5 Ingredients or Fewer

Anyu's Hot Sauce

by:
November  8, 2018
4.7
3 Ratings
  • Prep time 20 minutes
  • Cook time 3 hours
  • Makes 8-12 pints
Author Notes

My family ran on the power of a spicy, thick tomato relish my grandmother canned every summer. Anyu's Hot Sauce accompanied sausages (who needs catsup?); made a savory dip when spooned over a block of cream cheese and served with crackers; and formed the sauce layer of her famous Hungarian pizza. I even caught her spreading it on bread to make a PB&HS sandwich!
Alas, I can no longer digest the onions, but I don't want to keep this precious elixir to myself. When I found a photocopy of the recipe (including all the tomato spatters) in a file folder recently, I knew it was time to share.
Quantities and yields are approximate. —Windischgirl

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 20 large tomatoes
  • 6 medium yellow or white onions
  • 12 hot red peppers (Hungarian hots)
  • 5 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 4 cups white vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons salt
Directions
  1. Peel tomatoes (dip into hot water to loosen skins if needed) and cut into chunks, placing into a heavy-bottomed dutch oven or stock pot. Chop onions and add to tomatoes.
  2. Chop peppers, wearing rubber gloves to protect your hands. Add peppers, and their seeds, to the tomato mixture. Stir in the sugar, vinegar, and salt.
  3. Place the pot over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring, then turn down to low, to just a bare simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking or burning, until the mixture thickens to a jam-like consistency. This will take a few hours.
  4. In the meantime, wash and sterilize your pint canning jars. When the hot sauce is thick to your liking, pour it hot into the jars, wipe the rims of the jars clean, then top with lids and rings. Put in a draft free place to cool and seal (Anyu would use a cold oven and place jars on the racks). Conversely, the hot sauce can be spooned into 2-cup freezer containers, and once cooled, can be frozen for storage. Opened (or thawed) hot sauce will keep in the fridge for several weeks.
  5. Please share your creative applications with me!
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2 Reviews

ZsuzsiBear
ZsuzsiBear January 31, 2022
Oh hey, I am Hungarian! ... This sounds like a fun sauce. Do you know where your Anyu got the recipe from? Which part of Hungary is she from? Anyu is your grandma, right? I love it how she ate it with peanut butter. She sounds cool.
 
Windischgirl
Windischgirl January 31, 2022
Hi Zsuzsi! I love your name.
Anyu (which really means Mom in Hungarian) was my grandma…I guess when I heard my mom talk to her I picked up on the name, and then the whole neighborhood started calling her that. She was really cool, and she would always tell you the truth…even if you didn’t want to hear it! I miss her so much.
I have no idea where the recipe came from (I’ll ask my mom). My family is from the far western edge of Hungary, a mile from Austria on one side and Slovenia on the other. The province is called Vas Megye. There were a lot of Germans of Austrian heritage there, which is where I got my name; they called those folks ‘Windisch’ or ‘Wendisch’…so I’m kind of a Heinz57 Hungarian: a little Austrian, a little Slovenian, a dash Hungarian, a spoonful Prekmurian, and we suspect a scoop of Turkish from the Ottoman Empire!