Saffron is so valuable because it is an extremely labor intensive crop; only 5 to 7 pounds of saffron can be produced from each acre of land, which makes saffron the most expensive spice by weight. Yet, saffron isn't the most expensive spice by use because a little bit goes a long way.
A single gram of saffron easily translates into golden color and a fragrant flavor in about 10 recipes of saffron rice, several batches of bread, or a couple of big pots of paella.
I love cooking with saffron and I love rice! Do you?
Here's an easy saffron rice recipe that I use for catering. It serves 4 people, has a prep time of 2 minutes and cooks in a bout 25 minutes:
Classic Saffron Rice (Printable Recipe) 1 cup long-grain white rice 2 cups chicken stock (or you could use water) 1 tbsp. butter 1 tbsp finely minced onion (optional) 1/2 tsp. salt 1 small pinch of saffron, crumbled
Place butter and minced onion in a heavy saucepan. Saute over medium heat until onion is translucent. Add rice, saffron, chicken stock (or water) and salt. Bring to a rolling boil. Cover, reduce heat to simmer and cook until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed (roughly 18 minutes).
Types of Saffron
There are three basic types of saffron which are all top-rate, although two of the three are known to be the finest or the best.
This is known as the world's finest saffron available. The dark red color and long perfect strands are colorful and flavorful.
Kasmir saffron is extremely difficult to obtain, which is why it's the highest in price, but what it adds to a special dish is truly wonderful. What you're paying for is the absolute best - 100% red saffron threads.
This type of saffron is top-grade. Extra hand labor is used to remove every bit of the yellow saffron style material, leaving behind 100% beautiful pure red saffron threads.
Spanish Coupe saffron is from a truly excellent crop, and adds something special to traditional Spanish dishes. This saffron is made up of 100% red saffron threads.
Spanish Superior Saffron
Widely available, this type of saffron comes from a good crop. This is what I use when I'm not able to get to my favorite spice store in Detroit's Eastern Market. This style of saffron has a bit of the yellow material left attached to some of the saffron stigmas or threads, so it's not as strong as Spanish Coupe or Kashmir Indian saffron. This saffron is derived from 90% red saffron threads and 10% yellow saffron.
A few times, catering parties led me down a Spanish-style theme - complete with food and decor. Client's who aspire to do "something different" are always fun to work for.
You know that you don't have to spend a lot of money to have a great bottle of wine, right?
Here's some helpful wine information - where you'll find out about a few of my favorite picks that are wallet-friendly, tasty bottles of wine that rival some of the finest - and most expensive - wines out there.
These wines would make great gifts, perfect for you to choose for a homemade wine gift basket
Enjoy! Swirl and sip until your heart's content. Any one of these bottles of wine would be a wonderful addition to your home wine rack or to serve at your "recession savvy wine tasting club" meeting.
Feel free to write us to share your favorite $15.00 or less bottle of red, white or sparkling wine with us and we'll add it to the list.
You'd be surprised what you can do to keep food fresh (or frozen) with dry ice.
As a caterer who specializes in off-premise catering, I have to know all about dry ice and how to use it. Dry ice and cube ice are the solutions to my refrigeration and freezer problems. So I use them a lot.
Here's something else... We also use dry ice for an "everything but the kitchen sink" cocktail that we serve at parties. People freak out when they see it!
It's an impressive cocktail. It has a ton of ingredients in it, so it's large (recommended for up to four people, and no less than two people). Consequently, the hosts who order it for their parties find that it becomes the talk of their party. It always gets rave reviews and leaves people talking about it for weeks!
So after years of producing off-premise parties, we've got dry ice down pat. I've had clients ask me how to make dry ice, and I have to admit - I have no idea, because we always buy it. We buy crushed, cubed, shaved and dry ice from a large ice supplier that supplies ice to grocery stores and gas stations, and restaurants and country clubs.
Cater-Hater Tip: You can save a substantial amount of money on ice, whether you need a large quantity of ice like we often do, or not. We sometimes cater parties for people who invite 1000 guests. When we do, our ice supplier not only sells us the ice - they bring it to us, along with one of their commercial ice chests (like the ones you find, outside, at gas stations) for storage at our party location. Whatever the size of your party - save money! Buy ice from the company that supplies it to businesses that sell it to you. What you'll find is, not only will it cost you less money - the size of the bags are will be larger, too (25 lb. bags from the supplier instead of 5 lb. or 10 lb. bags you buy from everyone else).
