1st Attempt At Hot Sauce

[Okiejoebronco25]

So after harvesting the peppers I grew that I was given seedlings from a friend which most were labeled “?” With the exception of of ghost. So in this collection I have Jalapeños, shishito, banana, and ghost. I’m smoking a chuck roast today and some ABT’s and figured I would toss these on the smoker prior to using in sauce. I have never made hot sauce so would love some tips. Should I blend all together? Should I smoke briefly first? Do I actually have enough to make a 1 bottle batch? Appreciate any input. Updated with better picture of what Im working with

 

[miller51]

So after harvesting the peppers I grew that I was given seedlings from a friend which most were labeled “?” With the exception of of ghost. So in this collection I have Jalapeños, shishito, banana, and ghost. I’m smoking a chuck roast today and some ABT’s and figured I would toss these on the smoker prior to using in sauce. I have never made hot sauce so would love some tips. Should I blend all together? Should I smoke briefly first? Do I actually have enough to make a 1 bottle batch? Appreciate any input. Updated with better picture of what Im working with

Looking at what you have their, it looks like a lot of green peppers so you're probably would have enough for one batch, the question is what. Personally, for your first few attempts, I recommend sticking with one type of pepper and experiment down the road after you get a feel for it. I make mine and do smoke them with the onions and garlic as well, then ferment everything for a period of time prior to making the hot sauce... there are a lot of recipes online, but I found what worked for me from a few different ones and taking a little of my own cooking knowledge (and flavor preference)... good luck!

 

[chef k-dude]

Hot sauce, if not following a proven recipe is kind of your own thing. Do what you want. I've never smoked peppers for it, I'm one of those people who doesn't need smoke flavor on everything and I never thought I wanted smoke in my hot sauce...probably good though. I've never thrown out an attempt at my own hot sauce, it's always been at least usable. I dont make hot sauce anymore as I dont grow a garden anymore and I am fine with the Texas Pete, Sriracha and Franks I keep in the fridge, also a great avocado hot sauce we've started keeping on hand...I think it's Herdez brand.

Like miller51 said, it may be better to stick with one pepper type, but it's all in good fun, if thats all I had there, I would probably throw them all in the pool. I would do web research for recipes, and in my case I will look at around a dozen recipes and hybrid my own from them using the things I like the most about them.

Careful with the fermenting. A cousin gave me a bottle of his hot sauce, fancy custom labeled bottle and all, and I went ahead and put it in the fridge just to be on the safe side. Even in the fridge, I noticed it leaking at one point. When I pulled it out and opened it, it erupted all over the place and smelled foul. I tossed it. Cousin said others reported the same but I dont know if he ever figured it out. I have never fermented hot sauce, but did let it sit in the fridge for weeks before using.

 

[Chasdev]

I love mixing different peppers together for hot sauce.
I use whatever hot peppers that are ripe from my garden, jalapenos and habenero's, add store bought organic red and yellow bell peppers, plus onions, garlic cloves (never powder).
Roast all in air fryer or oven, (rough chop onions first), chop and simmer in a small amount of water until they are tender, then blend adding cumin, salt and white vinegar, and sometimes cilantro leaves.
Let the hot liquid and pepper "stew" cool off before blending.
I prefer it quite hot so I often supplement with store bought serranos since mine gave me a poor harvest this year.
Oh yeah, chili pequins too.
The amount of onion and bell peppers is dependent on how many hot peppers are used.
So 6 large jalapeno, along with a few serrano and one or two habanero would need one large onion, so adjust amounts of onion and vinegar according on how many and what type peppers included.
After blending you can taste test and adjust if needed before removing from the blender.

 

[Chasdev]

Here's my starting point, it's borrowed from the "Pepper Geek" page on YouTube, if you want to watch the tutorial.

 

[tallbm]

So after harvesting the peppers I grew that I was given seedlings from a friend which most were labeled “?” With the exception of of ghost. So in this collection I have Jalapeños, shishito, banana, and ghost. I’m smoking a chuck roast today and some ABT’s and figured I would toss these on the smoker prior to using in sauce. I have never made hot sauce so would love some tips. Should I blend all together? Should I smoke briefly first? Do I actually have enough to make a 1 bottle batch? Appreciate any input. Updated with better picture of what Im working with

Hi there and welcome!

I am not any kind of authority on hot sauce making but the little bit I've done in the past has me thinking you don't have enough to make a bottle. MAYBE if you combined them all but as was mentioned by someone else here, it's best to stick with 1 pepper so you know what is going on and can create a controlled flavor that can be tweaked and repeated.

Now with that said, you DO have enough jalapenos there to make a liter of salsa. I know it's not hot sauce but it's probably the closest thing you can do with those jalapenos that you can thoroughly enjoy .

Besides the ghost peppers, I think u just do some individual things with the other peppers. Make an oiled and roasted shishito snack with those and a little salt. Banana peppers can go on a sandwich or make a little pizza if u like em on that.

I don't know what you want to do with ghost peppers. I honestly have never had an actual ghost pepper in my hands, only stuff flavored with it and I'm not a fan of the kind of burnt tire flavor I taste with lots of ghost pepper flavor stuff I've eaten and ghost pepper hot sauce I've tried. So someone more educated on them can chime in on what to do with that few.

Final bit of info, if you decide to smoke peppers you should understand that you will pepper gas yourself if the wind blows in your direction while it's smoking hahahha. Also you will pepper powder yourself if you grind dried peppers and don't let the dust settle before you open the grinding container and if you don't take great care to pour them into a container without it getting really airborne. You will know if it is airborne, your sinuses will tell you so :D