Spicy Secrets 🌶 🤫
My 6 Favorite Spicy Ingredients... do you know them all?
Greetings Friends,
Since we have been talking vegetables lately, I dropped a thread on Twitter that will make you an okra lover.
You heard me
Okra is delicious but most people don’t know how to neutralize the slimy quality.
There’s some good alfa in thread, specifically broiling the okra at high heat first. This helps set that starchy-mucoid layer and keeps the final dish from feel very slimy… which a lot of people don’t like.
Definitely add this recipe to your arsenal of Vegetable Cookery. ⬇️
Pro Tip: Frozen okra is also a quick cheat vegetable to put into soups that will act as a thickener.
🐙 My 6 Favorite Spicy Ingredients
When most people think of spicy 🥵 food they think “heat”
This is only one flavor expression that can accompany spice on your palate.
Spicy ingredients bring different types of heat, aromatics and taste sensations…
-prickly 🪡
-floral 🌸
-numbing 🤤
-fruity 🍊
Etc
You will find that most food cultures and areas of the world, have specific ingredients that are used masterfully to bring different dimensions of spice and heat to food.
I’ve got 6 ingredients/pastes listed below that will give a wide range of adding spicy heat to your dishes… and when you’re in control you tailor to your own heat preferences.
See how many of these you know/have used… at the end, drop in the comments what your favorite spicy ingredients are. 🙏
Yuzu Kosho 🇯🇵
This Japanese chili-citrus paste is a flavor bomb.
Made with fresh red or green bird chili 🌶, these are mashed into a paste with the yuzu zest, juice and fermented with salt.
The result is an intensely aromatic citrus-spice paste.
What is Yuzu?
Yuzu is an aromatic citrus, that is like a lemon on steroids.
Using Yuzu Kosho
🟢 Green:
-Seafood (hamachi, scallops)
-Sashimi (raw)
-Miso soups
🔴 Red:
-would do well with salmon
-added to short rib stews at the finish
-compound butter for steaks
These are just a few ideas… the intensely citrus-spicy paste has a lot of versatility.
Harissa
This North African Spice paste is made with dried or roasted fresh red chilis (and sometimes red bell peppers).
We’ve made our own harissa already, but if you missed it here’s a quick recap.
The chilis are blended with warming spices like cumin, coriander, etc, then blended with fresh lemon juice/zest and EVOO until it forms a paste.
This dynamite 🧨 condiment pairs perfectly with grilled salmon, hanger steak, or stir into homemade mayo for a flavored aioli.
You can find pre-made Harissa at middle eastern markets (or make your own)… I sometimes add a bit of preserved lemon rind to mine when i make at home.
Mr Naga 🇮🇳
If you like your curries red-hot, you need to be adding some Mr Naga into your sauce at the end.
This chili paste is intensely spicy. If you take a small spoonful it might take your breath away with it’s piercing heat.
Naga Morich is the name of this chili and it’s closely related to the more common “Ghost Pepper”. yes, it packs a high heat punch.
Where Ghost Pepper’s can reach up to 1M Scoville units (that’s spicy 🥵), the Naga Morich can easily hit 1.5M Scoville units. Muy picante! 🥵 😂
Mr Naga is great because the chili’s are are salted and pickled before making the paste. It’s a clean and intense heat which will amplify the flavors of your curry (for example) without adding a lot of other notes itself.
A little goes a long way… start small, and add more depending on your preference. I usually add towards the end of my curry cooking, especially for BIR style.
Sansho Pepper 🇯🇵
This prickly aromatic pepper, best sourced from the Wakayama Prefecture in Japan, is bursting with citrus and green vegetal notes. Where Sichuan peppercorn is numbing, I find Sansho more prickly and subtle.
You can get whole berries and crush yourself, or find the pre-crushed online or your local Japanese grocer.
Sansho has a wide range of use from rice, ramen, fish stews, pork and even mushrooms.
————
Sichuan Peppercorn 🇨🇳
Native to the Sichuan region in China, this cousin of the Sansho peppercorn is actually a husk and not a true peppercorn.
Flavor is intensely lemony/orange 🍊 🍋 and packs a huge numbing punch that is craved by Sichuan food junkies. A key ingredient in the famous “Salt & Pepper” spice.
This pepper work with vegetables, pork, fish… sky is the limit. The heat level increases the longer the pepper is cooked and extracted.
Calabrian Chilis 🇮🇹
If you’re a fan of spicy salami, like ‘Nduja, then you will love having Calabrian Chili 🌶 on hand.
These spicy, sweet and smoky peppers come in many varieties, with 🍒, being very common.
You can find dried, roasted and jarred or powder forms depending on how you to use the spice.
Cento makes a widely available jarred, crushed version that you can use as a condiment like a Italian-Sambal sauce, you can add to a mayo or ketchup to spice things up..
In stews and used with pork, pastas, pizzas, this versatile chili absolutely shines and adds a ton of flavor, and spice. Spoon it on a killer sub sandwich 🥪… or alongside charcuterie.
What are your picks?
Obviously there are many other spicy ingredients out there, these 6 tend be lesser known so hope you found a new ingredient or two to add to your pantry and have fun with.
Comment below with your favorites that weren’t covered ⬇️
Coming up later this week… we are busting out the grill again and taking a trip to SE Asia ✈️ 🧳 🔥
Until Next Time 🙏
Not sure if categorizes as spicy, but there is the Japanese wasabi
Any thoughts on those insanely high SHU peppers? (Scoville heat unit)