puttin' up hot sauce.

firkin

firkin

Joined
Jan 26, 2002
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OK, I had a bunch of habanero peppers and caribes (pretty much like habs, with thicker flesh, Now I like 'em better than habs) so I figured to make up some hot sauce--Had to pick them all at once, rainy season started, don't know how long they'll last in the rain after they are ripe.

My neighbors had a juice extractor somebody gave em, so I thought I'd juice a couple carrots, and some celery and garlic to get something to tone down the peppers a little, and get the right thickness. Yow! Little plastic kitchen looking gizmo. Even though the motor heats up fast--"cool for 10 min after 3.5 min of continuous operation" the thing is a freakin' power tool. Scary, sorta like a router housed in a flimsy shoebox. I was waiting for the thing to self-destruct.

Anyway, then I roasted some milder peppers on the burner, red bell, couple jalpenos, couple manzanos. Seeded and peeled. Bought those peppers, I grow the concentrated stuff in my tiny garden. Next, need to seed and chop a bunch of the hot ones so I can temper them by frying in a little oil with salt and tumeric, and grind the lot up in my mini food processor and strain into a bottle.

So I do at least a dozen of each. Doing one or two is no problem...This many, I could feel the heat in my hands, especially the thin skin on the sides of my fingers. Sorta like the final lingering effects of something like "Icy-Hot" ointment. Started sweating, I was starting to feel like I'd finished eating a huge meal doused with hot sauce!! Anyway, all done...Now to really get those hands washed up. Got a big dollop of liquid soap, turned on the warm water and really lathered up. Wow!!! Seems like the soap moved the juice around where-ever it went and some soaked into me before getting washed off. My forearms were lightly tingly and I got a bit of a rush...Musta really cranked up the endorphins. Kept looking at my hands and arms expecting them to swell, or get red or something...just fine. Anyway, I wash up once more, just in case.

First time I've ever had any topical effects like that, but first time I've done so many at once too.

Got the stuff finished anyway, and it's a winner. Very tasty, and complex from the different peppers, hot but I can taste it properly. Final adjustments with vinegar, lime juice and a bit of ground up beets and onions tweaked the flavor and color. And a little bit of ground up chutney for sweetness and subtle spices. Should get better as it sits in the fridge. Honest habanero flavor, and close to a pint.

But I think I'll wear gloves if I ever process that many habaneros again--'tween the skin absorption and the inevitable inhalation during frying (even with a fan full on), I really got a dose. Maybe my blood pressure dropped, they're supposed to contain vasodialators. For a while, I was definately "under the influence", and felt a little light-headed. And I've still got a bunch of peppers left I gotta do something with...it's too humid here to dry them.
 
Sorry about the ulcers Uncle, that post made me hungry for some Thai food, so now I know where I'm going for lunch.

Great sounding sauce Firkin, definitely crafted with much care.

Sarge
 
Firkin:

I think you have me beat on the gourmand scale. Be careful with the peppers - gloves are a good idea.

The worst pepper-burn I've experienced was when I stemmed and seeded about two-dozen Thai chilis for something that I was making. No gloves. I ended-up with minor blistering by the end of it, which I never would have thought was possible. I'd never taken the "wear gloves" warning in my SE Asian cookbook seriously before that.

You're right about soap, too. It just seems to push the heat around.

S.
 
MMMM...Penang curry! My pals at the near by Thai restaurant make this relish from several peppers and add some fish sauce and lime juice! You got me headed towards the Thai Kingdom eatery this evening with my new wife! Cheers! Pipey
 
Firkin, you may want to try roasting the habaneros chiles in oil and then mashing with lime juice. this is a specialty from the Yucatan.

I can't eat hot like I used to to. Too much payback upon exit.

Your peppers sounded wonderful.



munk
 
Dang, I should get a kickback from some Thai restaurants, or something...

That simple recipe is really tasty munk, I tried it when you mentioned it last. Except it's so concentrated habanero-wise, I have trouble metering the dose...maybe I should dilute it with something like the manzanos. With this stuff, a slight mistake doesn't paralyze the tastebuds. Keeping the really hot stuff away from the lips and in the back of the mouth prevents burnout too. The caribes look just like red habaneros, about as hot as the habaneros and the same flavor, but much meatier, though nowhere near as meaty as the manzanos. This batch hasn't been a ring-stinger so far, but that effect does make an unwelcome appearance occasionally-- haven't found a correlation so far.

Blisters!!! Knew some people were pretty sensitive, a lot more than me, but....Holy Toledo! The cuticle on the sides of the fingernails was a sensitive spot too.

What to do with the rest of the peppers??? If I just fry them up in oil, and store them in the fridge, will they keep well as long as they're covered with oil? Or do I have to freeze them? I can put a couple in a bottle of dry sherry to use for cooking, but no more...after a couple of weeks, two or three will make a bottle of sherry freakin' hellacious hot since the alcohol extracts the capsaicins. Really hate to waste any stuff I can manage to grow, especially the caribes, which I haven't seen for sale around here.
 
Run down to your local WalMart and buy yourself a really nice dehydrator. You will wonder how you ever got along without one before!!!!
It's not only good for drying peppers, but also tomatoes and makes making jerky a breeze!!!!
My Barbie has several jerky recipes she uses for beef, venison and other meat when we can get them.

The nice thing about dried anything is that it can be used as is or reconstituted both in water or oil or directly into soups or stews and other dishes. The Absolute Best thing is that Nothing goes to waste!!!!:)
 
I'm complimented, firkin, I didn't think anyone was listening. I wish I lived nearer to you. I just know I'd get back into it. I thought I knew something about hot sauces, but there are many fine pepper hounds here in HI forum. The lime juice habanero recipe was given to me by a great chef from, where else, the Yucatan.


just told my wife we're getting a food dehydrator, Yvsa. Running down to Walmart is a couple hundred miles away, though.

munk
 
dehydrator---

Not a bad idea, I didn't know whether they really worked well or not. What makes a nice one?? I'd try in the oven, but it's gas, so it keeps making more water as it heats, and since it's raining, its kinda humid too.

