Reproduction Chile Sauce with the Secret Ingredient

I've researched condiment recipes as much as I can. These types of recipes are closely guarded secrets. Think Coca-Cola. They don't want a copy of that getting out.

I've always wanted to make my own chile sauce. Pardon the other writer's misspelling, as it should not be chili.

Some while ago, I had found a cookbook author, one Gisine Lemcke, who ran a cooking school in Brooklyn NY in the late 19th early 20th century.

Below is her recipe. It's use of green tomatoes will impart that slight tang that chile sauce has, and that ketchup does not have. Heinz Chili Sauce sells at a premium to Heinz Ketchup. Now you know why.

Preserving and Pickling
By Gesine Lemcke
New York: Appleton, 1919

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Preserving_and_Pickling/08pDAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1

Chili Sauce No 1

24 ripe tomatoes
15 green tomatoes
4 large onions
3 green peppers
4 tablespoonfuls of salt
2 tablespoonfuls sugar
1 quart of vinegar
1-2 tsp. cloves
1-2 tsp. allspice
1-2 tsp. ginger
1-2 tsp. cinnamon

Scald and free the ripe tomatoes from their skin and cut them in small pieces. Cut also the green tomatoes, the peeled onions and the green peppers, put all the ingredients in a kettle boil slowly 1 2 hours. 

Mrs. Lemcke, does not describe more than the above. Maybe this will cook to the correct consistency and not need a milling, but keep that in mind. Some bits are acceptable. I imagine Heinz removes the seeds from theirs as that would impart a bitter note.

If preserving with sodium benzoate, remember not more than .1%, that is .001 by weight. Add the benzoate after cooking, but before the pot reaches room temperature.

Date, Lime and Raisin Chutney

A recipe from around 1960, it is probably much older.

Key Lime Chutney with Dates Raisins

Cooking Time: ½ hour 

Preparation Time: ½ hour 

Category: Condiment

 Cuisine: Indian  

Source: Harvey Day

 Ingredients

2 lbs. Key limes

2 ozs. salt

4 ozs. raisins, seedless

8 fl ozs cider or malt vinegar 

4 ozs. dates, seedless 

1 oz. ginger

1 oz. garlic 

½ oz. chiles, red, dried, seeded stemmed

½ oz. mustard seed 

4 oz. jaggery (brown sugar, but palm sugar preferred)

 Instructions

 Dates scorch easily. Do not leave the pot unstirred

  Quarter limes, not all the way through. Rub with salt, put them in the hot sun for 3 days. Remove the salt. Remove the seeds.Slice the ginger on a mandoline as thinly as possible. Same for the garlic. Put the ginger, garlic,vinegar, mustard seed, brown sugar, raisins, and dates in a stock pot. Seed and stem the chiles wearing latex gloves. Add the limes, torn apart into the pot. Bring to a simmer on the lowest possible heat and cook, uncovered 30 minutes. Remove from the heat, cool to room temperature. Grind the contents in a food processor or food chopper. Bottle. Refrigerate

.Notes This may improve with age.

Mustard Made with Caper Vinegar - a strong flavor

I use capers in a recipe I created and posted about at this blog. When the jar of capers is empty, I save the vinegar that the capers had been packed in.

Today, I got out my Italian mortar and pestle and the following ingredients, pictured below.

Mustard flour, yellow and black mustard seed, capers in brine, shallot, powdered bay leaf, garlic, lemon and anchovies packed in olive oil.

This mustard is quite pungent. More so than Dijon. The liquid from the capers seems to lend extra strength to the mustard.

I had about 3 tbs. of mustard flour left in one of the bottles and started with that. The capers yielded about 100 mL of liquid. That turned out to be a lot of liquid.

I put 1/4 tsp. of salt and 1 tbs. of chopped shallot in the mortar and reduced that to a paste. Then I added about 1 tsp. of whole, drained capers and continued to reduce that to a paste. Once smooth, I added 1 tbs. of mustard flour and mixed it until it was thick. Next alternately, more caper liquid then more mustard flour was added. The trick here is to blend to a slightly thinner consistency (viscosity) than Dijon mustard as over a few days, the Caper Mustard will tighten up. 

Next I added 1/2 tsp. of sugar and 1/2 tsp. of powdered bay leaves. Mixing again, and adding more caper liquid and flour until I had used up the caper liquid, I must have used about 3 to 4 tbs. more of mustard flour before the recipe came together. At the end I added 1/2 tsp. of freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Wonderfully that made about 4 ozs. of mustard. When I first thought of using the caper brine, I searched for mustard, caper and variations on the 'net, but couldn't find a recipe similar to this one. So, for now, this is a one-of-a-kind condiment.

For those of you who like bright flavored mustards, this is the number. I suggest you use it anywhere you would use wasabi. It would lend itself to fish dishes, too.

Please note that this isn't as much as a recipe, as it is a guideline for making a powerfully flavored mustard. I did not use garlic or whole mustard seed in this recipe, this time. Please experiment and report your findings. Thanks.

Anchor Steam Beer Mustard

Anchor Steam Mustard
Qty. Ingredient
1 12 ounce bottle of Anchor Steam Beer
1 1/2 Cup Mustard powder
1/4 Cup Black Mustard Seeds
1/2 Cup Yellow Mustard Seeds
1 T. Curry Powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 Cup Golden Brown Sugar
1 Cup Marinated Red Peppers (see Cook's Note, below)


The night before you intend to make this recipe; open the Anchor Steam Beer, but do not drink it. Allow the beer to go flat in an open bowl.


Chop the marinated red bell pepper in a fine dice. Do not ask the size. You know it when you see it. Bruise the black and brown seeds. You can put all the seeds in a food processor and whir them for up to 30 seconds. Measure the Golden Brown Sugar, i.e., pack a cup to full. Measure 1 Tablespoon of curry powder.


As soon as the liquid is hot, add the mustard flour, add the curry powder and salt, stir to blend. Add the sugar, stir to blend, add the bruised Black and Brown seeds, stir to blend, again. Add the diced Red Bell Pepper. Stir. If the Mustard is getting too thick, add some liquid from the jar of marinated Red Bell Peppers. Taste for salt.


Allow to cool so as to bottle. Bottle when ready and age as long as you like, unrefrigerated, as this mustard keeps very well. To be honest, it ages. The older it gets the better it tastes but who can keep it around so long.


Cook's Note -- Mazzetta Brand Marinated Red Bell Peppers are a good brand. The curry powder should be one with a little punch as it will otherwise get overpowered by the amount of mustard.