Chilies for Heston Blumenthal's "In Search of Perfection" Chili recipe

[Dante]

I've wanted to make this one for ages, and finally started gathering components, but two elude me

 

The Somali chile powder- having trouble figuring out which is the right one, lost of different things come up on a search could anyone help me there?

 

and...

 

the, um, Devil's Penis chile- can't find anything but seeds to grow them, can anyone help me with this one, too? Or, failing that, recommend an effective substitute?

[rotuts]

@Dante

 

Why not contact H.B. himself ?

 

https://thefatduck.co.uk/contact

 

email them you story , after all , it might be interesting to at least someone there 

 

pls. report back 

[liuzhou]

From the little I know about Somali chili powder, it is a blend of spices, rather than pure chili powder. If so, like many such blends, there will be many variations. Does that seem likely? I know of Somali stores in London, where there is a small but significant Somali immigrant community. No idea about availability in the US, sorry.

 

Is Devil's Penis another name for Peter Peppers? A search for those may yield results.

 

Not very helpful I realise; good luck!

 

 

Edited June 29 by liuzhou (log)

[TdeV]

Minnesota has a large Somali community.

 

See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somali_Americans

[Dante]

9 hours ago, rotuts said:

Why not contact H.B. himself ?

 

Thank you for the idea.  I've messaged the team insta page.  We'll see how that goes.

7 hours ago, liuzhou said:

From the little I know about Somali chili powder, it is a blend of spices, rather than pure chili powder.

 

yep, hence my consternation.  Which is the right one?

 

7 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Is Devil's Penis another name for Peter Peppers? A search for those may yield results.

 

So far as I can tell,the two are not the same.

 

7 hours ago, liuzhou said:

; good luck!

 

Thank you!

 

5 hours ago, TdeV said:

Minnesota has a large Somali community.

 

Thank you but not sure how useful that would be for this purpose...?

 

 

 

[liuzhou]

25 minutes ago, Dante said:

yep, hence my consternation.  Which is the right one?

 

I doubt there is a "right one" as such. It seems tobe like Ras El Hanout in that it may not be the same each time, even when mixed by the same person.

 

If you mean whose does Blementhal use, you'd have to ask him.

 

 

[Shel_B]

13 hours ago, Dante said:

I've wanted to make this one for ages, and finally started gathering components, but two elude me

@Dante ... Where can I find Heston Blumenthal's In Search of Perfection Chili recipe?  I did some searching but didn't come up with anything that seemed to fit.  Have you a link, or a copy that you can send or post?  Thanks!

Edited June 30 by Shel_B (log)

[Duvel]

2 hours ago, Shel_B said:

@Dante ... Where can I find Heston Blumenthal's In Search of Perfection Chili recipe?  I did some searching but didn't come up with anything that seemed to fit.  Have you a link, or a copy that you can send or post?  Thanks!

You can find the recipe for the spice mix here …

[ElsieD]

And then there's this:

 

https://www.pcgamer.com/software/devastating-loss-digital-lending-library-internet-archive-removes-500000-books-after-being-sued-by-publishers/

[blue_dolphin]

On 6/29/2024 at 6:49 AM, Dante said:

I've wanted to make this one for ages, and finally started gathering components, but two elude me

 

The Somali chile powder- having trouble figuring out which is the right one, lost of different things come up on a search could anyone help me there?

 

and...

 

the, um, Devil's Penis chile- can't find anything but seeds to grow them, can anyone help me with this one, too? Or, failing that, recommend an effective substitute?

 

I'm no help on those particular chiles or powder but a couple of things strike me about that list that @Duvel linked to.  One is the specification of so many ground chile powders.  It seems like you'd get better flavor by using whole chiles and grinding them yourself instead of dusty old ground stuff.  And why are the devil's penis and bird's eye chiles the only ones where whole chiles are actually specified.  And why use smoked paprika instead of a chipotle or pasilla de Oaxaca for a smoky element? Maybe all this is revealed somewhere in his voluminous intro to the recipe?  

As far as subs go, one of the seed websites says it's thought that the devil's penis pepper is a cross between a peter pepper (a little hot) and a devil's tongue pepper (very hot) so something like a habanero is probably going to be in the heat range and they taste good, too.  

