wellpreservedloveshotpeppers « WordPress.com Tag Feed

The Great Hot Pepper Lexicon - The Heavyweights

Joel — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 10:06:40 +0000

These are not for the faint of heart. Although they can be used for many things, I tend to use the hottest peppers to make hot sauces with (the Chipotle is a great `bridge`between middle and heavy weight and makes an equally good rub as it does a hot sauce).

Don`t be scared by the rising prices here – the increased heat means that you need smaller quantities of the actual pepper. Because of the increasing heat, consider mixing with other, milder peppers to round out flavour with your heat.

Now for the scary news. Consider the following:

A Jalapeno can range from 3,500 to 5,000 Scoville units. This means that a hypothetical single drop of liquid jalapeno would be about 6-8 times hotter than a drop of liquid green pepper (not meant as a literal example but to illustrate a point).
A drop of Habanero would multiply the bell pepper by 160 to 540 times hotter.

The point I`m trying to make is not about heat – it`s about the wild range of the hottest peppers compared to others. Jalapenos are of similar heat to one another – Habanero can be drastically different and it`s not safe to assume that you can cook with them by weight.

If you`re going to cook with te hottest peppers, you should ideally taste each pepper before adding it to your recipe. This means eating the peppers straight while cooking. All you need is a tiny bit – but that can be enough to scorch the bravest pallet. If you`re cooking a special meal with the hottest peppers I highly recommend testing and prepping your peppers a day or two early to give your mouth a chance to recover in the event you get a truly hot sample.

Chipoltle
($24 per pound)
60,000-100,000 Scoville units
Smoked Jalapeno

I`ve never met one I didn`t like. These are great in any shape or form and add a real depth to any dish that they are added to. I adore adding them to chilli to add this smoky flavour or adding to meat dishes in winter when I grill far less.

Piquin hot devils
($30 per pound)
70,000-100,000 Scoville units

Hot sauces, salsas, soups – you`re likely trying to avoid eating a hunk of one of these little firecrackers so infusing them in liquid can add a bite without overwhelming. Bring stock to a boil and pour over a few of these in a bowl and allow the stock to absorb the flavour of the peppers (you can use less than a cup for this purpose) and then add it a bit at a time to your main dish to control the heat. It`s kind of like hot pepper tea (similar to how we made our version of liquid smoke earlier this week). Great for infusions in general – try adding it to vinegar or even vodka for a few days and taste the flavour as it progresses. If you`ve added it to vodka you can create a wonderfully spiced Bloody Mary (or a Caesar for us Canadians).

Habaneros
100,000-325,000 Scoville units

Hottt. Rehydrate and create your own hot sauces. A touch of this is an amazing pairing with an oyster – because you need so little to add heat you don`t lose a lot of the flavours of the oyster and add a great bite. Most hot sauce that I add to oysters would drown all flavour before I`d get a bite that I`d want. Grind some into flakes but be careful not to inhale any residual powder as they grind – the heat could easily overwhelm.

That`s the roundup – for now. We`ll add to this dictionary from time to time and share some more – any favourites that we`ve missed out there?

This series of hot pepper posts will beget new content daily for the next week. If you`re looking for all of the articles published so far, click this link. The entire series covers different types of peppers, different uses and some of the myths around spicy food. Hope you enjoy!

The Great Hot Pepper Lexicon - The Middleweights

Joel — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 10:06:29 +0000

We`re graduating from entry-level heat to some attention-grabbing contenders here.

There`s still a wide range of flavours here – from fruity to smoky. My default use for mid-ranged heat tends to be in dry rubs as they pack a lot of flavour without dominating (my) taste buds.

Pulla (Puya)
5,000 – 15,000

Related to the milder Guajilo, the Pulla is moderately hot and less used than it`s cousin. Rehydrate with water just off a boil and let it come back to life for 10-15 minutes. The Pulla is a sensitive sort – oversoaking will result in lost flavour and overcooking this (i.e. burning it) will turn it`s flavour awfully bitter and uninviting. Add to sauces and the like to add a shot of heat – as with any of the middleweights use some caution if you are sensitive to heat; you`re starting to raise the bar with these.

