I started making this sauce after discovering TryMe Tiger Sauce on a trip to Door County last year. I was kinda liking it on take and bake pizza, but was wondering if there was a way I could make it at home, and better?
On that same trip, I scored a couple of boxes of old(er) cook books for $10, including two copies of Outerbridge’s ‘Original Sherry Peppers Sauce Cookbook’, which was filled with interesting ways to use the stuff; so I did a little digging on da Google and came up with this recipe; which I love.
A little bit spicy, a little bit sweet, and, trust me, I put this on and in just about everything I make.
Good thing it’s dead simple to toss together, with ingredients most kitchens probably have on hand anyway. Well, OK, Tamarind nectar? Check the Hispanic foods section of your market; 12 ounce cans run about 2/$1 – truly, the sliced hot cherry peppers are harder to find.
INGREDIENTS
•32 oz hot sliced cherry peppers, drained*
•1/2 cup juice from the peppers
•2 (12 oz) cans tamarind nectar
•2 jalapeños, sliced
•3 cups water
•2 cups white vinegar
•3-3/4 cups sugar
•4 tsp sea salt
•1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
•2 tbsp hot sauce
•1-1/4 cup sherry
•2 pkg (1-3/4 oz) pectin
*Jarred whole cherry peppers will work here, too, just remove the stems.
A note on the spicy: this is a zippy sauce, but not too, too hot – a nice batch of sherry peppers chicken wings‘ll make your mouth a bit tingly, but won’t send you running for a large glass of milk to cool the fire…
unless…
mebbe I should try making this sauce with some of my own Perky! Pickled Peppers?
Hmmm…
But, back to the sherry peppers!
Stir all the ingredients together in a large pot and boil over medium-high heat.
Reduce the heat and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring often.
Transfer the sauce, in batches, to a blender and purée or, much more better, take an immersion blender to the whole batch in the pot and blend until mostly smooth – there will be some bits of peppers that remain, which is fine.
You’ll end up with about six half pints of sauce, which you can transfer to prepared canning jars and process for 15 minutes in a boiling water bath.
That’s all there is to it!
A bit over an hour’s work, and you have a nice stash of this very versatile condiment on your pantry shelves.
How versatile?
Well, I slosh it on top of pizza, and have already noted it makes nice chicken wings; but check it out with stir-fried eggplant; and langostinos, and short ribs. I have also found it to be quite a fine addition to cauliflower curry, even when I’ve overdone it with the ground cloves. Make a batch or three yourself, and see if you don’t start to add it to just about everything.