Professional hot sauce maker Smokin’ Ed Currie, the founder and president of PuckerButt Pepper Company, returns to Epicurious to turn the dreaded 'Pepper X' into some of the world's hottest hot sauce.
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00:00 (breathing heavily)
00:03 I'm having a hard time breathing.
00:07 Excuse me.
00:08 I'm Smokin' Ed Curry.
00:17 I'm a professional hot sauce maker and pepper breeder.
00:20 And today we're gonna make the world's hottest hot sauce.
00:23 So the pepper I'm using in this sauce today is Pepperex.
00:27 And for those of you who don't know,
00:29 it's one of the line of peppers I bred
00:31 after we announced the Carolina Reaper.
00:33 Pepperex is approximately two times hotter
00:36 than the low average on the Carolina Reaper.
00:39 It's not for the faint of heart.
00:41 Eating straight Pepperex will make you vomit.
00:43 This is gonna be naturally
00:46 one of the world's hottest hot sauces.
00:48 The pepper in here is approximately
00:50 3.5 million Scoville heat units.
00:53 The pepper in here,
00:54 somewhere between 2.5 and 2.8 million Scoville units.
00:58 Once we add vinegar,
00:59 there's a dilution factor that comes in.
01:01 We're gonna use pepper powder and pepper oil
01:04 to kick it way back up again.
01:05 So the first one we're gonna use is the pureed Pepperex.
01:09 I put this through the purer back in our other kitchen
01:12 because I didn't wanna kill everybody here on the set.
01:14 This puree is very thick.
01:16 This is nothing but pureed peppers.
01:18 It is beautiful.
01:19 It's got,
01:20 oh, just that aroma.
01:23 That aroma from the peppers is unbelievable.
01:26 This is somewhere between 750 and 800 peppers
01:29 ground down into this.
01:31 This one is our Mean Green Mash.
01:33 It is 80% Pepperex, 20% vinegar.
01:37 The floral tones from the Pepperex in the puree
01:42 are overpowering.
01:44 The green has more of a earthy tone to it.
01:47 It tastes more like home cooking flavor.
01:50 It gives you much more versatility.
01:52 The next thing we're gonna do
01:53 is add some vinegar for acidity.
01:55 We're using 80% pepper and 20% vinegar.
01:59 This vinegar will bring the pH of the hot sauce down.
02:03 And once you get it below 4.2,
02:06 it'll inhibit the growth of bacteria and mold
02:08 that could really hurt you and damage your hot sauce.
02:11 I like to use an immersion blender.
02:13 You just give everything a stir.
02:18 The two have blended,
02:21 and that deep, dark, almost mustard color
02:24 that comes from the Pepperex
02:25 and the green from this
02:26 have given it kind of a lighter tone.
02:28 It looks more like a tan mud now.
02:31 I'm really scared, but I gotta give it a taste,
02:34 see how it goes.
02:36 When you're tasting superhots,
02:37 don't put the spoon in like a normal spoon
02:39 and pull it out of your mouth.
02:41 What that's gonna do is pull that capsaicin
02:43 back on your lips.
02:44 You don't want those lips going all poof.
02:47 So what you do, put the spoon in your mouth,
02:49 flip it upside down, then pull it out,
02:52 and the tongue and the roof of your mouth
02:53 take care of all the rest.
02:55 Whew.
02:59 That is, that's brutal.
03:02 I think for what we're gonna be doing,
03:04 we're gonna need to add a little more vinegar to it.
03:08 I think we are done with the pepper, though.
03:12 Yeah, give me a sec.
03:14 That's (beep) brutal, excuse me.
03:18 We talked about acidifying the product.
03:20 You can also acidify using citrus.
03:22 You just have to use a whole lot more of it
03:24 than you do vinegar.
03:25 But the lime enhances the flavor of the hot sauce,
03:28 and it plays a little trick on the body.
03:30 It also accelerates the reaction we perceive as heat.
03:33 (beep)
03:34 - How you doing?
03:35 (beep)
03:36 - Burning up, man.
03:37 That (beep) was hot.
03:37 (beep)
03:38 So we've added a little citric acid into there.
03:40 Before we stir it up, I'm also gonna talk about salt.
03:43 This is kosher salt.
03:44 Depending on what I want my flavor to taste like,
03:47 I either use black salt or some pink Himalayan.
03:50 I'm looking for a more earthy tone, a more green tone.
03:53 I'll use pink Himalayan salt.
03:54 If I wanna do something with fruit,
03:56 the charcoal helps bring down the sweetness in the fruit
03:59 so it's not overbearing.
04:01 But for all around and doing stuff at home,
04:03 this is the one you wanna work with.
04:05 Boom, just a little bit of salt
04:07 brings out all the flavor of the pepper
04:09 and brings up the heat.
04:11 The next thing we're gonna do is add some pepper powder.
04:14 Don't sniff too close because now my nostrils are on fire.
04:18 Okay.
04:19 My wife's right, I am an idiot.
04:20 It's gonna give the sauce thickness.
04:22 It's also gonna give it a lot more heat.
04:24 That's a little bit of Reaper, a little bit of Pepper X,
04:27 a little bit of Pepper Wine, some Chocolate Bootle.
04:30 A mix of the four hottest peppers we grow.
04:33 I like having all those peppers in there
04:35 because it gives it a well-rounded flavor.
04:37 As this reconstitutes, it thickens up really well.
04:42 So now we have to test it.
04:44 Do we need to add more vinegar?
