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Homemade Hot Sauce

Source of Recipe

From "Old-School Comfort Food" by Alex Guarnaschelli


Recipe Introduction

"Much like dry yeast or spices, dried chiles need to be plumped and woken up by liquid to reach their full flavor potential. In this case, warming and softening them in vinegar forms an acidic, deep (but not obliterating), and somewhat smoky spice that I haven't found in any bottled sauce. I find chipotles (smoked dried jalapeños) overly smoky in a lot of cases. That's how I arrived at this particular combination. This will keep for a month (if not more) in the fridge."

List of Ingredients

â—¦ 1 cup Champagne vinegar
â—¦ 1 dried guajillo chile, stemmed
â—¦ 1 dried ancho chile, stemmed
â—¦ 1 jalapeño chile, thinly sliced (seeds and all)
â—¦ 3 cloves garlic, grated
â—¦ 1 ½ teaspoons sugar
â—¦ 1 tablespoon kosher salt


Recipe

Hydrate the dried chiles: In a small saucepan, combine the vinegar, guajillo chile, and ancho chile and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer over low heat until the dried chiles are soft, 5 to 10 minutes.

Blend the hot sauce: Pour the chile-vinegar mixture into a blender and purée, starting on low speed and moving slowly to high, taking care to cover the top of the blender tightly. Add the jalapeño, garlic, sugar, and salt and blend until smooth. Transfer to a jar with a fitted lid and refrigerate.

Makes about 1 cup