Dry ice is serious stuff.Dry ice experiments aren't something I'd recommend because dry ice is tricky. If you don't know what you're doing, dry ice can be downright dangerous.
Dry ice "science".
Sometimes dry ice is made on the spot from liquid C02. It's great when it's done that way; resulting in dry ice snow, it is packed in the top of shipping containers, for example. This will offer you extended cooling without using electrical refrigeration equipment and connections.
You know about carbon dioxide. It's the gas that we exhale during breathing and it's the gas that plants use in photosynthesis. It's also the same gas commonly added to water to make soda water or sparkling water.
I use dry ice for freezing and keeping things frozen because of it's very cold temperature: -109.3F to -78.5C. It's simple to freeze things with it, and it's easy to handle as long as you use insulated gloves.
How long does dry ice last?As a general rule, dry ice will last or sublimate at a rate of five to ten pounds every 24 hours in a typical ice chest. We use heavy duty or commercial grade ice chests which makes the dry ice last even longer. Melting or sublimation continues from the time the dry ice is purchased, so we try to buy our dry ice as close to the time we need it as possible. Of course, we bring ice chests to hold the ice, which also slows the sublimation process. Always wrap dryice in newspaper or old towels before placing it into any ice chest. If you don't, there's a large chance that the interior wall of the chest will crack.
Never store dry ice in the freezer! It's best not to store dry ice in your freezer because your freezer's thermostat will shut off the freezer due to the extreme cold of the dry ice. If the freezer is broken or if your power goes out, dry ice will save all of your frozen goods.
You can use dry ice to ship perishables and even non-frozen goods. When you use dry ice for transporting food products, for example - it will give you more than twice the cooling energy per pound of weight and three times the cooling energy per volume that regular frozen ice ( frozen H2O).
Mix regular ice with dry ice to save on weight and to extend the cooling energy of the regular ice made from water.
The basic rule of thumb is: Be careful when you use dry ice, and be prepared to spend a little extra when you need to use it. Like everything else - it used to be pretty cheap, but not anymore.
When I wrote the previous post about pepper, I forgot to give you this terrific salad recipe that is a big hit at parties that I've catered.
My pepper bean salad is tasty and easy to make and is great for large crowds.
Preparation time is about 20 minutes. There's NO COOKING, which is nice. And, it will serve 8 to 10 people as a side dish so of course double, triple and quadruple it if you need to.
Pepper Bean Salad
1 - 15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained 1 - 15 oz. can kidney beans, rinsed and drained 1 - 15 oz. can pinto beans, rinsed and drained 2 cups fresh corn on the cob kernels or 1 - 15 oz. bag super sweet frozen niblet corn 1 res onion, chopped 2 garlic cloves, chopped 1 sweet red bell pepper, seeded and chopped 1 sweet green bell pepper, seeded and chopped 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
Dressing:
1/2 cup chopped, fresh cilantro (or 2 tbsp. dried cilantro) 1 tsp. ground cumin 1 tbsp. moderately hot red pepper (Aleppo pepper is what I use) 1 tsp. freshly ground pepper 1 tsp. sea salt 1/4 cup canola oil ( I use olive oil sometimes) 1/2 cup red wine vinegar 2 limes, juice of (1/4 to 1/3 cup)
In a large bowl, combine the beans, corn, onion, garlic, bell peppers and jalapeno peppers. Toss well. Combine the cilantro, cumin, Aleppo pepper, freshly ground pepper, sea salt, oil, vinegar and lime juice. Shake well to mix thoroughly. Right before serving, pour the dressing over the salad and toss to coat. Viola! That's it.
I'm currently on a Tellicherry whole peppercorn kick. And, as much as I love cooking with fresh ground pepper - it was interesting to research and find out about pepper; especially because it's something that I use everyday.
Pepper is kind of a complicated thing to grow.
Who knew?
The centuries old event of harvesting pepper, in Sarawak in the island of Borneo, is a celebration of the culmination of a year of growth and (with luck) good weather. The pepper harvest takes place at the driest time of the year, in late June through early July.
