Bills game day recipes; Big Apple Hot Sauce for Bills at Jets

Whether it’s tailgating or homegating, fans of the Buffalo Bills are known to be elite tier when it comes to food. Wingin’ It returns for it’s eighth season of Mad Hatter-esque recipes taking inspiration from the Buffalo Bills and their opponents.

Big Apple Hot Sauce

I’ve toyed around with the idea of a hot sauce recipe plenty of times over the years and decided this was the season to finally make it happen. Maybe I’ll do other variants down the line, maybe I won’t. This Big Apple hot sauce can be followed pretty directly if you’d like, but check the tips below because as you’ll see how easy it is to make your own signature sauce.

As a quick heads up, hot sauces can be either fermented or unfermented, the latter of which isn’t much more complicated but is rather time-consuming. So this one is the faster unfermented.

Big Apple Hot Sauce

Makes: About two cups
Active Time: 10-20 minutes
Total Time: About two hours

Ingredients

1 cup vinegar
2 cups water
1/3 lb peppers (your choice)
1 big apple
1/2 large onion
4 – 5 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup carrots
1/4 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp clove
1 – 2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp hot honey

You may need: Medium saucepan, blender, food processor (optional), gloves (recommended)

1. Combine water and vinegar in saucepan and turn heat to MED.
2. Wash and chop peppers, all parts CAN be used except stems (see below).
3. Peel, core and slice apple.
4. Chop onions, garlic and carrots.
5. Add peppers, apple, onion, garlic, and carrots to sauce pan and bring to a simmer.
6. Stir in ginger, cloves, and honey and cover sauce pan.
7. Let simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
8. Remove from heat and allow to cool to about room temperature.
9. Add mixture to blender and puree (see below).
10. Return to saucepan and simmer.
11. Stir occasionally and reduce until sauce achieves desired consistency.
12. Allow to cool and serve as you would any other hot sauce.

Wingin’ It Tips and Prep Gallery

This is all very basic with no need to explain the pictures, so let’s just discuss some tips. First and foremost, I wasn’t very specific on three pretty important ingredients. The pepper, vinegar, and apple were all left as choose your own adventure ingredients. The apple isn’t even necessary for hot sauce, I just like to add in a fruit to balance the flavor profile. Peaches are fantastic for instance. If you’re trying to make this like I did, it was serrano peppers, distilled white vinegar, and a large Fuji apple.

The peppers are going to dictate the heat. I chose serrano because I wanted a green sauce for the Exorcist vibes and also because the Jets I guess. Serrano was the hottest green pepper at the store when I went. I used seeds and all for as much of the heat as I could get,...