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Latin-American Cuisine

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Re: Latin-American Cuisine

Postby karadekoolaid » Mon Jan 11, 2021 2:30 pm

If you found those peppers in Habana, Sue, then they´re probably ají dulce.

Good link, Scully - ají dulce are really delicious!

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Re: Latin-American Cuisine

Postby karadekoolaid » Mon Jan 11, 2021 7:12 pm

Supposedly you can buy an ají dulce sauce in a place called "Liqui-liqui", in Merton High st, SW19.

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Re: Latin-American Cuisine

Postby jeral » Mon Jan 11, 2021 10:51 pm

karadekoolaid wrote:Sweet chile .... ají dulce.
...
I'd simply leave the ingredient out, unless you can find a very, very mild chile in the market. ...

Sorry, another of my questions:
How does a sweet chile without heat differ from an orange or yellow capsicum pepper please, which is also sweet in relative terms?
Ta.

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Re: Latin-American Cuisine

Postby karadekoolaid » Tue Jan 12, 2021 4:15 am

That´s a very good question, jeral.
There are over 4,000 varieties of chile pepper in the world. Believe it or not ( and many don´t, because they think that hot chiles only burn), all chile peppers have a distinct flavour. Some are floral, some smell sweet, some are citric, some are mustardy. " Ají Dulce" come into the flora/citric range. Bell or capsicum peppers are always sweet.
Additionally, bell peppers are always thick-skinned; chile peppers are thin, usually, unless you consider rocoto and jalapeño peppers.

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Re: Latin-American Cuisine

Postby Badger's Mate » Tue Jan 12, 2021 11:10 am

It would be nice if some of the chillies were bred with increased flavour notes and less capsaicin, then some of the variety might be more widely appreciated. However, chilli eating in the West is too much of a macho measuring contest for that to be a commercial success, I fear. :(

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Re: Latin-American Cuisine

Postby scullion » Tue Jan 12, 2021 11:17 am

i think it's a matter of knowledge and commercial availability of the different types of chilli rather than macho demand. most people only associate chillies with heat rather than the other flavours - so that is what we get.
growing your own gets you the other varieties.

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Re: Latin-American Cuisine

Postby Badger's Mate » Tue Jan 12, 2021 11:35 am

There is a clear commercial demand for hotter and hotter chillies and chilli sauces, just look at the way they are marketed. Plant breeding and formulation techniques are developed to that end. I'm not aware of any efforts in any other culinary direction. It would be lovely if the fruitiness of, say, habaneros or Lemon Drops, could be developed in varieties with less spiciness to make them palatable to more people. I grow them, but there's a limit to what I can do with them because Mrs B wouldn't enjoy them. There is a whole range of flavours that could be available if they weren't rendered inedible to many people by the spiciness.

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Re: Latin-American Cuisine

Postby jeral » Tue Jan 12, 2021 1:48 pm

4,000 varieties is a lot! I'm sure it's true that chillis here are seen as little more than a challenge, which is a pity as it's difficult to get the flavour from the mere smidgeon I can tolerate.

Not marketing a milder variety is surely also a missed opportunity as chillis are so healthy that they ought to be capable of being eaten as a snack in themselves, rather than merely as a dusting on crisps or generic heat in ready meals. Perhaps they'll come into their own alongside the veggie/vegan upsurge with the younger generations who've grown up with "foreign stuff" ;)

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Re: Latin-American Cuisine

Postby karadekoolaid » Tue Jan 12, 2021 4:08 pm

While there is a certain masochistic demand for ridiculously hot peppers ( The latest, called Dragon´s Breath, is rated at 2,400,000 Scoville) there are plenty of mild ones available. I´d imagine it´s just a question of looking in the right place. Jalapeños aren´t really hot; neither are banana peppers. I don´t know what the markets offer over there, but a Pasilla, or a Poblano chile, or an orange Peruvian chile are pretty mild. So too are New Mexico and Anaheim chiles - again, don´t know if they´re available.
As for hot sauces - yes, there´s obviously a "macho" element there, but there are many I´ve tried which are very tasty, rather than just absurdly violent.

