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tutorial Making some puree today...will post pics of the process....it's easy....

Awesome post again guys, thanks for sharing your recipes, do's and don'ts!!
 
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Really, NECM???...ya post a bump with no pics?

:shakehead:
 
salsalady said:
Really, NECM???...ya post a bump with no pics?

:shakehead:
 
Sorry SL, my sauce making days ended 20 years ago when my wife prohibited indoor capsaicin fumigation causing respiratory distress ..
 
PS - No phone cameras back then!  
 
EDIT: That reminded me of my 15 minutes of internet fame - my Lip Buzzin' Hab Sauce. At a forum I was a member of voted it the hottest non-Capsaicin Extract hot sauce. Which brings up to a question SL I know capsaicin has a boiling point of around 400°F but what effect does "cooking" a puree @ 212°F? Will it dissolve its potency?
 
My husband pretty much did the same thing to me.  Luckily, I have the processing kitchen to play around in~~~
 
 
For cooking, there is negligible loss.  Obviously some gets airborne, hence the indoor capsaicin fumigation, but not enough to affect the overall heat.   
 
Real nice looking puree's.....and great how to pics.
 
AlabamaJack's recipe is so wonderful. So basic, it can be used for every pepper. Simple preservation of peppers that can be used in many ways. Easy to make even for beginners...
 
I'm hoping I have a harvest this year that will produce a volume of peppers where this processing method makes sense (and I love the simplicity of it!). Here's what I'm pondering (while enjoying a cigar and whisky)... I love to make Chile Colorado sauce which I use for Chile Colorado, enchiladas, carne asada marinade base, etc. It seems to me that I could replace the step of reconsituting, then blending, then sieving, by using "some" amount of puree, combined with "some" amount of sauce, then adding in the rest of the Chile Colorado ingredients. I usually use dried Guajillo and Ancho in my CC, so the Guajillo and Poblanos I'm growing would be perfect.

This is my CC Sauce:
6 Pasilla peppers (dried)
4 Guajillo peppers (dried)
2 Ancho peppers (dried)
4 cups water
1 white onion, rough chopped
5 cloves garlic
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp sugar

Any of you experienced sauce makers want to take a gander at how much puree with how much water would approximate the pepper/water in this recipe? :) I know, it would be an (educated) guess, but just throwing that out there since I don't have anything to experiment with (yet.) :) I'm figuring the dried peppers with 4 cups water produces a volume before cooking of something around 5 cups, but don't have a clue on the puree:water ratio to approximate. Just a brain exercise.

....and, thanks, AJ, for the how-to!

Rich
 
I'm hoping I have a harvest this year that will produce a volume of peppers where this processing method makes sense (and I love the simplicity of it!). Here's what I'm pondering (while enjoying a cigar and whisky)... I love to make Chile Colorado sauce which I use for Chile Colorado, enchiladas, carne asada marinade base, etc. It seems to me that I could replace the step of reconsituting, then blending, then sieving, by using "some" amount of puree, combined with "some" amount of sauce, then adding in the rest of the Chile Colorado ingredients. I usually use dried Guajillo and Ancho in my CC, so the Guajillo and Poblanos I'm growing would be perfect.

This is my CC Sauce:
6 Pasilla peppers (dried)
4 Guajillo peppers (dried)
2 Ancho peppers (dried)
4 cups water
1 white onion, rough chopped
5 cloves garlic
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp sugar

Any of you experienced sauce makers want to take a gander at how much puree with how much water would approximate the pepper/water in this recipe? :) I know, it would be an (educated) guess, but just throwing that out there since I don't have anything to experiment with (yet.) :) I'm figuring the dried peppers with 4 cups water produces a volume before cooking of something around 5 cups, but don't have a clue on the puree:water ratio to approximate. Just a brain exercise.

....and, thanks, AJ, for the how-to!

Rich
Caveat: I am not "experienced" in the way many here are. So, proceed with a grain of salt.

I would rehydrate your chiles and weigh them. The recipe in this thread uses 60% the weight of the peppers as vinegar.

So, lets say you have 300g peppers after being reconstituted in water. That would mean you would simmer them in 180ml of vinegar, 3tsp syrup, and 3/4 tsp salt.

Chile colorado is my favorite comfort food. Yum!
 
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Caveat: I am not "experienced" in the way many here are. So, proceed with a grain of salt.

I would rehydrate your chiles and weigh them. The recipe in this thread uses 60% the weight of the peppers as vinegar.

