Well it's been a while but I'm back and I have good news to report my friends...
It's been kinda quiet on the Hot Sauce front this past few months, nothing new to report that's lit my candle so to speak. A couple decent hot wings here and there, the usual good homemade sauces but not a lot else to report.
Then Kyle, former chef at John Henry's, takes over at the Peninsula Pub with fiance Faye, and knocks one out of the ballpark.
First off let me say that I've eaten at the Pen Pub probably 8 or 9 times now, over the course of the Summer, and everything I've eaten there has been top banana.
Well of particular interest to me is the fact that Kyle has given the pub a 'HOT' theme...a burning devil in hell is their logo and Kyle serves a kicked up 9-pepper chili that's to die for. The chili is spicier than any other I've had in Door County, in fact I can't recall a spicier chili anywhere....though chili is rarely my first choice when I'm eating out. Now Kyle, the spicy devil, keeps a bottle of pure Bhut Jolokia sauce in the kitchen for special occasions - such as, my first visit to the Peninsula Pub following Kyle's take over. He let me try a bowl of their already kicked-up chili and added one drop, yes....one drop of the Bhut Jolokia sauce. Wow! That stuff is like lava....just the one drop gave me a hot sweat and the feeling that all wouldn't be well the following morning. And it wasn't :)
Now Kyle has introduced a hot wing challenge that has me tempted, but so far I've been able to resist.....but for how long is anyone's guess.
Get on down to the 'new' Peninsula Pub for great bar food and Door County's HOTTEST hot pepper experience!
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Hot Seasoning and no salt...
I love hot sauces like the next chili head, but sometimes I just want the heat without any pronounced flavoring. Most sauces have intense flavoring that often takes away from the flavor of the food it is applied to. No better example here than the venerable Tabasco sauce, which has a real take it or leave it flavor.
Anyway, it's easy to make a good hot seasoning and the good thing is you can control the heat, the flavor and the amount of sodium.
Remember that whenever you reduce a sauce, or dry a food product, you are evaporating water and therefore intensifying the flavor. Most people don't think of intense flavor when they think about a plain old tomato, but you dehydrate that puppy and it's a veritable taste sensation.
So here's what we'll do -
Take a couple large beef toms, or 4/5 smaller Roma's or whatever, slice them paper thin and lay them on a dry non-stick baking tray. Take a dozen of your favorite peppers, de-stalk them and cut them in half. Leave the seeds intact. Remember what I said about the dehydration process intensifying the flavor, it's also going to intensify the heat level, so if you're not at the Habanero level, go with something like serrano's. You can mix and match too, to get your favorite flavor.
So lay the halved peppers around the tray and bake the whole thing on low heat (275) for 5-6 hours until the peppers and tomatoes are all dried out.
Scrape them off the baking tray into a bowl and crumble them into small pieces. (protect your hands - or don't handle your wiener for at least 12 hours).
Once crumbled, put the mix in a spice grinder and grind to a powder. Use in a salt shaker on all your favorite dishes.
You can experiment with additional veggies like onion, garlic etc, to steer the flavor in your particular direction.
Enjoy.
Anyway, it's easy to make a good hot seasoning and the good thing is you can control the heat, the flavor and the amount of sodium.
Remember that whenever you reduce a sauce, or dry a food product, you are evaporating water and therefore intensifying the flavor. Most people don't think of intense flavor when they think about a plain old tomato, but you dehydrate that puppy and it's a veritable taste sensation.
So here's what we'll do -
Take a couple large beef toms, or 4/5 smaller Roma's or whatever, slice them paper thin and lay them on a dry non-stick baking tray. Take a dozen of your favorite peppers, de-stalk them and cut them in half. Leave the seeds intact. Remember what I said about the dehydration process intensifying the flavor, it's also going to intensify the heat level, so if you're not at the Habanero level, go with something like serrano's. You can mix and match too, to get your favorite flavor.
So lay the halved peppers around the tray and bake the whole thing on low heat (275) for 5-6 hours until the peppers and tomatoes are all dried out.
Scrape them off the baking tray into a bowl and crumble them into small pieces. (protect your hands - or don't handle your wiener for at least 12 hours).
Once crumbled, put the mix in a spice grinder and grind to a powder. Use in a salt shaker on all your favorite dishes.
You can experiment with additional veggies like onion, garlic etc, to steer the flavor in your particular direction.
Enjoy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)