04:45 If you're bottling hot sauce that you're making
04:47 or even putting it in a jar, once it sets up,
04:51 you don't want it to be so thick
04:53 that it's not gonna come out.
04:54 This is gonna need a little more vinegar.
04:56 So now that we've added just four ounces of vinegar,
05:00 the consistency is more of a sauce now.
05:03 Our final pepper ingredient that we're putting into this
05:06 is a secret ingredient from Puckerbott Pepper Company,
05:09 and this is a pepper oil.
05:11 What that pepper oil is is a concentration of peppers.
05:14 We've measured different ones,
05:16 anywhere between 1.6 million
05:18 all the way up to 5.2 million Scoville heat units,
05:22 depending on the concentration of pepper
05:24 and how many times we boil it down.
05:26 The one that we're using right here is in the high threes.
05:29 It's probably 3.8, 3.9.
05:32 [blender whirring]
05:35 Holy smokes.
05:39 Again, I'm not looking forward to this.
05:45 [sighs]
05:47 The oil gives it a smokiness.
05:49 It gives it a really good flavor.
05:52 It gets into your bloodstream so fast
05:54 that you just get an endorphin rush immediately.
05:58 But I'm not satisfied that this is gonna be
06:00 the hottest sauce in the world.
06:02 Just not.
06:03 Even though I'm having a hard time breathing.
06:05 Oops.
06:08 Oh, I want more of an earthy tone.
06:11 [blender whirring]
06:15 What is coming off this pot is essentially pepper spread.
06:18 Okay, my eyes are watering, my nose is running,
06:21 my skin is burning.
06:22 [sighs]
06:29 I'm having a hard time breathing.
06:34 This is a really good hot sauce.
06:36 It by far makes the grade.
06:37 But I'm gonna kick it up a little bit
06:39 by adding a few aromatics.
06:40 Fresh ginger is amazing.
06:42 Ginger enhances the heat of the pepper.
06:45 All you gotta do is take the skin off,
06:48 give it a few chunks.
06:49 Same thing with turmeric.
06:50 Just take the skin off and put a few chunks in there.
06:55 There's nothing like a few fresh herbs
06:57 to go into your hot sauce.
06:59 Just cut off a few chunks.
07:01 A little bit of basil always gives an earthy tone
07:04 some brightness.
07:06 We gotta get it up to a minimum of 185 degrees.
07:11 What that does is kills the molds
07:13 that can still grow at room temperature.
07:17 And by pH-ing it, you're making sure it stays that way.
07:21 My skin is on fire.
07:23 I can still see there are tears in my eyes,
07:26 but that's just from the aroma.
07:28 Once this really starts boiling,
07:31 that's gonna get everywhere in the room.
07:33 I don't have a mask on, but you should have a mask on.
07:36 I just happen to like the breathing
07:37 that goes along with this.
07:38 So if you don't wanna use a pH meter,
07:41 you can always use a pH test strip,
07:43 which you can find online.
07:45 And then we see what color it turns,
07:47 and we match it to the back of the meter.
07:49 And it looks like the pH is gonna be
07:51 somewhere between 3.5 and 4.0.
07:55 Perfect.
07:55 When you're bottling hot sauce,
07:58 you can buy what's called a five ounce woozy and a funnel.
08:01 You can bottle your own hot sauce.
08:03 When you get the bottle, you gotta put the cap on,
08:06 and then you need to turn it over.
08:09 Depending on the pH of the sauce
08:11 will give you the time it needs to be turned over.
08:13 But in general, you can say for about six seconds.
08:15 What that does is kill anything
08:18 that might've been on the lid,
08:19 and it also super heats the air
08:22 that's still left inside that bottle.
08:24 We highly recommend that you follow
08:26 the food safety guidelines of your state and the FDA.
08:30 The instructions are online.
08:32 They're for your safety.
08:33 And if you follow them,
08:34 you're not gonna injure yourself or others
08:36 making homemade hot sauce.
08:38 So now that we've completed the hot sauce,
08:41 and it's cooled down a little to let those flavors melt,
08:44 the real way to try it,
08:45 to see if you're really gonna like it,
08:47 is to try it on food.
08:48 So I'm gonna try this hot sauce on some of this pizza.
08:52 Remember, I am a professional.
08:54 Don't do this at home.
08:55 Mm.
09:00 When I put it on food,
09:02 that initial blast of heat that I got
09:03 when I put it on a spoon wasn't there.
09:06 I got to taste the tomato sauce
09:11 that was on the pizza.
09:16 Now that I've swallowed,
09:18 there's a whole new dance going on in my mouth.
09:20 I am on fire.
09:21 And my lips hurt.
09:22 The side of my mouth,
09:24 the other side of my mouth,
09:25 the saliva glands on this side of my mouth
09:27 are just pumping out saliva.
09:29 And my whole body is telling me
09:31 that was just a big mistake.
09:33 Though it tasted really good.
09:34 You had more of the ginger tone came out
09:37 now that it's cooled down a little,
09:38 and you can finally taste the turmeric.
09:40 We went straight for the bullseye.
09:42 And this is by far one of the hottest sauces
09:45 I've ever made in my life.
09:47 So there it is.
09:48 We've made the world's hottest hot sauce.
09:50 This is a brutally hot, hot sauce.
09:52 The burn, when you take a full spoonful,
09:55 for me, is lasting over 10 minutes.
09:57 Please remember, if you're gonna do this at home,
10:00 start with something mild like a jalapeno.
10:03 You always need to go mild before you go wild.
10:07 This is for professionals only.
10:09 (upbeat music)