The harvesting is still done by hand, mainly to determine the peak of ripeness, because it's a visual job. All the pepper on the vine doesn't mature at the same time and the subtle color differences are closely monitored.
Some spikes of peppercorns are in a better location on the vine and receive more sunlight and nutrients, so they can be harvested earlier. Harvesters must be ready at all times, because pepper can quickly mature from the dark green berries used to produce black pepper, to the yellow and red berries which are then soaked for white pepper.
Creamy white pepper fetches the highest price for pepper farmers. It's also harder to grow because the longer pepper is left to ripen, the higher the potential for heavy rains to wipe out the crop or hot sun to dry the pepper on the vine, which isn't good.
There are also: Green Peppercorn, Pink/Peruvian Peppercorn & Cubeb Peppercorn
Cubeb are similar to black peppercorns (and they even come from a related tree, the piper cubeba), only more pungent, with a bitterness that goes well with grass-fed meat and wild game. They're often used in Moroccan cooking. Green peppercorns aren't ripe and are freeze-dried to stay that way. They're good in sauces and with fish. Pink peppercorns are different altogether. They come from the South American Baies rose plant – and they resemble classic peppercorns, but with milder heat and berrylike sweetness. They're usually on the expensive side, and are perfect for salads and quite interesting in sweet dishes. Ground White Pepper
Finely ground white pepper is used in cooking where specks of black pepper would be objectionable, like in white sauces, cream soups and fish dishes. Coarse grind white peppercorns are what is preferred in Southeast Asia where it's sprinkled on meats - especially pork and beef before grilling, broiling or stir-frying.
Black Pepper
Indian Black Tellicherry pepper is the finest. Better spice stores sell premium grade peppercorns, ground when needed to ensure freshness. When it's ground, the pepper is sifted to four popular sizes - from a shaker fine grind, to large coarse chunks.
Mesh is a term that refers to the number of openings per linear inch in a sifting screen.
A fine grind, like a 30/60 mesh, would sift through a screen with 30 openings per inch, but would stay atop a smaller screen of 60 openings per inch.
It's the extra care and risks the farmers take that produces rich, sweet flavor that makes pepper the current King of Spices.
Ginger is one of the most widely used spices in the world, but not one that I use very often. Sure, when a catering client wants gingersnap cookies, I'll make them - but for my own personal taste - although ginger isn't a spice that I automatically gravitate toward to use.
I will say this, however - I truly love the taste of ginger in Asian cooking. The only time I really have to have ginger ( and crave it) is when I eat sushi. The pickled, fresh sliced ginger that is served with sushi is a wonderful compliment to the rice, seaweed and fish.
Here in the states, ginger is used primarily in baking; it's a must-have during the holidays - from gingerbread to pumpkin pie to fruit cakes. Ginger is essential for Asian and Indian cooking where it's used in many ways - from Indian curries, to Japanese marinades, to Chinese stir-fry.
A pinch of ginger can be a nice boost and add flavor to salt-free dishes, and adds something special to chicken soup, sauteed vegetables, and roast pork or chicken.
There are five ways to buy ginger: whole, crystallized, powdered, sliced and cracked.
Crystallized Ginger
Crystallized ginger isn't called candied ginger for nothing - people buy it just to eat it piece by piece. The best kind is tender Australian ginger, that they peel and cut into 1/4" dices, and is them preserved the old-fashioned way - by sugar curing, which gives it a spicy sweet flavor. Crystallized ginger is virtually fiber-free and as most everyone knows, is perfect for baking and candy-making. Because it retains it's warmth and bite, even sugar-coating it, it is excellent for teriyaki, tuna or chicken salad, plus sweet and sour marinades.
Sliced Ginger Root
Buying it sliced is the way to go if you want your ginger to last and stay fresh. Slices ginger root pieces are dried, so it will be ready for use when you're ready to use it. Add a slice to stock for chicken soup, Indian curries and Asian dishes. The flavor is strong and vibrant - so, if you think a slice might be too much, you can break it into smaller pieces by hand.
Cracked Ginger
Remember back in the day when grandma would "put up" food from her garden? Chances are she used cracked ginger. Cracked ginger is traditionally used for pickling and canning recipes, but is popular these days in marinades, sauces and stock making.
