Proportions/chili selection for adobo marinade?

[catscandal]

I just took my first swing at making my own adobo marinade from Bayless's recipe in Authentic Mexican. It was most delicious, but it was a little off from the adobo of the restaurant I was hoping to imitate, particularly it was a bit sweeter and fruitier. I think the culprit is probably the use of ancho chiles, which of course have that raisin character to them, but I fear the marinade would be considerably more one-note if i simply used all guajillos. Bayless calls for 4 anchos and 6 guajillos, I was wondering if anyone had tested any other proportions, perhaps with some de arbol or even some cayenne/japones in the mix for a more savory character.

[Shamanjoe]

Does the marinade call for chopping up the whole dried anchos? I've been using the powder a lot in various dishes, including adobo, and I haven't had too much sweetness come through with it..

[catscandal]

kinda. you split them, seed and devein them, toast and soak them, then blend them to make the actual marinade.

i live in california, so we don't really use a lot of powdered peppers, as whole ones are readily available everywhere.

Edited April 14, 2010 by catscandal (log)

[Shamanjoe]

I live in California as well. I just like using the dried as well as the fresh. They give up radically different flavours than their fresh versions. Just to clarify, when you say ancho, are you using a fresh or dried chile? Because an ancho chile, as far as I know, is a dried pasilla (or poblano).

[catscandal]

yes, i did mean dried, just not powdered

i've never really heard of anyone using fresh peppers in adobo

[kalypso]

I live in California as well. I just like using the dried as well as the fresh. They give up radically different flavours than their fresh versions. Just to clarify, when you say ancho, are you using a fresh or dried chile? Because an ancho chile, as far as I know, is a dried pasilla (or poblano).

Chile Ancho = Poblano when fresh

Chile Pasilla = Chilaca when fresh

The two are often mislabeled and frequently confused. The ancho will be wider across the shoulders, think of a heart. The pasilla is longer and narrower. Another way to tell the difference is to slit them open and hold them up to a light. The ancho will have a deep red, burgundy color, while the pasilla will appear darker, brown to black.

I think you can probably use just about any combination of chiles to get your adobo modified to suit your tastes. I would not eliminate the guajillos as they provide a good base for many sauces. If you use chile de arbol or japones you're really adding more heat than the savory flavor you're seeking. I think the chile you really want is the chile cascabel or catarina chile. I'm in CA too, and they are not particularly easy to find here; I've never seen the catarina in CA. I grew may own cascabels last summer. Very easy and very prolific. They've got a nice nutty flavor with gentle heat. If you've got a produce distributor near you , give them a ring, some will sell to the general public and they almost always have the odd ball chiles for the restaurant trade.

Two other chiles you might want to consider would be the generic New Mexico chiles you can get at most grocery stores in the bag (I think the brand is Mojave). Those are actually dried Anaheim chiles. The other chile is the dried chipotle, often labeled chile seco or chile meco. They look like shriveled up pieces of bark or wood. All you need to do is rehyrated and use. You can rehydrate in a diluted vinegar solution, using a mild fruit based vinegar like Bragg's apple cider vinegar.

Also take a look at adobo recipes in Diana Kennedy's books. They'll be similar but could give you other alternatives. Or, if worst comes to worst, simply take what you like about the Bayless recipe and what you like from a Kennedy recipe and weld the two together. I did that with a pibil recipe a few years ago - I didn't like the whole recipe form either author - so I took a little of this and a little of that from each recipe and ended up with something really good that friends and family all liked.

[catscandal]

Thanks, I'm not a big fan of chipotle (depending on the application), but I'm fairly sure I should be able to get some cascabel when I'm in Watsonville this weekend, I'll give them a try.

I don't own any Kennedy books myself, but I'll check with some friends, I'm sure someone does.