Had leftover chili in da freezer and had a hankering for some Cincinnati Style Chili. Added our Cincy chili powder to give it that unique taste.
Did mine 4 way……..spaghetti, chili, cheese, onions……….hit the spot!!!
You either love Cincy style or hate it. Wouldn’t eat my chili like that all the time, but once in a while it’s a nice change.
Slammer!!!

Tonight I “fixed” the sauerkraut suppe, more to our preference. During the reheat, I added about a cup or more of chicken stock to thin the liquid, and added another cup of sauerkraut. It was soooo much better. My measure of this was of course, my wife. She takes her suppe, and her kraut very seriously. Why am I not surprised with her heritage and upbringing. Brad

Lasagna

DIL....
Chocklit pie.!... :0)

Chocolate pie, Oh My!!! Yes please

Brewshetta...
N...PIE...!

The other night we bought pizza and brought it over to my sister and brother-in-law's house.
Half special, half sausage and onion, Bada Bing (pepperoni, hot peppers, and hot honey drizzle) and Vita Bella (cherry tomatoes, sausage, and cheese.)

quote:

---

Originally posted by Wet Spaniel

Lasagna

---

A meal well done, for sure! Brad

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lizwadsworth65

The other night we bought pizza and brought it over to my sister and brother-in-law's house.
Half special, half sausage and onion, Bada Bing (pepperoni, hot peppers, and hot honey drizzle) and Vita Bella (cherry tomatoes, sausage, and cheese.)

---

That is feast! Brad

Beef soup. Wouldn't call it a stew, but whatever. Turnip was about the only homegrown ingredient, although some homegrown smoked, dehydrated, and crumbled Basque pepper was just enough to avoid any extra flavorings, although I may change my mind tomorrow.

Buffalo, turnip, potato, onion, carrot, shrooms, chicken broth, smoked/dehydrated pepper...  All veggies other than the pepper were sauteed to add some extra goodness.

Kinda cold out there.  'tis the season for soups and stews.

quote:

---

Originally posted by reubenstump

Beef soup. Wouldn't call it a stew, but whatever. Turnip was about the only homegrown ingredient, although some homegrown smoked, dehydrated, and crumbled Basque pepper was just enough to avoid any extra flavorings, although I may change my mind tomorrow.

Buffalo, turnip, potato, onion, carrot, shrooms, chicken broth, smoked/dehydrated pepper...  All veggies other than the pepper were sauteed to add some extra goodness.

Kinda cold out there.  'tis the season for soups and stews.

---

As usual, good stuff there.  Brad

Only the good Lord knows when I'll finally be done smoking and dehydrating peppers for the season, so consider this a final update.

Jalapeno - good crop, ripened late, especially when I wanted to wait for red rather than green.

Basque - classic Spanish, semi-dud. Not sure if espelette and basque are the same thing, but they're close. Piperade is a classic dish which I haven't made this year. Pepper, tomato, onions, egg, garlic... how can you go wrong?

Leutschauer - classic Hungarian paprika. From what I understand, while paprika is famous and highly prized in Spain, they actually got it from Hungary. Probably as a result of a war a long time ago.

Aleppo - Syria (yes, that Aleppo), very similar in size, shape, and taste to Leutschauer.

Sweet bell - duds this year, both red and yellow. Harumph!!

Carmen - 100% dud this year. Allegedly sweet and great for roasting.

Ajvarski - 100% dud this year. Look similar to poblano.

Poblano - Wildly prolific, and right next to the dud sweet bells. Go figure.

I've never grown so many peppers for so many reasons. Thoughts so far:

1) Paprika tip #1 - When dehydrating for paprika or similar purpose they need to be ultra dry. Not even the slightest bit leathery. Over time even a tiny bit of moisture can start to breed mold. My solution is to just grow more the next year, but if you have a bad crop then hopefully you still have enough from last year to tide you over.