Japanese-Style Marinade
1tsp.cracked ginger 2 fresh garlic cloves (smashed) 1/2 cup soy sauce 1/4 cup pineapple, chopped
Add together 1 tsp. cracked ginger, 2 fresh garlic cloves (smashed), 1/2 cup soy sauce and 1/4 cup chopped pineapple. Add 1/4 tsp. white pepper, if desired. Mix. Use to marinate 1 lb. shrimp, or cubed chicken or pork for stir-fry with mixed veggies. Yum!
For starters, powdered ginger from China is the finest in the world. It too is virtually fiber-free, as it's a buttery-soft powder and is much better than the woody fresh ginger found in grocery stores (and it stays fresh longer, too). Chinese ginger has a strong flavor with lemony overtones, which makes it perfect for all baking recipes - especially gingersnap cookies, gingerbread, molasses cookies, coffee cakes, pies, muffins, and fruit breads.
I told you I'm not a super big ginger fan, but I do like this... If you want to really jazz up a steak rub a combination of ginger, garlic, and white and black pepper (all mixed together) on your steaks and marinate them for a few hours before cooking. Talk about good? Man! You have to try it.
Cooking with curry is not something that I do very often, but when a client requests a curried menu item - I'm there! Curry seems to be the forgotten spice.
I've asked clients why they've stayed away from it, and they've said it's too hot and that they're afraid to try it. If you've thought the same thing, please read on because I think maybe you'll change your mind after you read this.
The key to learning to love the taste of Indian curry dishes is to start at home by adding small amounts of curry powder to foods you already know and like.
Sprinkle curry on chicken before you grill it or on pork chops, scramble a little with eggs, or saute vegetables and add it. Soon your whole family will love the flavors, and you can move on to authentic Indian food, but not too spicy. Try dishes like Tandoori, Balti, Rogan Josh, or Sate.
NOT ALL CURRIES ARE HOT Contrary to popular belief, Indian food isn't hot. Indian food is wonderfully seasoned and stronger-flavored meats, like lamb, is turned into something truly sensational through spicing and slow cooking.
Tandoori, Maharajah and Sweet curry are rich and flavorful without being hot.
Tandoori Curry
Clay ovens known as tandoors and the flavorful food that they produce are widely known and very popular. If you know tandoori, you know or have had delicious tandoori chicken. Skinless half chickens are marinated overnight, skewered and baked in the tandoor. You might not have a clay oven or a clay pot, but traditional tandoori seasoning tastes great anyway. You can use the seasoning to coat cubed chicken breast on skewers and cook it on the grill or in your oven. Tandoori is a good way to cook fish and it's excellent on plain baked chicken, too.
Maharajah Curry
This ones my favorite. Maharajah curry powder is the highest quality and is what I buy and use for special meals. It's sweet and rich, and not hot, but flavorful. I had to get used to cooking with it because I'm kind of heavy-handed and a little goes a long way. I use it when I make curried rice.
Here's my fool proof recipe that is delicious every time:
Curried Rice
1/2 tsp. Maharajah curry powder 1 tbsp. butter 1 cup white rice (I usually use wild or brown rice instead; adjust accordingly) 2 cups of water dash of salt
Saute 1/2 tsp. curry powder in 1 tbsp. butter for 2 minutes, add 1 cup rice, 2 cups water and dash of salt. Bring to boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 18 minutes.
Sweet Curry
If you've never cooked with curry powder and are a little skeptical about using it, sweet curry powder is the one you should use first. It has a great flavor with just a little heat. It's perfect for chicken curry, or you can sprinkle it on chicken or fish before you bake it - just to experience the curry flavor. Trying it for the first time, consider adding 1 tsp. to a pot of chicken soup for a richer flavor and color. There's a curried salad dressing that I make and use to jazz up cooked pasta or I sometimes use on green salads when I want something different. It's easy to whip up in just a few minutes. There are two options in how you can make it, and I'll leave it up to you to decide. Personally, I like the yogurt version the best. Here's the recipe:
Sweet Curry Salad Dressing
1 to 2 tsp. sweet curry powder 2 tbsp. olive oil 1 cup plain yogurt or 1/2 cup vinegar & oil mixture
Saute 1 to 2 tsp. sweet curry powder in 2 tbsp. olive oil for 3 minutes over low heat, blend into 1 cup yogurt or 1/2 cup vinegar & oil mixture. Pour into salad dressing jar and shake.
