Holy Moly. I made a really good sauce today. It's savory and sophisticated.... and HOT.
Here's what's up...
I started by chopping up the following and then smoking them on the grill with cherry wood chips:
4.1 g Billy Boy Douglah Chocolate X
39 g Chocolate Habanero Hybrids
25 g Red Habaneros
10 g Cherry Red Hots
33 g Red Sweet Peppers (much like a bell pepper)
114 g Garlic
620 g Red Onions
990 g Eggplant
Then I put the smoked veggies into the pot with:
1 lb 5 oz Black Cherries (canned)
2 lb 8 oz Yams (canned)
283 g Diced Tomatoes
300 g Black Cherry Juice
200 g Evan Williams Kentucky Bourbon
100 g Red Wine Vinegar
100 g White Vinegar
Let it cook for about an hour and a half, stirring often. Then I ran it through the blender 4 times, working my way up to "frappe" mode. Then I ran it through a strainer to remove some bits of seeds, skin, and pulp. Then I heated it up to 198, double-checked the ph (3.8) and put it into 5 oz woozies.
Results
Color: The sauce has a rich dark caramel color with a hint of burgundy and little particles of black cherries floating in it. It's not the most attractive sauce (ie, not bright red, yellow, green, etc.) but it's not a nasty-looking brown.
Consistency: It's much thinner than the mango habanero squash sauce I made yesterday. The texture of the sauce is silky smooth. In fact, the texture matches the color perfectly. It's really creamy and comforting.
Taste: It tastes absolutely fantastic. It's less "forward" on the pallet, if that makes any sense. What I mean by that is that this sauce is less bright, or harsh, on approach. It's much more savory than most hot sauces I've tried. The first thing you taste is the black cherries but it's not overly sweet. I didn't add any sugar to the sauce and I'm glad I didn't. Then you taste the Bourbon. The complexity of the sauce follows nicely but before you can isolate any single taste (the smoked garlic or yams for example) your taste buds are mysteriously on FIRE.
Heat: The heat approaches very quickly, but it's a delayed heat. In other words, it takes a second for the heat to kick in but when it does it get's hot fast. The heat really lingers and builds the more you eat. I just had three dollops on some crackers with cream cheese and I'm sweating already. Much more and I'm going to start sniffling.
Final Thoughts: I'm really happy with this sauce. Its application might be a little more limited given the dark cherry taste. I think it's going to be great on pork, especially pulled pork tacos. With a little bit of tweaking this could be a great steak sauce (and it might be already... I guess I should get a steak to find out). Overall, I'm really pleased with the final product.
Maybe I should call it Smokin' Choco-Cherry Bourbon Sauce since it looks like chocolate but I was hesitant to include chocolate in the name since there isn't any chocolate in the sauce (except for the Chocolate Habaneros & Douglah).
Here's what's up...
I started by chopping up the following and then smoking them on the grill with cherry wood chips:
4.1 g Billy Boy Douglah Chocolate X
39 g Chocolate Habanero Hybrids
25 g Red Habaneros
10 g Cherry Red Hots
33 g Red Sweet Peppers (much like a bell pepper)
114 g Garlic
620 g Red Onions
990 g Eggplant
Then I put the smoked veggies into the pot with:
1 lb 5 oz Black Cherries (canned)
2 lb 8 oz Yams (canned)
283 g Diced Tomatoes
300 g Black Cherry Juice
200 g Evan Williams Kentucky Bourbon
100 g Red Wine Vinegar
100 g White Vinegar
Let it cook for about an hour and a half, stirring often. Then I ran it through the blender 4 times, working my way up to "frappe" mode. Then I ran it through a strainer to remove some bits of seeds, skin, and pulp. Then I heated it up to 198, double-checked the ph (3.8) and put it into 5 oz woozies.
Results
Color: The sauce has a rich dark caramel color with a hint of burgundy and little particles of black cherries floating in it. It's not the most attractive sauce (ie, not bright red, yellow, green, etc.) but it's not a nasty-looking brown.
Consistency: It's much thinner than the mango habanero squash sauce I made yesterday. The texture of the sauce is silky smooth. In fact, the texture matches the color perfectly. It's really creamy and comforting.
Taste: It tastes absolutely fantastic. It's less "forward" on the pallet, if that makes any sense. What I mean by that is that this sauce is less bright, or harsh, on approach. It's much more savory than most hot sauces I've tried. The first thing you taste is the black cherries but it's not overly sweet. I didn't add any sugar to the sauce and I'm glad I didn't. Then you taste the Bourbon. The complexity of the sauce follows nicely but before you can isolate any single taste (the smoked garlic or yams for example) your taste buds are mysteriously on FIRE.
Heat: The heat approaches very quickly, but it's a delayed heat. In other words, it takes a second for the heat to kick in but when it does it get's hot fast. The heat really lingers and builds the more you eat. I just had three dollops on some crackers with cream cheese and I'm sweating already. Much more and I'm going to start sniffling.
Final Thoughts: I'm really happy with this sauce. Its application might be a little more limited given the dark cherry taste. I think it's going to be great on pork, especially pulled pork tacos. With a little bit of tweaking this could be a great steak sauce (and it might be already... I guess I should get a steak to find out). Overall, I'm really pleased with the final product.
Maybe I should call it Smokin' Choco-Cherry Bourbon Sauce since it looks like chocolate but I was hesitant to include chocolate in the name since there isn't any chocolate in the sauce (except for the Chocolate Habaneros & Douglah).
looks delicious
