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consistency My sauce is more like a dense puree than a sauce

wiicek

wiicek

How would you go about that, my dear THP's sauce makers?
I've made a "sauce" from dried peppers and tomatoes in the New Year's Eve and it is really good but doesn't resemble other sauces I've made so far and I don't really know what did I change. It is more dense and really resembles tomatoe concentrate. I don't want to add more vinegar to it, I like it's taste right now.
How do you control density of a sauce? Is it as simple as adding water (and vinegar to control pH levels) to it and I am just confused because it is my first product like that...

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I've made a sauce from dried peppers few months ago and it was really not that dense and I don't remember adding water or more vinegar to it.


I like the concentrat thing but I would love to know how to make both maybe...

Thank you l!
 
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Welcome to THP.

It is as simple as more water, and maybe a splash more vinegar or fruit juice. Something maybe contributing is if you measure the dry peppers as 5 chiles instead of xx grams of dried chiles. Some peppers are thicker skinned. Measuring by weight keeps the recipe consistent.

Good luck and have fun!
Salsalady
 
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Ok, thank you for the answer! <3
I think I've added a fruit last time, this makes sense. I am curiously playing with amounts of everything but when I hit some spots, I'm scared to add more vinegar to not break anything or even water, because I don't know if it won't loose the taste etc. etc.
I have to be a little bolder here, hah.
Thanks again and have a great day!
 
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What do you mean by "...not break anything..." ?


I keep a notebook and write ingredients and amount as i add them to the trial sauce. And as additions are made i add that to the list.
1 tsp + 2tsp + 1 tsp salt
1/2 c + 1/2c + 2Tbsp vinegar

Makes it easy to track changes and replicate until you have tge recioe dialed in and finalized.


For sauce separation, it happens to the best. Even Frank's and Tabasco need a little shake before using. Some....(me).... use xanthan or other gums like carrageenan or guar to maintain consistency.
 
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I meant the taste, I don't want it to taste too acidic, I know I can't take it back after. And for now I am doing one jar at a time so if I break it... well, I'd probably still eat it in a week or two, it's not like I'm doing it for anybody else than myself 😅 Just learning proportions and taste.

Yes, I think I have noted all of it for the first time in the hystory of my improvisations.

I usually play with fermented peppers and there is no way of not making it acidic so in the case of dried and fresh peppers I wanted to avoid this path and go for this amazing chilli-garlic flavour with some thyme. Last time I've added an onion and this was a mistake, hah. So, I am carefour with all of it.

I think I could make it less dense with water but I am a little afraid that it would make it milder and then I'd add too much spicies and blahbnlahblah...
 
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I would think things like pureeing the mix longer or more vigorously and staining or sieving the sauce could help. I'd expect to lose a lot of volume with the latter, though that might be offset somewhat by the former. With dried peppers, a more thorough rehydration process prior to blending would likely help, as was already pointed out.
 
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Believe it or not, I thought of adding some alcohol to it before :rofl:I just ate a big part of a jar today and yesterday with dinners already, I'm asking to know how to mix it better next time. I've bought Jack Daniels bbq sauce recently, so, the idea of making some with a kick is kinda interesting now. Thanks!

Well, I didn't put it through a sieve but I am thinking about that for the future when I'm gonna make more sauce at once. I love that the pulp can be after used too. Chillies can be used in so many different ways!

Thanks everyone for the help!
 
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With hot sauce, it's used to avoid the look of water sitting on top of your sauce in the bottle and having to shake it before use, as, that's a bad look in the store and could prevent a sale. Yes it thickens too. But saucemakers can just add more peppers to thicken.
 
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There are other produce ingredients that will add flavor to a sauce and also act as an emulsifier or thickener. Apple has pectin...as what is used to make jams/jellies. Pumpkin, okra and squash are thickeners. Some will affect flavor, some not so much.


More chiles can thicken the sauce, but as it sits, it will have separation unless something like xanthan is used.

Salad dressings mix oil and liquid (water, vinegar, juice) with emusification. Slowly blending oil into the liquid.

Check out ingredients for everything. You will see xanthan or other gums in everything from mayonnaise to ice cream to crackers to pudding to every kind of hot sauce or bbq sauce. There is a Sticky Post here about gums.

Most hobby sauces shouldn't have oils.

As Black Compass said, xanthan can give consistent viscosity mixed at room temp as for the hand sanitizer. Doesnt have to be heated to work.


Edit- Boss,i cant find the Gum thread, help?
 
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salsalady said:
Edit- Boss,i cant find the Gum thread, help?
Click to expand...

tutorial - Natural Gums info

Hot Sauce Emulsifiers/Stabilizers Info: (Not all will be suitable for sauce, but good info on all the natural gums.) Natural gums are natural polymers, which mainly consists of carbohydrates sometimes with small amounts of proteins and minerals. They are made from different parts of plants...
thehotpepper.com thehotpepper.com
 
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salsalady said:
More chiles can thicken the sauce, but as it sits, it will have separation unless something like xanthan is used.
Click to expand...
The point I was trying to make was if your sauce is thin, the magic answer isn't xanthan. If you have a really thin tomato water and want ketchup you don't just add xanthan. You add tomatoes. Once you have perfected the recipe you judge how much xanthan to use, and yes that can mean scaling back on the extra ingredient used for bulk since it does thicken. So yes I agree but also, I say, perfect your recipe first, xanthan is not a crutch.
 
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I agree....to a point....

Watery tomato recipe may need more tomato. My Tropical Ghost Sauce has mandarin oranges, pineapple juice, and a bunch of other ingredients, none of which are thickeners. Hence the use of xanthan for consistency.

Every sauce has its challenges and different solutions.
 
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