2) Paprika tip #2 - If they're clumping in a sealed jar they probably have too much moisture in them. Putting the powder back in a normal dehydrator will just blow the dust around a make a mess. If your oven can be set to 120-150F (and it's reasonably calibrated) of if you have an accurate oven thermometer, spread the paprika on parchment paper on top of a baking sheet and dry them again. Stir once in a while to break them up.  Don't use convection!!

3) Leathery is probably fine for most uses - soups, stews, salads, burgers, dips, etc. So you don't need to totally dehydrate them. Soaking them in a bowl of warm water for a 10-30 minutes will sufficiently rehydrate them, so plan ahead if you want to use some on a burger, although chopping a leathery one into a warm soup on the stove will rehydrate automagically.

4) Ultra dehydrated peppers, ala paprika, work fine for crumbling into soups, dips, etc. And no rehydration!

5) If you smoke the peppers on a grill, throw away most or all of the burnt ones, as they'll add a touch of burnt flavor. Seems obvious, but reminders are good.

6) Thin walled peppers (e.g. Basque, Aleppo, Leutschauer) smoke and dehydrate a lot faster than peppers with thick walls (e.g. bell, poblano, jalapeno). If you're mixing thin and thick while smoking or dehydrating, pay attention so that the thin walled peppers don't dry up and burn.

And I'm not done yet!  More still to smoke and dehydrate!

quote:

---

Originally posted by reubenstump

Only the good Lord knows when I'll finally be done smoking and dehydrating peppers for the season, so consider this a final update.

 

---

Finished mine quite some time ago.

Hatch green: okay crop; roasted, peeled and froze almost all of them.

Hatch red: disappointing, but acceptable. Late ripening here, too. Dried the lot.

Poblano: disappointing, which is unusual in that they're usually the most successful. Roasted, peeled and froze.

Jalopeno: late ripening. Pickeled the lot.

Thai: bountiful. Dried most of the ripe ones and froze some ripe/some green

Cayenne: very disappointing. Dried the red ones, froze the green ones.

Serrano: came in gangbusters. Dried about half the red ones and froze everything else.

I've found that freezing serranos, Thais and Cayenne works just fine as long as you're planning to chop them up anyway.

Tell me about the hatch, cayenne, and serrano. Taste, thickness, heat, size, typical use, etc. I think I tried to grow serrano one year, failed, and never tried again.

I've heard good things about hatch, but can't remember any of it. What I do remember is that "hatch chile" is like "vidalia onion". You can only use the name if they're grown in a certain area. Otherwise you have to use a different name, but they taste 99% the same.

quote:

---

Originally posted by reubenstump

Tell me about the hatch, cayenne, and serrano. Taste, thickness, heat, size, typical use, etc. I think I tried to grow serrano one year, failed, and never tried again.

I've heard good things about hatch, but can't remember any of it. What I do remember is that "hatch chile" is like "vidalia onion". You can only use the name if they're grown in a certain area. Otherwise you have to use a different name, but they taste 99% the same.

---

You're correct on the name usage, but I buy seed for them from New Mexico, where they're legit, and although growing conditions are different here, they taste pretty good.

Hatch chiles are a similar cultivar to Anaheims - in fact, if memory serves, they were originally derived from that chile. The fruits have medium-thick walls, and the chiles are usually about 1.0 to 1.5" across at the stem, tapering down to a point about 6 to 8" later. Heat ranges from low to medium, depending on the specific breeding. I start my own seeds, which I purchase from Sandia Seed Company.  I start them in the basement under grow lights in late February; they grow slowly for a while, then I transplant them into 4" pots, again under the lights; I typically start hardening them off in late April. They're usually in the ground by mid-May. I buy both Hatch Green and Hatch Red seeds, but I'm unconvinced there's much difference except that the ones sold as reds tend to ripen a bit eariler than the greens. But the greens WILL ripen and turn red if the growing season is long enough.

As far as usage is concerned, I dry the red ones and use them primarily to make chili and/or enchilada sauce - no canned chili powder for me! I start by soaking and pureeing them and then add other spices as I stew the meat in the chile puree. The green Hatches get used a variety of ways - chile verde and New Mexico pork and green chile stew are favorites, as is New Mexico green chile sauce, and the larger ones can make a VERY nice chile relleno, especially if you top it with a red chile sauce made from the dried ones!

