I am a serious hot sauce fanatic. I put it on almost everything, so much so that my girls think I've burned off all my "tastebugs". At any given time I'd guess that I have ten kinds in the house. Some, like Tiger Sauce, are for more specific purposes while the others are various types and flavors to accessorize certain types of food. If I had to pick one to use for the rest of my life it would probably be Melinda's XXX Chipotle. It's great stuff!
It occurred to me last night that it's strange that I haven't ever made my own sauce. That situation has now been rectified and I have a recipe to share. It was purely an experiment that I made up as I went along.
My favorite sauces are those that add flavor and heat without overpowering the food with a vinegar taste. This recipe definitely falls in that camp. It's thick, subtly smoky, and earthy, with a little bit of sweet and just enough heat. I think it will prove to be great on meats.
Let's get on with it.
Ingredients
1/2 cup Dried de Arbol chiles, ground with a mortar and pestle
1/2 cup Dried Pasilla (negro) chiles, ground with a mortar and pestle
12 oz Red wine vinegar (I used Star brand)
2 cups Water
3 Tbsp Garlic salt
1/2 cup Dark brown sugar
1/4 tsp Ground tarragon
1/4 tsp Ground ginger
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
Method
Combine the chiles, vinegar and garlic salt in a medium non-reactive mixing bowl.
Boil the water and add it to the bowl.
Cover the bowl and let it sit 12 hours at room temperature to reconstitute the chiles.
With a spoon, skim off and discard as many of the floating seeds as possible.
Put one cup of the chile mixture in a small non-reactive sauce pan and bring just to a boil.
Remove from the heat and add the sugar, tarragon, ginger and cinnamon.
Stir unil the sugar is completely dissolved.
Pour all of the chile mixture into a blender and puree two minutes.
That's it! Put the sauce in clean sanitized hot sauce bottles or jar(s).
The recipe made enough to fill six standard five-ounce bottles. I don't know how long it will keep, but it should be at least a couple of months. Of course, in my house it won't be around that long.
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