This Hot Shot Dipping Sauce is as simple as it gets

Dear Lynne,

The Fourth of July is going to be our chile feast. I need a hot sauce to knock my boyfriend's socks off. But please, make it easy.  

-Lacy in Tahoe

Dear Lacy,

This dipping sauce is as simple as it gets. Nippy and bright, Hot Shot Dipping Sauce is especially fine with sweet things like grilled yams, onions, corn, ripe melon, spring rolls and barbecue. Put some in mayonnaise, over fish, on meats and in stir-fries. You get the idea.

You need tasty fresh chiles (sidestep habaneros and Scotch bonnets as they blast taste buds into numbness), cider vinegar, salt, a blender and a glass jar washed in very hot water. For safe preserving, select a cider vinegar with at least 5 percent acidity -- higher is even better. Store the sauce in the refrigerator for no more than a week. Its brightness fades after that.  

-Lynne

Hot Shot Dipping Sauce

15 minutes prep time, at least 8 hours refrigerator time. Makes about 1-1/2 cups and keeps a week in the refrigerator

We dip grilled meats and vegetables into this at the table, the vinegar goes into sauces, livens up gazpacho and sparks drinks. 

Fresh peach or melon chunks practically radiate goodness when you dip them in the chile vinegar and then roll them in sugar. 

• 2 fresh hot mirasol, manzana, or cayenne chiles (going from medium-hot to hot)

• 2 fresh serrano chiles 

• 1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• 1 clove garlic

• Cider vinegar to cover (about 1-1/4 cups)

1. Wearing plastic gloves, cut stems away from chiles. Coarsely chop them. Put them in a blender, seeds and all.  

2. Add the salt, sugar, garlic and vinegar to cover by about 1/4 inch. Blend until pureed. Pour into the clean jar, adding another 1 inch of vinegar. Marinate for 8 hours before using.

Use the sauce as is, or strain it and use only the liquid.

Caution: Chiles sting. Handle them with care. When working with chiles wear plastic gloves, and wash hands and utensils with hot soapy water. Never touch your face or any part of your body after you've handled chiles.