Recipe: Two Hot Sauce Recipes for Charles

Orange Rocket Hot Sauce

1 lb Tabasco chiles, chopped [or other hot pepper variety]
2 cups distilled white vinegar
2 teaspoons salt

You can use chiles other than Tabasco for a different-tasting sauce. Note: The recipe for true Tabasco brand hot sauce is a long-guarded secret. In addition, the Tabasco folks make a hot pepper "mash" and let this ferment long before the peppers are used in their secret recipe. This process is what gives Tabasco brand pepper sauce its unique flavor. This recipe does not attempt to replicate that sauce. Instead, this is a standard Louisiana hot sauce recipe. If desired, you can add some garlic powder and/or onion powder to flavor the sauce somewhat. Ground white pepper added is also a nice touch.

Directions:
Combine the chiles and the vinegar and heat. Stir in the salt and simmer for 5 minutes. Place all the ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. Add more vinegar if the sauce needs thinning. Allow to steep for a couple of weeks before using. [Note: Store in a dark place, or in light-resistent bottles as the sauce will discolor otherwise. Dark beer bottles work well, in fact. My husband home- brews beer and even has a bottle capper, so we sterilize the dark beer bottles and cap them with caps he buys through his homebrew supplier. The bottles can be processed in a boiling-water bath for extra safety and for longer storage.] From: Chile Pepper magazine Hot Sauce recipe
Recipe by: George Shirley
(Depending on the amount of sauce you want to make you're going to need a crock or very large jar. I use two one-gallon crocks and make it in two batches. Both crocks have covers but you can cover with a plate if needed.)

Pick and wash your peppers, preferably at the red ripe stage. Put the peppers through a food processor and whiz them into small pieces, don't liquify. Fill up a crock and put three tablespoons of pickling or kosher salt on top. Then sprinkle about a third of a cup of 5 percent white vinegar over that, being sure you cover the top well. This helps to prevent mold. Put the crock lid on and leave the peppers to ferment for up to one year. Tabasco leaves them three years but I don't have a salt mine to keep them in. Check your crock frequently to see if mold has started. If it has you can scoop it out and add a little more vinegar to hold it down. The trick with the peppers is to get nice juicy ones, don't wait until they start drying on the plant.

Once you have decided your sauce is ready you can either strain the seeds and skins out or whiz it all in a blender. I use a food mill and throw out the seeds and skins saving only the pulp and juice, makes for a nicer sauce. Measure the amount you have and add vinegar to equal one-third of your pepper pulp and juice. Mix well and let sit another week to mellow. Then you can bottle it. Be sure your bottles are sterile just to be on the safe side. If you want really hot sauce try using habaneros. Did that one year and no one could eat it except my daughter-in-law. Friends in Minnesota said they left the open bottle in the living room and their furnace didn't run all winter. I think they were kidding but am not sure. I used the one bottle I had to mix bug spray and the little devils gave up their lives in one gasp when sprayed with it.