We’re gonna Throw Down at work and I don’t make a lot of hot sauces so i’m hereto cheat. If you work with me and you’re reading this you told me you were too good for hexbear go away!!

        • LeeeroooyJeeenkiiins [none/use name]@hexbear.netOP
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          7 days ago

          They say botulism toxin gets denatured at whatever temp but honestly I’m pretty sure that isn’t true and that’s why botulism is a concern in canning, if it’s been growing in it even if you heat it and kill the bacteria the toxin will kill you, SO it makes me anxious to follow without further guidance but i’ll ask my sous chef friendchacho in the morning what they think

          • FedPosterman5000 [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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            6 days ago

            Right. I took a single food science class and that was enough to convince me to be careful with that stuff. That’s one reason I went the fermented route too - I’m very (overly?) trusting of fermented stuff lol

      • eastbeast [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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        6 days ago

        aw dang, I grow my own habaneros and do lacto ferments on the regular, but if that’s out then screw it. my sauces have always had a low enough pH that botulism hasn’t been a worry for me, though I’m just giving them to friends and not selling them to anyone (yet).

  • Owl [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    7 days ago

    Three options here:

    • Take any decent looking hot sauce recipe you found online, replace the peppers with a hotter one if they’re not already cayennes or habaneros or hotter, remove all the low impact ingredients (chilli powder, parsely, that sort of thing), and add like a bay leaf or something. Claim the bay leaf is the secret (it’s not, but you need to have a secret). This will beat everyone else who used a recipe they just pulled off the internet (because you removed the low impact ingredients and claimed the secret was the bay leaf).

    • Get the hottest pepper you can find and mix it with sugar, garlic, and salt. But mostly the peppers. This is a cynical option aimed at people who will vote for the hottest sauce to prove their toughness or something. However, this is very unlikely to win, because hot sauce contests tend to have way too many people who think this is how you win, and that’s a crowded field.

    • Pick a strongly flavored ingredient like a tropical fruit, mint, or pickled onions. Pick a similar ingredient to accent it, like a second tropical fruit, an herb, or pickled garlic (respectively). Make a sauce that’s like 2 parts the first, 1 part the second, add the right amount of salt (taste it) and add roast hot peppers (probably cayenne or habanero again) until it has a strong kick. Ideally you should do a second batch where it’s all cooked together once you know the best ratio.

    That last one is nice because, after you’ve tried a few iterations, you have your own hot sauce recipe! No shenanigans at all. It’s also very likely to win if everyone else goes for the hottest sauce possible.

    • Des [she/her, they/them]@hexbear.net
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      6 days ago

      the best hot sauce i ever had was middling in heat but had a mango base.

      i’m not a fan of the whole trend of tough guy scovillemaxxing i like stuff that’s tasty.

      so yeah i agree with your philosophy here and want to make fruitsauce. could i make sauce in an instapot?

      • Owl [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        6 days ago

        I don’t have an instapot and don’t know anything about them, but the answer is almost certainly. Just dice your fruit and cook it… however long you cook things in an instapot? A search for an instapot mango chutney recipe says 10 minutes on high pressure. If I was cooking it in a sauce pan, I’d expect like twice that long, but I guess the pot is insta.

        Fresh sauces (salsas, curries, etc) (as opposed to a fermented/pickled/preserved sauce) are just food you cook the same way as anything else, but chopped finer and maybe cooked longer.

        Also I guess people don’t realize that you can cook fruit, but you can. Cut a pear into chunks and pan fry it some time.

      • Owl [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        7 days ago

        Er, I said two similar ingredients.

        I love the enthusiasm though! Maybe you’ll discover something cool.

  • Breath_Of_The_Snake [they/them, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    7 days ago

    If you want ideas for more complex hot sauces, the site “insaneinthebrine” has some cool recipes. I can vouch for the “chicken and waffles” and peach cobbler recipes. The southern pepper sauce recipe might be a bit basic for a contest, but it accurately represents a staple.