So, lets say you have 300g peppers after being reconstituted in water. That would mean you would simmer them in 180ml of vinegar, 3tsp syrup, and 3/4 tsp salt.

Chile colorado is my favorite comfort food. Yum!
Thanks for that AzJon......but I think I didn't ask the question quite right. I'm thinking that instead of having to rehydrate chiles at all, I could just grab a jar of puree that I have already made, and substitute it into the recipe in place of those dried chiles. The challenge here will be to figure out what amount of puree (and like some water) would equate to those rehydrated chiles and water?

I still might not be making sense! :)

R
 
Thanks for that AzJon......but I think I didn't ask the question quite right. I'm thinking that instead of having to rehydrate chiles at all, I could just grab a jar of puree that I have already made, and substitute it into the recipe in place of those dried chiles. The challenge here will be to figure out what amount of puree (and like some water) would equate to those rehydrated chiles and water?

I still might not be making sense! :)

R
Ah, I see.

Well, if you made the paste, whatever amount, you would still only be rehydrating once. It would make the processing into paste easier, too. Unless you want to grind the chiles into a powder, which is also reasonable.

I'm not sure how much water by mass fresh chiles hold, but you could account for that. Really, I would still do the 60% vinegar and then the extra 40% water and simmer to your desired consistency.

So, 300g chiles-ground up to a powder, 180ml vinegar, 120ml water into the pot and simmer down to the consistency you want.
 
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Ah, I see.

Well, if you made the paste, whatever amount, you would still only be rehydrating once. It would make the processing into paste easier, too. Unless you want to grind the chiles into a powder, which is also reasonable.

I'm not sure how much water by mass fresh chiles hold, but you could account for that. Really, I would still do the 60% vinegar and then the extra 40% water and simmer to your desired consistency.

So, 300g chiles-ground up to a powder, 180ml vinegar, 120ml water into the pot and simmer down to the consistency you want.
If I made the paste, Jon, I'd be making it from my fresh peppers that I'm growing, not from dehydrated peppers. Just noodling on how to use a pepper puree (from fresh peppers) as a replacement for the dehydrated ones in the recipe. Again, just a brain teaser while I wait for my plants to produce. :)
Are those chiles not available in Mexican supermarkets?
They are, but I would prefer to make the puree from my own peppers. I'm just thinking about how I might adapt my recipe to use a puree of my freshly grown peppers instead of dehydrated chiles from the store (which, by the way, work great as long as I make sure to find good, pliable, dried chiles!!!) :)

R
 
If I made the paste, Jon, I'd be making it from my fresh peppers that I'm growing, not from dehydrated peppers. Just noodling on how to use a pepper puree (from fresh peppers) as a replacement for the dehydrated ones in the recipe. Again, just a brain teaser while I wait for my plants to produce. :)

They are, but I would prefer to make the puree from my own peppers. I'm just thinking about how I might adapt my recipe to use a puree of my freshly grown peppers instead of dehydrated chiles from the store (which, by the way, work great as long as I make sure to find good, pliable, dried chiles!!!) :)

R
Ohhhh!

Some days I seriously wonder how I make it through a day.
 
If I made the paste, Jon, I'd be making it from my fresh peppers that I'm growing, not from dehydrated peppers. Just noodling on how to use a pepper puree (from fresh peppers) as a replacement for the dehydrated ones in the recipe. Again, just a brain teaser while I wait for my plants to produce. :)

They are, but I would prefer to make the puree from my own peppers. I'm just thinking about how I might adapt my recipe to use a puree of my freshly grown peppers instead of dehydrated chiles from the store (which, by the way, work great as long as I make sure to find good, pliable, dried chiles!!!) :)

R
I think that since your recipe works by count instead of weight (i.e. 6 guajillos), you can use that as a starting point. Puree a bunch of peppers, in a multiple of 6 - let's say you do 30 - weigh that, and divide (by 5 in this case), that's how much to use per "recipe".

Cut back on the liquids since there's more water in the puree than the dried. That will require some experimentation.

And stand by for some interesting different flavors.
 
I think that since your recipe works by count instead of weight (i.e. 6 guajillos), you can use that as a starting point. Puree a bunch of peppers, in a multiple of 6 - let's say you do 30 - weigh that, and divide (by 5 in this case), that's how much to use per "recipe".

Cut back on the liquids since there's more water in the puree than the dried. That will require some experimentation.

And stand by for some interesting different flavors.
That's actually my concern. Probably going to taste great, but the fresh pepper is going to taste a lot different than the dried version.
 
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