ok i'm finally onto it. for years i've been trying to copy a oaxacan street food vendors hot chili basting sauce. it appeared simple enough. baskets of fresh peppers. a crude but effective 'mortar and pestle.' (big aluminium bowl-perhaps a truck hubcap- and a curved chunk of wood). limes. plump purple heads of garlic. and three identical looking sacks of white granular powders....
salt, suger, msg??? she'd rock the wood chunk back and forth pulverizing the garlic and peppers, sprinkle the mush with magic powders, squeeze in lime juice and keep mashing it up together until it looked like bright red ketchup. they'd smother this on skewered whole chickens, back bones removed and bodies flattened. then grilled and basted. perhaps the tastiest chicken i've ever had. and certainly the spicey hottest.
my attempts at making this sauce at home have failed miserably. the store bought hot peppers available here are mostly green serrano's, the ubiquitous jalapeno, and yellow-orange habanero. i'm 100% sure they were not using the habanero in oaxaca. so shit out of luck from the start not being able recreate the fiery bright red sauce.
year two of my greenhouse pepper production revealed the serrano's transition from full size green fruit to bright red after a 3-4 hot weeks. this transition is accompanied by growing flavor and heat intensity along with a profound change in texture. they get mushy. my guys are just getting there. can't wait till i have a pile of them.
year two of my greenhouse pepper production revealed the serrano's transition from full size green fruit to bright red after a 3-4 hot weeks. this transition is accompanied by growing flavor and heat intensity along with a profound change in texture. they get mushy. my guys are just getting there. can't wait till i have a pile of them.
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