Loose Ends: Spilled Milk #45
I am always asked, “…so where do you get your _____?"
I am always asked, “…so where do you get your _____?”
Everywhere and all the time. So, here are 3 answers chosen at random by me just for fun. If you like this kind of content, let me know and I will do more of it.
"Wish I had time for just one more bowl of chili."
Last words of Kit Carson, American frontiersman (1809-1868)
Do you need some ole for your mole, some heat for your chili treat?
Remember, a great chef is only as good as the quality of their ingredients. Home cooks should quadruple that dictum. For those yearning to create the flavor profiles and complex layers of heat that professionals can conjure up, then you’ll love varietal point of origin chile powders, and one of my favorites is made with Chimayo chiles. Trust me, you need this chile for your chili!
Chile powders are commercially prepared blends of dried chiles, sometimes enriched with cumin, garlic and oregano. Used in plenty of Mexican, Central and South American style cooking, most chile powder is blended in factories from substandard sources and sits on supermarket shelves for long periods of time, losing flavor and aroma with each passing minute. That’s why I created my own seasoning blend with my friends at www.badiaspices.com and you can buy all my seasoning blends here or at your local Jewel-Osco, HyVee, DD’s Discounts, Fiesta Mart and more. I would encourage you to buy the whole set, the blends are amazing. Please give them a try.
On the flip side from blends, single source varietal chile powder is grown, dried and ground at the source, usually in a centuries-old artisanal process invariably sold as it is made, and not blended with other spices. Taste the real thing and you’ll see that conventional chile powder has as much to do with varietal powders as my standing in your garage makes me your car!
Chimayo chiles are a select New Mexican red chile, highly prized for a unique balance of heat and deep pepper flavor, and a clean and intense coppery aroma. Hard to grow outside of the New Mexican micro-climate where it flourishes, this chile makes a powder that is perfect for soups, braises and sauces. A great source for Chimayo chiles is the Santa Fe Farmer’s Market,but getting there is tricky unless you live nearby. Thanks to Terry and Mary Cordes’ company Chimayo To Go you can cook like you shop there every week.
Buy it at www.chimayotogo.com. Eat it with friends. Order some now and get ready for Thursday’s Chit Chat.
A new company that I LOVE is Boonville Barn, female owned and operated, and they produce several dried ground varietals of chile powders. I am super impressed with all their stuff. Find them at www.boonvillebarn.com
“ Taylor ham—a pork roll—is a Jersey fixture. Taylor ham with cheese on a hard roll is love. The big question is ketchup or mustard? Everyone in north Jersey puts on mustard, everyone in the south, ketchup. I’m a mustard guy myself.”…JON BON JOVI
Taylor Ham is the best tasting sausage you have never heard of.
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