Dangers aside, I really like cooking with chile peppers. Caution must be followed when handling chile peppers. For instance, you will tearfully regret touching your eyes while handling chiles. Remember, there's a reason for police to use pepper spray. Chiles are hot because they produce the chemical capsaicin and that is the same chemical used in a pepper spray.
This recipe results in a flexible hot sauce that supplies two nice culinary attributes, spiciness and acidity. For a recipe featuring another method of chile preparation, check out this previous blog post: Mexican Meatball Soup.
Texas Heat Wave Hot Sauce
Ingredients:
- 10 habanero chiles
- 1 red bell pepper, halved, seeded, coarsely chopped
- the zest from one medium orange
- 4 tablespoons Triple Sec liqueur*, divided
- 2 tablespoons salt, divided
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 cup Champagne vinegar
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, divided
Halve and seed chiles. Puree chiles, red bell pepper, orange zest, 2 tablespoons Triple Sec liqueur, 1 tablespoon salt, and garlic in a blender. We want to ferment this chile mixture for 12 hours, so, transfer the blended ingredients to a bowl then cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Don't refrigerate, just let it ferment at room temperature.
12 hours later . . . . combine the fermented pureed chile mixture in a blender with the Champagne vinegar, 2 more tablespoons of Triple Sec liqueur and another tablespoon of salt. Puree this mixture until smooth.
Set a fine mesh strainer over a small saucepan. Pour the mixture into the strainer, pressing on solids to extract the hot sauce. Remove the strainer, discarding solids. Heat the hot sauce over medium-low heat. While the sauce is cooking, stir 2 teaspoons of cornstarch and 2 teaspoons of water in a small bowl until smooth. Whisk this cornstarch mixture into the heating hot sauce, simmer while whisking constantly, until thickened, about 2 minutes. Stir in 3 tablespoons of butter. Add more salt to taste if desired. Serve warm.
Comments:
Nice hot sauce. Don't be discouraged by the tartness of this sauce when tasted plain. When used atop any meat the tartness will tame down. This sauce would be a winner on chicken wings but also serves nicely with fish.. Leftovers can keep in the refrigerator for a good while and make a good sandwich spread.
* Much of this recipe idea came from one seen in the magazine "bon appetit". They used St. Germaine liqueur instead of Triple Sec. Both liqueurs are very sweet.
