Flavorings, crushed peppers.
Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2011 18:13
Crushed peppers or chili paprika.
About every three years I buy one each of all the different varieties of dried chilis that they have in the store. It is usually about ten varieties.
I break off the stems and shake out the seeds and put the pods in the oven at about 200 degrees until they are as dry and cripy as potato chips. Then I crush them by hand and mill them in a food processor. It is a batch process and I sift each batch in an 8x8 mesh basket strainer and add the course pieces back into the hopper with a fresh batch of pods. after a while everything is milled down to less than 1/4 inch or 5 mm. I blend all of the fine millings and store it in jars and the course millings are stored separately. When I want very fine powder I sift it with a tea strainer. For soups I will use the course and for sprinkling on pizza I use the fines straight from the jar. The flavors of the blend are much more complex then the single variety crushed pepper flakes they sell.
About every three years I buy one each of all the different varieties of dried chilis that they have in the store. It is usually about ten varieties.
I break off the stems and shake out the seeds and put the pods in the oven at about 200 degrees until they are as dry and cripy as potato chips. Then I crush them by hand and mill them in a food processor. It is a batch process and I sift each batch in an 8x8 mesh basket strainer and add the course pieces back into the hopper with a fresh batch of pods. after a while everything is milled down to less than 1/4 inch or 5 mm. I blend all of the fine millings and store it in jars and the course millings are stored separately. When I want very fine powder I sift it with a tea strainer. For soups I will use the course and for sprinkling on pizza I use the fines straight from the jar. The flavors of the blend are much more complex then the single variety crushed pepper flakes they sell.