First I'll see if the neighbors have one of those stashed too:)--So far I've borrowed an old-fashioned tomato sauce maker, and the scary juicer from them...Their place is pretty small and those were stashed in the garage and not even used once. :eek: Nice problem to have I guess.
 
Originally posted by firkin
dehydrator---
Not a bad idea, I didn't know whether they really worked well or not. What makes a nice one??
Click to expand...

Firkin I think they're all made outta plastic, but some are made heavier than others.
Be sure and get one with lots of drying trays.
Our's is a Ronco with 5 trays.
Barbie has dried lemons in our's so wet things can be dried really successfully.:)
Lemon zest is nice as is the meat, but the pith between dries into a really bitter substance and we found it should be removed before drying.

Barbie has used Teryiaki and Soy Sauce, Soy Sauce and Smoke along with assorted flavorings to dry the meat.
The best way is to just experiement with flavors you like, of course the hot sauces and peppers make a nice addition to the jerky.:)

I can't eat a lot of the jerkies made with lots of soy as the salt makes me retain even more fluid, but the smoky and hot seasoned jerkys are really nice for me.

Munk I think the Roncos can be ordered online. Their rotessieries are pretty nice as well but we've found they don't do real well on large roasts as they tend to car too much before the inside gets done, but from what I've been seeing lately a lot of people like them that way.

Edit:
The soy, teriyaki, liquid smoke and flavorings are used as a marinade to get the thinly sliced meat ready for drying. Barbie has sliced the meat from 1/16" to 1/4" thick and we've found that properly sliced meat around 1/8" thick wotks the best.
The meat can marinade from 20 minutes to overnight. Barbie usually cuts up a whole roast or brisket (trimmed of course) soaks the 1st batch for 20 minutes and leaves the rest in the marinade until it goes in the dryer.
Overnight will often be long enough to dry most of the trays in our dehydrator and by adding more meat the rest will be dried at the end of the day.
It goes surprisingly fast. You don't want anything too dry as it will began to lose its flavor. Barbie dried some cranberries once that were less than successful, but they were dried to a crisp instead of to a raisin like consistency.
 
This thread has the same effect upon me as the movie I saw last night. A brilliant italian chef and his brother were trying to make a go of their restaurant. By the end of the movie I was very hungry.



munk
 
Thanks, Yvsa!

I'm just naturally suspicious of gizmos that are advertised with "info-mercials" I guess...:)

Maybe because of those those "magic" knives that look like spawn-of-ginsu.

munk, the teevee show that got me hungry was a British sit-com thing about a perfectionist chef with an incindiary temper. Very imaginative and amusing cursing too, which is a lost art.
 
Originally posted by firkin
Thanks, Yvsa!

I'm just naturally suspicious of gizmos that are advertised with "info-mercials" I guess...:)
Click to expand...

Firkin, that makes two of us. Our first Ronco product was a gift and we've since bought for ourselves.
They're generally quality products, but you have to watch.
The only big problem is that usually in a few months the products become available at WalMart or similar place for a little less money, but that's the price of being first on the block.;)
 
That british show was called, 'chef'. ON this shore, I often like British TV better than our own. I understand no one wants to watch their homegrown stuff in Britain.


munk
 
Munk, "Chef" was it!

Dunno about international TeeVee preferences, but I do know that many Brits seem to prefer pissy generic Euro-lagers or Bud to their fine traditional brews, so my guess is that many there similarly like US shows better than their own. Go figure, maybe that's why the French get riled up, afraid something similar will happen to them. (No, no, I have no comment on the enigmatic Jerry Lewis!:p)

Though it is kinda weird that almost all the Brit comedy exports that get here seem to feature the same collection of actors and actresses. :confused:
 
I read an article written in Britian about TV. Ratings went to Hillstreet Blues, Soprano's, Third Rock etc.(whatever it was we were making at the time) The complaint of the writer was that Britain was losing it's character to multinational media. Their own productions were getting less and less of the market. The situation was grave. The percent of home grown products was very small. Maybe it has changed in the couple years since I read about it.
I liked the Jane Tenneson (sic) mystery series.

A long time ago, hardly anyone here knew the French admired Jerry Lewis. Now it is a standard joke. Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin made some classics, and Jerry did a few great ones later himself. Just because he could be so bad at times doesn't mean he also wasn't great. I've always like him, admired him, but then, I am also a retarded ass so I have sympathy for his plight.

I used to think if you wanted a light beer, Coors made the best of that type. I thought most the other American beers lacked the character, being neither fish nor fowl. Imagine being able to walk into a Tavern and get drunk on Newcastle Brown Ale? Geeze. Going to Heaven. So the Brits have settled upon piss water like us, huh? My brother went to England 15 years ago and said the food was bland, really pretty bad with a few exceptions, but the deserts were OK.

I think the reason we see the same actors in many exports here are because of the relationship of PBS to the BBC. They select. Also, the British pool is a lot smaller.

munk
 
Firkin:

You're right about the beer thing. Bud and other "light lagers" are becoming the brew of preference, by what I've read and seen.

And munk, you're right about the TV thing, though Brendan may be the guy to comment on that. I've spent about a total of 8 weeks in the country over the last 3 years, and what you seem to see is U.S. stuff when you switch on the tellie over there.

The weird thing is that many of our shows, or at least the concepts for many U.S. shows - particularly the "reality-tv" stuff, originated over there.

S.
 
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