Roasted Serrano Infused Tequila

An unexpected party broke out when my friend Ann and I tried to recreate a tequila based liqueur that we just love! We poured everything we could think of together to back engineer our little favorite but we just ended up face down on the carpet with a ridiculous mess all over the dining room table.

Hiram Walker Company used to make TQ Hot but we can’t find it anymore. It has a spicy, orange flavor that is sweet on the tongue and then gives you heat on the back of the throat. Woo Hoo, was it good! Unfortunately, we finally drank the last bottle we had squirreled away so now I am on a mission to figure this out. Here is my first step of the process, the spicy part. So far so good and now at least I have a spicy tequila that I can make into other fun drinks. Next phase, the orange liqueur part, will be experimented with. When both of these parts are a success, the combination will hopefully give us TQ Hot Mama! New recipe, new name! I’ll keep you posted.

Roasted Serrano Pepper Infused Tequila

1 Serrano pepper
750 ml good quality silver tequila

The Experiment:

Start by roasting the Serrano pepper (hotter than a Jalapeno).  Turn your gas cook top burner up full blast.  Spear the Serrano with a long meat fork and hold it directly over the flame until the skin starts to bubble and blacken.  Rotate the Serrano until it is blackened on all sides.  No flames should be coming off your pepper!  Roasted not burned! When the Serrano is completely roasted, set aside and let it cool. If you don’t have a gas stove, you can also roast Serrano under the broiler. Same plan, no flames!

Once the Serrano is cool and you can handle it, cut off the stem end of the Serrano and slice in half.  Remove the ribs and seeds.  Slice into ½ inch wide strips. The more open surfaces, the more flavor is released.

Place strips of the roasted Serrano into a large glass container.  I use a clean flower vase. Add the silver tequila.  Cover the vase with plastic wrap and hold in place with a rubber band. This will keep it from evaporating. Steep for 1 to 3 days.*

I experimented with 2 Serranos, one roasted and one plain to see which gave me the flavor I was looking for. The roasted one was the winner for me, but try it both ways and see which is your favorite. (must taste both every 24 hours to be sure) Wish this was a real job!

                                                     Plain and Roasted Serrano Vases

Strain the tequila through a coffee filter placed in a funnel into a clean decorative bottle. The coffee filter will catch any charred bits and pepper fibers and leave a clean, spicy tequila as the finished product. Discard the roasted Serrano strips.

*The steeping time depends on how spicy you want your tequila to be.  It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it, so taste the tequila every 24 hours until you’ve reached your desired spiciness.