Hot curry isn't for sissies
Hot Curry
I have to tell you, I buy and use hot curry powder when I need it for a specific recipe. It's not my preference so it's not always in my kitchen, but it's perfect for certain recipes. It's got the same great flavor as sweet curry, but has hot red pepper and ginger added to it - giving it a kick! Chinese restaurants use it in many of their spicy, hot dishes which I like when I order Chinese carry-out (hot & sour soup). I've tried it on grilled steaks and thought it was tasty, and I'd imagine that it would be good on pork chops or chicken wings, too. I've tried it in good old-fashioned chicken noodle soup, and if you try it add 1 tsp. per 2 quart pot of soup. Beware! Add any more than that and you might not like it.
If you're like me, you sometimes get bored - trying to come up with new ideas, and night after night you try to find ways to feed your family something different and delicious. Try cooking with curry! I was cautious at first, but if you keep at it, you (and those that you cook for) will grow to appreciate it's rich, unique flavor.
I'm on this new kick where every morning I grind a wonderful and aromatic blend of coffee beans (French roast and Michigan cherry and vanilla coffee beans) which makes the best cup of coffee, ever. As a result - this special blend has turned a few "I hate coffee" people into coffee drinkers that occasionally stop by for coffee at my place.
I've told you about the grind that I created, but what I didn't tell you was that after brewing the grind, I make Poor Man's Cappuccino. After making "cappuccino", I top it off with Ceylon cinnamon. You have to try it. It's so good!
I love to incorporate spices and seasonings into Poor Man's Cappuccino's, and into the food that I prepare because without them just about everything would taste bland.
Staying on the theme of spices and seasonings, this post is about something else I love, cinnamon.
There are two main types of cinnamon. Chinese cassia cinnamon is native to Southeast Asia, especially southern China and northern Vietnam, and has the strong, spicy-sweet flavor most Americans are familiar with. Vietnamese and Chinese cassia are the sweetest and strongest varieties.
Chinese cassia (cinnamon) is perfect for everything from cookies to French toast. It's the perfect cinnamon to use for cinnamon sugar, which is very simple to make. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on oatmeal and cream of wheat, yogurt and fresh fruit, or add some into your pancake and waffle batter. I get lots of compliments whenever I add it to my batter.
Here's my recipe:
Cinnamon Sugar Mix 2 to 3 tbsp. in 1/2 cup granulated sugar (or Equal, if you like). That's it!
Korintje cinnamon is sweet and mellow and comes from the southwest coast of Sumatra in Indonesia and has a smooth flavor with less bite. It's the type most of us remember from our childhood. It's perfect for cinnamon breads and on hot cereal, and great for sugar cookies and pie crusts, too. It grows wild on the government-protected slopes of Mount Kerinci, where the cinnamon gets it's name. There are 3 grades of Korintje, Grade A is top-premium, and the lower B and C grades are the types of cinnamon usually sold in grocery stores in the U.S..
The very sweet and strong Vietnamese cassia comes from the remote north and west regions of Vietnam. The strength of the flavor of spices depends on the essential oil content - the higher the level, the stronger the flavor. It's usually packaged in large sticks and cracked into slightly smaller pieces and packed into burlap bags for shipment.
Ceylon, or "true cinnamon", is extra-fancy and has a much different flavor than the ones mentioned above. It is fragrant and less sweet, with a more complex, citrus flavor. It's less strong than cassia and is the favorite in both England and Mexico. The special flavor that you taste in English and Mexican sweets comes from Ceylon cinnamon, which is great for baking with fruit - especially in apple pie. Traditional cinnamon recipes such as gooey cinnamon rolls are mouth-watering when made with Ceylon cinnamon, but it's so strong, that in most recipes it should be cut back by about a third - but it's perfect used full strength in any recipe where cinnamon is the main, delicious flavor.
