Stickman's 2014 Glog- That's all folks!

Hi All,
   I've got Manzanos sprouted and my Bhuts, Lotah Bih and Donne Sali seeds planted so it looks like time to leave 2103 behind and begin to concentrate on 2014. Last year I started some of my late-season varieties right after New Year's Day, but our season was too short to bring the pods to full ripeness so this year I started 2-3 weeks earlier.
 
Manzano seedlings...

 
Fruts and Bhuts ...

 
There are many more varieties yet to plant in the proper turn, and I have 4 overwintered pepper plants from 2013 that I'll report on later. Have a great weekend all!

 

[stickman]

 Yes, a potentially heavy producer
I'm not sure these are the Kriting, but close I think.

 
I think you nailed it JJJ... Kerinting means "curly" in Malay, and they sure look twisty!

 

[maximumcapsicum]

Most North Indian food is seasoned with little annuums. They use them fresh, green, and copiously, but the heat is generally on a high jal level.

Now in the south and southeast (this is where I think the bhuts come from) there is alot more chinense action going on. Interestingly I never saw these in the markets... Would love to know how the nagas themselves use them.

What did you put in your curried chicken Rick? I am interested in developing some chicken mughlai and buttered chicken recipes but haven't had a whole lot of time.

 

[stickman]

Most North Indian food is seasoned with little annuums. They use them fresh, green, and copiously, but the heat is generally on a high jal level.

Now in the south and southeast (this is where I think the bhuts come from) there is alot more chinense action going on. Interestingly I never saw these in the markets... Would love to know how the nagas themselves use them.

What did you put in your curried chicken Rick? I am interested in developing some chicken mughlai and buttered chicken recipes but haven't had a whole lot of time.

 
According to this Times of India article, the natives mostly use the Naga chiles in sweet chutneys or preserved as pickles. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/food/food-reviews/Flaming-hot-Naga-chillies/articleshow/6040778.cms?referral=PM
I dried the Funky reapers I got from Devv last season, split a dozen pods lengthwise and put them into a cleaned and sterilized Grolsch beer bottle with a swing top, then filled the bottle with a blend of sesame and good olive oils I'd heated to just short of smoking hot. Then I sealed the bottle and put it on my south-facing kitchen windowsill for a week and gave it a shake every time I saw it. I used dried chiles because I wanted to avoid mold issues. At the end of the week I took the bottle off the windowsill and put it in a dark, cool place for storage. I don't know if you've ever drunk whiskey, but I notice that if you drink it straight, the burn of the alcohol kills much of the flavor. If you add a bit of water to it, just enough to "iron out the rough spots", it "unlocks" the flavor of the whiskey and you can taste the sweetness of the malt and the nutty grain. Infusing good vegetable oil with chile essence does the same thing, and is a great thing to drizzle over foods or make marinades.
 
So far, most of my experience cooking Indian food is from Madhur Jaffrey's book "An Invitation To Indian Cooking" and Anupy Singla's book "The Indian Slow Cooker". Both are filled with recipes from the northern part of the country, and Jaffrey's are from New Delhi where she grew up, though she's included other styles in later books. I love her take on Vindaloo and a Shrimp curry recipe... both from the island of Goa. The flavor balance in these recipes are about right for my palate... I just adjust the heat to taste with my powdered chiles if I think they need it, so I don't monkey with them too much. The exception is in the Vindaloo.. I use Ghost chiles instead of green Annuums.
 
Good luck with your experiments and post pics so we can follow along!

 

[maximumcapsicum]

I got a friend working in Goa now. Reconstructing the colonial infrastructure of the state. Huge Portuguese influence... actually vindaloo is somehow the synthesis of the local, hot and sweet fare and Portuguese tastes. Don't know the specifics, but I know if you go a little south, try some of the Keralan curries. They are fantastic. Lots of pork and fish based coconut-y spicy dishes. I can taste them now actually.
 
Delhi is Indian food central for me, though I know that's a partisan assessment. There's a restaurant in Old Delhi that was actually founded by the son of the royal cook to the Mughal Emperor around the turn of the 20th century. Called Kareem's. Fantastic kebabs, chicken mughlai, and sweet bread. One day we ordered up an entire leg of goat, seasoned sweet, kind of nutty, and delicious. Very cool place. I'd love to learn some of their techniques, but I'm sure most of their fare are closely guarded. 
 
The other Delhi mainstay is butter chicken. Very tangy, thick, and spicy to varying degrees. Wife isn't a big fan... too much dairy for her I think, so that's a lower priority.
 
Hungry now, going to look for some lunchfoods.

