Oh, the joys of hot sauce.
Y'all might enjoy a brand called Cholula. I found it useful in cooking, mixed with black beans, chili, rice, whatever. Whereas Tabasco I use as a table sauce, on sandwiches and other food that's already been prepared.
Then there's the classic Southern hot pepper vinegar. For that you need some really hot fresh peppers and a shaker bottle. You stuff the bottle mostly full of peppers, add vinegar, cap it and let it set a week or three. Great on greens and sandwiches.
I have even taken to making my own hot sauce! I call it FrankenSauce because it's a dangerous and unholy concoction, but it's yummy in cooking, and if thinned with vinegar it makes a good table sauce too. This is how it works:
~1 cup of fresh, RED hot peppers (tabasco or "thai" type)
a fresh carrot
garlic
white onion
salt
key lime juice (of course!)
white vinegar or apple cider vinegar
All you do is chop the onion, carrot (or two), garlic (lots of it), and throw it in the blender with all the peppers. Pour in a cup or so of the vinegar, a half cup or so of lime juice, and a generous shake of salt (I use sea salt, I like the flavor a lot better). PUT THE LID ON VERY TIGHTLY. Hit "Puree." Let it run til it really IS pureed. DO NOT INHALE WHEN YOU TAKE THE LID OFF THE BLENDER. If it's too thick, add either more lime juice or more vinegar. Too much lime juice might make this sauce prone to spoil though, so use good judgement; I usually thin with vinegar.
I keep this sauce bottled and it does not spoil. I expect the peppers, vinegar and salt kill any bacteria that dares to poke its head through the door! It's great for "warming up" anything from chili to chicken stew, the flavor's very nice. For more heat, leave the carrots out of the recipe or use habaneros maybe. I'm not sure of the technical name of the peppers I use for this, my Granny LaBerta grows 'em in her yard and I think they're probably similar, or the same thing as, "thai hot" peppers. You can order seeds for these by mail. :-) They're small, bright shiny red, and quite dangerous!!!
craving hot snack foods now,
Mare
About a cup of Ground Cumin (I buy the Badia brand from the Mexican food section of the store, very good and much cheaper than the standard brands in the spice section).
About a half cup of Ground Sage (this is the green).
A generous addition of Montreal Steak Seasoning
A couple spoonfuls of Powdered Turmeric
A little Dill if I have it (more green)
Dried Oregano, as much as I feel like adding
Some extra Sea Salt
I use my smoker. Got a Weber Smoky Mountain but any good smoker grill would work.
I get "Pork Shoulder Roast" (also known as pork butt) and then mix up my Green Rub, which consists of:
Ground Sage
Dried Oregano
A handful of McCormick's "Montreal Steak Seasoning" (this has salt, pepper, and several natural spices in it, and is great for a lot of things, highly recommended).
A LOT of Ground Cumin
A little Turmeric
And a bit of Sea Salt if I don't think the steak seasoning provided enough.
I mix all that in a bowl, using enough sage, oregano, and cumin so that the mixture looks rather greenish. The cumin's probably the most important thing in the mixture.
The meat gets rubbed and coated heavily with this stuff. I don't trim the fat off the meat, but will separate it a bit and put the rub mixture in the pocket between meat and fat.
Then into the smoker it goes, at about 200º to 250ºF. Usually the temp on mine hovers right around 220º. I use hickory chips for the smoke, because that's what's available here. Check on it and add charcoal or chips, if needed, every 3 or 4 hours. The pork is done when I can stick a big fork in it and it easily splits apart. This can take a very long time and I generally end up adding some charcoal before bed and leaving the meat in the smoker overnight. Then I have a wonderful pulled pork breakfast the next day.
The only problem I have with this recipe is that it's hard to keep any of it for myself. When word gets out that I've made pulled pork, folks come outta the woodwork to get at it.
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