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Re: Latin-American Cuisine

Postby Amber » Wed Jan 13, 2021 1:25 am

4000? Unless we go to a specialist shop, we tend to get a choice of red, green, or scotch bonnet.

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Re: Latin-American Cuisine

Postby karadekoolaid » Wed Jan 13, 2021 2:27 am

Interesting. The last time I was in Sainsbury´s, Maidstone, there were some jalapeños and some green Thai finger chiles . I´m sure if you go to a Farmer´s Market, or a Caribbean market, you´ll find something spicy.

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Re: Latin-American Cuisine

Postby ZeroCook » Wed Jan 13, 2021 5:40 am

Badger's Mate wrote:It would be nice if some of the chillies were bred with increased flavour notes and less capsaicin, then some of the variety might be more widely appreciated. However, chilli eating in the West is too much of a macho measuring contest for that to be a commercial success, I fear. :(


There are many varieties, BM. The problem as you say can be the macho component as part of the impediment of getting hold of milder flavourful varieties, but it is changing.

The other part of the problem is that with a few exceptions, places and cuisines outside the Americas that adopted the chili for the most part went for heat. Many have just one or two or three favoured varieties. Having said that, sweet peppers are really just another member or branch of the same family that have been bred over and over for fleshiness, mildness and sweetness. Think of paprika, for example.

KDKA, totally disagree with you over jalapeno heat. Perhaps mild ones are grown in Venezuela to suit local tastes. While I have from time to time come across batches of mild ones - specific varieties which have had the heat deliberately bred out of them, most jalapenos are actually pretty hot. I make a fresh salsa for example that takes a quarter to a half a jalapeno to give a pretty good kick to about 500 mls worth of salsa and sometimes even half can sometimes be too much. Anaheim/New Mexico chile ranges from very mild to incendiary by designation.

I mentioned a while back in this thread that the long green chilis/peppers that are eaten in Spain (I only know the south) are almost identical in every way to Anaheim/New Mexico type chiles in shape, flavour, texture except that they have no heat at all and are loved just like that. I think they have outstanding flavour.

I am a huge chili aficionado, though I avoid the ridiculously hot ones. While I like a bit of heat, what I am always after is flavour.

A main and in my estimation important place to learn about flavour nuances is Mexican and New Mexican cuisine where cooking with chili has been raised to an art. In those cuisines chili can used as any number of components - flavour, heat, colour, texture and is used green, ripe and dried, whole, crushed, ground and sometimes burned, main ingredient, seasoning, flavour nuance, sauce base.

Coolchile uk and Mexgrocer uk have quite a few dried (and occasionally fresh) Mexican and New Mexican varieties as well as other ingredients.



.

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Re: Latin-American Cuisine

Postby Stokey Sue » Wed Jan 13, 2021 1:32 pm

I think there are strains of jalapeños, I can buy frozen cheese stuffed jalapeños for aperitif, which are as mild as most Padron peppers (which thinking about it are a mild chilli) and when I grew some last year that’s how they turned out

But I can buy pickled jalapeño slices, mostly grown in Turkey these days, which are the fairly hot ones used for spicing up burgers and pizza

There are large long green chillis sold in markets and shops round here that look just like Anaheim chillis but can be blow your head off hot, they turn up pickled with kebabs

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Re: Latin-American Cuisine

Postby Badger's Mate » Wed Jan 13, 2021 2:13 pm

I think that's a reasonable assessment, ZC.

I love my chillies, in all varieties. There are numerous spicy sauces of all styles in this house, whether Worcestershire sauce, chilli jams, Indian pickles, chipotle paste, East Asian relishes or all manner of hot sauce. Some come from the Benington Lordship chilli festival, some mail order, some from markets, some home made. I enjoy the ones made with natural chillies of any sort, but avoid the brands with extra capsaicin extracts and silly marketing. I haven't got a favourite style; much like going for a curry, I might have a passanda, a tandoori dish, phall or anything in between, depending upon how I feel on the day.

