Homemade Hot Sauce

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Many chili cooks like to adjust the heat in their chili by adding various kinds of hot sauces. For the purists in the crowd who insist on making everything from scratch, here is our recipe for a homemade hot sauce. Any chiles of choice can be used. When substituting dry chiles for fresh ones, soak them in warm water for ½ hour to reconstitute them. For more body in this sauce, add the carrots. You can easily double or triple this recipe.

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup chopped onion

  • 2 cloves garlic, minced

  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

  • ½ cup chopped carrots (optional)

  • 10 small fresh hot chiles such as tabascos or piquins, chopped (or substitute 4 habaneros)

  • ½ cup distilled vinegar

  • 1/4 cup lime juice

  • Pinch salt

Instructions

In a saucepan, saute the onion and garlic in the oil until soft. Add the carrots (if used) with a small amount of water. Bring to a boil, reduce, the heat and simmer until the carrots are soft.

 

Place the mixture and the fresh chiles in a blender and puree the mixture until smooth.

Combine the puree with the vinegar, lime juice, and salt and simmer for 5 minutes to combine the flavors.

Strain the mixture into sterilized bottles and seal.

 

Basic Chili Powder

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You can substitute ground piquin, Santaka, or even habanero for the cayenne in this recipe.

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon ground cayenne

  • 1 tablespoon ground oregano

  • 1 tablespoon paprika

  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder

  • 1 teaspoon salt

  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin

Instructions

Place all ingredients in a spice mill and process until well mixed. Use immediately or store in a small, airtight jar.

 

Pods to Chili Powder

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This fresh chili powder should be ground immediately before adding it to the chili.

Ingredients

  • 4 ancho chiles, ground (see grinding instructions, above)

  • 4 piquins or other small hot chiles, ground

  • 2 tablespoons ground cumin seed

  • 1 teaspoon oregano

  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Instructions

Place all ingredients in a spice mill and process until well mixed. Use immediately or store in a small, airtight jar.

Whale Chili

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In 1989, Sheldon P. Wimpfen, of Luray, Virginia, wrote that he had been a chili cook for fifty-five of his seventy-five years and that fact makes him an expert on the subject. He lambasted us for our “mistaken tales” about the origin of chili con carne. He enclosed as his evidence the first recipe ever used for chili con carne, dating from approximately 15,000 B.C. The ancient recipe which follows was invented by the Alaxsxaq Indians of the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes on the Bering Land Bridge. He apologized in advance for any insult to whale lovers and wrote, “that’s just the way they cook up there.”

Ingredients

  • 3 tons red chile pods

  • 1 medium (50-foot) blue whale, cubed to fingertip size using razor-sharp ulus (a native knife)

  • 60 oogruk (seals), cubed to fingertip size using razor-sharp ulus

  • 30 tons onions, chopped fine using razor-sharp ulus

  • 1 ton garlic, minced using razorsharp ulus

  • 100 pounds sea salt

  • 600 pounds oregano

  • 400 pounds cumin

Instructions

Dig a bowl in the ice 40 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 10 feet deep. Place all ingredients in the ice bowl and mix well with dull ulus. Add water and fumarole-heated stones until the ice bowl is bubbling. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 weeks. Ladle leftovers into 5-gallon leather buckets and freeze in a glacier.

Cincinnati-Style Chili

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This chili is often served over spaghetti and is then called chili-mac or TwoWay chili. According to Floyd Cogan, “The proper way to make chili-mac is to place cooked spaghetti (al dente) on a plate and cover it with chili, with grated Parmesan cheese on top.”

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds coarsely ground chuck steak

  • 1 quart water

  • 1 cup chopped onions

  • 2 8-ounce cans tomato sauce

  • 4 cloves garlic, minced

  • 1/4 teaspoon powdered allspice

  • 4 whole cloves, crushed

  • 1 bay leaf, powdered

  • ½ ounce unsweetened chocolate

  • 3 tablespoons chili powder (or more for heat)

  • 2 tablespoons cider vinegar

  • 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

  • ½ teaspoon salt

  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin

  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

  • 1½ teaspoons sugar

  • 2 tablespoons flower mixed with 1/4 cup water

Instructions

Combine the chuck steak and the water and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients except the flour mixed with water and simmer for 3 hours.

Add the flour mixed with water, bring to a boil, and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and serve.