"This is a hot sauce I made," I announced as we sat down for New Year's dinner.
"What's this?" my brother pointed to a nearly identical bottle.
"That is also hot sauce I made," I answered.
"What's the difference?" he asked. "Is it that this one is hot, and that one is too?" he continued dryly.
"I made them on different days?" I shrugged. "They do taste a little bit different."
In retrospect, of course, a label or two would have been handy, but when caught up in creating such condiments, it just seems impossible I'll ever forget what I put in them, even if I'm using whatever happened to be ripe and/or plentiful that day.
With spice mixes, I'm a little better, and by that, I mean I put the name of whatever it is on the jar, and once last summer, I even listed the ingredients in a chili powder I made, but that was an anomaly. I guess I also just figure it will be me using, and then eating, these products, and I usually season by taste rather than measurement or recipe. In that case, if it tastes good, who cares what's in it?
On New Year's Day, people just tasted the sauces and then picked one or mixed them together, but it might have been nice to know what the comparison was. Tonight, though, I was annoyed at myself when I added a couple cubes of unidentified frozen pesto to my tomato sauce and discovered (by tasting) that in addition to basil, they also contained cilantro and mint. It wasn't exactly the flavor profile I planned for our tomato tart, and I was a little disappointed.
Not enough to label the rest of though, because really? I'm sure I'll remember what it is next time.
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