The Queen of Hot Sauce

The chilli phase still continues in the Driftwood Vegan household and the latest episode involved Phil and I having a chilli sauce 'cook off'.  To be honest I didn't think I was in with a chance. When it comes to anything hot and spicy, Phil is King.  However, to be fair, and for that reason, I rarely even try to cook anything that way inclined.  So I thought I'd give it a go and I even startled myself with the result. 

 

It was to be a chilli sauce war of two sides; taste versus heat.  That isn't to say that I was going to shy away from heat; I just wanted to make sure that the taste wasn't drowned out by the sound of swearing.  I wanted a sauce that I was brave enough to dollop on the side of my plate and get stuck into. 

 

My weapons of choice from our collection of Dom's chillies were the Hot Scotch chillies; 2 of them.  Phil commented that this might still produce quite a hot sauce but then chose the Orange Habanero chillies as his preferred weapon.  As Hot Scotch measure 55,000 on the Scoville index and Orange Habanero are significantly more at 250,000 I failed to see the relevance of Phil's comments.  It turns out neither did Phil as he had actually misread the details Dom had sent us and thought he was dealing with 100,000 heat instead.  He only discovered this after tasting his resulting sauce and wondering why it seemed warmer than expected.  'All is fair in love and sauce', were my thoughts as I watched a little sweat break out on his brow. 

 

Of course I was bound by the terms of agreement to taste his creation as well, otherwise we wouldn't be able to make a fair decision on who reigned 'supremo chilliano' in the sauce department on this particular day.  A slight profanity expelled from me as I tasted and then searched for the 'taste of orange heat' he was describing to me.  We were looking at a Stage 8 situation on the Scoobville Scale here so I was struggling with this just a little.  It wasn't my favourite he had made; that remained his test sauce, but through the heat I could still detect and appreciate the complexities of this particular creation.

 

Then it was on to tasting my first chilli sauce effort.  I let Phil at it first and watched in wonder as a surprised sound and expression emanated from him.  He liked it, he liked it a lot but would it feature high on the Scoobville Scale and disappoint my taste buds?  I apprehensively went in for a tasting.  There was heat but there was also a whole load of taste.  It was about Stage 4 on the Scoobville.  I was happy with that, especially as Phil had to concede that today, I surprisingly reigned as the Queen of Hot Sauce.

Scooby's Scotch Sauce
(Makes about a ketchup bottle's worth)

1 cooking apple (peeled, cored and diced)
1 small onion (diced)
2 Scotch Bonnet chillis (de-seeded and diced)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon of Dijon Mustard (mine had Herbs De Provence in it)
75ml apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon tomato puree
150ml water

Put all the ingredients in a small pan and bring to the boil.  Simmer until soft and mushy then blend and bottle.

Phil's Orange Habanero Sauce
(Makes about a ketchup bottle's worth)

2 medium sized Orange Habanero chillis
2 medium carrots diced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
150ml apple cider vinegar
150ml water

Roast the chillis in the oven for 15 minutes at 200 degrees C then remove the pith, stalk and seeds.  Boil the diced carrots in the 150ml of water with the salt and garlic for about 15 minutes or until soft and the water is well reduced.  Blend the chilli, carrot and vinegar together and bottle.

Judge for yourselves and enjoy!