Master Hot Sauce (Bon Appétit)
Condiment · Sauces · Spicy · Vegan · Vegetarian
The Louisiana pattern in its simplest form: one pound of fresh chiles, salt and distilled vinegar, given a short room-temperature rest, then puréed and strained into a bottle.
Untested: not yet made in this kitchen. It is here for the Peppers and Hot Sauce pages and is adapted from the source named in the Notes.
Ingredients
- 1 pound stemmed fresh chiles (such as jalapeño, serrano, Fresno, or habanero; one variety or a mix)
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 1½ cups distilled white vinegar
Directions
Key ingredients
- Pulse the chiles and salt in a food processor to a coarse purée. Transfer it to a 1-quart glass jar, set the lid on loosely and leave it at room temperature for 12 hours to ferment slightly.
- Stir in the vinegar and leave the jar at room temperature, lid still loose, for 1 to 7 days, tasting it daily until the flavour is right.
- Purée the mixture for about 1 minute, then strain it through a fine sieve into a bottle. Shake before using, and keep it refrigerated for up to 4 months.
Notes
Source Adapted from the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen (Stephen Lewis), “Master Hot Sauce,” Bon Appétit (2012). It makes about 2½ cups. It follows the Louisiana pattern of chile, salt and vinegar; it is not a Louisiana recipe, and its 12-hour “ferment” is nominal beside the years-long mash of the commercial sauces.
Salt The source gives no salt percentage.
Acidity An unassisted pepper ferment does not reliably reach pH 4.6, the line below which botulinum cannot grow: in published trials, spontaneous pepper mashes finished around pH 4.8 to 4.9 while mashes given a starter culture reached about 3.7. A sour taste is not proof. Here the vinegar, not the brief ferment, supplies the acid, and the finished sauce is kept refrigerated. A pH meter is the way to know; see /preservation/measuring-ph/.
The dish The Peppers and Hot Sauce section (/hot-sauce/) covers what Louisiana-style means, and how vinegar sauces differ from fermented ones.
The photo The photograph is a stand-in: a bottle of mango habanero hot sauce.