Stocks & Sauces

Ultimate hot sauce recipe

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A small pot of Melissa Thompson's hot pepper sauce the recipe was originally printed in her book Motherland: A Jamaican Cookbook

Makes about 250ml

Ingredients

Method

  1. Wearing food-approved gloves, de-stem the Scotch bonnet chillies and remove the seeds unless you want the sauce to be extremely hot. Do not attempt this with bare hands.
  2. Heat the oil in a large pan over medium-low heat and add the Scotch bonnet chillies, garlic, red pepper, and onion. Sweat for 10-minutes without colouring.
  3. Then add the thyme, pimento, pepper, cinnamon, and salt, and cook for another 5-minutes. Add a splash more oil if needed.
  4. Add the remaining ingredients, bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 1-hour.
  5. Blend to your desired consistency, pour into sterilised glass containers, and seal while hot. It will keep for 3-months.

Shop the ingredients

Back in 2014, whilst working as a journalist Melissa hosted a monthly Japanese supper club from her home, which due to tremendous success was soon taking over kitchens in pubs and cafés across London. Melissa started developing recipes for brands, cooking, barbecuing and writing about the hospitality industry. She’s drawn to international flavours, especially the distinctive taste of the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, East and SouthEast Asia, and increasingly West Africa. Melissa runs Fowl Mouths, an online food and recipe project, and is a regular columnist for BBC Good Food, as well having her work featured in The Guardian, Vittles, Waitrose Magazine and more. She also chaired discussions for The British Library and Ladies of Restaurants, given in-house talks to corporations, and consulted about race, diversity and inclusion. Melissa is a straight talker and conversation starter, skilfully weaving her commentary of tough topics through her engaging stories of food.