We don't have the the range of varieties that are available fresh in Mexico, of course the dried or smoked ones are now more available. I've bought some less ferocious ones, such as Cherry Bomb or Poblano, at festivals. Otherwise, if you want a fresh one you either grow your own or have got a limited choice. I have grown seeds from Sea Spring, Michael & Joy Michaud's outfit.

https://seaspringseeds.co.uk/product-ca ... lli-seeds/


With regard to sweet peppers a lot are quite tasteless I feel. Certainly there's room for improvement with the widely available 'red, green or orange' sorts.

I´m sure if you go to a Farmer´s Market, or a Caribbean market, you´ll find something spicy.


That's the problem.

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Re: Latin-American Cuisine

Postby ZeroCook » Wed Jan 13, 2021 4:59 pm

.
You sound like an avid chili gardener and possible chili hothead BM. :lol: I'm just an avid general cooksbody! :D

Sweet peppers are often tasteless thru lack of enough sun and/or too much water/too fast growth. Commercially grown crops often suffer from that of course.

As I understand, Stokey, the really mild jalapenos were bred specificalkt for the fast food cheese popper industry.

.

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Re: Latin-American Cuisine

Postby Badger's Mate » Wed Jan 13, 2021 6:19 pm

I've grown a few varieties, not always successfully. Cayenne seems to work well here, as does Lemon Drop. Both produce reasonably hot fruit for me. Serranos from Wahaca freebies have also done OK, (I thought they were books of matches at first!). Padron produces fruit but not very flavourful and none hot. Some varieties come to fruition a bit late and can get nadgered by an early hard frost, which means there isn't much to show for the effort. I've grown different strains of Jalapeños with mixed results and a variety called El Cid that was completely tasteless.

Last year I grew Trifetti (a Heritage Seed Library variety) and Lemon Drop. I also sowed Tangerine Dream (supposedly mild but flavourful), but the sowing failed. They were self-saved seed, the fruits matured too late in 2019 to get much of a crop.

I'm sure you have hit the nail on the thumb with regards to the sunlight. Our greenhouse is a bit shady and the plants probably don't get enough light at both ends of the season. Lemon Drop has been a bit late sometimes but the last couple of years have been productive.

There are many more varieties to grow than even a few years ago. The reliable ones are a bit hot for Mrs B. I ought to try one of the currently offered mild but fragrant habaneros to see if they work here.

With regard to their use, I've used unripe Cayenne to make 'Turkish style' pickles and much of last year's Lemon Drop crop was turned into an Indian chilli pickle. I will probably use up the ones I picked the other day in another batch.

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Re: Latin-American Cuisine

Postby Stokey Sue » Wed Jan 13, 2021 6:55 pm

Badger's Mate wrote:I've grown a few varieties, not always successfully. Cayenne seems to work well here, as does Lemon Drop. Both produce reasonably hot fruit for me. Serranos from Wahaca freebies have also done OK, (I thought they were books of matches at first!). Padron produces fruit but not very flavourful and none hot. Some varieties come to fruition a bit late and can get nadgered by an early hard frost, which means there isn't much to show for the effort. I've grown different strains of Jalapeños with mixed results and a variety called El Cid that was completely tasteless.

Serrano & cayenne have done well on my roof terrace in pots

Two points
1. Has anyone had a hot Padron pepper in the past few years? I gave up buying them, as they seemed to be devoid of any oomph at all, I've had them (all Spanish grown) from Turnips and Brindisa the Borough and from Lidl

2. Haven't heard anyone say "nadgered" in a very long time :D

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Re: Latin-American Cuisine

Postby Badger's Mate » Wed Jan 13, 2021 7:01 pm

Haven't heard anyone say "nadgered" in a very long time


I'm just channeling my inner Rambling Syd Rumpo :D

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Re: Latin-American Cuisine

Postby Stokey Sue » Wed Jan 13, 2021 7:11 pm

:lol: :lol: :lol:

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Re: Latin-American Cuisine

Postby WolfGirl » Wed Jan 13, 2021 11:36 pm

Sue, I bought a couple of packs of Padron peppers from Waitrose around October time. There were about seven or eight altogether that were hot. The first time I’ve ever eaten any with heat over many years of trying, even in Spain.
I just like them, full stop.

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