Hot Sauce Recipes [General]

2011 Mar 27
Hi, I`ve been fermenting a variety of hot peppers since the fall and now looking forward to making some hot sauce for the BBQ season. Any recipes or experience to share?

So far I plan to blend the peppers and then mix with the brine and some white vinegar until I get the right flavour and consistency, probably won`t strain the pulp out, but I`m certainly open to suggestions.

Thanks...

2011 Mar 27
Ferment them? How do you do that?

2011 Mar 27
Submerge in a 4-5% salt solution for an extended period, exactly the same as sauerkraut or dills.

Tabasco sauce is made with peppers that have been fermented for 2+ years, that is what gave me the idea in the first place.

2011 Mar 27
That's interesting. I tried doing peppers one time like dills, and ended up tossing it out because my wife said it had gone foul - but maybe that was supposed to be normal for peppers. That was non-hot red peppers though. Does it make a difference?

2011 Mar 27
Can`t see why it would, but that is pure conjecture. I`ve never actually tried bell peppers. If you look online there are a lot of recipes for hot sauce where the pepper pulp is fermented directly in the final bottle. I find that concept intriguing but decided to do it this way my first time thinking it was a bit simpler and less vulnerable to potential problems.

2011 Mar 27
Bell peppers have a higher moisture content, IIRC. That might make a difference.

And they were absolutely foul. The bucket smelled like roadkill, was foaming, and the peppers were slimy.. :p

2011 Mar 27
They probably were foul - lacking capsaicin, which has antibacterial and antifungal properties that may have helped preserve them.
Sorry, no help Tracinho here as fermenting hot peppers isn't something I do - mind you I do buy hot sauces - picked up a couple of piri-piri sauces last week in Portugal; we'll see if they're hot or not, good or not.

2011 Mar 27
here's one recipe:

onibasu.com

2011 Mar 28
I'll have to try this at the end of summer with my pepper crop, which grow really well in pots for those of you lacking room!. I see lots of recipes and youtube videos about it.

I can't offer any help yet, but thanks for the idea :-) I've made lots of hot sauces for immediate use on wings, etc, but never fermented.

2011 Mar 28
Thanks for the input everyone…I ended up blending all the fermented peppers (a mix of scotch bonnet, cubanello and habenero) into pulp. After tasting it I realized it had good depth of flavour but not a lot of heat. So I added a handful of birdseye chilis, a single chipotle and guajillo, about a 1 ˝ heads of garlic, 2 shallots, a pinch of mexican oregano, salt and fresh cilantro and about 2 cups of white vinegar to get the right consistency.

The end result was quite pleasant, very hot but more of a creeper than a direct knock-your-socks-off heat with a really tasty undertone. Somewhat similar to Bajan-style hot sauce if you have ever had that.

Sealed everything in very small masons…I have a feeling the heat might increase as the flavours intermingle longer.

2011 Apr 14
Trac, what's the recipe for the solution you use to ferment your peppers?

2011 Apr 14
Go to the carp market or the farmer's market at landsdowne park (still there?) and go buy a few of the "home made hot sauces" to get some ideas by looking at the ingredients.

2011 Apr 14
I'm look for the brineing solution recipe for fermentation, not an actual hot sauce recipe.

2011 Apr 15
Yan, I used a 4% salt solution...40g pickling salt per litre of water. You could add garlic or other aromatics, but I try to keep things simple on my first try.

2011 Sep 25
Are your peppers still fermenting or have you completed a hot sauce yet? Any do's or don'ts that you noticed?

I'm sitting on a nice crop of scotch bonnets and plan to get a fermentation started today or perhaps next weekend.

2011 Sep 25
I normally oven roast a bunch of peppers and tomatoes, puree them in a blender along with sauteed garlic and onions.. Transfer the puree to a really hot dutch oven add some chicken stock and cook until it develop an nice rust color...

2011 Sep 25
I used up the peppers from my garden with a variation of this recipe from youtube.

I used white vinegar, then I pressure canned it for good measure.