38
votes
Accepted
Mold on homemade sriracha
Do NOT eat this. You figured out right that the stuff on top is mold. The thing that makes mold dangerous is the mycotoxins produced by it and these will likely remain in the sauce even if you scrape ...
- 2,104
24
votes
Is seeding peppers a must when making hot sauce
The seeds of all peppers are bitter, you won't notice this when you are using a single pepper in a large dish of food, but if you make hot sauce without removing the seeds you will have a noticeable, ...
- 74.2k
22
votes
Accepted
Could you smoke a sauce?
What you're describing isn't all that different from how they make various products like Liquid Smoke (make smoke along with steam, then condense that steam). You will need to make sure that some ...
- 5,673
13
votes
Is seeding peppers a must when making hot sauce
First, the most capsaicin (heat) is in the pith of the peppers. You'll find it to a lesser extent in the seeds. Keeping the seeds will definitely change the texture of the sauce, but if you like that ...
- 4,674
12
votes
Hot sauce; Remove seeds?
I just made a batch of hot sauce that was very cayenne-heavy myself. Keep the seeds.
You want to get every last bit of heat out of those babies, especially if you are diluting with a significant ...
- 3,825
11
votes
Hot sauce; Remove seeds?
The heat isn't in the seeds, it's in the ribs which hold the seeds. Also, there is no right answer when it comes to wasting time vs wasting food, everybody has a personal preference on whether to use ...
- 135k
11
votes
Accepted
How to add bourbon flavor?
What we think of as "bourbon flavor" is due to a combination of things.
Bourbon is aged in a new oak barrel that has been charred on the inside. The important thing is not so much the layer ...
10
votes
How to add bourbon flavor?
Heating to remove alcohol isn't as effective as you might think, and igniting the vapour is of no benefit. Once it's evaporated it's gone from the liquid anyway, and imagine trying to get a flame from ...
- 43.1k
7
votes
Accepted
Cooking chicken breasts in Buffalo sauce, cast iron
You could just add water instead of extra sauce. The water will cook off just as much as the sauce would have, leaving you with essentially just sauce by the end. If that's not spicy/saucy enough for ...
- 58.1k
6
votes
Accepted
How to Calculate Scoville Heat?
You cannot calculate it, you can only measure it.
Scoville is a subjective scale. Wikipedia tells you how it is measured - by testing with human panelists, using a certain protocol.
As all ...
- 135k
6
votes
Could you smoke a sauce?
I've definitely done this with ketchup before, with a couple key tweaks:
Spreading the sauce onto a rimmed baking sheet. This is to maximize surface area for smoking.
I used a Traeger pellet-smoker, ...
- 161
6
votes
Emulsifier: is it safe to cook mayonnaise?
The mayonnaise itself is only a stable emulsion in certain temperature ranges. If you are talking about standard mayonnaise (made with egg yolk), it will split when heated, and won't help your new ...
- 135k
5
votes
Could you smoke a sauce?
Better or worse is a judgement call. Smoking the peppers then making the sauce v. smoking the sauce will produce different results, but both will impart smokiness. So, you can, in fact, impart smoke ...
- 73.1k
5
votes
Could you smoke a sauce?
This will definitely work, but I would recommend stirring it every once in a while as it will mostly be affecting only the surface. A shallow vessel with a larger surface area will also impart more ...
- 1,109
5
votes
Accepted
Turning Harissa into Hot Sauce
The only difference between something that would be called "hot sauce" and a "chili paste" is the consistency, and perhaps how finely ground the chilis are (though harissas are usually pretty finely ...
- 3,053
4
votes
Accepted
Making cheese sauce
Considering the update to your question, you seem to have a sort of hybrid of two methods. The "Traditional" French method to make a cheese sauce, or Mornay, is described in the steps below ...
- 16.3k
4
votes
Cooking chicken breasts in Buffalo sauce, cast iron
First of all, there's no reason why the sauce would dry up faster simply because you're using cast iron instead of a teflon pan. So, you might wish to reexamine your mother's technique to see if there'...
- 2,699
4
votes
How to pump same amount of paste every time?
This thought came to me, and is so different from my first answer I don't think it makes a good edit to that...
If the product is really
made of pepper flakes in an oil
rather than mix a batch ...
- 15.1k
4
votes
Accepted
Emulsifier: is it safe to cook mayonnaise?
Mayonnaise is safe to cook. Prepared mayonnaise that you purchase in the store has been pasteurized and usually has more than enough acidity to keep any harmful pathogens from growing. Cooking with ...
- 73.1k
4
votes
Can I prevent hot pepper sauce losing heat?
The heat of your condiments isn't actually being lost. The condiments are marrying, meaning the heat becomes more homogenously distributed through the condiment. This means you don't have bits and ...
- 6,324
4
votes
Accepted
How to pasteurize lacto-fermented hot sauce?
According to the US FDA, normal pastuerization for fruit juice would be 160F for 6 seconds. This should be easily accomplished in a hot water bath; just heat up the water to 160f, and dip the bottles....
- 58.7k
4
votes
How to add bourbon flavor?
Your bourbon cask had a small amount of bourbon in the wood.
A similarly small amount of bourbon applied directly won't be enough alcohol to matter to your ferment.
You can take a bit more involved ...
- 15.1k
3
votes
How to Calculate Scoville Heat?
What SHU measures is (at least intended to be) the ppm by mass of capsaicin in the sauce, and there is a rough conversion factor of 1µg/kg capsaicin = 16 SHU. The concentration of capsaicin can be ...
- 39
3
votes
Accepted
Does soy sauce counteract hot stuff?
Soy sauce is not known to chemically influence capsaicin or capsaicin absorption. The effect is likely subjective and has to do with something like spicy heat feeling less objectionable in a higher ...
- 15.2k
3
votes
Accepted
What can I do to stop hot sauce from separating?
5 gram per gallon (0.0125 percent) Xanthan gum inhibits separation in my pepper sauce.
You see that as an ingredient in lots of hot sauces. It's a bit of a pain to mix in thoroughly, but there are ...
- 11.7k
3
votes
Accepted
Is-there any good way to make smoked chipotle pepper at home?
So just to be clear, a chipotle is a smoked red jalepeno, however chipotle is most often used and purchased in Adobo sauce so there are two flavors to this answer. To make the pepper itself, start ...
- 6,324
3
votes
What ingredients can you have in Hot Sauce?
Food safety doesn't work that way. It is impossible to predict the safety of a finished product from the ingredients. There are a few exceptions when the ratio of preservatives is known, but they are ...
- 135k
3
votes
Hot sauce; Remove seeds?
It's been a long time since I had seen my mother make her own chilli sause. I had forgotten this step. She would remove the stems and put the rest in a blender. Add some water and blend. Once blended ...
- 31
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible