Homemade Hot Sauce

 The darker sauce is the chipotle and the lighter is pequin.   You can easily go to the supermarket and buy chilies but who knows how long they have been sitting on the shelves.  Since the recipe for both of these have very few ingredients, quality is the most important factor.  I am lucky enough to have a Penzey's spices retail store not to far from home however they have an excellent mail order service if you don't.

You can tell a quality dried  chili by the smell as well as the feel.  When you open the package it should not be too brittle, they should have a leathery sticky texture. I also used local garlic from the Garden of Eve.  I don't remember the type but it superior to the commercial varietal from stop and shop.  Once you see how easy this is to make, there is no reason to buy any bottled hot sauce in the store.  Being that there are dozens of dried chilies on the market these days the sky is the limit.  Just substitute different chilies and vinegars and find a combo you love.  I cant wait to toss these with a few fried wings tomorrow!



Pequin Sauce

1. 1/2 cup dried pequin chilies
2. 6 cloves of garlic
3. 1 cup distilled vinegar
4. 2 tbs cider vinegar
5. 1/2 cup water
6. 1 tsp salt
7. 2 tbs of paprika

chipotle sauce

• 4 chipotle chilies
• 3 cascabel 
• 2 Guajillo
• 1 tbs aleppo pepper
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 2 tbs pequin chilies
• 1 cup distilled vinegar
• 1/2 cup water

1. Stem and seed the large chilies (not necessarily for pequins) cut up and grind in spice grinder.  Toast in a small pan until fragrant.  Add 1/2 cup of water and stir for 5 seconds.  
2. Put all ingredients in a blender and puree for a while.  you want as smooth a texture as you can get so keep it running for 2-3 min.
3. Push sauce through a fine mesh sieve and store in the fridge for up to a year.