photo to attach, but I'll try it after work again.
 
I see your point about the ingredients, but I'm making the assumption that they're following the FDA ingredient guidelines directly, which require measurement of ingredients by mass and comparison on a mass basis. I was thinking about this last night - the recipe is closely guarded secret, so what if the order of ingredients was not EXACTLY right. Would anyone ever know? Probably not.
 
 
 
 
 
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The Hot Pepper said:
I believe in this case you need to list it.
 
One thing I notice is spices is listed before vinegar. This tells me it is something substantial like a pepper(s) they are hiding to keep the recipe a secret. And like I stated, it does not have to be dried. FDA states it can be whole or ground, and does not get into drying. And peppers do classify as spices.
Click to expand...
 
THP is right, per regulation, added water needs to be listed UNLESS it is all boiled or baked off during production. Under any other circumstance it needs to be listed. I was thinking along those same lines and spent some time trying to figure out if there could be added water that somehow wasn't listed and it doesn't seem possible.
 
I agree that the secret is in "spices", and without any significant additional spice flavors it has to be in the peppers. 3 oz of oregano would be EXTREMELY noticeable  :surprised:. Back to that photo of Oscar pouring a batch into the fermenter/holding tank/barrel, it does look pretty similar to the way the hab's & jala's looked when I was blending them together, alone, without the ground peppers.
 
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"He would do it all by hand — cleaning the chiles, putting them through a small industrial strength blender and pouring the salsa into bottles."
 
"He did the first barrel. The second barrel, I did.
 
It’s cramped with empty bottles waiting to be filled and labeled, with barrels holding the jalapeños, spices, and mustard that marinate together over the course of several days.
 
Before I left the Poblano factory, Oscar opened the barrels for me to sniff the four distinct sauces his company produces. There’s the green jalapeño, the red jalapeño, the so-called Mexican hot sauce, and salsa ranchera. My eyes teared from the spices."
 
"In the small warehouse on South Dodge Boulevard, Oscar and his family hand mixes 50-gallon batches of hot sauce at a time. Four 55-gallon drums sit in the middle of the room, one of each flavor n Salsa Ranchero, Mexican Hot Sauce, Mexican Green Jalapeño Salsa and Mexican Red Jalapeño Salsa n ready to be bottled.
Oscar’s son, Oscar Jr. fills up a pitcher, takes a funnel and fills each bottle by hand, while Oscar’s wife and daughter, Gloria and Gloria, place labels on every bottle by hand. The lids are hand tightened and the seal is fastened to the bottle in the same way."
 
Here's some quotes I pulled from the articles.  One key clue is...barrels where the sauce marinates for days.  In the picture, he's pouring into a barrel.
 
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It sounds like the kind of sauce that could have taken off like Sriracha, with the story of Tran/Oscar etc. Sounds tasty!
 
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You're right those are some big clues - again, more reasons I suspect it's not cooked - they just never mention it.
 
I've been leaving the sauces in my fridge for a few days before testing to emulate the "marinating", but this last batch is actually sitting on my counter with plastic wrap over it to keep it at room temperature since I noticed those barrels are at room temperature as well. It should probably just be part of my standard method here since that's clearly what they're doing.
 
I wonder a little bit if they don't keep adding and removing sauce from the barrels continuously, such that each barrel never runs dry. This would maybe add an "aged" flavor to it? Are the peppers really fermented? If so, maybe when I get close I'll consider adding an existing bottle to a batch and if there's some magic there. With the vinegar, I don't think it's fermented but maybe I'm wrong.
 
THP - it could still take off! I have trouble seeing why it isn't more popular. I was introduced by a Tucsonian friend of a friend, but if you google the hot sauce fanatic websites and :dance: forums :dance:  it's very rarely mentioned, aside from an occasional post from a Tucson local talking about how great it is.
 
 
 
salsalady said:
"He would do it all by hand — cleaning the chiles, putting them through a small industrial strength blender and pouring the salsa into bottles."
 
"He did the first barrel. The second barrel, I did.
 
It’s cramped with empty bottles waiting to be filled and labeled, with barrels holding the jalapeños, spices, and mustard that marinate together over the course of several days.
 
Before I left the Poblano factory, Oscar opened the barrels for me to sniff the four distinct sauces his company produces. There’s the green jalapeño, the red jalapeño, the so-called Mexican hot sauce, and salsa ranchera. My eyes teared from the spices."
 
"In the small warehouse on South Dodge Boulevard, Oscar and his family hand mixes 50-gallon batches of hot sauce at a time. Four 55-gallon drums sit in the middle of the room, one of each flavor n Salsa Ranchero, Mexican Hot Sauce, Mexican Green Jalapeño Salsa and Mexican Red Jalapeño Salsa n ready to be bottled.
Oscar’s son, Oscar Jr. fills up a pitcher, takes a funnel and fills each bottle by hand, while Oscar’s wife and daughter, Gloria and Gloria, place labels on every bottle by hand. The lids are hand tightened and the seal is fastened to the bottle in the same way."
 
Here's some quotes I pulled from the articles.  One key clue is...barrels where the sauce marinates for days.  In the picture, he's pouring into a barrel.
Click to expand...
 
 
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