Cooking Methods
All about Chiles
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How hot
is that chile?
If you like to cook with chile peppers--and so many people do
these days, given the popularity of such spicy cuisines as Mexican, Asian,
and Caribbean--you've probably heard of the Scoville scale. Chile
aficionados will brag that their favorite chiles are the hottest, with a
scorching 300,000 on the Scoville scale, while that jalapeņo you've just
learned to love only measures a wimpy 4,000. But what exactly do these
numbers mean, and how do they translate into useful information?
Scoville took the guesswork out of judging chiles. Let's start
with the invention of the Scoville scale, and then we'll look at how
different varieties of chiles rank in this heat hierarchy. In 1912, a man
named Wilbur L. Scoville was working for a company that made an ointment
for aching joints in which capsaicin, the heat-causing compound in chiles,
was an important ingredient. The company was constantly frustrated because
the heat level in chiles varied so much. Scoville devised a formal test in
which exact weights of chiles were dissolved in alcohol and then added to
sweetened water in precise measures. Tasters were asked to determine how
much water was needed to neutralize the heat. A rating number was
assigned, according to how many units of water were added before the
chile's heat became imperceptible.
Scoville's test was used for the next six decades, yet it wasn't
totally reliable, given the fact that human testers' palates are different
and easily fatigued by repeated tastings of hot food. In 1980, a more
objective test was introduced, the High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography
Test, in which powdered chiles are dissolved and then analyzed through a
light beam that shows the heat compounds as fluorescent. Most large
producers use this test today, but because the Scoville name has been so
deeply ingrained in the industry, they make a conversion and still express
the pungency in Scoville units.
The Scoville scale ranks fire but not flavor. So what does any
of this have to do with the flavor of chiles? Not much. These tests
isolate only the heat-causing compounds, but tell us nothing about the
overall flavor. The heat of a chile is found in the inner membrane, while
the flavor comes from the meaty pod itself and makes all the difference in
how we experience the heat. These tests also do nothing to discern how the
heat is felt. As anyone who has eaten a lot of chiles will tell you, some,
such as the habanero, deliver sharp, quick bursts of heat, while others,
such as the fiery red Thai pepper, burn and linger. Some hit you up front
on the lips and tip of the tongue, while others scorch your entire mouth
and throat. Even the researchers themselves will admit that for all their
accuracy, the pepper is a fickle plant: its heat varies widely from pod to
pod, plant to plant, garden to garden, and season to season. Even on a
single bush, a pod from the sunnier side will be hotter than one from the
shady side. A quick look at a sample Scoville scale (right) shows the wide
variances within each type of chile.
The Scoville rating provides a good general measure of the relative
heat of different chiles. In other words, you can be assured that a
cayenne will be hotter than a poblano. But ultimately, taste remains a
subjective experience. There's no substitute for breaking open a chile and
tasting it yourself (carefully) for flavor and, of course, for firepower.
The
Right Techniques
for Fresh Chiles
Fresh chiles are becoming
more available all the time, and few supermarkets are without the
ubiquitous jalapeņo. But the range in quality can be discouraging, and it
can be difficult to distinguish fresh chiles from ones that have been on
the shelves a while. When shopping for fresh chiles, look for those with
smooth, tight skin and a thick, meaty body. A fresh chile should have some
heft relative to its diminutive size.
If you won't use your chiles right away, keep them cool and dry. You
can refrigerate them, but be sure to first remove them from the plastic
produce bag; otherwise, they'll be-come soft and moldy. The length of time
that chiles will stay fresh in the refrigerator depends on how fresh they
were when you bought them, but generally they'll keep for three or four
days without suffering any loss of freshness. Once the chile's skin begins
to wrinkle, it will lose some of its potency, and if you're roasting or
blanching them, the skins will be difficult to peel.
THINK ABOUT SAFETY
Unless you have particularly tough hands, it's a good idea to use
rubber gloves when handling fresh chiles. Many cookbooks recommend using
dishwashing gloves, but I find that these are rather clumsy and that
getting a handle on small chiles while wearing them can be frustrating.
