Hot Sauce - My sick addiction

Love hot sauce, but I'm into flavor and not just heat. Something like "Dave's Insanity" is simply stupid hot, and no flavor. Anything with pure cap added is to be avoided.

I too like it hot, but savor the flavor. I had a sauce called "Brain Damage" at a friends recently, not just hot, but good flavor. The "heat" was not so great to take away the ability to enjoy the flavor.

http://www.hotsauceworld.com/crazjerbrain.html (no connection with seller).
 
I love hot sauces, and am always looking for something new. I know a guy ( John Biscoe a disc golf buddy) that is locally renown for the peppers he grows. He has Youtube videos of his pepper eating contests. Check out Hawk Hollow Pepper eating contest....crazy stuff.

Anyway he sells his own sauces for $5. I opted for his hottest...Hawk Hollow Heat 2012 Scorpion's Ghost. It contains Smoked Trinidad Scorpion and Bhut Jolokia Peppers, vinegar and sea salt. It is tasty, and you don't need a lot of it.

Funny story...Last April I had a small party and served beef stew. A friend saw this sauce on my counter, and decided to perk up his stew a little thinking this was Texas Pete or something. He put a little too much on :yes: He was determined not to waste my stew and ate it all. Everyone had fun watching him finish that stew. He moaned for quite some time afterwards, and drank a lot of beer.
 

Attachments

  • Picture 2179.jpg
    Picture 2179.jpg
    51.8 KB · Views: 10
This will do for me:

Crystal is very good stuff, using ONLY Tabasco peppers, salt, and vinegar (no coloring, xanthan gum, emulsifiers or preservatives other than salt and vinegar). It's not aged as long as Tabasco-brand, so the flavor isn't as intense, but it's a lot less expensive. It's my go-to hot sauce for general cooking.
 
I'm largely a big wuss, when it comes to peppers & hot sauces, but once in awhile, I'll get in the mood. And once in awhile, I find stuff by accident, that just kicks butt. :D Last night I got a "special" at a local Asian place, which this time happened to be "spicy chicken" along with "teriyaki chicken". That spicy was some of the hottest stuff I've tried yet, my eyes were literally watering for a bit there. :banana: :D
 
I love it. Every time I eat Chinese, Vietnamese, or Thai I order my food extra extra spicy. They always look at me sideways and ask if I'm sure I want to do that. I just smile and say yes, I'm sure. Sometimes I regret it, but most of the time I sit there happily drenched in sweat and asking for refills of tea.

I'm at the point right now to where when I head to the local grocery stores, I'm having a hard time finding anything I haven't tried. It usually takes finding boutique grocers and buying locally made product at farmer's markets to find something new.

Unfortunately our pepper crop wasn't the best this year so I've been forced to eat mostly store-bought peppers. It seems either the heat, drought, over-rain or something has thrown a wrench in their growth and heat levels. We lost a lot of tomatoes as well from heavy rain. At times you just can't pick them fast enough before they split.

-Steven
 
This will do for me:

Crystal is very good stuff, using ONLY Tabasco peppers, salt, and vinegar (no coloring, xanthan gum, emulsifiers or preservatives other than salt and vinegar). It's not aged as long as Tabasco-brand, so the flavor isn't as intense, but it's a lot less expensive. It's my go-to hot sauce for general cooking.

Crystal is also my favorite. I love its bright, vinegary flavor. I much prefer it to standard Tabasco sauce. I find the aging of the sauce to detracts from the bright freshness of the sauce. I keep Crystal in the frig after opening and it retains its bright flavor and color. At room temperature, it slowly browns and loses something IMHO.
 
While not a sauce like Tabasco, for bright chile flavor I like some Sambal Oelek (I have no idea if it's traditional enough without getting into a semantics argument, that's just what's on The Label.) Same people that make Sriracha, but no garlic, just chile paste.
 
First 2 pics are of my Tabasco plants. The last are of my Rooster spurs. The Rooster spurs are my eating peppers. Each are 1 to 2 inches of Hell. I should have enuf peppers ready next week to start my first batch of hot sauce. Then it will be around 6 weeks before it is ready. I should have my second and third batch started by then.

The sauce will be a mixture of Tabasco, Thai, and a few Rooster spurs thrown in.

I also have some orange Habanaro, I have been picking for my Jamaican Jerk sauce.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0021.jpg
    IMG_0021.jpg
    135.5 KB · Views: 23
  • IMG_0022.jpg
    IMG_0022.jpg
    158.8 KB · Views: 19
  • IMG_0023.jpg
    IMG_0023.jpg
    125.4 KB · Views: 21
Nice Jim! Those are some healthy looking plants. Well done.

Lee, I noticed it too, but it's all good. At least you're consistent. ;)
 
Not a fan of the hot stuff normally, but a local Asian (unsure of specific ethnicity) restaurant has this mustard that has no initial taste, but then it's like a firecracker has gone off in my sinuses.

After about 20 seconds, all is back to normal.

I'd be willing to try some of the hotter stuff if it didn't keep burning 15 minutes after I ate it...
 
It's not hard to make the aged sauce like Tabasco.

Get some hot peppers. I use anything red, a mix is fine. Ripe jalepenos (i.e. chipotle), serrano, red Anaheim type, and of course tabascos if you can find them or grow them. If your peppers are very hot, you can add in some sweet red bell peppers to cut the heat.

Cut them in half, or for larger peppers, in chunks small enough to fit into a pickle jar.

Remove seeds and stems but don't be too fussy, they'll filter out later.

Pack in layers in a jar with non-iodized canning salt. Use enough salt so all the peppers are in contact with salt. Tamp down with a wooden spoon as you go. Fill up the jar. If it takes a few weeks as they come in, that's OK.

When full put in the basement or closet for a few months. The jar will now have a lot of liquid in it. Dump out and separate peppers from salt. I save the salt and brine for the driveway in winter, or even reuse solid salt for a new batch.

Rinse fairly well and remove all salt grains but don't soak too long or you'll lose flavor.

Place in blender, add vinegar and liquify. Add enough vinegar to get it pretty runny.

Filter through a strainer. Use a spoon to mash the pulp through.

If you want, dump the residue into a saucepan, add 1-2 cups vinegar, and bring to a boil for a few minutes. Re-blenderize and strain. Add to the first batch. At this point the waste will be very small and have very little flavor left in it.

Add additional vinegar if necessary to desired consistency.

Two qt-sized pickle jars of peppers make 12-15 5-oz bottles of sauce. I buy sauce bottles online or reuse store bought bottles. If you put em in a boiling water bath for 10 mins then seal tight they will keep for months.

This stuff is demanded by friends and family. You should try it.

And you can make up your own funny labels too.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rt8
I love hot sauces of all varieties from mild to deathly. They all have their time and place. When I moved to Korea a few months back, I sent over 10 pounds of dry ghost chilies in Ziplok bags. Last month when the movers came with all of the boxes, as soon as I opened up the box with the ghost chilies, the fumes had permeated thru the Ziplok bags. Enough that I started to break out in a sweat within a minute.
 
Saw this T at a hot sauce display and thought it was appropriate- "Try us today..... remember us tomorrow."
 

Attachments

  • hot_sauce_sm.jpg
    hot_sauce_sm.jpg
    62.7 KB · Views: 17
Back
Top Bottom