In “The Hot Sauce Cookbook” (10 Speed Press, $16.99), Robb Walsh writes that, “Whatever caused early man to love them, the chile pepper acquired mystic significance.”
Mystic or simply more popular than ketchup, nowadays, Walsh, who is a three-time James Beard award winner and Texas food expert, offers all sorts of sizzling recipes for DIY salsas and pepper sauces — from ancient Zapotec salsa verde to takes on such popular brands as Frank’s RedHot and Crystal. But one of the most fascinating topics he covers is fermenting a pepper mash as a base for making Tabasco-style hot pepper sauce at home.
“It seems like a crazy idea,” Walsh said as we compared notes during a recent phone call.“If you ever go on the Tabasco tour in New Iberia and see all those big barrels, it’s kind of intimidating. But it’s actually a whole lot easier than you assume it’s gonna be.
“I came up with some methods that work pretty well to ferment the peppers. I keep the mash in the refrigerator and make the hot sauce one batch at a time. My wife said to me, “Doesn’t that stuff ever go bad?’ I said, ‘It already went bad. That’s what fermentation is.’ ”
As Walsh preaches, homemade pepper sauce beats commercial sauce because you can use less vinegar and better ingredients, including flavorful sherry and rice vinegars, then dial in your own taste preferences by adding garlic, carrots, spices and other good stuff.
“I discovered that it’s better to add garlic and spices to the sauce and not the mash,” Walsh shared. “Just peppers for the mash. Red jalapeños are ones I use the most because they are the easiest to get. Other peppers like cayenne will add different complexities. But after the peppers, the vinegar is really the biggest flavor factor.”
Nick Rutherford, the chef and co-owner of the Porter Beer Bar in Atlanta, makes a special fermented pepper sauce to serve at the restaurant. Since Rutherford is also a home brewer, he uses equipment and methods borrowed from zymurgy, including a 5-gallon glass carboy fitted with an airlock, to ferment a mash made up of a variety of peppers.
“Lacto-fermentation is the process for making kimchi or sauerkraut or other naturally pickled vegetables,” Rutherford said, pointing to a bubbling carboy at the Porter. “Essentially, you’re just adding salt to whatever vegetables you’re using and you’re fermenting at room temperature or above. The salt creates a safe environment for the lactobacillus bacteria that’s on the skin to do its thing.
“In brewing, if you’re doing a kettle sour, it’s a very similar process. “You’re pitching lactobacillus into the kettle and fermenting it overnight, before boiling it again and adding hops and yeast to make a sour beer.”
Rutherford shared a version of his hot sauce recipe, which reduces the ingredients and modifies the home-brew equipment to make it easier for home cooks to try out making a fermented pepper mash.
“The fermented mash is already a bit acidic but I’ll adjust the acidity by adding vinegar and salt to taste to make the finished sauce,” he said. “Then I’ll just blend it and strain it. And I like to add xanthan gum to stabilize it. You can get that at grocery stores and heath food stores, now, because it’s used so much in gluten-free diets.”
Rutherford said he considers his hot sauce a base recipe, and he encourages home cooks to experiment by adding different peppers as well as garlic and other flavors. Also, because he makes such large batches, Rutherford said he cans his hot sauce to preserve it, which makes it easy to give as gifts.
RECIPES
These salsa and hot sauce recipes range from somewhat difficult to the super easy. The Porter’s Fermented Hot Pepper Sauce starts with a pepper mash, which takes weeks to ferment. Featured recipes from “The Hot Sauce Cookbook” include a “sport” pepper vinegar, which is great on greens, and can be ready in a few hours.
The Porter’s Fermented Hot Pepper Sauce
Makes 4 Quarts
Nick Rutherford is the chef and co-owner of the Porter Beer Bar in Little Five Points. He’s also a home brewer, so it’s not surprising that he combines those talents to make a special fermented pepper sauce to serve at the Porter. For this recipe, he reduced the ingredients and modified the home-brew equipment to make his method easier for home cooks. You will need two ½-gallon Mason jars with lids, two air locks and sanitizing solution, both available at home-brew supply shops, plus a nail, a hammer, pliers or channel locks, liquid tape and a sharpie. To make a half-batch, cut the ingredients in half and use one Mason jar and airlock.
3 pounds red bell peppers
1 pound banana peppers
1 pound Anaheim peppers
1 pound hot peppers, such as ½ pound Fresno red jalapenos and ½ pound Serrano chilies
4 Thai chilies
4 teaspoons salt
2 ½ cups apple cider vinegar
2 ½ tablespoons salt
½ teaspoon xanthan gum
To make the fermented hot pepper mash
De-stem all the chilies and puree in batches in a blender. Include the seeds and wear gloves. You should end up with 4 quarts of pepper puree. Add the salt.
