We think that spice tends to make most food taste better. Not burn-your-mouth-off-can't-taste-anything spice, but just enough heat to make things interesting. Our go to hot sauce has been Sriracha, it's balance of peppers, spices, and flavors provides just the right amount of heat and complexity to all sorts of dishes. As is our philosophy, though, we figured that with the right ingredients we too could make a flavorful hot sauce just as good as a store-bought version.
Thanks to our CSA's bounty of hot peppers, we were able to recently experiment. We had been collecting hot peppers each week, but can only eat so many hot peppers as they are. Hot sauce, we decided, was the perfect way to preserve the peppers flavors for the rest of the year.
This hot sauce turned out truly delicious. It's definitely spicy, but not so spicy that you can't taste the complex flavors the variety of peppers yielded. It's thin enough that you can stir it into mayo to make a spicy dipping sauce (for baked okra perhaps) and chunky enough to provide texture (to asian noodles for example).
We are really enjoying using our hot sauce - from adding a kick to falafel to adding spice to a soy sauce dip for sushi - and look forward to many more applications in the months to come. Preserve a little bit of your summer and grab the last peppers of the season to spice up any of your favorite dishes.
Hot Sauce
Adapted from Bon Appetit
1 lb hot peppers (mix and match any variety you want, or mix in sweet peppers for a less spicy sauce)
2 tbs salt
1.5 cups vinegar
Stem peppers (but don't seed them) and pulse with salt in a food processor. Continue pulsing until a coarse paste forms, you don't want to completely puree the peppers. Transfer to mason jar or glass container and cover with lid or plastic wrap. Allow mixture to sit for 12-18 hours.
Mix in vinegar and recover. Allow sauce to sit at room temperature for at least one day, and up to seven. Spice and flavor will develop with time, so taste daily until desired flavors are reached.
Store in airtight container in fridge for 4 months or freeze for later use.
