Nicholas Mosher
Sous Chef
Well, this is the best one I've made so far. Making a chile sauce is definetly the way to go in my book.
Stem/de-seed the chiles and break them up into a skillet. Roast in a 425ºF oven until they are warm and fragrant, then dump into a saucier with 3-C of amber ale (two 12oz bottles), 4oz chopped onion, and three crushed cloves of garlic. Simmer for 20-30min, then process in a blender on high for 5min. Press the thick sauce through a fine mesh strainer to remove any bits of chile skin.
This sauce/puree has an incredible depth of flavor along with a medium dose of heat. It doesn't really have any sugar/acid/salt in in though, so don't count on it tasting like chili. It's kinda like starting with a good baking chocolate... great for the recipe, but not something you want to sit down and eat on it's own. It's based off from a few classic Tex-Mex recipes I found. Has lots more flavor than simply adding powdered chiles to a sauce. The viscosity is somewhat like chocolate syrup when it's warm... nice and thick.
I think next time around I would double the bacon to 8oz. I wanted more of it's flavor than I ended up with, and I actually didn't have enough rendered fat to brown the 2lbs of meat.
The meat ended up perfect after 2.5Hrs of braising at 325ºF.
The yellow onion was finely diced and caramelized in the meat drippings at a medium-low temp. Then the tomato paste was added and pincage'd. Next time I think I would up the amount from 4oz to 6oz. Briefly sweated the bell peppers, then I deglazed the pan with a little bit of beer from a third bottle (then finished it with lunch). Whisked in the chile sauce, spices, and stirred in the meats. The spice ratios worked great for me.
On went the cover and into a 325ºF oven for 2.5hrs. Removed it once every 45min to thoroughly stir.
When it was finished, I seasoned it with brown sugar, kosher salt, and white vinegar. This dish has very little natural acids/salt, so it really needs to be seasoned properly. The three keys here are proper braising technique (sufficient browning/deglazing/covered simmering), the chile sauce, and proper finishing with the sugar/salt/acid.
The final texture is like a stew more than a soup. It does have some heat (similar to a medium commerical salsa), but the flavors from the chiles linger long after you take a bite - wafting over your palate... nice, earthy, and strong. This would go great with some fried corn tortilla strips (for the texture and flavor). I'm saving the batch until tomorrow so I can re-taste it after 24hrs in the fridge.
I'm 95% happy with this, but still not 100%... something small is still missing...
Have to move on though. I'll return to this again in the future.
Stem/de-seed the chiles and break them up into a skillet. Roast in a 425ºF oven until they are warm and fragrant, then dump into a saucier with 3-C of amber ale (two 12oz bottles), 4oz chopped onion, and three crushed cloves of garlic. Simmer for 20-30min, then process in a blender on high for 5min. Press the thick sauce through a fine mesh strainer to remove any bits of chile skin.
This sauce/puree has an incredible depth of flavor along with a medium dose of heat. It doesn't really have any sugar/acid/salt in in though, so don't count on it tasting like chili. It's kinda like starting with a good baking chocolate... great for the recipe, but not something you want to sit down and eat on it's own. It's based off from a few classic Tex-Mex recipes I found. Has lots more flavor than simply adding powdered chiles to a sauce. The viscosity is somewhat like chocolate syrup when it's warm... nice and thick.
I think next time around I would double the bacon to 8oz. I wanted more of it's flavor than I ended up with, and I actually didn't have enough rendered fat to brown the 2lbs of meat.
The meat ended up perfect after 2.5Hrs of braising at 325ºF.
The yellow onion was finely diced and caramelized in the meat drippings at a medium-low temp. Then the tomato paste was added and pincage'd. Next time I think I would up the amount from 4oz to 6oz. Briefly sweated the bell peppers, then I deglazed the pan with a little bit of beer from a third bottle (then finished it with lunch). Whisked in the chile sauce, spices, and stirred in the meats. The spice ratios worked great for me.
On went the cover and into a 325ºF oven for 2.5hrs. Removed it once every 45min to thoroughly stir.
When it was finished, I seasoned it with brown sugar, kosher salt, and white vinegar. This dish has very little natural acids/salt, so it really needs to be seasoned properly. The three keys here are proper braising technique (sufficient browning/deglazing/covered simmering), the chile sauce, and proper finishing with the sugar/salt/acid.
The final texture is like a stew more than a soup. It does have some heat (similar to a medium commerical salsa), but the flavors from the chiles linger long after you take a bite - wafting over your palate... nice, earthy, and strong. This would go great with some fried corn tortilla strips (for the texture and flavor). I'm saving the batch until tomorrow so I can re-taste it after 24hrs in the fridge.
I'm 95% happy with this, but still not 100%... something small is still missing...
Have to move on though. I'll return to this again in the future.
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