Email to Cat      

Liquid Fire (Scotch Bonnet Hot Sauce)

Source of Recipe

From "BBQ USA" by Steven Raichlen


Recipe Introduction

"Although it contains only four ingredients, the blast-furnace heat of this sauce could wilt your whole neighborhood. Old-time Floridians may recognize it as a new and deadlier form of old sour, the traditional hot sauce of the Florida keys. Use Liquid Fire sparingly�a few drops are sufficient to send most people lunging for their beers."

List of Ingredients

◦ 4 to 8 Scotch bonnet chiles, stemmed, seeded, and coarsely chopped
◦ 4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
◦ 1 cup fresh lime juice, key lime juice, or distilled white vinegar, or more to taste
◦ 1 tablespoon coarse salt (kosher or sea), or more to taste


Recipe

Combine the Scotch bonnets, garlic, lime juice, and salt in a blender and blend to a smooth pur�e. Taste for seasoning, adding more lime juice and/or salt as necessary. The sauce can be served immediately but will improve in flavor if you let it stand for a few hours or even a few days so that it mellows. If not serving the sauce immediately, transfer it to a clean glass jar, placing a piece of plastic wrap between the top of the jar and the lid to keep the lid from corroding. The sauce will keep for several weeks in the refrigerator.

Makes 1 cup






❧ Tip:
Here in South Florida, we'd use Scotch bonnet chiles, or one of their Caribbean cousins to make Liquid Fire. If you live in the Southwest or California, you can substitute habanero peppers. For an even more tongue-blistering version, leave the seeds in the chiles. A popular variation on this sauce is to use distilled white vinegar instead of lime juice.