The Hot Sauce Cookbook: The Book of Fiery Salsa and Hot Sauce Recipes

Title:  The Hot Sauce Cookbook:  The Book of Fiery Salsa and Hot Sauce Recipes

Author:  Rockridge Press

Publication Information:  Rockridge Press. 2014. 156 pages.

ISBN:  1623153654 / 978-1623153656

Book Source:  I received this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Favorite Quote:  "In fact, all over the world, different cultures have some kind of hot sauce ... A hot sauce is basically any spicy, pungent condiment that contains some type of chili combined with vinegar, oil, vegetables, fruit, and other spices."

The Hot Sauce Cookbook delivers exactly what it promises:

• 49 hot sauce recipes
• 27 food recipes using some of the sauces
• General tips for making hot sauce including ingredients, equipments, and techniques
• Discussion of pepper types and heat level

Part One of the book outlines the different types of chilis, presents a little history, and general guidelines for making hot sauce. The remainder of the book is organized by geographic areas:

• Central America and the Sourwest (12 sauces/salsa recipes, 6 food recipes)
• Louisiana (12 sauce recipes, 6 food recipes)
• West Indies and the Caribbean (10 sauce recipes, 5 food recipes)
• Asia  (10 sauce recipes, 5 food recipes)
• "Beyond" (5 sauce recipes, 5 food recipes)

Pros:

• The book includes recipes for some of our family favorites such as Sriracha, red hot saucy like Franks, Tabasco-style hot sauce, Sambal Oelek, Peri Peri, and Harissa.
• The ebook version has an interactive table of contents allowing a reader to jump to a particular recipe.
• The sauce recipes clearly note how long a sauce may be kept in the refrigerator or if it may be frozen. Since most of the recipes yield 2-3 cups, storage is important.
• Most of the sauce ingredients are basic ingredients such as onions, garlic, kosher salt, purified water, and vinegar. The most challenging part of some recipes may be finding the different types of chilis to try.

Cons:

• As not all chilis may be available in all areas, it would be helpful to know if certain types could be substituted in recipes.
• Most of the sauce recipes yield 2-3 cups of sauce which is a fairly large quantity. It would be helpful to have the recipe scaled to different yield amounts - maybe a cup of sauce.
• Some but not all of the sauce recipes indicate what foods these sauces may accompany well. It would be helpful to have a note with each recipe suggesting what the sauce may go well with.
• The discussion at the start of the book includes the scoville measurement of heat for each of the chili peppers described. It would be helpful to have some indication of heat to go with each of the recipes.
• The version of the book I received includes no pictures. A display of the different kinds of peppers or pictures to go with the food recipes using some of the sauces would really add to the enjoyment of this book.
• The version of the book I received includes no index. The inclusion of one would be a helpful addition even though this is a fairly short book.

My family and I are definite fans of hot sauce. I look forward to trying out more of the recipes in this book.

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