 |
| From Hungarian Pepper Sauce |
[Click on these images to see the whole album in Picasa.]
What a beautiful afternoon to feast visually and victually on some chili peppers! We planted a couple of pepper plants next to the deck. The man at the farmer's market in Greenwood said they were Hungarian sweet peppers, but he forgot to mention they are also HOT.
I canned some pickled rings using the earlier greener peppers. Now, after some weeks of growth and neglect with lots going on, the green has evolved to green with a blush of orange to the emblematic chili pepper red that anyone would recognize as a HOT pepper.
I would not say these are as hot as a jalapeño, not by far, not even in the same county; and they are not even in the same country as the habanero (literally). But, they have just enough piquance to make them into a sauce all their own without mitigating with carrots to cool them down, or adding them to tomatoes for a salsa.
I made this recipe up, so all caveats apply: This is for entertainment purposes only, please consult expert advice for cooking and preserving home grown vegetables; I am not responsible for the safety of this recipe.
I added all of the following to an average blender (5-6 cup container); I blended on the high setting for about 20 seconds after adding each vegetable.
1/4 cup distilled water
1/4 cup white vinegar (store brand)
1 tablespoon pickling salt
1 3" diameter onion, peeled, trimmed, chopped coarsely
6-8 cloves of garlic, smashed, peeled, trimmed, chopped coarsely
1 lb peppers, seeds removed, but membranes kept
 |
| From Hungarian Pepper Sauce |
After adding all ingredients, I blended on high for about a minute. My ingredients made about four cups of mixture. (Blending adds a lot of air to the mix.)
 |
| From Hungarian Pepper Sauce |
I poured the mixture into a 4-quart saucepan. I brought the mixture to a boil slowly. All of the air added by blending wanted to escape rapidly, so I had to remove the pan from the heat several times and stir to release the air bubbles. After the mixture reached a boil, I reduced the heat by half.
 |
| From Hungarian Pepper Sauce |
Once I could see mostly pepper sauce and a little froth around the edges, I simmered the mixture on low for 15 minutes. I wanted the onion and garlic to cook well, to release the flavors and sugars, and to blend those flavors with the peppers well. Eventually, the froth was gone, and the mixture became a beautiful rich deep orange color.
I sterilized some containers -- an empty bottle of from my second-favorite sauce, Yucatan Sunshine; a plastic squeeze bottle from the grocery wholesaler's; and a pint jar. I ended up using all three. The half-pint in the jar will probably go into the next batch of soup or stew.
 |
| From Hungarian Pepper Sauce |
The sauce was the perfect topping for my late lunch of white beans and ham, served in Margie's pottery bowl. Very tasty.
We have five Tabasco plants that need to be harvested before frost. I'm sure I won't come close to the flavor of my very favorite sauce, Tabasco Sauce, because I would not know where to begin with the aging process they use. But, I'll have fun coming up with my own take on it. Next!
