Diablo sauce - this year's version

Sunday was diablo sauce day. I made two versions, a nectarine and roasted corn salsa and an extra hot diablo sauce.

I had cayenne chiles ripening in the garden which I supplemented with some habernaros and jalapenos. First thing I did was smoke the chiles on the bbq at low temperature, using a combination of hickory and cherry.

For the nectarine and roasted corn salsa:
I roasted some corn on the bbq, letting the cobs brown nicely on the grill, then let it cool. Then I put used a food processor to chop up half a dozen smoked cayenne chiles, some onions from the garden, several not-quite-ripe nectarines, a few cloves of garlic, a few ripe plum tomatoes, a handful of cilantro, and half a dozen peeled limes. I added some corn, mixed it all up with a couple pinches of salt and that's it.

For the diablo sauce
I finely chopped up about 50 smoked chiles (a mixture of cayenne, habernaros and jalapenos) and tossed them in a pot with the juice from half a dozen limes + about a litre of cider vinegar + several cloves of garlic, also chopped fine + half a dozen ripe plum tomatoes. I added a few pinches of salt, and a healthy splash of scotch. I let this simmer for an hour, then added about a third of a cup of corn syrup and cooked it for another 20 minutes. I then canned the stuff in mason jars and cooked the full jars in boiling water for 15 minutes. This is powerful medicine, not for the feint of heart.

If you try this at home, I strongly recommend latex gloves when you're handling the chiles, particularly the habernaros, which know no mercy. If you want, you can strain the liquid out and make a sauce that looks more like Louisiana sauce. Mine is closer to a Guyanese sauce, with the little chunkies.

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