 

[Devv]

I get hungry just reading all this! Unfortunately the only place I've traveled to is work..LOL

 

[stickman]

I got a friend working in Goa now. Reconstructing the colonial infrastructure of the state. Huge Portuguese influence... actually vindaloo is somehow the synthesis of the local, hot and sweet fare and Portuguese tastes. Don't know the specifics, but I know if you go a little south, try some of the Keralan curries. They are fantastic. Lots of pork and fish based coconut-y spicy dishes. I can taste them now actually.
 
Delhi is Indian food central for me, though I know that's a partisan assessment. There's a restaurant in Old Delhi that was actually founded by the son of the royal cook to the Mughal Emperor around the turn of the 20th century. Called Kareem's. Fantastic kebabs, chicken mughlai, and sweet bread. One day we ordered up an entire leg of goat, seasoned sweet, kind of nutty, and delicious. Very cool place. I'd love to learn some of their techniques, but I'm sure most of their fare are closely guarded. 
 
The other Delhi mainstay is butter chicken. Very tangy, thick, and spicy to varying degrees. Wife isn't a big fan... too much dairy for her I think, so that's a lower priority.
 
Hungry now, going to look for some lunchfoods.

 
Lucky him! I've only traveled around the continental US, twice to the UK and once to Bavaria when it was part of the FRG. Peppers weren't involved then, but I certainly checked out the local cuisine wherever I was!

 

[stickman]

I get hungry just reading all this! Unfortunately the only place I've traveled to is work..LOL

 
At least you got from Long Island down to Tejas... and it looks like you learned a lot of foodie stuff in the transition.  
 
I hear ya 'bout getting easily tired out after a long winter of minimal activity... I only got 9 of my 15 garden squares turned over between yesterday afternoon and this morning, but I'll keep at it until the job's done.

 
Pepper row'll be last, and that's when I'll put down the IRT plastic mulch. No hurry on that since the end of the week is supposed to be back to freezing temperatures overnight.

At least I got the scallions split up and replanted so they have a little room to spread out individually.

 
The other nice thing is that we've been getting some light showers this weekend, so the plants that have been moved get moist soil to help them get acquainted with their new home.

 

[PeriPeri]

 

[Devv]

Beds are looking great Rick!
 
I'm sure you're loving it being outside too
 
Glad to see those onions planted, that forecast won't bother them. We're getting that cold too, 40° Tuesday morning, and the wind...
 
Don't work too hard!

 

[OCD Chilehead]

Beds are getting there. Can't wait to see the garden in full swing. Come on Summer.

 

[stickman]

 

Beds are getting there. Can't wait to see the garden in full swing. Come on Summer.

 
Thanks for the good vibe guys... it feels good to finally be planting something outside again! Got the onions all transplanted. 2 squares of Cipollini onions, 2 squares of large White onions and a row of Ailsa Craig exhibition onions. My wife also transplanted her strawberry plants to a square in the veggie garden since the Chipmunk that lives under our composter usually gets the fruit before she does. Probably tomorrow afternoon I'll plant some lettuce, claytonia, mache and lucinato kale too.

Beds are looking great Rick!
 
I'm sure you're loving it being outside too
 
Glad to see those onions planted, that forecast won't bother them. We're getting that cold too, 40° Tuesday morning, and the wind...
 
Don't work too hard!

 
I hope you've got things ready to be buttoned up when the temps. drop Scott... it would be a real drag to lose your chiles at this stage!

 

[Jeff H]

 
At least you got from Long Island down to Tejas... and it looks like you learned a lot of foodie stuff in the transition.
 
I hear ya 'bout getting easily tired out after a long winter of minimal activity... I only got 9 of my 15 garden squares turned over between yesterday afternoon and this morning, but I'll keep at it until the job's done.

 
Pepper row'll be last, and that's when I'll put down the IRT plastic mulch. No hurry on that since the end of the week is supposed to be back to freezing temperatures overnight.

At least I got the scallions split up and replanted so they have a little room to spread out individually.

 
The other nice thing is that we've been getting some light showers this weekend, so the plants that have been moved get moist soil to help them get acquainted with their new home.

 
Yes, the weather does suck later this week. Tues-Thurs here in Ohio, later for you, but it is typical for this time of year. 'm just glad it is nice enough to let the pepper plants get outside and get some sun every once in a while, even if I do have to pull them in at night.

 

[PaulG]

Your layout looks great, Rick.  Glad you are able to get back outdoors again!  We've had a spell of
nice weather, but a bit rainy and cloudy returns on Tuesday.  Looks like you have dried out a bit.
 
Wanted you to see how some of the seeds you sent turned out.
 
Here's the Douglah, Sweet Hungarian Paprika, and the Cheiro Recife.  

 
They are all really robust specimens!  Thanks for the great seeds, my friend!

