The Domestic Engineer: sauce

Hello everyone!! My, my it sure has been a while. So much for my new years resolution, right? Things have been busy over here in my neck of the woods. I am finishing up school and preparing to graduate in May.
Note: Just because a class is online, doesn't make it automatically easier. Just easier to forget about sometimes.
I'm also taking a Wilton Cake Decorating class with hopes to be AWESOME in the very near future.
So aside from the normal routine and my last semester of schooling (ever?) I have been feeling kinda sick lately. Some sort of head/nose/throat sort of thing. I would love to say "it's going around", but unfortunately I don't know anyone else right now with similar symptoms. Let me just say that I am TIRED of coughing and having a sore throat.

So here I am, back in lovely bloggy-land. I have missed it. I wanted to bring with me a tasty recipe to welcome Spring in with (now that we're getting some rain here in Cali, naturally- whatever!).
This recipe is pretty versatile. Use whatever soda you want (strawberry cola is probably gross- but you won't know until you try it!) I left out the steak sauce from the original recipe because we never have that stuff in our house. Feel free to add some if you want. Start with a little and taste it. You can always add more!
I also like some sweetness in my BBQ sauces, so if you are like me with that, add in a tbl or 2 of brown sugar. Yummy!

Soda BBQ Sauce
(adapted from a recipe from the Barbeque Bible Sauces Rubs and Marinades)

1 c. soda
1 c. ketchup
1/4 c. worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. onion flakes
1 tsp. garlic powder or flakes
1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

Combine all of the ingredients in a medium sized nonreactive saucepan and slowly bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring everything to mix well. Reduce the heat to keep the sauce at a simmer and reduce it by a quarter. So, 3/4 of the original volume should be left. Use right away. We loved it over brisket, but chicken would be delicious too!

Being a California girl, I wasn't really sure what pepper vinegar was when I first stumbled upon a recipe for it.
How did I stumble across a recipe for pepper vinegar? Well, in anticipation of planting a variety of hot pepper plants, I began searching for recipes to utilize them. Why grow 6 different hot peppers with no plans to USE any of them?
When I first found this recipe I was intrigued, to say the least. I looked up other versions of pepper vinegar. I remembered going to St. Louis for a couson's wedding and seeing a bottle of what must have been -pepper vinegar- in a Steak and Shake. Hmm...so these people were onto something that I wasn't.
These pepper recipes were part of why I started blogging when I did. I wanted to document recipes that I tried and made up. Some have been good, some have been not so good. But this pepper vinegar has been great.

Hubby and I have put it on stuffed bell peppers and on pasta. There are definite plans to put some on pizza next time we make that too. It's peppery- that's for sure, but not as hot as you might think it should be since it has cayenne peppers in it. It's also vinegar-y (sp?), go figure. Perfect replacement for the bottled hot sauce we had sitting in the fridge. As you can see in one of my pictures, we dumped the hot sauce in favor of some pepper vinegar. The other bottles are those small wine bottles you find in the store in packs of 4. I love using those when a recipe calls for about a cup of wine- no need to open up a whole bottle!

Any bottle you want should work, so long as you can wash it well and the neck is wide enough to shove peppers through. Take also into consideration how well it pours. We found those wine bottles don't pour as easily as we would like. It's all worth it though. :)

This pepper vinegar needs to sit in the cupboard or the fridge for 2 weeks, ideally before use. This gives the vinegar time to absorb that yummy flavor. And now that the weather is starting to cool off (at least around my parts), it's time to figure out what to do with all of those last peppers before the cold destroys them! This recipe is perfect!

Of course, you could just go to the grocery store and grab some peppers there. Bring the bottle you plan to use (empty!) so you can get an idea of how many peppers you'll need.
Onto the recipe...

Pepper Vinegar

(recipe from MostlyCajun.com)

Hot peppers (cayennes, serranos, jalapenos, etc.)

Distilled white vinegar (Try apple cider vinegar for a fun twist!)

bottles (clear is fun so you can see the peppers inside)

Wash, and sterilize in a hot water bath if you so desire, the bottles and lids (and a funnel).
Wash the peppers and let dry, or gently dry with a towel. Cut off the stem and slice in half (or in quarters if a half is too big to fit through the neck of the bottle).
Stuff the peppers into the bottle. You want them to all fit in nicely, but not too snug because otherwise, the vinegar won't be able to get around all of them. You can get creative here and put the peppers in different orders to make fun patterns. I found a chopstick was very handy in getting the peppers right where I wanted them. Make sure there is empty space in the neck above the peppers. This ensures they can all be covered completely with vinegar.
Warm up some vinegar. You have to estimate how much you'll need. If you are making several bottles, I recommend following the directions here on how he heated up the vinegar. Since I did one or 2 small bottles at a time, I put some vinegar in a glass liquid measuring cup and popped in in the microwave for 45 to 60 seconds.
Pour the vinegar into the bottles with the help of a funnel. Once the tops of the peppers are covered, oh so gently shake the bottle to release any air pockets. Fill up some more, but make sure to leave some head space in the top.
These little beauties need to sit away from direct sunlight for at least 2 weeks. Put them in a cupboard or in your fridge. I'm making some for Christmas gifts. Yum!

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