cooking over-cooking sauces

[impending_bending]

Hey all,
I recently have cooked up a couple sauces on the lowest possible simmer I could get for a total of 2-3 hours. They turned out like crap. Is it possible I over-did it? Or do I just suck at picking ingredients?
...or both?

 

[Husker21]

Hours? How much liquid are you started with?

I have been doing small batches. When I combine my ongredients I start with all the chopped pods veg fruit etc and then adding roughly 1-1.5 cups of vinegar. I get it to a steady simmer for 10-15 minutes or so before it goes into jars. Ideally you want to get it to a certain temp and then hold it there for I think 10 plus minutes. I think you want to get it and hold it at 190 for 10+ mins. But I would consult salsa ladys sauce making 101 thread. I learned a lot from her thread.

 

[RocketMan]

That's a tad over processing.
 
Husker21, sounds like your just trying to pasteurize your ingredients if only giving them a 10 to 15 min simmer.
 
Typically, I bring mine to a hard boil for about 10 minutes then back it off to a simmer for another 45 minutes, blend then back to simmer an additional 30 minutes, second blend and through the Food mill then back into the pot. Bring it to 190dF for 15 minutes and bottle not allowing the sauce to fall below 185 dF. Invert bottles so the sauce touches the cap for 15 minutes then allow to cool. So total cooking time is maybe 1.5 hours broken up into segments.

 

[Husker21]

That's a tad over processing.
 
Husker21, sounds like your just trying to pasteurize your ingredients if only giving them a 10 to 15 min simmer.
 
Typically, I bring mine to a hard boil for about 10 minutes then back it off to a simmer for another 45 minutes, blend then back to simmer an additional 30 minutes, second blend and through the Food mill then back into the pot. Bring it to 190dF for 15 minutes and bottle not allowing the sauce to fall below 185 dF. Invert bottles so the sauce touches the cap for 15 minutes then allow to cool. So total cooking time is maybe 1.5 hours broken up into segments.

 
 
So that is what its called.  lol  My main concern has always been having a shelf stable and safe product.  I have been pleased with what I have made so far.  But now I am going to have to play around with a longer cooking process to see how it compares.  
 
The "elongated" method makes sense.  But I still wonder, how much liquid are you guys starting out with?

 

[impending_bending]

TY guys
 

 So total cooking time is maybe 1.5 hours broken up into segments.

 
I should have mentioned that time 2-3 hours is broken up by blending etc too. Still probably too long though?
 
Husker - I add liquid as necessary. Never really measure anything, might have something to do with the crap results

 

[The Hot Pepper]

It all depends. Did you simmer it covered or uncovered? Uncovered will reduce your sauce, causing it to thicken and also concentrate the flavors. Covered will cook the sauce but it will not cook down, and the flavors will not concentrate because you are not reducing into a concentrate.
 
The length of time depends on what you are trying to accomplish. Is this for flavor or consistency, or both?

 

[hoibot]

i'd be surprised if cooking it a little longer than normal would be the sole reason for it to turn out crappy. seems like all other things that are cooked for a lengthy period (marinara sauce, chili, etc.) are always tastier after that cooking period. now, I know hot sauce isn't any of those things, but I'd still be surprised if that was the main problem.
 
what were the ingredients of the last one that turned out bad?

 

[salsalady]

Huskers' short cook time is fine for pasteurizing aka getting rid of the nasties.  Longer cooking is usually to reduce the sauce for a thicker consistency, flavor blending, and to break down the pulp for a smoother texture.  It's unlikely Impending's long cooking time contributed to the undesirable sauce other than if it got scorched.

 

[impending_bending]

Did you simmer it covered or uncovered? Uncovered will reduce your sauce, causing it to thicken and also concentrate the flavors. Covered will cook the sauce but it will not cook down, and the flavors will not concentrate because you are not reducing into a concentrate.
 
Is this for flavor or consistency, or both?

Covered first, then uncovered at the end to reduce. Was going for both. Was just experimenting with a couple of them to see what longer cooking would do (similar thinking to hoibot regarding marinara etc), got lazy with another and watched more tv rather than bottling.
 

i'd be surprised if cooking it a little longer than normal would be the sole reason for it to turn out crappy. seems like all other things that are cooked for a lengthy period (marinara sauce, chili, etc.) are always tastier after that cooking period. now, I know hot sauce isn't any of those things, but I'd still be surprised if that was the main problem.
 
what were the ingredients of the last one that turned out bad?

That was my thinking too. Last one was roasted jalapenos, garlic, bit of salt, bit of vinegar, and I think a hab or two. Before that I had a pure green hab sauce (unripened habs picked before overwintering) and I originally just attributed that awful concoction to the habs being unripe and assumed it was just a bad flavor to start with.
 

Huskers' short cook time is fine for pasteurizing aka getting rid of the nasties.  Longer cooking is usually to reduce the sauce for a thicker consistency, flavor blending, and to break down the pulp for a smoother texture.  It's unlikely Impending's long cooking time contributed to the undesirable sauce other than if it got scorched.

No scorching, except maybe a very small bit at the bottom of the pot but I left that out of the final product. Now that I think about it, I was using a very small pot that tends to do this more than others. Hadn't occurred to me before. You ever have problems with smaller pots?