Liquid smoke in hot sauce?

[Pepperjack91]

Just wondering if putting liquid smoke in my mash would work. Will any of the ingredients put a halt to the fermentation process? If so would it be best to put it in after it finishes fermenting? I thought adding a bit of a smoky flavor could be nice

 

[Heisenberg]

I'm not positive about liquid smoke, but this brings up something Ive been thinking about.  I also want to try making a smoky flavored sauce, but I was going to actually smoke some habs for 3-4 hours, then ferment them.  The problem is, smoking is a method of preservation.  Some of the chemicals that are infused during smoking will slow putrefaction, which for most things is a good thing, but having anti-microbial properties, it could be bad when it comes to fermentation.  Ive read of people fermenting smoked peppers, but I wonder with how much success.  With liquid smoke, I dont think it would have any effect on the fermentation process since its just mimicking the smoke flavor. 

 

[Lucky Dog Hot Sauce]

My 2 new products use smoked sea salts. I'm better able to control the level of smoke that way (I prefer subtlety with smoke)

As I understand it liquid smoke is condensation collected from inside the smoker. I have never cared for the flavor of it as compared to a smoked substance with surface area.

I'd suggest smoked sea salt - assuming you salt the mash anyway you can just offset the sea salt with smoked salt. Probably a better quality of smoke flavor.

That said I'm not an expert on fermentation & what the mash process would do to the smoke flavor. I'd assume it'll retain it.

Good luck!

 

[salsalady]

I'd add the smoke at the end  or use a FEW smoked chiles with the rest of the chiles in a ferment.  Maybe 1/2 cup smoked chiles per 1/2 gallon regular.
Good luck and have fun~

 

[Pepperjack91]

I've never heard of smoked sea salt. That sounds like it would work very well. And Heisenburg, I have also heard about people using smoked peppers. I don't think a few hours would disturb the fermentation process. It would probably be better than the liquid smoke!
Yes I'm actually leaning towards just putting it in after the fermentation. It will still add the smoky flavor and there won't be any chance that some chemical will interfere with the process. Thanks for all the good advice! I love this website

 

[Lucky Dog Hot Sauce]

I first saw it at the winter foods show in SF a couple years ago and have been experimenting with it ever since. I love the stuff.

 

[DEFCON Creator]

I don't see a problem using Liquid Smoke. You will have a few pruists, who hate the product to begin with, tell you it's cheating...I don't see it that way. Be advised, you won't need very much at all, as it will take over the entire sauce if a tad too much is used.

 

[Lucky Dog Hot Sauce]

I've heard that too - but I don't think it's cheating - i just don't think the flavor is as good as smoked peppers or smoked salt.

 

[Phil]

Whichever way you go, take heed to what the DEFCON Creator said..... go easy on that stuff. It's potent!

 

[pepperdan]

yes it is considered a culinary no no, but then again what does the top chefs in the country know ?
 
 
 
liquid smoke will work for meals or items that can be consumed in a short period of time, it tends to evaporate itself overtime, i cannot honestly say how it would work in sauce with the ph levels that are required
 
 
smoking peppers for sauce need to be done lightly, never to the point of dried but to a soft almost jell like consistancy or it too will over power
 
 

 
 

 

[Pepperjack91]

Those peppers look great! Is that just a typical grill you are using in the picture?

 

[pepperdan]

Those peppers look great! Is that just a typical grill you are using in the picture?

 
 
 
thanks, no its not a typical grill, since they dont make a gas grill smoker combo i purchased a char-griller gas grill, then added a smoker box on the side, i have the best of the 3, i can gas grill/smoke/charcoal in one 1 grill, and whats even better is i can start just a small fire for smoking, then turn on the gas and add smoke flavor to whatever i am grilling
 
 
the turkey roasting pans where very preforated in the bottom to allow the smoke to go through, i rotated them for about 5 hours, i made sauce with the yellows, and awesome powder with the reds
 
 
http://s12.photobucket.com/user/1911a1fan/media/IMG_1131.mp4.html

 

[salsalady]

+1 to perforating the pans!  You get a much more even smoke with perf pans.  I just go to town with a screwdriver (stabbing from the outside in) all over the bottom and sides.

 

[Lucky Dog Hot Sauce]

On my BBQ I use the BBQ sauté pans (they're already perforated)

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Smoke the peppers for a much better flavor!!!

What's better? Chiptole sauce, or red jalapeno sauce with liquid smoke?

 

[Lucky Dog Hot Sauce]

Smoke the peppers for a much better flavor!!!What's better? Chiptole sauce, or red jalapeno sauce with liquid smoke?

Or the onions, or the salt, or the carrots - smoke flavor is a surface area thing.

It all depends on how intense of a smoke flavor you want. If you're gonna go full blown chipotle that's different.

But because I find heavily smoked pepper sauces to be 1-note sauces that drown out subtle flavors of garlic, onion, etc, I barely smoke peppers when I make sauce at home. 10 mins for more acrid woods like mesquite or oak, 15-20 for lighter smoke fruit wood.

My intention is a light infusion of smoke, not to cook the peppers with the smoking process like a chipotle.

So if that's the goal it doesn't really matter what's smoked - I once did a hobby sauce with applewood smoked pears. In ~20 mins they caramelized against the sauté pan and also got lightly smoked. The resulting sauce was fantastic.

That said it wasn't a ferment, but the smoke flavor should be retained.

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Yup you can smoke anything to make it smoky, but still nothing replaces a real smoked pepper. No way you can make a chipotle sauce by smoking the onion instead of the pepper. Won't taste anything like it. But to add smokiness sure.

I find smoking roma tomatoes cut in half length-wise does wonders. The tomato takes the smoke like a pepper and if you smoke-dry it, it ends up like a sun-dried. Leathery like an ancho chili, and smoky. For a sauce, the best result is smoke them for a few hours and not to dehydrate. You get a great flavor and it doesn't even taste like a tomato-based sauce. Makes a killer sauce base and all the fresh additions mellow it out, and the peppers being fresh... makes the sauce really shine.

For a mash... you may ruin it with liquid smoke. Take the advice here. Have you started it, or are you adding stuff to it?

 

[Lucky Dog Hot Sauce]

Yup you can smoke anything to make it smoky, but still nothing replaces a real smoked pepper. No way you can make a chipotle sauce by smoking the onion instead of the pepper.

Agree 100%. My new sauces aren't chipotle by a country mile, they're "lightly smoked" - the smoked salts provide a genuine smoke flavor, but it's not chipotle flavor by any stretch of the imagination.

That said, when prototyping I made several batches of each at home with BBQ smoked peppers, and then the same sauces with smoked salts. Not one of my dozens of friends (nor I) could tell them apart in blinded tasting.

I'm not sure you could say that about using liquid smoke. It tends to taste washed out in my opinion, but I've only had food that had it a couple times.

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Liquid smoke has a bitter aftertaste as well. If you ever taste a sauce on a spoon, and are hit with a slight bitter aftertaste like the inside of an orange seed... that's the LS.

Similar bitter taste to when you scorch your BBQ.

 

[Lucky Dog Hot Sauce]

That makes sense since I was recently told that LS is made by gathering the condensation - which is condensing against the charred inside of a BBQ. Blah.