Cooking With Fire - an MJM Grande Enterprises Ltd. Production

Bite Your Tongue When Sharing These Hot Sauce Tips!
July 13th, 2009

Serious hot sauce lovers and collectors already use “liquid fire” in all kinds of ways. Outlined below are some suggestions that people may not have thought of or for those more timid, to convert and inspire them to “eat the heat”:
 
• Try mixing a small amount of hot sauce with softened cream cheese as a spread for bagels or as a dip for vegetables or crackers.

• Mix equal parts of olive oil and your favorite hot sauce and marinate skinless chicken breasts or fish fillets before grilling or broiling.

• Mix equal parts of soy sauce, dry sherry and hot sauce (or to taste), add a small amount of corn starch and mix in at the end of cooking your favorite stir-fry dish. If you’re using meat in your stir-fry, marinate the meat in the sauce mixture beforehand.

• Add a few drops of hot sauce to mayonnaise or salad dressing to add some extra flavor.

• Add a few drops of hot sauce to your favorite salsa, gravy, soup or stew for a little extra “kick”.

• For a different flavor in your next Bloody Mary, Caesar or glass of vegetable juice, try adding a few drops of your favorite hot sauce to “kick” up the taste.

• Use hot sauce on pizza and pasta dishes instead of red pepper flakes.

• Try cooking ham, pork roasts or smoked sausage in any tropical fruit nectar (pineapple, etc.) with a few shakes of hot sauce.

• Try a Caribbean style hot sauce on cottage cheese or your favorite salad as a low calorie, low fat dressing.

• Try mixing your favorite hot sauce with ketchup for a quick and delicious barbecue sauce.

• Tired of airplane food when travelling? Try carrying your own hot sauce to jazz up whatever they serve you.

• Try replacing the salt in your diet with hot sauce. Sprinkle it on burgers, vegetables, eggs, rice, salads, sandwiches or on any food that you’ve grilled. The sauce adds great flavor and is much better for you.

Harvesting and Drying Chile Peppers
October 7th, 2008

Chile peppers should be harvested for maximum colour, when the pods have partially dried on the plant, as the succulent red pods have not fully developed their colour. Pod moisture content from red chile peppers is between 65% and 80%, depending on whether they are partially dried on the plant or harvested while still succulent.

Oven drying is my preferred way to dry chiles because of cleanliness. In an oven there is little or no dust to settle on them bringing with it microbes that will cause spoilage when stored for long periods. No flies can land on them, no insects can lay eggs in them, no birds can peck at them and expose them to bacteria, mold and mildew. They also become drier. The air in an oven is much more dry than outside air, and the drier the chile the longer it will store and the better it will taste when finally eaten.

Rinse your ripened chiles, remove the stems, and put them in the oven for drying in the same metal screen mesh colander you gathered and rinsed them in. Don’t overheat your chilies. Set oven control at its lowest setting, but not below 140-150 degrees. If using an electric oven, wedge something heat proof between oven and door to allow a 1″ opening. Moisture from the drying food will vent through this opening. Close the door on a gas oven, this will cause moisture to escape via the exhaust gas flue.

Store the pods in zip lock or other air tight containers after they become crispy dry. Any remaining moisture in them may cause mold during storage. If you are drying for seeds, use the lower range of drying temperature so as not to kill your seeds.