miia monthly

I really like the jalapeno version of McIlhenny Tabasco sauce, more so then the original version. My favorite use of Green Tabasco is on scrambled eggs (now surpassing ketchup.) But it is also great as a condiment on a wide spectrum of Mexican inspired dishes, as you would expect it to be. But being the mad cooking scientist that I am, I’ve been tossing around the idea of trying to make my own version of that oh so delicious green hot sauce. With a tip of the hat to JRR for sending me the link to this hot sauce recipe from Tyler Florence over at Food Network, I was off and running. Here is my adaptation of Tyler’s recipe:

• 10.5 oz of jalapeno peppers, diced or sliced into rings (mostly the last of the home grown jalapenos and a couple from the farmers market)
• 2 cups of pickling liquid from the Jalapeno Rings V2 recipe
• 1 TB Sicilian Lemon Juice (just for Supa)
• half of a medium onion

Place all the ingredients into a small pot and bring the mixture to a boil. Once it is up and boiling, cover the hot and reduce the heat to low, so that the mixture is simmering. Let the whole mixture simmer for about 30 minutes, since you want the mixture to soften up as much as possible. After 30 minutes have passed, use either a stick blender or a regular blender to finely puree the jalapeno mixture. Now that it is finely pureed, just strain the mixture in a strainer and into a quart size canning jar. I gave the mixture a quick taste, and I can’t tell if it turned out good, since you are get a slap in the face from the vinegar right off the bat. I’ll just put a lid on the jar and let it sit in the fridge for a couple of weeks, to see if it will mellow out with a little bit of aging (kind of like homemade mustard.) We’ll see what happens in time.

Update – 10/21/09 – The sauce has been in the fridge for about 10 days, and it has already started to mellow out a lot. You get a lot less of the vinegar taste/smell, and more of the jalapeno flavor/heat coming forward. Maybe another couple of weeks of aging, and it might be ready for use.

Side note: I just saw that most ridiculous thing on the Tabasco website, you can get any flavor of their hot sauce by the gallon! And the surprising part, is that its a really good price, compared to getting the sauce in the normal sized bottles. I guess something to consider for the future.