A friend of mine is a chemist and lived in the Philippines while in the Marines. He married a girl from there and learned much about their cooking since. When I was asking him about Adobo he was explaining to me to think of the term Adobo as “stew”.
The Portuguese have something called PERi PERi which originated in Africa (when Portuguese settlers there couldn’t get the Jalapenos native to Spain) and it seems that they used the birds eye peppers as a substitute. They combined other European ingredients to make a spicy version similar to an Adobo sauce. It is also thought to be a preservative. The big difference is it uses African Birds Eye Chili peppers instead of Jalapeno peppers and is quite spicy.
The jalapeno peppers were supposed to have been native to Spain but were already common in Latin America before Columbus came. So our ancient ancestors must have done more traveling & trading than our history books record.
PERI PERi Chicken would be an Entree to serve if you want to burn the lint out of your crews navels or have em farting blue smoke. Especially if you fix a yogurt sour cream based salad dressing. :: evil grin:: I’m sure every cook would have an occasion to plate this one.
Great information. Thanks. Regarding ancient travel I remember reading that cocaine was found inside pyramid excavations. Crazy how much we don’t .know
I think the jalapeno is purely Mexican. The Spanish peppers you mention are likely Padrón peppers rather than Jalapeno, they are from Galicia, northwest Spain bordering Portugal. In Galicia, they are picked young (about 1" long) when about 1 in 12 is hot. As they progress, they all turn hot. They are of the same variety as Jalapenos ( Capsicum annuum) and are similar in appearance. Apparently the Bird’s eye is also of that variety.
I have a (very) small greenhouse and have been growing Padróns for about 5 years, I started with seeds I bought from Maine, but would like to find a legal way to get seeds from my family’s farm in Galicia.
African Malawi Bird peppers (or birds eye…I can only imagine a birds eye after eating one of these) aka African Devils are very hot. My Grandparents would bring these plants back from Florida when on vacation and use them as an ornamental plant on their porch since they are quite attractive. I bit one in half once and just that broke me of messing with them. They grow upward facing the sun and are only about an inch or so long.
Capsaicin is the chemical that makes the heat. This liquid will burn any part of your skin it comes in contact with.
A pepper’s hotness is measured on a Scoville Heat Units or.(SHU) Jalapeno’s are medium hot at 2500 to 8000 SHU. Habanero and Scotch Bonnet peppers are much hotter at .200,000 to 350,000 SHU. (and that’s about as hot as most people ever need go)
The Scotch Bonnet is the sweeter of the two. Common Red Chili peppers are 500 to 750 SHU where a Green Bell Pepper is 0.
The hottest that I know of is the Bhut Jolokia aka Ghost Pepper at
850,000 to over 1,000,000 units. Too dangerous to consume.
The Cayenne Pepper is considered to be an herb. and is closely related to a jalapeno & bell peppers. Many Herbalist encourage their use in cooking as they are good for one’s health. I don’t know of other peppers being classed as an herb.
Understand, I’m just joking about worming the crew with hot peppers.
But every Cook should have his own private book of culinary mischief…preferably locked away safely.
Thanks for bringing that up. I’m only stating from what I’ve learned from various sources. Since you raise peppers, do you think there is much noticeable difference in them. Taste, Flavor, & Heat wise ? I understand water and sunlight influences a number of factors with them.
The sauce Bois Boudran is a very simple to prepare cold sauce, no cooking is necessary just the assembling of some ingredients. It was developed by a chef of the Rothschildt family in the early sixties. The dominant ingredient is plain old ketchup, I thought that it would be a vulgar ingredient in that family, but no. They used to serve the sauce with poached salmon with in olive oil softened confit small vine tomatoes but it is equally good with steak or rib eye.
The name stems from the Wood (Bois) Boudran which is a natural site near Grandpuits-Bailly-Carrois (Seine-et-Marne, Ile-de-France) and more particular from the Chateau (Castle) Boudran in this wood. The castle had an underground train running between the kitchen and dining room so that the food arrived still warm at the table and the guests were not disturbed by kitchen smells… I once visited the Edison Winter Estate in Fort Myers and as I remember it he didn’t like kitchen smells either, there was no kitchen in the main house. Both the kitchen and dining room were in the guesthouse.
Ingredients for 6-8 persons
15 ml of oil, arachide or rapeseed
5 ml white wine vinegar
85 gr ketchup
1 sp Worcestershire sauce
5 drops Tabasco
4 shallots, very finely chopped
5 ml chervil, finely chopped
6 gr chives, finely cut
20 gr tarragon, finely chopped
Salt and pepper
Method
Combine the oil and vinegar in a bowl. Add a pinch of salt and 3 turns of the pepper mill. Stir with a small whisk to emulsify. Add the tomato ketchup, Worcester sauce, Tabasco, shallots and snipped herbs. Stir to combine, then taste and adjust seasoning. The sauce should be kept cold in the fridge.
Yes, the good old CANadian Oil Low Acid. The highly poisonous eruca acid is the culprit but with the newly developed low acid rapeseed plants the risk is reduced. I use it also to make mayo, half arachide and half Canola, because of the nice yellowish color the mayo gets.
The Chef’s sauce reminds me a bit of a Provencale or in the spirit of one.
Not long ago I was looking at a Railroad Historical Society cook book of menu items offered on passenger train dining cars long ago. Cooks were often on their feet at work while the train was traveling at speeds up to 80 mph. A lot of their items required few ingredients, were quite savory, and could be prepared under these conditions.
I’ve often wondered how some of these recipes which resemble the classics came into being.
Anyhow I picked this tip up from one of those cooking competition shows, tried it, and it worked:
A little bourbon really perks up spaghetti sauce and gives it a much deeper, richer flavor. I used about a jigger per serving in commercial sauce and it made a definite difference.
