In 1987, game and fish department authorities in New Mexico gave farmers permission to shoot deer out of season. The reason? The deer were raiding chile pepper fields–a heinous crime in our state. They ate two acres of pods and severely damaged three additional acres. Although such deer depredations are unusual, they illustrate the fact that peppers damaged by more things than insects and disease.
Iced Heat: Freezing Chiles
Freezing chiles is an excellent way of preserving them. Chiles that have been frozen retain all the characteristics of fresh chiles except for their texture. Since the individual cell walls have been ruptured by the freezing of the water within each cell, the chiles will lose their crisp texture.
Scovie Spotlight – Filipino Phil’s
No need to wear a hazmat suit when preparing this simple yet delicious pasta dish from 2015 Scovie Award winner Filipino Phil’s…
Southwestern Stuffed Red Bell Peppers
Over at our big sister, the Fiery Foods and Barbecue Super Site, there’s a great article called Ground Unbound. It’s a collection of uses for ground meat. You should go check it out. First, though, here’s one of the recipes.
Reviewed: Chris Prieto and the Ultimate Book of BBQ
You may know champion ‘que man Christopher Prieto from seeing him on Barbecue Pitmasters. Earlier this year, he was the guiding force behind the tome, Southern Living Ultimate Book of BBQ. It’s not just a collection of recipes, though. Chris spent a lot of time pouring the lessons he’s learned at the pit into the book, sharing information that in some cases runs counter to conventional wisdom, but in a good way. Here’s what he had to tell me when I pinned him down for an interview.
Greek Lollipops
This recipe is a classic in German BBQ forums (I believe credit may go to Thorsten in Wesel). It goes like this: Brushed with olive oil, thinly sliced zucchini strips are softened on the grill.
Grilled: Sriracha and Apricot Preserves’ Love Child
Friday night I crossbred Sriracha with apricot preserves. While that statement sounds like I created a bogus sex ad on Craigslist, then bopped the red rooster on its head when it showed up, it’s actually less creepy than that. Search the internet for “wouldn’t it be cool if” and you’ll find all kinds of video for dumb ideas gone wrong. Sift through video after video of ER trips in their infancy, however, and you can find some good ideas that turned out pretty well. This is one of those times.
