Pepper Sauce

A two-ingredient table condiment: small hot chilies steeped in lime juice until the juice takes on their heat. The whole thing hinges on using enough acid to keep the chilies submerged.

• What "a handful" meansThe recipe fixes no quantities: take a handful of chilies and add as much lime juice as they will take, enough to cover them. Anything sitting above the liquid can spoil, and spoil the rest with it.
• The chilies"Tiny chilies, both red and green" suggests small bird-type peppers. Thai bird chilies, or small tabasco or pequin types where you can find them, are reasonable substitutes. Green, unripe pods tend to taste grassier and sharper than ripe red ones.
• Bruise them firstWhole chilies release very little into the juice. Prick each one with a knife point or crush them lightly against the side of the jar so the seeds and interior walls are in contact with the acid.
• Lime juiceFresh-squeezed only. Bottled lime juice carries preservatives and a cooked note that flattens the sauce. Key limes, if you can get them, are what the West Indian version assumes.
• VesselGlass or glazed ceramic with a non-metal lid. Undiluted lime juice will pit metal caps and pick up the taste.
• TimeGive it a few days before using; it grows hotter the longer it stands. Keep it in the refrigerator throughout; this is a fresh condiment, not a preserve, and it has no sterilisation step behind it.
• KeepingA month in the refrigerator is a reasonable limit. Top up with fresh lime juice as you spoon it out, but discard the batch entirely if the liquid goes cloudy or gassy or the chilies turn soft and brown.
• Yield and useYou get back roughly the volume of juice you put in, which is a great deal, since it is used a few drops at a time. Shake and sprinkle over grilled meat and fish, into bean soups, or onto raw oysters.