To assemble the fermentation vessels
Using the sharpie, trace the bottom stem of the air lock on the center of each Mason jar lid. Using the hammer and nail make pin holes around the traced ring.
Break the excess plastic under the lid free with the channel locks.
Glue the airlocks to the lid holes using the liquid tape and allow to dry, about 5 minutes.
Sanitize the Mason jars according to manufacturers directions, or use home-brewing sanitizing solution, and allow to dry. Sanitize the lids and airlocks using home-brewing sanitizing solution.
To make the hot pepper sauce
In a large container combine the pepper mash with the apple cider vinegar and 2 tablespoons salt. Working in one-quart batches, push the mash through a sieve and into a blender, adding 1/8 teaspoon of xanthan gum per batch while the blender is running, and until the mixture is smooth and sauce-like.
The hot sauce will keep refrigerated for several months or could be canned in jelly jars for longer keeping. Serve it in glass cruets with metal tops.
Makes 4 Quarts
Per 1-teaspoon serving: 2 calories (percent of calories from fat, 6), trace protein, trace carbohydrates, trace fiber, trace fat (no saturated fat), no cholesterol, 32 milligrams sod
“Son of Suchilquitongo” Salsa Verde
Here is a modern version of the ancient green salsas made by the Zapotecs in Suchilquitongo bowls. If you want to know what the ancient version tasted like, taste it before you add the garlic and lime juice. This is a great table sauce, as well as the perfect sauce for enchiladas verdes.
1 pound tomatillos, husked and washed
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 fresh serrano chilies, stemmed, seeded, and minced
1 cup minced sweet onion
2 teaspoons minced garlic
Pinch of sugar
¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice
Salt (preferably good-quality sea salt)
Put the cleaned tomatillos in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then turn off the heat and allow the tomatillos to soak for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, drain, and purée in a food processor. Add the cilantro, serranos, onion, garlic, sugar, and lime juice to the food processor and pulse three or four times to combine. Season with salt to taste. Serve immediately, or store in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Makes 3 1/2 cups
Per 1-tablespoon serving: 6 calories (percent of calories from fat, 15), trace protein, 1 gram carbohydrates, trace fiber, trace fat (no saturated fat), no cholesterol, 3 milligrams sodium.
Pepper Sherry
The Amerindians cooked with fresh peppers. But the Europeans needed to find a way to preserve the peppers to take them back to the Continent. The first and easiest method they came up with was to put the peppers in wine and use the seasoned wine as a sauce. Making pepper sherry is ridiculously easy: you just drop hot peppers into a sherry bottle. chile pequíns are usually used, because they fit easily into the mouth of the bottle. Many West Indians use immature pepper buds.
1 (750 ml) bottle sherry, your choice of dry or sweet
50 chili pequíns or any hot chile that fits in the mouth of the bottle
Pour yourself a glass of sherry and drink it (this makes enough room in the bottle for the peppers). Pierce each chili with the point of a knife to allow the liquid to penetrate it, then add the chilies to the sherry. Allow the pepper sherry to age for a week or two before using it, and remember not to accidentally pour a glass for your grandmother.
Makes 1 (750 ml) bottle
Per 1-teaspoon serving: 12 calories (percent of calories from fat, 3), trace protein, 2 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, trace fat (no saturated fat), no cholesterol, 1 milligram sodium.
Pepper Vinegar (Pique)
In Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, pique is what they call a bottle of peppers steeped in vinegar. “Sport peppers” is the name for the bottle of peppers and vinegar you find on your table at restaurants in Louisiana. You sprinkle the pepper-laced vinegar on your food. After the vinegar is used up, the bottle is topped off with more vinegar. You can make pique in any bottle, big or small. Just increase or decrease the proportions to fit the bottle.
5 habanero-type chilies
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 small onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled
1 (1-inch) cube peeled fresh ginger
1 thyme sprig
1 ¾ cups cane, cider, or white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon rum
Make a small slit in each chili with the point of a knife to allow the liquid to penetrate it quickly.
Stuff the chilies, carrot, onion, garlic, ginger, and thyme into a pint-size syrup dispenser. Add the vinegar and rum and wait a week for the flavor to develop, or you can hurry things up by heating the vinegar first. If you use hot vinegar, the pique will be ready in a few hours.
When you use all the vinegar, just add more. Again, heating the vinegar when you refill the bottle speeds the process. One bottle of peppers is good for three or four batches of pique.
Makes 1 pint
Per 1-teaspoon serving: 5 calories (percent of calories from fat, 2), trace protein, 1 gram carbohydrates, trace fiber, trace fat (no saturated fat), no cholesterol, trace sodium
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