[Sca-cooks] chipotle and chili powder

[Phlip]

Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...

> Thanks Phlip for the wonderful recipes! By the way, may I ask you how do
you (and other people of course) make their chilipowder? I want to
experiment with all these new flavours in my kitchen, the dried ones and the
fresh ones.

Well, I don't make chili powder, I make chile powder- the difference being,
that nothing goes into my chile powder other than chiles.

For me, it's a very subjective thing- My preference is to gather what chiles
I can, dry them, and blend them to a certain flavor profile that I'm looking
for. The heat may vary, but there's a flavor I look for- it's very hard to
explain. Usually, chipotles are my base, but after that, it really depends
on what I can get my hands on, as to how I make my blend. From expewrience,
I know that certain rough proportions will get me close, then I powder them
in the blender (or sometimes, a dedicated coffee grinder, and try them-
usually, I add a bit more of this one or that one, depending on what I
taste. It's a very subjective process. Usually, when I'm getting close, I
mix some of the powder with cream cheese and stuff a stalk of celery- this
milds out the heat enough, so I can check out the other nuances I'm looking
for. Once I finalize the batch, then I put it in a sealed container and use
more or less of it, depending on what I'm making and who I'm feeding.

Chili powders usually have other spices, most notably oregano, but often
including salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and other things. Personally, I
prefer to add those flavors on a case by case basis.

> For thirty years ago in Sweden the garlic was a new flavour and the most
people related the garlic with the inmigrants. (A lot of Italians inmigrated
here in the fifties).
> Today chilies and garlic and all the new spices are found in every store.
Cool when the food opens the mind of the people!
> Ana, a real food romantic...

Garlic goes well with chiles and the things you make with them- onion, as
well. A bit of cinnamon, too, adds a bit of "Je ne sais quoi" to many foods,
particularly meats. Not a lot, just a dusting. Cloves will do the same, but
you need to be extremely careful- cloves can be over powering.

Before I saw Baron Ernst's suggestion on the EK List, using period spices to
make a cordial, which, over the last year, I've developed into my
Blacksmith's Cordial, I had been turned onto Pepper Vodka by my father. Just
about that time, I read an article from the Museum of Natural History on the
flavored vodkas that the Poles were using, and in that, it described the
making of Pepper Vodka- basicly, get good quality vodka, and soak hot
peppers in it for about a week. Since I loved Pepper vodka, and discovered
that the Pepper Vodke in the liquor store cost 3 or 4 times what plain vodka
cost, I thought I'd make my own, and did. For this, too, the chipotles form
a good base- I usually make it to the same flavor profile I make my chile
powder. In this case, if it gets too hot, you can dilute it down with more
vodka.

And, another easy recipe, for those of us in the US...

Two boxes of commercial corn bread mix.
(Add egg if the instructions call for it)

One can of creamed corn.

Chopped fresh hot peppers, in different colors, if possible.

Mix it all up and bake in an 8 X 8 baking pan, following the instructions on
the box.

The creamed corn subs for the usual liquid in the mix, and the little bit of
sweetness from the Yankee style conbread and the creamed corn brightens
everything up nicely.

Saint Phlip,
CoDoLDS

"When in doubt, heat it up and hit it with a hammer."
 Blacksmith's credo.

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....