If you like cupcakes and hate frosting, here's a recipe that gets rave reviews:
Cinnamon Supper Cupcakes (can be baked in a 8 inch square pan or doubles for a 9x13 inch pan) 1/ cup granulated sugar 3 tbsp. shortening (butter can be used but the cupcakes won't rise as high) 2 egg whites 1 tsp. vanilla extract 1/2 cup milk 1 cup sifted flour 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1/8 tsp. salt
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a cupcake pan with 10 paper liners and set aside. Cream together the sugar and shortening until fluffy. Add the egg whites and beat well. Add the vanilla extract and milk. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture and beat until smooth. Pour into the cupcake cups and bake at 375 degrees for 20 to 22 minutes. Remove from oven and spread the cupcake tops with butter while still hot. Then sift the powdered sugar mixed with the CINNAMON over the cupcakes, and serve warm.
I love cinnamon - especially Ceylon cinnamon and try to use at least a teaspoon a day. Like I said before, mostly I shake it on top of my cappuccino's, but I use it in baking and I've given it (as cinnamon sugar) in jars as holiday hostess gifts. And, it goes well with ice cream, too.
My fascination with chili peppers began a long time ago, when I saw them hanging in the kitchen at my Aunt Roses' house as a child. The vivid coloring of them caught my eye as they hung from the wall - just beside the kitchen table, where I sat and ate my meals.
It was then that I fell in love with chili peppers.
I really fell in love with them - the look, the texture and the smell of them. My Aunt Rose had such a passionate relationship with food, which of course made her "my first foodie". She greatly influenced me, by introducing me to her passion for food which rubbed off on me, taking me from restaurants into the catering and event planning world.
I watched her cooking everything from scratch, putting in all of her love for it. She was best known for her homemade clover rolls (that were always so light and buttery) and the holiday pecan pies that she made. She cooked for many years, professionally, for the sorority guys at the Michigan State University Zeta Beta Tau Frat House, located in East Lansing, Michigan.
No wonder I love food and catering - Aunt Rose passed me her culinary torch!
Until I began to write this, I hadn't really thought much about any of this. And, let me tell you - writing this has been cathartic. I realize how she touched me, with a special culinary influence that eventually manifested in my life. But mostly, I realize just how much I really miss her loving me and teaching me all kinds of wonderful things about food.
My Aunt Rose (Alston) passed away some time ago. But how special she was! There was no one in the family quite like her; a woman who, on produce and fruit shopping trips would delightfully discuss, marvel, smell and savor every item before she bought it. Spending time with my Aunt Rose turned me into a flavor and spicy food-minded aficionado. This is why I'm excited to share this with you because this is more than about chili peppers - it's a way for me to pay homage to my special Aunt Rose, too.
Several people in the family have died, my parents have divorced and gotten older, and no one cooks like they used to. But, back then chili con carne was a dish that my mother would make every winter. Whenever she would make it, I would think to myself, Why in the heck does she have to mess it up by putting all of those beans in it? For me, the best part about chili is the chili flavor of the meat without the beans.
Many people that like the taste of chili peppers usually love hot or spicy, flavorful food. If you're a chili lover, there's a chance that you've entered in or been fortunate to be present at one of the many Chili Cook-off's held throughout the country. They're a popular draw at state and county fairs around the country.
Maybe you're one of those people like me, a seriouschili pepper lover. You might be surprised to know that chili peppers come in such a large variety. I'd heard of a few of the varieties that are out there, but honestly until I decided to look into the subject of chili peppers, I had no idea. They're grown in Turkey and Mexico and even Kathmandu, and of course they're grown stateside too, in places like California, or maybe even in your own backyard.
Chili peppers are in the same family as bell peppers and paprika pods, and are known as a capsicums. A capsicum is fruit: a hot red pepper fruit, eaten raw or cooked as a vegetable, and often dried. They range in flavor from rich and sweet, to fiery hot. A combination of both sweet (ancho) and hot (dundicut, chipolte, and jalapeno) chili peppers are used in Mexican cooking for full-flavored, spicy chili and other dishes. For Chinese cooking, tien tsin peppers are most common, and in Indian cookingsanaam and dundicut peppers are used, along with a variety of spices.
Some of the chili pepper varietites are: the aleppo, ancho, arbol, cascabel, cayenne, chili piquin, chipolte, medium hot California-style (crushed) red pepper and very hot Indian-style (crushed) red pepper, dundicut, guajillo, jalapeno, sanaam and tien tsin.