Morita Peppers ($14 per pound)
10,000-50,000

This is a smoked purplish jalapeno (a red jalapeno is the identical pepper to the green though it is matured longer), thus this is related to Chipotle (to confuse things further, the morita is sometimes called a chipotle as well). I had never used these before a few weeks ago and these are my absolute new favourites. They are super smoky with a great bite (though I wouldn`t consider them overly hot). This has BBQ, dry rubs and anything cooked long and slow written all over it.

aji amarillo ($12 per pound)
30,000-50,000

Peruvian Yellow Chile Pepper. I couldn`t find any Tabasco Peppers – these are the same heat as the tabasco peppers (even the famous sauce that uses them as part of their ingredients is much milder at 2,500-5,000 Scoville units). Aji means `pepper`or `chili pepper`and `amarillo means yellow.` This is a very traditional South American pepper used in many traditional dishes. This is the most common pepper in Peru and packs a strong heat that quickly fades once tasted. It has fruity undertones.

The Great Hot Pepper Lexicon - The Lightweights

Joel — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 10:06:48 +0000

For the next 3 days we are going to feature a total of 9 different `hot`peppers – they will be sorted in order of heat (from lowest to highest). I have included approximate Scoville units as well as the price I paid per pound if I have it (I paid less than $13 for 12 different bags of hot peppers – while their price per pound is high, their weight is miniscule).

All of these were bought in Kensington Market in Toronto – one of the most amazing things about our city is access to food that is influenced by culture and cuisine from around the world.

Keep in mind that a typical bell pepper is about 600 Scoville units, Tabasco sauce is 2,500- 5,000 and a jalapeno is 3,500-5,000. All measures are approximate and are accurate to the best of my research and meant as approximate. Each pepper can vary dramatically.

Aji Dulce
(aji means chile, dulce means sweet)
1-1,000 Scoville units

There are many different peppers that can be called aji dulce – it is essentially a sweet pepper. It is interesting to know that this is related to the much hotter Habanero and that you can use aji dulce to simulate the flavour of a Habanero without the heat. It`s a common pepper used in South America, has smoky undertones and actually has it`s flavours enhanced by dehydration (drying). This is a great starting point for those timid of heat and can be a great confidence builder – just make sure not to confuse it with it`s much hotter cousin.

Cascabel ($18 per pound)
1500-2,500 Scoville units

Great for sauces, these peppers grow wild on the west coast of Mexico and Central America. It`s also known as a rattle chile because the seeds rattle around the dried pepper much like the sound of a rattle snake. There`s a nutty undertone here and these are great added to liquid foods (i.e. chilli, soup, sauce, salsa, etc).

Guajillo ($12 per pound)
2,000-4,500 Scoville units

Very common in Mexico (this is one of the most common peppers), its thick leathery walls need to be soaked longer than most other dried chilies to rehydrate. This is anatural to turn into paste or powder and fantastic for dry rubs, sauces and adding lots of flavour without overwhelming sensitive taste buds.

Farmers Market Hot Stuff

Joel — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 10:06:54 +0000

Back to the hot stuff series today.

Hot sauce is a great find when travelling – across the world or across your city. Hot sauce is appearing at more and more farmers markets in Toronto (especially in the winter) as it`s a product that easily stores through the winter months that local farmers may struggle to keep stock to offer to consumers.

It`s also a great way for farmers to decrease field loss. As much as 30% of the food grown in North America rots in the field it was grown in with no purchaser available when it`s fresh. Preserving hot peppers as sauce extends their saleability and seasonality.

If you see hot sauce at a market, ask about it. Many of the bottles are jarred by the farmers themselves and there are more and more partnerships that are brining other members of the community together to work with farmers to produce a product for sale. Restaurants, colleges and community groups are becoming frequent partners to create and bottle preserves (including hot sauces) for farmers of crops that would otherwise rot and both groups benefit from the proceeds.

Recipe ideas, flavour profiles and more can be learned from the farmer as well. Mark Trealout (Kawartha Ecological Growers) teams up with a local chef to create multiple different versions of their sauce (this one is their hottest) and walked us through how to choose a sauce that will match (not melt) our taste buds.

Learning about the different sauces and the cultures that inspire them will open up access to whole styles of cooking you may know very little (or nothing about).

Same goes for travelling – see what you can find that`s different from home. If you can find the person who creates the actually sauce you are buying you are bound to hear a story and learn some great cooking tips on a style of food you may not otherwise know about. People who tend to dedicate their time and money into making hot sauce are generally not shy about sharing details on their favourite uses and inspirations behind it.

Get out, experiment and enjoy. Don`t be afraid to establish your limits and let them know how hot you can tolerate – they may tell you to stay away or may have something up your alley.

