Comments on: Pepper sauce woes...

Question: Pepper sauce woes...

drstein — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 18:11:58 -0800

Help me find tasty things to do with this yummy pepper sauce.

I have a bottle of this pepper sauce and while it's delicious, I can't really think of any creative or tasty ways to incorporate it into another dish.

My food preferences tend to be a bit on the midwestern side of things. Seafood ideas are right out (allergies) and I love beef & chicken dishes.

Anybody have any ideas? I'm dying to add the sauce to *something* this week.

By: Good Brain

Good Brain — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 18:25:54 -0800

I wouldn't tend to add something like that to a dish. Instead I'd have it as a condiment, like mustard, or ketchup, or chutney. For example, I have some hot pepper sauce that I use as a condiment on sandwiches and burgers.

By: kimdog

kimdog — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 18:34:28 -0800

Ok... this may be trashy but I would totally make up a batch of extra spicy Chex Mix.

By: Dipsomaniac

Dipsomaniac — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 19:00:16 -0800

Yes, that does look like a condiment. If you want to put it in a dish I'd suggest making a marinade with that in it. Some oil (good olive oil, for preference), the sauce, some lemon juice. Experiment until it tastes good, but maybe start with 2/1/1 as a ratio. Then put chicken in half of it for 4 hours and use the other half as a brush-on while the chicken grills/BBQs.

By: Dipsomaniac

Dipsomaniac — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 19:01:05 -0800

Hmm, I should have said also maybe a touch of soy sauce, and make sure you mix it *really* well. In a blender, perhaps.

By: IvyMike

IvyMike — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 19:22:10 -0800

Hot sauce + honey = awesome with chicken.

By: jeremias

jeremias — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 19:25:00 -0800

I'm a pepper sauce freak, and one of the best places to use a good pepper sauce is added to good old fashioned baked macaroni and cheese. Yummm.

By: padraigin

padraigin — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 19:25:05 -0800

A dash of pepper sauce in macaroni and cheese (homemade, boxed, whatever) is a wonderful thing. It's also great in a cheese sauce poured over vegetables.

And of course, pepper sauce goes well with any egg dish.

You could try searching at Allrecipes. Search by ingredient using keyword "tabasco" or "hot sauce" and you're going to find some great ideas. This sounds like it would go great with cold beer.

Pepper sauces last almost indefinitely, so you can enjoy yours for a long time to come.

By: rhymesinister

rhymesinister — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 23:55:37 -0800

Some form of pasta arrabiata comes to mind - start a sauce with cream and add tomatoes and your pepper sauce. Cook down over a low flame until it achieves a nice consistency and add to pasta and what have you - I made it last week with strips of grilled skirt steak. The trick is to balance the heat of the pepper sauce with the cream.
Okay, I'm going to eat now...

By: click

click — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 23:57:58 -0800

First I would make a bloody mary with it and then while sipping that I would make a spicy corn/black bean/avocado/tomato salsa to eat with chips?

You could mix it in with ground meat for burgers?

By: Sallyfur

Sallyfur — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 01:10:59 -0800

Barbecue glaze:

1/2 jar ginger/garlic puree
1/2 stick melted butter
1/2 cup ketjap benteng manis*
1 tbsp hot sauce
1 tsp whole mustard seeds

*sweet Indonesian soy sauce, find it in the Dutch deli or the international food aisle. Conimex is a good brand.

By: xueexueg

xueexueg — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 04:30:54 -0800

By: drstein

drstein — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 11:27:06 -0800

I'm going to try the one I marked as "best answer" sometime this week. Making a marinate out of it sounds like a great idea. mmmm marinated sirloin...

By: paulsc

paulsc — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 11:53:08 -0800

Sonoran Chili

This is a terrific, savory chili that showcases good spices and ingredients, but "hides" very little. Some work, but can be on the table in an hour, start to finish.

Begin by starting brown rice. In a covered sauce pan, bring 14 oz can of beef broth and 6 oz of water to boil. Add 1 cup brown rice, 2 bay leaves, 1 tsp basil flakes, 1/2 tsp black pepper. When broth returns to boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover, and cook for 40 minutes, until liquid is fully absorbed.

Compound spices, in a small cup, mixing well.
1 tblsp chili powder (commercial or homemade)
1/2 tsp red cayenne pepper
1 tsp cracked black pepper
(or omit above 3 ingredients in favor of 1 & 1/2 to 2 tblsp of pepper sauce)
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin

Dice 1 medium sweet onion, 2-3 stalks celery, 1 medium carrot, together. Chop 1/2 cup of black ripe canned olives, and reserve packing juice.

In a large skillet, heat 2 tblsp of olive oil, and saute vegetables, cooking until onions begin to turn clear. Add 1 or 2 beef bullion cubes and 1 or 2 cloves crushed garlic, and then brown 1/2 lb. mild pork sausage and 1 lb cubed stew beef or chuck steak in oil and vegetable mixture. When meat is browned, add spice mixture along with 2 tblsp masa flour (or wheat flour, if you prefer), to browned meat mixture, and stir thoroughly, until all oil and fat are absorbed. Add 1/2 cup red wine, 1/2 cup of juice from the can of black olives, and 6 to 8 oz black coffee, stirring liquids in slowly to make a rich gravy. Reduce heat to simmer, cover meat, and cook until rice mixture is separately done. When rice is done, remove bay leaves and discard.

Just before serving, add 1 14 oz can of kidney or red beans to meat, then stir in cooked rice to meat and bean mixture. Add 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar, and 1 tblsp Worcestershire sauce, as you complete stirring.

Serve with grated cheese and oyster crackers, or over tamales.

By: hoboynow

hoboynow — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 12:08:45 -0800

You could put some in your cold beer, making a michelada. Linked recipe is overly elaborate for my taste, but at its core the michelada is just lager with hot sauce to taste. Maybe some lime, maybe salt on the rim. Works best with sauces that have a bit of body, which yours appears to have.

The way I understand it (and I'm not culinary expert, but read a lot about such things and love me a michelada*), the michelada is really a salted and perhaps limed beer, and often contains other things such as hot sauce.

*That said, the recipe linked to is my default michelada recipe. It's like drinking a refreshing steak. I just bought a huge 27 oz bottle of Maggi seasoning that will likely allow me to make around 2560 micheladas before I'll need a refill.