 

[stickman]

Your layout looks great, Rick.  Glad you are able to get back outdoors again!  We've had a spell of
nice weather, but a bit rainy and cloudy returns on Tuesday.  Looks like you have dried out a bit.
 
Wanted you to see how some of the seeds you sent turned out.
 
Here's the Douglah, Sweet Hungarian Paprika, and the Cheiro Recife.  

 
They are all really robust specimens!  Thanks for the great seeds, my friend!

 
You're very welcome Paul, I'm glad they're doing well for you.   The Cheiro parent plant I grew last year was low and very bushy, and it looks like it's keeping that habit in this generation. Cheers!

 

[Devv]

 
 
Thanks for the good vibe guys... it feels good to finally be planting something outside again! Got the onions all transplanted. 2 squares of Cipollini onions, 2 squares of large White onions and a row of Ailsa Craig exhibition onions. My wife also transplanted her strawberry plants to a square in the veggie garden since the Chipmunk that lives under our composter usually gets the fruit before she does. Probably tomorrow afternoon I'll plant some lettuce, claytonia, mache and lucinato kale too.

 
I hope you've got things ready to be buttoned up when the temps. drop Scott... it would be a real drag to lose your chiles at this stage!

We did good Rick!
 
Temps weren't my worry, the dew points were in the 20's and temps this AM were 45°
 
Just too many to cover if we did have a frost, but I would have stayed home and run the wobblers if I needed to. They cover 2,500 square feet plus. The wind at 20-25mph steady with 45 gusts were my scare. The plants being in the dirt for 30 days didn't grow much, but toughened up...a lot!
 
Here's hoping all of us see nice warm winds out of the South with temps below 90° (I'm dreaming here on the latter)

 

[stickman]

We did good Rick!
 
Temps weren't my worry, the dew points were in the 20's and temps this AM were 45°
 
Just too many to cover if we did have a frost, but I would have stayed home and run the wobblers if I needed to. They cover 2,500 square feet plus. The wind at 20-25mph steady with 45 gusts were my scare. The plants being in the dirt for 30 days didn't grow much, but toughened up...a lot!
 
Here's hoping all of us see nice warm winds out of the South with temps below 90° (I'm dreaming here on the latter)

 
Glad to hear you're doing alright where you are Scott... toughened up is good, especially with the wind that comes with extreme weather this time of year.
 
It's in the low 40s here ATM, and we got a good inch of rain today... The river at the bottom of the hill is flooding, but up here on the bluff overlooking it we're doing fine. After midnight it'll get below freezing, and we'll see sleet, snow and low 20s by tomorrow morning. What was that line from Steel Magnolias... "That which does'nt kill us makes us strong." 
 
The plants are mostly looking good, and beginning to show a bit more growth since it's marginally warmed up down in the basement. In February and early March it was in the low 50s down there pretty much all the time, but now it's in the mid 60s. As an experiment, I've started stripping some of my Chinense and Baccatum plants to see if there's any real advantage to doing it that way and I'll be leaving some of the plants alone as a control.

 
Manzano is branching for the 4th time.

 
And I've pinched the large leaves from the Naga King since the side branches have grown out so much.

 
A quick overview of the Annuums.

 
and the tomatoes. I'll be giving away most of these to family and friends as I'll only have room for 4 plants in my square-foot garden if I want to grow everything I have planned.

 
Tomorrow is Hump Day... have a good one all!

 

[Jeff H]

Nice update Rick. Keep us up to date on the leaf stripping project and how it compares to the non stripped plants.

 

[OCD Chilehead]

Looking good. Like the stripped project as well. I have some plants I'm experimenting with as well. No food pics? That's probably a good thing for me right now. Stuffed my self on a Buche Burrito tonight. Good luck.

 

[stickman]

Looking good. Like the stripped project as well. I have some plants I'm experimenting with as well. No food pics? That's probably a good thing for me right now. Stuffed my self on a Buche Burrito tonight. Good luck.

 
Sorry Chuck... I was too tired to post foodie pics after supper. I made a cassoulet with white beans, roasted pork and Kielbasa on monday and had leftovers with some of brother Bill's Theriac sauce last night. I thought it was one of his milder sauces, but made a great pairing with the sausage. I could see this together with any wursten or with veal.

 

[OCD Chilehead]

Sorry Chuck... I was too tired to post foodie pics after supper. I made a cassoulet with white beans, roasted pork and Kielbasa on monday and had leftovers with some of brother Bill's Theriac sauce last night. I thought it was one of his milder sauces, but made a great pairing with the sausage. I could see this together with any wursten or with veal.

No worries Rick. I always get hungry after food pics. I need to look at pics before I eat. Hope temps keep coming up for you. Have a good day.