The Aleppo Pepper
Let's begin with the aleppo pepper (also known as the halaby pepper) from Turkey which is usually sold crushed and has an ancho-like flavor that adds a little more heat and tartness. You've seen and tasted these a million times. These are the chili pepper flakes that you find placed in a jars that are left on may restaurant table tops to shake on salads, subs and pizza that are generally processed with salt and some type of oil, such as sunflower oil.
Aleppo peppers really add to the flavor of grilled meats like steak, pork chops, and Turkish-style shish-kabobs, too. I often sneak them into dishes, like sprinkling them on top of potato, tuna and chicken salad for a slight flavorful kick and a bright garnish burst of color. I love 'em!
The Ancho Chili Pepper
Then you have the ancho chili pepper from New Mexico - the most popular chili pepper for Mexican cooking. They're sold whole or ground, but they start as a seedling that grows to become large, juicy, dark purple New Mexican pods. They're not hot, just richly flavorful with a beautiful purple color. They're the most commonly used peppers in Mexico and are the backbone of dishes such as traditional red chili and tamales. You can chop them into 1/4 inch chunks and add them to chili con carne, stews, beans and rice, and mole sauce or you can cover them in water for a few hours to rehydrate, then slice open, stuff and cook.
I sometimes make a simple-to-make flavorful chili oil and I use the ancho chili for this.
Here's my recipe: Ancho Chili Oil (Printable Recipe) 3 ancho peppers 3 cups corn oil
1.) Chop 3 peppers into 1 inch chunks and simmer in 3 cups good corn oil, 20 minutes. 2.) Let cool, strain (use leftover pepper pieces in another recipe) and store in an airtight container. Cater-Hater Tip: As much as I use extra virgin olive oil in just about everything, I find that corn oil is the better flavor for this.
I also make homemade chili powder, too. Here's my recipe to make it:
3 tbsp. ground ancho 1 tsp. cumin 1 tsp. Mexican oregano Garlic, onion and hot peppers to taste
1.) Use 1 - 2 tbsp. per quart of chili. 2.) Heat 2 tbsp. peanut or sesame oil. When very hot, add 10 tien tsin peppers 3.) Fry tien tsin peppers until brown (3 to 5 minutes) 4.) Remove from heat, add 1/2 cup oil and stir 5.) Pour into glass jar, strain peppers out if desired.
Arbol Chili Peppers
This variety is a slim, beautiful, curved 2 inch to 3 inch bright red Mexican pod. Very close to cayenne pepper in heat and flavor, these are the ones that you'd throw into barbecue sauce, chili or curry. You would also be good to use to make chili pepper oil or chili pepper flavored vinegar. It's recommended to store them in tightly sealed, clear glass containers. And, it just so happens that these are the peppers that spice craft workers prefer.
Cascabel Peppers
These are the ones you want when your recipe needs peppers that are rich and deep in flavor. Their outer shellhas medium-low heat, but if you use the whole thing... watch out! Because the entire pepper is pretty darn hot. The cascabel pepper adds great flavor to Mexican cooking, from tacos to chili to beans to mole.
You'll want to remove the stems and shake out the seeds for most uses, then them in while cooking and remove them before serving. If you add them to foods that are fast cookng - shred the skin between your fingers, and toss small pieces into the food.
Cayenne Pepper - Red Pepper
Cayennepepper is a favorite of mine because it has the power to make any dish fiery hot, but also has a subtle flavor-enhancing quality. Cayenne is an interesting booster, boosting the flavor of low-fat or low-salt dishes and can be used instead of whole chili peppers in chili and barbecue sauce. You can use cayenne pepper powder to replace paprika on deviled eggs or in potato salad. To keep it fresh, keep it in a cool, dry place, away from the light.
Chili Piquin
You've seen those small, red chilies haven't you? They're fiery hot Mexican chilies that are also known as "bird's eye peppers" and they're grown and used throughout Mexico and the American Southwest. With these - USE WITH CAUTION! If you're cooking Mexican recipes like moles, sauces, stewed meats and vegetables, add only 1 - maybe 2 - into your food. These little chilies are a delicious addition to hot & sour soup, pozole and other corn recipes, and barbecue sauce.
