What's Cooking?

[Johnsfolly]

41 minutes ago, BilletHead said:

  Smoked Queso turned out real good. Taste test and transferred to a crock pot set on warm for the afternoon food grazing.

Looks ready for the chips 

[ness]

Gumbo tonight. Shrimp, chicken, andouille and cod too. 

And, Red Beer!!

[rps]

[BilletHead]

    Chili or adobo sauce,

     So did another batch of barbacoa meat. With this was a recipe for a chili/adobo sauce. three different dried chilis for this. Guajillo, Ancho and Chipotle. With no Ancho in the pantry subbed Pisilla chilis. 

   Simple and easy sauce. You need,

     First in some fat (I used goose fat) brown onions then add garlic and torn deseeded chilis, stir a bit. Add some water and simmer until chilies are soft and tender.

     All of this into a blender and blend until it is like a thick BBQ sauce. Salt, pepper and lime juice to taste. Dang I was eating it by the spoon full. A bite to it but not hot. I can see the uses to this stuff down the road and trying the plethora of dried chili peppers that can be purchased at the Latin markets. many of the big chain markets have some of these peppers available.

[BilletHead]

               Lets put that barbacoa meat and sauce to use. It's my lunch and I will have it fixed again and ready for Pat when she gets home from work.  

   Yes I know I used three pieces of cast iron this morning. I know how it is seasoned and how easy it is to clean. A little fat in the skillet to crisp up the barbacoa meat. As this was going on a couple tortillas heating on the griddle. Then a nice heaping spoon full of the chili/adobo sauce to mix in.

    Lettuce, onions and smoked sharp cheddar ready to go. Heated some leftover Spanish rice and made me a couple soft tacos. 

   I am so satisfied right now. Good weather for cooking and eating

[podum]

A while back I posted about making hot sauce from home grown peppers.  This was my second year and I now have friends and family demanding the product.   Fermenting is easy.  I've never had a jar of peppers spoil (20+ jars).  Here is the process:

1.  Grow some peppers.  I use everything from jalapenos, seranos, cowhorns, habeneros, lemon drops, cayennes and aji varieties.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.  Ferment them.  I cut them into small pieces (no stems). Pack them into quart sized mason jars and add a 3% brine over the peppers.  The brine percentage is based on the weight of the water.  I use a scale I can zero out to weigh the water and then add 3% of that weight in salt.

NOTES - Used salt without any additives and use distilled water. Chlorinated water can kill the bacteria that cause the fermentation.  Also make sure the brine covers the peppers completely.  I bought some glass weights that are made for this on Amazon.

 

You will need lids with a vent (available on Amazon) because the fermenting process will create gas that needs to escape.

You can let the fermenting process go on for 3 weeks to 6 months.  Flavors mellow the longer the ferment.

3.  Making Sauce

Strain the fermented peppers in a collander.  Add peppers and vinegar to a blender and liquify.  I use barely enough vinegar to allow the liquification.  For thinner sauce, use more vinegar.

Next, run the mixture through a strainer pressing it through to extract all of the liquid possible.

 

 

The result is two products.  The sauce and the paste.

 

 

These are obviously from different batches.  Save the paste.  It keeps more than a year in the fridge and spices chili nicely.  I marinate chicken in it a lot.  The sauce goes on everything.

 

 

[BilletHead]

45 minutes ago, podum said:

A while back I posted about making hot sauce from home grown peppers.  This was my second year and I now have friends and family demanding the product.   Fermenting is easy.  I've never had a jar of peppers spoil (20+ jars).  Here is the process:

1.  Grow some peppers.  I use everything from jalapenos, seranos, cowhorns, habeneros, lemon drops, cayennes and aji varieties.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.  Ferment them.  I cut them into small pieces (no stems). Pack them into quart sized mason jars and add a 3% brine over the peppers.  The brine percentage is based on the weight of the water.  I use a scale I can zero out to weigh the water and then add 3% of that weight in salt.

NOTES - Used salt without any additives and use distilled water. Chlorinated water can kill the bacteria that cause the fermentation.  Also make sure the brine covers the peppers completely.  I bought some glass weights that are made for this on Amazon.

 

You will need lids with a vent (available on Amazon) because the fermenting process will create gas that needs to escape.

You can let the fermenting process go on for 3 weeks to 6 months.  Flavors mellow the longer the ferment.

3.  Making Sauce

Strain the fermented peppers in a collander.  Add peppers and vinegar to a blender and liquify.  I use barely enough vinegar to allow the liquification.  For thinner sauce, use more vinegar.

Next, run the mixture through a strainer pressing it through to extract all of the liquid possible.

 

 

The result is two products.  The sauce and the paste.

 

 

These are obviously from different batches.  Save the paste.  It keeps more than a year in the fridge and spices chili nicely.  I marinate chicken in it a lot.  The sauce goes on everything.

 

 

                Thanks Podum,

   It was your post and some prodding from @ness that got me to try this. Done peppers, hot sauce and kimchi. Good stuff! Going to expand my horizons in the upcoming seasons.  Have you tried fermenting cherry tomatoes yet? I have seen some posts about fizzy cherry tomatoes. 

[podum]

Tomatos are on my list, specifically ketchup with a kick.  I've done carrots and kraut.  Both are great.

[ness]

I'm gonna give kimchi a try soon. Got the fermentation lids and glass weights the other day. Also some gochugaru. Gotta find a recipe and just do it. 

[Mitch f]

Good for Manhattans 😋