6029

I tried my own (lightly) fermented hot sauce a month or so ago. One thing I loved is that it used less vinegar and the fresh pepper taste came through very strongly. The bad thing was that the peppers themselves (a garden grown variety) were very vegetal and a little overpowering. I might have picked them too green. I dunno.

I plan on trying again with some jalapeños or some other more conventional pepper.

A few years back I made an all dried chile hot sauce and it was good but I disliked the strong vinegar flavor. I’ll probably give it another shot soon because I’ve got a lot dried chilis that are reaching the end of their shelf life.

FWIW I’ve tried subbing in apple cider vinegar and I wasn’t totally sold on. Give it a shot though. YMMV. Lots of people seem to like it.

6030

Thank you, @nKoan. How did you do the fermentation?

-xtien

6031

I don’t make hot sauce but I know some that do. I’m guessing you just used white distilled vinegar? Apple cider might be a bit sweeter, but not always. It honestly depends on the brand. You could also reduce the white a bit and sub in just a touch of something like wine vinegar or even balsamic. If you need it more neutral in flavor, white rice vinegar fits that bill.

But I would just reduce what you added, but sweeten your sauce just a touch with a little sugar.

I took this from some random site, but a few shows and books talk about it as well, balance your flavors a bit:

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6032

I took it from the Sriracha Cookbook, which I don’t have handy in front of me right now, so I don’t have the exact proportions, but the gist of it is to grind up peppers, garlic, sugar and salt into a paste (and garlic powder maybe?). Put it into a sanitized jar, covering loosely and let it sit for a week, stirring to mix every day. Remove any fuzzy mold that forms before stirring (none formed at all for me). After a week, simmer with a little bit of white vinegar for a few minutes. You can blend it again and pass it through a mesh filter for a smoother consistency.

I’ve read online that some people will let the sauce sit for a month or longer.

6033

Thank you, nKoan!

-xtien

6034

Yes. I am finding that it’s just too…abrasive? I think I just used too much.

I appreciate that chart, Skipper.

-xtien

6035

As practice for the BlizzCon feast I’ll be preparing next weekend for some of my local friends, and to feed my family while briefly visiting this past weekend, I made a shit-ton of Korean food:

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The first day, we had (clockwise from the top) oi muchim (spicy cucumber salad) without onions, japchae (vegetable stir fry made with sweet potato starch noodles), sigeumuchi namul (spicy seasoned spinach), sticky white rice, chicken bulgogi (KR BBQ, made with carrots and onions), corn and flour tortillas, a lime-and-sriracha crema, beef bulgogi (KR BBQ, made with just carrots), oi muchin with onions, algamja jorim (sweet-and-salty braised baby potatoes), and a spicy Asian slaw with a red pepper zing.

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The main goal was to assemble “street food/food truck”-style Korean BBQ tacos using the tortillas, slaw, BBQed meats, and crema. These were super tasty :-D

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The next night, I added, clockwise from the right, steamed edamame (soybean pods tossed with salt), a spicy-sweet-and-salty glaze for the. . . dakgangjeong (Korean fried chicken), and some yachaejeon (vegetable pancakes made with ginger, scallions, and zucchini). Everything else is from the prior night.

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My final plate of Korean leftovers and fresh stuff :-D

6036

No kimchi?!

6037

My parents were positive they wouldn’t like it, my girlfriend knows she doesn’t, and it didn’t seem worthwhile to buy a whole jar for myself for two meals. Alas.

6038

Time to find a new girlfriend and get adopted by a nice korean couple.

6039

Kimchee keeps in the jar for quite a while (in the fridge). And you can get creative if you want. Kimchee quesadillas are amazing.

6040

My folks live in TN, and I went straight to a concert after getting back to the NC yesterday evening. I know kimchi is fermented, but I didn’t quite trust it to weather 14+ hours in a car… I’ll be buying plenty of it for Blizzcon, though!

6041

I missed that important detail about cooking while traveling.

6042

It’d have been fine.
Kimchi is invincible. The biggest danger would have been that it might have bubbled some stuff out of the jar.

6043

Yeah, you basically take cabbage, garlic, chili flakes, and salt, put it in a tupperware with the lid cracked, and leave it in the basement for a couple weeks. That’s how you make kimchi.

6044

Since I live in Florida and we have no basements, I guess I’m SoL. :(

6045

Under the kitchen cabinet can work, too :).

The burping/bubbling thing is legit though; put down some paper towels, lol.

It’s a little much for me to make from scratch on top of everything else I do with this menu, but the process seems pretty easy, all things considered.

6046

When I use vinegar I consider them this way:

Chemical: White vinegar

Food ingredient: All the rest.

I use white vinegar for cleaning and in the place in the dishwasher for spot removers like Jet Dry or Finish. It’s basically pure acetic acid and water. I mean you wouldn’t use pure citric acid and water as lemonade, right? /pedantry

6047

Damn that is a Korean feast, man!

6048

I use white vinegar similarly. In a spray bottle cut with water for cleaning, since I have a friend who had a chemical injury and cannot abide most chemical cleaners. It’s still weird to use for cleaning because it just makes the places I clean smell like salad dressing, which is counter intuitive. Mainly because we are used to the blue stuff and the chemical way that smells.

Nevertheless, white vinegar still does have some cooking applications. Like for pickling and whatnot. So you cannot rule it out completely as food.

While I appreciate the snark, Rich, I’d appreciate some advice on what to use as an alternative in hot sauce a lot more. :)

-xtien