Chipotle Peppers
The crushed red peppers that are very hot are twice as hot as the type you'll find in restaurants. They're generally used in cooking (Detroit's Xochilimco Restaurant in Mexican Village in Detroit instantly comes to mind), as they are almost too hot to sprinkle on pre-prepared foods. Both are super convenient to use, for a catering chef 5and retaurant chefs All the rage these last few years are Mexican chipotle peppers that are rich, smoky and fairly hot. They're most often used whole or chopped in chili, beans and various sauces. It's an added bonus surprise if you find attractive, coarse, red ground chipotle pepper powder served in an all-purpose tabletop shaker anywhere because it's something that is rarely ever served this manner.
Crushed Red Peppers
Unless you're a chili pepper maven, it's the medium hot crushed red peppers that you cook with more than any other type of chili pepper. They're hot, but not unbearbly so, and they're the ones normally found on the tables of pizzerias and Italian restaurants. If you haven't gotten into peppers, these are great added to pizza, spaghetti, tacos, omelets and beans.
The very hot crushed red peppers are twice as hot and are generally used in cooking, because they're almost too hot for most people to handle when sprinkled on already prepared food.
Both medium hot and very hot varieties are very convenient for when you want to add a kick (or jolt, if you're adding the very hot crushed peppers) to any dish.
Dundicut Peppers
This pepper is the traditional hot pepper of Pakistan. Similar to the Scotch bonnet pepper in flavor and appearance, these peppers are quite hot, with a complex full-bodied pepper flavor. With these, one pepper is all you need to add flavor and heat to a recipe for two. If you like your peppers hot, I recommend that you try these.
Guajillo Peppers
Guajillo peppers are often purchased for cooking Mexican-style. They're not hot. They're rich smoky and complex. They are perfect to use in chili con carne and just about every chili-based dish, and they're great with pork dishes, too.
Jalapeno Peppers
Most people know that jalapeno peppers are the ones often chosen to bring out the heat. They're bright green and are often added toward the end of cooking and are used on or with a dish, served raw.
Sanaam Chili Peppers
Sanaam chilies are the traditional Indian cooking peppers. They're thin, flat 3 to 5 inch deep red pods. Sanaams can be chopped and added to curry and other dishes because they're not too hot to handle2 tbsp. peanut or sesame oil 10 tien tsin chili peppers.
Sanaam chili peppers are good for making chili vinegar. I use chili vinegar to top off Southern-style greens, giving them a little heat and a ton of great flavor.
1 ounce Sanaam chili peppers Vinegar, use your favorite Salt, to taste Chop (or cut with scissors) 1 oz. sanaam chili peppers. Place in a 1 cup glass jar, fill with your favorite vinegar, add a pinch of salt, then tightly cap. Let stand for one week, strain and refrigerate in a bottle that has a splash top ( a soy sauce bottle would work well). Thin with more vinegar, if desired. Use in place of hot sauce.
Tien Tsin Chili Peppers
Last but not least are the tien tsin chili peppers, known and used in traditional Asian cooking. They're very hot, bright red 1 to 2 inch pods. They're added (whole) to soups and stir-fry, and removed before serving.
Chili oil is commonly used for stir-frying. Here's a easy recipe for you to use: Asian Chili Oil (Printable Recipe) 2 tablespoon peanut or sesame oil 10 tien tsin chihi peppers 1.) Heat 2 tablespoons peanut or sesame oil. When very hot, add 10 tien tsin peppers 2.) Fry tien tsin peppers until brown (3 to 5 minutes) 3.) Remove from heat, add 1/2 cup oil 4.) Stir, pour into glass jar, strain peppers out if desired
There sure is a lot to find out about chili peppers, isn't there?
When you 're cooking with chili peppers, remember to combine the heat of chili peppers with other spices, so the finished dish will have a full-bodied flavor.
To keep them spicy and fresh remember since chili peppers are dried vegetables, they will keep best if stores in the refrigerator, especially during the summer.
I'm an off-premise catering evangelist/outlaw. I'm a passionista. I'm a paradox. I love when a client hires me to oversee their entire event, from start to finish - because I'm an event planner too.
I'm proud to be mom to Petey Wheatstraw, "the devil's son-in-law" - the best damn Chihuahua North of Mexico. I grew up in Rochester, Michigan. I currently live deep in the heart of Texas. And boy, do I ever miss Xochimilco Super Nachos, the fragrance of Fall and fresh cider and donuts at Paint Creek Cider Mill, and eating a Detroit Lafayette Coney Island when the mood hits me.
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