Homemade Hot Sauce

Make some awesome sauce with these tips!

For realz, store-bought hot sauce can never hit the spot. Most brands remind me of banana ketchup which is equally artificial and unsatisfying. I've dined at some restaurants around Cebu and some servers would sneak in some tricks.

One fairly-new pizza restaurant located at Streetscape has a simple yet satisfying blend of hot sauce. They blended in some chilli peppers, olive oil and some citrus with salt to taste. While its a good idea to try at home, I've searched on some ways to prepare your homemade sauce correctly:

Using fresh peppers will yield a high-quality sauce.

Homemade Hot Sauce

You have the option to blanch or roast the peppers in preparation for the cooking process. If you are to blanch your peppers, make sure they are washed. Boil some distilled white vinegar that's enough to submerge your peppers in a non-aluminum pot. The acids in the vinegar and the peppers will break down the aluminum and will transfer to your sauce if you use aluminum cooking ware if you do so!

roasted fresh peppers

If you choose to roast your peppers, this is a lovely option too as this lends your sauce a smokey flavor.

Be mindful of the other fresh ingredients you'd like to add in.

garlic pepper sauce

Fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs add great flavor and texture into your mixture. The one concern with fresh additives is the amount of moisture they will add to the recipe and the natural bitterness of seeds and skins.

Using ground spices makes everything easier.

ground spices

The use of ground spices is an easy way to add your own touch to any hot sauce recipe. Your kit includes a variety of spices for use in the recipes given here. Please remember that dried and ground spices which are fresh, have a stronger more concentrated flavor. You may need to experiment with how much to use in order to suit your taste. Cayenne and paprika are personal favorites.

Use a food processor or blender BEFORE cooking.

blending ingredients

An electric food processor is perfect for blending ingredients prior to cooking but it is not necessary. This makes the cooking process quicker and saves energy. You should never use an electric food processor after the cooking stage. The reason is the amount of air these machines pump into whatever is being blended.

The stove top method offers more control over the cooking process. 

stove top

Your sauce should be simmered over low heat for at least 5 minutes. Constant stirring will prevent boiling and insure that all ingredients are well blended. Cooking your hot sauce will help blend the flavors together, break down pieces of solid ingredients and pasteurize the sauce. It is an important step which should only be skipped if the sauce will be used up completely within two days.

If you plan to keep your homemade hot sauce for long, proper sanitation is key.

homemade hot sauce

To sanitize and prepare your bottles for filling, place the empty bottles in a pot, cover and fill the bottles with water. Bring the pot of water to a boil for 5 minutes, turn off heat and remove the bottles using tongs, hold upside down to remove the water. Do not boil the dropper fitments or caps. Remember that your hot sauce should be refrigerated. There are other methods on how to sanitize your containers too so feel free to look it up.

So are you pumped to make your own hot sauce yet? Follow hundreds of recipes online and tweak it to your liking.

#y101 #alwaysfirst #food101