Author Notes
Chupacabra is the “Bigfoot” of the Sonoran desert, a semi-mythical, vampire like beast famous for killing and draining the blood of goats. I wanted to come up with a good tasting hot sauce that didn’t have a ridiculous macho name like “Set Your Scrotum on Fire” or “Sphincter Destroyer”. Why would you want to do either of those things? You can actually find brands like those in hot sauce specialty shops. But here we have something that is piquant rather than “break the fire extinguisher glass”. It is hot but not flaming hot. This is my own house label but feel free to experiment with your own favorite dried peppers. —pierino
Ingredients
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4
Dried New Mexico peppers
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4
Dried Japones (skinny Mexican peppers you can find in the Hispanic aisle of the supermarket) or substitute dried, red pepperoncini
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2
Dried Guajillos
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2
Dried Arbol peppers
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8
Dried bird peppers (or substitute fresh, tiny Thai peppers)
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1
clove garlic (minced)
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1 teaspoon
Sea salt
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1/2 cup
white vinegar
Directions
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Stem and remove the seeds from the first three pepper types.
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Mince the garlic.
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Place all the peppers in a large bowl and cover with boiling water. Let that rest for one hour. If using fresh peppers, don’t soak them.
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Drain off the soaking liquid from the peppers and discard as it has done its work. Place all of the remaining ingredients in a sturdy blender or food processor. Gradually bring the speed up to “liquefy”.
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Use a fine strainer set over a bowl to remove the solids. Funnel the contents into a bottle you can cork up.
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Place on your dining table.
Standup commis flâneur, and food historian. Pierino's background is in Italian and Spanish cooking but of late he's focused on frozen desserts. He is now finishing his cookbook, MALAVIDA! Can it get worse? Yes, it can. Visit the Malavida Brass Knuckle cooking page at Facebook and your posts are welcome there.
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