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Need a little advice on a sauce I made today.

DrUnK

DrUnK

I made a Reaper sauce today and the flavor kind of sucks honestly. I tried the reaper for the first time today to see what it tasted like and what would compliment it's flavor. I like to make bare bones sauces only adding acids/salt/sugar so I can enjoy the base flavor of the pepper. Anyways I decided since the reaper is one of the sweeter super hots I would use lemon juice instead of vinegar and add nothing else. The result is a very hot(expected) and VERY bitter(unexpected) sauce... I am now regretting not adding some sugar. 
 
Is there anything I should add to enhance the flavor profile of this sauce? As of right now it is just HOT and Bitter not much floral notes or chinense flavor coming through. Any and all advice will be appreciated. Thanks!
 
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How long did you cook it?
 
Bitter or sour?
 
Bitter = not cooked long enough
Sour = too much lemon
 
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Sauces need balance.  I personally don't care for the straight up flavor of most superhots.  A lot of them are bitter and don't lend themselves to straight sauces like what you are making.  Lemon juice instead of vinegar is totally OK.  After that it comes down to the flavor.
 
Sauces need other ingredients to give them nuances, hints, nudges of flavor, and all the other descriptions sauce makers come up with....:rolleyes:  
 
:lol:
 
What you seem to be working with is more a straight chile puree (which is a description of consistency).  Not sure you'll be able to do much with the flavor of the product as it's pretty much the flavor of the chiles used, unless some other ingredients are used.
 
Good Luck~
 
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I say bitter = not cooked enough as you can cook the raw taste out and the pith down.
 
Sugars also help. Agave etc.
 
It's not too late to tinker with it and fix it. :)
 
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Oh yea, it's totally workable!  re-batch, re-mix, add other stuff....and then re-pack it.  Good To Go~
 
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Thanks for all the answers and advice guys!
 
So I used about 10 reapers and 1/2 a bottle of lemon juice that you get from the store. I was going to use lime but lime already has some bitter notes so I didn't.. I blended the peppers and lemon juice into a fine mash then put on the stove for 15 minutes on a rolling boil, cooked out alot of liquid and got it down to a smooth consistency then reblended it into a smooth sauce(0 chunks or remaining pepper matter). it's only one hot sauce bottle worth of sauce. 
 
Bitter and sour.
The Hot Pepper said:
How long did you cook it?
 
Bitter or sour?
 
Bitter = not cooked long enough
Sour = too much lemon
Click to expand...
 
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sounds like a lot of peppers for one bottle......i like to add background ingredients for depth - i've added carrot, persimmon & papaya as well as agave to orange sauce.....and you'd never pick out a single ingredient other than peppers.....but there's depth of flavor to the sauce
 
 
i think you a) just need to play with a few more ingredients and b) not cook it down to such a concentrate
 
 
 
 
i also very rarely use just one or two varieties.....that helps with the flavor, too......my sauces are color-based and have as many as 15+ varieites in them
 
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salsalady said:
What you seem to be working with is more a straight chile puree (which is a description of consistency).  
Click to expand...
 
Depends on how much liquid is added. Tabasco is not puree. AJ's purees aren't even purees to me. They pour like many other sauces. Thicker, but still sauce. He calls it puree because of the limited ingredients, but I disagree.
 
Puree is usually one ingredient. Mango puree. Add a liquid, you have mango juice.
 
Semantics, though. Sauce, puree, just names.
 
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1/2 a bottle of lemon juice for 10 pods?  No wonder it is bitter/sour!  You need to get you a ph meter.  Also, always balance with some sort of sweetener, whether that be fruit, ie mango, berry, whatever, or straight sugar/agave nectar.  I agree, you can still fix your sauce.  Put it back on the stove and add something sweet to it and you will be surprised with the result.
 
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JayT said:
1/2 a bottle of lemon juice for 10 pods?  No wonder it is bitter/sour!  You need to get you a ph meter.  Also, always balance with some sort of sweetener, whether that be fruit, ie mango, berry, whatever, or straight sugar/agave nectar.  I agree, you can still fix your sauce.  Put it back on the stove and add something sweet to it and you will be surprised with the result.
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Agreed. I also think bottled lemon juice is pretty rough. Doesnt really have lemon flavor in my opinion.
 
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JayT said:
1/2 a bottle of lemon juice for 10 pods?  No wonder it is bitter/sour!  You need to get you a ph meter.  Also, always balance with some sort of sweetener, whether that be fruit, ie mango, berry, whatever, or straight sugar/agave nectar.  I agree, you can still fix your sauce.  Put it back on the stove and add something sweet to it and you will be surprised with the result.
Click to expand...
 
Ya =[.. I don't have a Ph meter yet so I just overkill just in case.
 
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Dude worry about taste FIRST!

PH when you are going to bottle for shelf-stability only! When you get to that point you can do it right.
 
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The Hot Pepper said:
Dude worry about taste FIRST!

PH when you are going to bottle for shelf-stability only! When you get to that point you can do it right.
Click to expand...
Ya all my sauces don't turn out like this though. I just screwed the pooch on this one I guess. I made a Jam. Choc. Hab sauce earlier this week and it's terrific. But this reaper sauce is god awful.
 
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The Hot Pepper said:
 
Depends on how much liquid is added. Tabasco is not puree. AJ's purees aren't even purees to me. They pour like many other sauces. Thicker, but still sauce. He calls it puree because of the limited ingredients, but I disagree.
 
Puree is usually one ingredient. Mango puree. Add a liquid, you have mango juice.
 
Semantics, though. Sauce, puree, just names.
Click to expand...
 
I have some commercially prepared fruit purees made for food service applications that list various ingredients depending on which fruit it is,  One fruit puree lists ingredients as "fruit puree, fruit juice concentrate, ascorbic acid".  IIRC, one "fruit puree" had sugar in it.  I was surprised to see that!  Those products and AJ's Puree are probably why I don't differentiate a puree as a single ingredient item.  When I've done AJ's puree recipe, it comes out more spoonable than pourable, but every batch is different.  These things are subjective in so many ways. 
 
DrUnK said:
Ya all my sauces don't turn out like this though. I just screwed the pooch on this one I guess. I made a Jam. Choc. Hab sauce earlier this week and it's terrific. But this reaper sauce is god awful.
Click to expand...
:lol: as Boss said...It Happens~~~  Fix it if you can, or try again ......  Good Luck~
 
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I know SL. That's why I said semantics. I've seen both. Sauces as purees, purees as sauces... concentrates, addtives!!! ;)
 
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