Grand experiment. Any advice cheerfully accepted.

[flamin lib]

I had some really good hot sauce in Jamaca. It was brown, thin and tasted of spices. Had a nice round heat; immediate on the tongue and building all over. There was actual flavor of spices along with the heat. Flavor, imagine that in a hot sauce. Ingredients on the label were: Peppers, Jamaican rum, vinegar, water, spices.

I'm not fond of the big red label. A little too vinegary. Because everybody targets big red, they're all to vinegary for my taste.

Here's the first mix (can't call it a recipe yet):

4 Serrano peppers.
100 ml rum
50 ml red wine vinegar
50 ml water
1/4 tsp each (dried):
thyme
oregano
red pepper flakes
salt

Puree the whole thing and let it marinate for a day or two. I'll let ya' know how it works in a day or two. Initial taste is HOLY SHIT this is hot RIGHT NOW and then it dissipates. No spice yet and no subtle long term build. It's bright green, figuratively and literally.

Anybody done something like this? Should I simmer the raw sauce for a bit or will the rum and vinegar cure it? Maybe some lime juice for punch? Any other suggestions most appreciated especially if you've done this but even a curbside surmise would be appreciated.

[supernova]

1. Is it some version of a jerk sauce?

[Warpy]

2. Hot sauces of all descriptions "bloom" when they sit for a while

which is why today's mild chili will blow the top off your head tomorrow.

You might wait a couple of days until you know a little more what you've got.

Here in NM, green chile tends to be fruity at first and then build. Red chile is hot immediately and then tapers off a bit.

For all around hot sauce, Sriracha is it for me. It's got a slow build and isn't terribly vinegary, something I dislike intensely about the red bottle with the green and white label.

We do get the brown Jamaican sauces here in NM, but all their labels are unenlightening.

Something I'd suggest you add to yours is cinnamon and/or ginger.

[flamin lib]

3. Every year during the Hatch celebration I buy a couple of pounds

of chile peppers. They're pretty mild, say 3 on a scale of 10, but then I smoke them and grind them into a mole. Some kinda hot with a nice smokey flavor. A little goes a long way!
Great in stews and such.

You're right about the cinnamon and ginger. Would add a nice "Hummmm . . ." kinda flavor. Perhaps allspice as well.

I'll look for Sriracha, it sounds like what I'm trying to accomplish.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

4. Oh, Sriracha -

It's something really special, really good. We've got an assortment of hot sauces here, but it's the Sriracha I reach for first, every time. I'll bet you're gonna love it.



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