Chile Powder and Chile Flakes

Joel — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 10:06:35 +0000

I grew up with one of these:

I remember trying to show off at a Little Caesars to my Aunt. It was All-You-Could-Eat spaghetti night. She couldn`t believe the amount of pasta I could eat – or the amount of hot peppers that I would put on it. I kept eating more, adding hot peppers.

I got really sick shortly after coming home. She didn`t praise me then. In fact I remember by mother and her laughing at me (in a kind way, if that`s possible).

That day helped me learn my limits. I have never tried to impress someone by my ability to consume hot things since – I`ve stuck to my guns and eaten only things I actually liked – regardless of reaction. Some lessons simply have to be learned first hand.

I didn`t lose my excitement for the spicy side of things though and I still keep many different hot flavours on hand to this day.

The flavours of all dried spices decrease when exposed to air. This means that the flavour of chilli flakes will decrease faster than whole chillies. Powder will decrease fastest of all.

Try to avoid buying massive bags of dried hot pepper flakes unless you are running a commercial kitchen (in which case I`d still avoid them but that`s up to you). Buy whole dried chilli’s (or drying them yourself) will help you retain the flavours as you decide when – and how much – to turn them into flakes or powder. We give the dried chills a quick spin in the coffee grinder and they`re into a sealed jar for use.

Toasting any spice by warming in the frying pan will stimulate oils within the chilli’s and this is always a welcome step before grinding powders or flakes.
Buying whole peppers also lets you mix up the types of chilli peppers in your mix – and, like sauces, increasing the heat can be a good thing to preserve the taste of a dish.

We`ll feature a variety or pepper options on the weekend and detail the heat of each so you’ll have an idea of what types of peppers would make your ideal pepper flakes or powder.

Cheap Tuesday Gourmet – Chipotle Chile Paste

Joel — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 10:06:49 +0000

Since it`s heat week and it`s Cheap Tuesday Gourmet, let`s talk about making your own amazing hot sauce at a fraction of the price.

Start by buying the dehydrated peppers of your choice (we used Chipotle which are expensive at $24 per pound; you could easily substitute for others that are 3-4 less though you only need 2 ounces – or less). We used $3 of chipotle, $0.50 cents of canola oil (grape seed oil will also do) and a pinch of salt. You can also combine different hot peppers if you would like. This recipe is extremely scalable.

Heat the peppers in a dry frying pan for a minute a side. Use care – too much heat can create a dry smoke which can get into your eyes and lungs making your kitchen not so fu to be in. We just warmed them up on a moderate heat, mixing them around to get the oils going.

Cover the peppers in a bowl with boiling water for 15-30 minutes. I covered the bowl to retain the heat and stirred every 5 minutes to move the peppers around (the pictures below were taken in 5-minute intervals):

The finished peppers will be pliable – much closer to feeling like roasted peppers than dried.

If you want to lower the heat, remove the seeds now (kitchen gloves are a great practice here). Toss them in a blender or food processer with a pinch of salt.

Add 2 tablespoons to a pot and warm your pepper purée in the oil for a few minutes until the oil becomes rich in colour – use more oil if you want; the oil can be used with the paste or separated later (with a spoon) to add to anything you want.

The flavour is superior to commercial hot sauce – in addition to heat and smoke, there`s a woodsy, earthy awesomeness that comes through in this dish that just takes your dishes to a higher level than mass production can muster (at a portion of the price).

But we`re not done yet!

Remember, these were chipotle peppers. If you haven`t tasted Chipotle`s yet or don`t know what they are you will need to know that they are Jalapenos that are smoked and often dehydrated (you can buy them in adobo sauce as an alternative to the dried product). They are moderately hot and feature a giant smoke flavour.

The smoke flavour is dominant in our paste – and our leftover water that we rehydrated the peppers in (you didn`t think we were going to throw that out, did you?) The leftover water that the peppers bathed in is essentially Chipotle Tea – my own version of liquid smoke. I add it to the pot I cooked the peppers in (there is some residual oil and pepper flavour) and reduce it in half. Liquid smoke is an amazing addition to bbq sauce or any meats (and even veg) you cook on a grill. If you`re apartment bound and don`t have a grill you can add smoky flavour to indoor cooking like this too.

A jar of chipotle hot sauce is typically $6 or more. Liquid smoke is about the same. For under $4 we have made a condiment that will go with eggs, salad dressings, any sauces, soups, cooked foods and more that will elevate our cooking to the next level. Most descriptions of these pastes say they will last for several weeks in your fridge – our experience is they will often last for even more.

There’s not much to look at with this one – you can see the idea by looking at the photos of the Chipotle’s in water – this “tea” is the basis of many smoky-spicy barbeques to come this summer!