I typically buy started plants with the cayennes and serranos - and the Thai - in that they're easy to get around here and the plants are obviously healthy and (mostly) come hardened off. Those are both hot - not habanero or ghost pepper hot, but plenty hot enough for me most of the time (and if I need more heat, that's when the Thais come to the party). The cayennes are thin-walled and long, wrinkly and skinny. The Serranos are typically about the same length as a jalapeno but about a third to a half the diameter. Wall thickness is medium. They fruit quite prolifically - you might get 6 to 10 fruits off a Hatch plant; you should easily get 30 or 40 serranos off one stem. Of course, they're used for different things - but I find them capable of producing a lovely (not overpowering) blast of heat and flavor that works equally well in Mexican, Chinese, Indian and Thai dishes.

You can get Seranno seeds from Sandia Seed, by the way. I've had pretty good luck with germination on their products - though like I said, I usually buy them started.

Your seedling and hardening process sounds a lot like mine.

Yeah, I like chile relleno, chiles en nogada, ropa vieja...

I made a bad batch last year, which was completely my fault, but I might try another batch of chili crisp since I have so much on hand.

chilipeppermadness.com/recipes...li-crisp/
bonappetit.com/story/minimalis...ili-crisp

Thanks.

Italian Bread French Toast...n...
Bacon...
Gosh it was good... ;0)

quote:

---

Originally posted by STUD figmo Al

Italian Bread French Toast

---

Good Lord, how did this happen?  Did the Italians accuse the French of stealing some of their cuisine?  Were there fights over pasta vs bread?  Barolo vs pinot noir?

quote:

---

Originally posted by reubenstump

quote:

---

Originally posted by STUD figmo Al

Italian Bread French Toast

---

Good Lord, how did this happen?  Did the Italians accuse the French of stealing some of their cuisine?  Were there fights over pasta vs bread?  Barolo vs pinot noir?

---

It was a short lived skirmish...

Both the Italians n  the French lost...

As well as the Boars..... ;0)

BLT chips.n.pickills...

Yorkshire Burrito - as suggested by my daughter. A full roast dinner of chicken, roast potatoes, roast parsnips, carrots, shallots, peas, cranberry sauce and gravy. We made ‘wraps’ with giant Yorkshire puddings that I stopped from rising - man they were good!

Jonty, what kind of chickens do you get there? Just curious. We have a hard time getting “not frozen” birds, and getting smaller chickens that have not been water injected. We really like country French style chicken roasting with 3-lb ish birds.

quote:

---

Originally posted by rinemb

Jonty, what kind of chickens do you get there? Just curious. We have a hard time getting “not frozen” birds, and getting smaller chickens that have not been water injected. We really like country French style chicken roasting with 3-lb ish birds.

---

Brad, I'm not exactly sure what type of bird they are.  We try and go for free ranging birds over the cheap mass shed reared birds but specific types etc - I'm afraid I don't know.

Dagwood... Cheese Berger..

quote:

---

Originally posted by rinemb

Jonty, what kind of chickens do you get there? Just curious. We have a hard time getting “not frozen” birds, and getting smaller chickens that have not been water injected. We really like country French style chicken roasting with 3-lb ish birds.

---

Brad, for whatever it's worth, when I need really top-shelf chickens I order the the Heritage birds from Hudson Valley Foie Gras. In fact, they're my go-to for pretty much any high-end poultry stuff (exceptions: I can get D'Artagnan duck breasts and rendered duck fat locally, so I use HVFG for other stuff).

Fair warning: this stuff is NOT CHEAP. The chickens themselves aren't unreasonable in price - 3.5# birds around $18 each. It's the shipping that'll get you - it more than doubles the cost to me, and I live a lot closer than you do. But the product is excellent - as close as I've had in the US to those wonderful French birds - and the service is, too.