Beginning with Chiles - Softcover

Creechan, Mary Lou; Creechan, James H.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0968506607 ISBN 13: 9780968506608

Publisher: Tiengui del Norte Publishing, 2000

Synopsis

Chile peppers are the essential ingredient in Mexican and southwestern cooking, but with endless varieties, names, types, and heat scales, chiles can be a challenge. To meet that challenge, Mary Lou and Jim Creechan have prepared a practical guide that tells how to roast, peel, and prepare chile peppers for authentic Mexican salsas, stuffers, and seasonings. This handy guide focuses on the most common chiles available in supermarkets, grouping them for easy use, recognition, and substitution. You'll read about the small, hot snappies generally used in salsas, the larger, milder stuffers, the smoothies, and the seasoners. The authors provide practical preparation tips, handy hints, classic recipes, and information on their personal favorites.

Beginning with Chiles is the ultimate capsicum read for novice and connoisseur alike. Notes, comments, and anecdotes reflect the historical, cultural, and mythical significance of chiles, while recommended readings, chile charts, chile fiestas, and web sites are provided for the more adventurous readers. Versatile, practical, and informative, it's a total chile experience for all chile aficionados, seasoned or otherwise.

RECIPES
Jalapeños: Salsa Mexicana / Salsa Verde / Hell's a Poppin' Jalapeño Salsa / Jalapeño Cream Sauce / Mango Jalapeño Salsa / Guacamole / Jalapeño Cream Cheese / Shrimp Supreme / Topopo Serranos: Pico de Gallo / Salsa Verde with Tomatillos / Chilaquiles Verdes / Island Salsa / Serrano Pesto / Ceviche / Shredded Fish / Black Bean Relish
Habaneros: World's Hottest Table Salsa / Simply Habanero / Habanero Table Salsa / Salsa Habanero y Col / Habanero and Mango Salsa / Habanero Mayonnaise
Stuffer Recipes: Rellenos Batters / Rellenos Classico! / Chiles Rellenos Casserole / Chiles Rellenos with Shrimp and Chipotle Mayo / Chiles Stuffed with Tuna / Chiles Rellenos con Maiz / Chiles Rellenos de Picadillo / Chiles en Nogada Rajas / Chile con Queso / Chile Verde / New Mexico Green Chile Salsas
Smoothie Recipes: Basic Red Chile Sauce / Cheese Enchilada / Chicken Enchilada / Red Chilaquiles / Basic Ancho Sauce / Ancho Paste / Ancho Sauce with Orange Juice / Smoky Chile Pesto / Creamy Ancho Sauce / Dark Red Chile Sauce / Ancho and Tomatillo Salsa / Mango-Ancho Salsa / Stuffed Chile Anchos / Salsa Pasilla
Seasoner Recipes: Hot Salsa de Chile de Arbol / Oaxacan Peanuts / Red Chile Oil / Tomato-Chiltepin Salsa / The Chiltepin Challenge / Chile Cheese / Crispy Chile Potatoes / Rice Rico / De Arbol-Ancho / De Arbol-Tomatillo / Homemade Chorizo Powder / Jaime's Special Seasoning
Chipotle Recipes: Homemade Chipotle en Adobo / Chipotle Purée / Tomato-Chipotle Salsa / Pineapple-Chipotle Salsa / Chipotle Mayo / Chipotle Cream Sauce / Chipotle Dressing / Chipotle-Zucchini / Albondigas en Chipotle / Salsa de Chipotle

About this title

About the Author

Mary Lou Creechan has lived and traveled in the Southwest and Mexico. She is co-owner of RRRico's catering in Toronto. Jim Creechan has lived and traveled in the Southwest and Mexico and is a sociologist at the University of Alberta and, in his spare time, a prize-winning cook.