We started this series of posts in response to many things – an undeniable motivator (as previously shared) was the focus on poverty and eating well and a particular scene in Food, Inc which spoke to the cost of good food vs. `filler`. The entire series of affordable approaches to good food is here.

Don`t like hot sauce? Maybe it`s time to try a really hot one (seriously)

Joel — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 10:06:56 +0000

It`s something I hear often and am empathetic to; `I don`t like or can`t handle hot foods.` If this is the case, you may want to try something that seems very illogical – try a VERY hot sauce.

A Jalapeno pepper measures 2,500-10,000 scoville units. Tabasco Sauce weighs in between 2,500-5,000 (yes it can change from bottle to bottle).

Da`Bomb (from our fridge) measures 119,700:

Possible Side Effects weighs in around 283,000 (yes that`s 28 times the hottest jalapenos and the heat of more than 100 milder ones):

There`s a time and a place for all heat. Before I explain why these two sauces may be for someone who doesn`t like heat, let me ensure you that I am not into hot sauce to prove my manhood nor do I enjoy food-induced pain. I do like heat – but never at the expense of flavour. And there, my friend, is the rub…

If you want to add heat to a bowl of pasta and you are using a `typical` hot sauce (often consisting of hot peppers, vinegar, sugar and other flavours), you have to add so much that you alter the taste of what you are eating. Your whole plate begins to taste like hot sauce (not hot peppers) and this can lead to a general feeling of `ick` (that`s a technical term).

The two sauces above have been in my life for years (the exact bottles). I use them rarely and when I do I simply dip a fresh toothpick into them and stir it into your bowl (or the entire pot). Discretion is the better part of valour here – these sauces are not good ingredients for practical jokes.

This allows you to add a bite to your dish without sacrificing flavour. Many of these sauces (including these two) have flavours that are unique and subtle hints to dishes that you just can’t get anywhere else.

If you want to go hotter, go moderately. 2 toothpicks per bowl is about as much as I`m willing to do with these and I love heat.

Hot Stuff – an intro to heat (and how to stay cool with hot peppers)

Joel — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 10:06:25 +0000

We`re taking a week off and heading to New York to explore, eat, drink and be all kinds of merry. In our absence we`re pre-writing articles to keep the daily updates going (we are approaching 500 consecutive days without missing a post!).

Most of this week will feature articles related to one of my absolute passions – spicy stuff; specifically peppers. If you`re not a fan of the hot stuff, please keep reading – part of this writing will try to debunk some of the common misnomers around hot stuff and share how to enjoy the flavours of all kinds of peppers without scorching your pallet (unless, of course, that`s your intent).

Peppers are amazing ingredients for preserving. Sauces, flakes, powders, smoked, frozen and pickles are all different ways of preserving summers heat. Knowing which are the hottest and mildest will help you learn what to try and what to avoid.

We`re planning on sharing techniques for cooking with them, describing tastes and heat, showing you a large variety of different dried peppers (we recently bought 12 different types of them at Kensington Market in Toronto and will share the profiles of each) as well as some of our favourite sauces and other pepper knowledge.
You may find a few of the general tips below surprising:

Water will not help you with the heat – it will actually increase it by spreading the flavours through your mouth. Milk, plain bread or crackers are your best bet (they essentially coat your tongue).
Each pepper has a different intensity – including peppers from the same tree. The heat of two different jalapenos can quadruple from one to the next (the same is true for other hot peppers)
Heat is measured in scoville units – the higher the number, the hotter the pepper. A typical bell pepper is around 600, a jalapeno is 2,500-10,000 and a habenero ranges from 30,000-50,000.
Typically the smaller peppers are hotter than the bigger ones.
Most peppers start green and change to orange and red as they mature. Orange and red peppers are typically hotter than green (this includes jalapenos which are typically picked green as they are less likely to spoil than a mature pepper during shipping)
Seeds and pith contain the majority of the heat – remove these two things to drastically lower the heat you`ll experience.
The skin in all peppers tend to be the bitter part – if you wish to make a fresh pepper taste sweeter, roast to remove the skin.
Not all dried `hot` peppers are actually hot – you can buy dehydrated peppers that aren`t spicy and can add great flavour to your cooking.
If you don`t like hot sauce, you might enjoy eating REALLY hot sauce (more on that tomorrow)
Dehydrated peppers are an anomaly. The preserving process retains a giant percentage of their original benefits within the walls of the peppers – there is very little loss.