Free The Hot Sauce Cookbook by Robb Walsh

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    When the chiles have fermented, pour the chiles and brine into a steel bowl. Wearing food handlers’ gloves, swish each chile around in the brine until all the seeds fall off, then put the chile in a food processor or blender. When all the chiles have been seeded, pour the brine through a strainer to remove the seeds. Add the brine and the vinegar to the chiles and purée for several minutes into a very smooth liquid mash. Put the mash in a sealed container in the refrigerator. The fermentation will slow down, but don’t be alarmed if the mash continues to fizz a little.
    Use the mash to make Homemade Sriracha Sauce , Homemade Pepper Sauce , or put it on the table in a jar and use it straight. Because the mash is fermented, it will keep for several months in the refrigerator.
    Mash in a Fermentation Crock: Increase the amount of chiles as desired to fit the capacity of your crock and use 2 tablespoons pickling salt per pound. Add spring water to cover the chiles, then put your weights on top and proceed as directed.
    Fermented Pepper Mash with Seeds (sambal oelek): Don’t remove the seeds from the fermented chiles. Just put the chiles and seeds in a blender with the brine and process them into a paste.
    Huy Fong–Style Garlic Chile Paste: Combine 1 cup of the Fermented Pepper Mash with Seeds (sambal oelek) with 1 tablespoon minced garlic, 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon sugar, and a pinch of salt. Taste and adjust the seasonings as needed. This will last for several months in the refrigerator.

HOMEMADE PEPPER SAUCE
    ——— Makes about 1 cup ———
    Louisiana-style pepper sauces are made with the same basic ingredients—fermented chiles, salt, and vinegar. The salt is already there from the fermenting brine, so all you have to add is vinegar. If you want your sauce to taste just like the commercial stuff, use distilled white vinegar. But if you try rice vinegar, white wine vinegar, or cane vinegar, I am willing to bet you will be amazed by the flavor. You will probably want to make your homemade, private label pepper sauce a little less vinegary than the commercial varieties as well.    +   The strainer method yields a pepper sauce that is a little thinner than some commercial sauces. To make thicker sauces, like Crystal or Sriracha, use a seedless mash.    +   You can serve your pepper sauce at the table in any sort of bottle or jar, but to impress your friends and family, I suggest you buy a set of glass vinegar and oil cruets with metal shaker tops and fill them with your hot sauces. You can make several versions and label the bottles with stickers to keep them straight.
    ½ cup Fermented Pepper Mash
    ⅓ to ½ cup cane vinegar, sherry vinegar, rice wine vinegar, seasoned rice wine vinegar, or other vinegar
    Combine the mash and the vinegar in a blender and purée together. Pour the mixture through a strainer, pushing against the mesh with a wooden spoon to extract as much pepper flesh as possible. Scrape the bottom of the strainer to get all the pepper solids. Discard the skins and any residue left in the strainer.
    Put the sauce in a glass cruet with a metal dispenser top and label it with a date. The finished sauce will keep for several months in the refrigerator.
    You can use your fermented pepper mash to make homemade versions of popular pepper sauces, or you can concoct your own proprietary blend. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
    Frank’s RedHot–Style Pepper Sauce: Purée a half clove of garlic (or more to taste) with ⅓ to ½ cup pepper mash and ½ cup vinegar in a blender.
    Texas Pete–Style Pepper Sauce: To make a vinegary pepper sauce like Texas Pete, use ⅔ cup vinegar to ½ cup pepper mash.
    Crystal-Style Pepper Sauce: To make a thicker pepper sauce like Crystal, use ⅓ cup vinegar to ½ cup pepper mash.
    Asian-Flavored Pepper Sauce: Add ⅓ cup to ½ cup seasoned rice wine vinegar with garlic to ½ cup pepper mash.
    Sriracha Sauce: See recipe .

HOMEMADE