From the Back Cover

Chile peppers are the essential ingredient in Mexican and southwestern cooking, but with endless varieties, names, types, and heat scales, chiles can be a challenge. To meet that challenge, Mary Lou and Jim Creechan have prepared a practical guide that tells how to roast, peel, and prepare chile peppers for authentic Mexican salsas, stuffers, and seasonings. This handy guide focuses on the most common chiles available in supermarkets, grouping them for easy use, recognition, and substitution. You'll read about the small, hot snappies generally used in salsas, the larger, milder stuffers, the smoothies, and the seasoners. The authors provide practical preparation tips, handy hints, classic recipes, and information on their personal favorites. "Beginning with Chiles" is the ultimate capsicum read for novice and connoisseur alike. Notes, comments, and anecdotes reflect the historical, cultural, and mythical significance of chiles, while recommended readings, chile charts, chile fiestas, and web sites are provided for the more adventurous readers. Versatile, practical, and informative, it's a total chile experience for all chile aficionados, seasoned or otherwise.
RECIPES JalapeAos: Salsa Mexicana / Salsa Verde / Hell's a Poppin' JalapeAo Salsa / JalapeAo Cream Sauce / Mango JalapeAo Salsa / Guacamole / JalapeAo Cream Cheese / Shrimp Supreme / Topopo Serranos: Pico de Gallo / Salsa Verde with Tomatillos / Chilaquiles Verdes / Island Salsa / Serrano Pesto / Ceviche / Shredded Fish / Black Bean Relish Habaneros: World's Hottest Table Salsa / Simply Habanero / Habanero Table Salsa / Salsa Habanero y Col / Habanero and Mango Salsa / Habanero Mayonnaise Stuffer Recipes: Rellenos Batters /Rellenos Classico! / Chiles Rellenos Casserole / Chiles Rellenos with Shrimp and Chipotle Mayo / Chiles Stuffed with Tuna / Chiles Rellenos con Maiz / Chiles Rellenos de Picadillo / Chiles en Nogada Rajas / Chile con Queso / Chile Verde / New Mexico Green Chile Salsas Smoothie Recipes: Basic Red Chile Sauce / Cheese Enchilada / Chicken Enchilada / Red Chilaquiles / Basic Ancho Sauce / Ancho Paste / Ancho Sauce with Orange Juice / Smoky Chile Pesto / Creamy Ancho Sauce / Dark Red Chile Sauce / Ancho and Tomatillo Salsa / Mango-Ancho Salsa / Stuffed Chile Anchos / Salsa Pasilla Seasoner Recipes: Hot Salsa de Chile de Arbol / Oaxacan Peanuts / Red Chile Oil / Tomato-Chiltepin Salsa / The Chiltepin Challenge / Chile Cheese / Crispy Chile Potatoes / Rice Rico / De Arbol-Ancho / De Arbol-Tomatillo / Homemade Chorizo Powder / Jaime's Special Seasoning Chipotle Recipes: Homemade Chipotle en Adobo / Chipotle PurA(c)e / Tomato-Chipotle Salsa / Pineapple-Chipotle Salsa / Chipotle Mayo / Chipotle Cream Sauce / Chipotle Dressing / Chipotle-Zucchini / Albondigas en Chipotle / Salsa de Chipotle

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

We've reserved a separate chapter for the chipotle (also spelled chilpotle or chipocle) because it's a very special chile used both for sauces and seasonings. Mexican peoples have been preserving thick-fleshed chiles with a smoking-process since at least Aztec times (12th&13th centuries), and the techniques have changed very little. The popularity of this process remains very high, and even today about 20% of Mexico's fresh jalape crop is smoked or specially dried to create this type of chile.

There are many varieties of chipotles available in Mexico. The meco is a big tan coloured smoked chile made by curing the ordinary jalape with a heat process. It is about 2"-3" (5-8 cm) long with a thick leather-like skin. The morita is more common in Canada and the USA, and it is smaller, rounder, redder and more wrinkled than the meco. It actually comes from a mora chile which looks like a small red jalape but is shaped more like a Fresno chile.

Flavour and heat levels in smoked chiles depend on many things- such as the origin of the fresh chile and the specific smoking technique used. The type of wood used also creates interesting variations in flavour. Smoking chiles is big commercial business in Mexico, and chipotles are available in bulk at all markets as loose dried chiles or canned in a special sauce (en adobo). Specialty markets in larger American and Canadian cities also carry supplies of loose fresh chipotles and the canned version. Some people are even fortunate enough to have access to freshly smoked chiles made by small-scale local producers in some parts of the United States. Jacqueline Higuera McMahan describes parts of California where home smoking of chiles is an elaborate ritual.

Smoking chiles involves digging a smoke trench and linking it to a firepit. The chiles are placed at the trench end of the pit, and the smoke passes over them as it escapes into the atmosphere. Outside of Mexico, people have experimented with wet and dry smoking using special smoker units. Most of us must content ourselves with buying a few dried chipotles from small bottles or in small cellophane bags at specialty stores. "Why are they smoked?" "Why aren't jalapes or mora chiles air or sun dried like most other chiles?" It's because they 're too fleshy and air drying takes too long. It's also clear that the chiles acquire an intense smoky flavour that is addictive.

Most chipotles are jalapes which are heat processed when they're green. They're about 3 inches (8 cm) long and a wood-tan colour. In some places, these longer types of smoked chile are very hard to find, and one is more likely to find the reddish and smaller morita. It's easier to find canned chipotles and many people now prefer to buy chipotles in this form. Canned chipotles are also packed in a tasty adobo sauce which is a dark mixture of ancho chiles and tomatoes. These chipotles en adobo are pureed (sauce and all) to make a very spicy salsa, or the chiles are removed from the adobo and chopped for other uses.

Chipotles en adobo have a wonderfully different flavour than rehydrated loose chipotles. We've come to prefer the chipotles en adobo because they're easier to use and because the adobo sauce adds a terrific extra flavour. Check out Latin American or Mexican markets for canned chipotles en adobo. Some producers like Herdez make a very rich ancho adobo, whereas other companies use a simple tomato paste. Difficulties in cross-border labeling play havoc with supplies and create limitations on the range of specific brands available from Mexico.

Edition details

• Publisher: Tiengui del Norte Publishing
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0968506607
• ISBN 13: 9780968506608
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 188