Instead, I like to keep a few pairs of surgical gloves around the kitchen.
Available at most drugstores, surgical gloves are cheap, disposable, and
best of all, they allow you to get a firm grip on the chiles. Once you've
begun working with the chiles, be extremely careful not to touch any part
of your body, especially your eyes. After you've finished, wash your knife
and cutting board with hot soapy water.
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Protection with a grip.
Surgical gloves protect
sensitive skin from chiles' painful sting, and they
improve your
grip. |
Capsaicin is the chemical compound that gives chiles their heat. An
alkaloid, capsaicin is distributed throughout the chile, but the heaviest
concentration of capsaicin is found in the white pith on the inside of the
chile--those ribs that hold the seeds in place. Further down on the scale
of concentration are the seeds and then the chile's flesh, which has the
least amount of capsaicin. This gives you a convenient way of controlling
the amount of heat that the chile contributes to a dish. To get the most
bang out of the chile, use it whole; for a milder flavor, simply trim out
the seeds and ribs.
CUTTING CHILES THE EASY WAY
Start by cutting off the entire stem, and then slice the chile in half
lengthwise. With the tip of a paring knife, you can remove the seeds and
ribs by slicing or nudging them with the knife point. With seeds and ribs
out of the way, the chiles are easily cut into strips or a fine dice.
|
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Stemming and seeding
a
chile. After removing the stem, slice
the chile lengthwise to expose the seeds and ribs. Remove the seeds
and ribs to moderate the heat, or leave them in for extra
punch. |
|
REMOVING THE SKINS
Many dishes, especially Mexican and Southwestern recipes, call for the
chiles to be peeled. You can do this by first charring or blanching the
whole chiles. To char, rub them with a little oil and then set them
directly over a gas burner. Turn the chiles frequently with tongs or a
fork to prevent burning through to the flesh. When the skins have charred
and blistered slightly, pop the chiles into a plastic bag and let them
steam in their own juices for about 20 minutes. The skins should now rub
off easily.
Blanching chiles won't give you the smoky flavor that charring does,
but the technique is great if you don't have a gas stove. Simply drop the
chiles into boiling water for 30 seconds or so, and then plunge them into
ice water. Once the chiles have cooled, they can be skinned just as if
they were charred.
Drying chile
peppers
Drying chiles is one of the best ways to
preserve your harvest, but be sure to dry them when they're fully ripe for
the finest flavor. For poblanos, this means when they turn bright red. Any
type of chile can be dried by one of the following methods, except for
jalapeņos, which do best when they're smoke-dried (turning them into
chipotles). Don't try drying chiles with black spots; they'll turn moldy
and rot. 
If you live in a dry climate, the simplest way to dry the chiles is to
tie them on a string by their stems, in clusters of three, and hang them
in the sun. This is called a ristra. When the pods are dry but
still pliable (this could take weeks, depending on the heat and humidity),
hang them indoors and out of direct sunlight to finish drying.
In areas of high humidity, the chiles might rot before the sun can dry
them, so your best bet is to halve them lengthwise and use the oven (or a
food dehydrator). In a gas oven, set the halved chiles directly on a
baking sheet and dry them using just the heat from the pilot light. This
may take a couple of days or longer. In an electric oven, the chiles will
dry much faster. Set the oven to low, about 175°F, and check the chiles
every
few minutes to make sure they don't burn.
The chiles are fully dry when they snap, not just bend. Store them in
sealed glass jars in a cupboard, or in the freezer double-wrapped in
freezer bags. (Don't put bagged chiles in a cupboard because the plastic
is porous and the chiles can oxidize, ruining both the color and the
flavor.) With both storage methods, dried chiles last indefinitely.
To reconstitute the chiles, soak them in hot water for about 15
minutes, fry them in a bit of oil until they puff up, or lightly roast
them. Dried chiles can also be ground to a powder when you're ready to use
them (no earlier, because the powder would lose its flavor).