 

In my experience with making blended chile powders from various cookbooks, when they call for 8 or more different dried chiles, it's OK to roll with it and substitute if needed.  The flavors and heat levels of chiles vary from season to season and also depend on where they are grown so there's no guarantee that adhering religiously to that particular 15+ year old recipe is going to give you an identical result and even if it did, you might not like it and want to make your own tweaks.  

I've been making Josef Centeno's 8-chile spice mix from his book, Amá for a number of years now.  Sometimes I have all 8, sometimes I substitute one or two or add an extra one I'd like to try.  It's always really good!

 

Anyway, good luck with the chili! It sounds like quite the endeavor.  I hope you'll take photos and share the whole epic saga with us!

 

[Shel_B]

3 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

[...] And why use smoked paprika instead of a chipotle or pasilla de Oaxaca for a smoky element?

[...]

I've been making Josef Centeno's 8-chile spice mix from his book, Amá for a number of years

 

@blue_dolphin ...Thanks for the mention of pasilla de Oaxaca.  That's new to me, and coincidentally, I've been looking for an alternative to Chipotle.  I found a couple of places online that sell the wgole, dried pods, and ordered some. There's a couple of dishes coming up where they'll be used.

 

I looked for Centeno's mix and came up with this:

https://www.texasmonthly.com/recipe/carne-guisada-josef-centeno/

That's only seven ... is there  a different mix that you're referencing?

 

And a pet peeve: when a recipe calls for chili powder and doesn't mention the ingredient(s)

 

• 2 ancho chiles
• 1 serrano chile, stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon dried Mexican oregano, preferably Oregano Indio
• 1½ teaspoons cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 fresh bay leaf, or 2 dried
• Fresh black pepper

Edited July 1 by Shel_B (log)

[AAQuesada]

Chile Morita is a good substitute for Chipotle and is pretty easy to find. It's a Serrano dried in the same manner as a chipotle one of my favorite chilies. 

[blue_dolphin]

25 minutes ago, Shel_B said:

I looked for Centeno's mix and came up with this:

https://www.texasmonthly.com/recipe/carne-guisada-josef-centeno/

That's only seven ... is there  a different mix that you're referencing?

 

The Amá Spice Mix in his book of the same name calls for the following dried chiles

8 arbol chiles

5 guajillo chiles

5 New Mexico chiles

5 chipotle chiles

4 chiles negro

4 mulato chiles

4 pasilla de Oaxaca chiles

4 cascabel chiles 

All the chiles are toasted in a 350°F oven for ~ 10 min until brittle and fragrant, stemmed, seeded, ground to a powder and mixed with 1 tsp salt.

It's a great mix - very flavorful but not searingly hot, though one could easily add a very spicy variety to boost the heat if that was the goal.

 

Edited to add that this is the main seasoning in the chorizo recipe in the book and it's really fabulous!

 

 

 

Edited July 1 by blue_dolphin (log)

[Shel_B]

5 minutes ago, AAQuesada said:

Chile Morita is a good substitute for Chipotle and is pretty easy to find. It's a Serrano dried in the same manner as a chipotle one of my favorite chilies. 

I always thought the Morita was a Jalapeño that was processed differently than the Meco, which is also a Jalapeño. and both of which are Chipotles.

[Shel_B]

21 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

The Amá Spice Mix ...

Oh, that's a nice blend.  I'll definitely try it. 

 

I'm guessing that he's suggesting the Chipotle Morita?  Does he say anywhere which Chipotle variation is used/preferred?

Edited July 1 by Shel_B (log)

[johnny_sauvage]

I made this recipe this weekend but skipped the kidney beans. I've done this before and the effort to make the beans and the difference a can off tinned beans in tomato sauce is negligible.   
for the chilli ingredients I used Serious Eats Chili list of chilis, as I said I've done this a few times ,not often as the recipe is expensive, laborious and wasteful (the stock is crazy), with many different Chili mixes but the main flavour that you get from this is the heat of the Jack Daniels so i wouldn't get hung up on the chili mix. I'd skip the corn muffins too; they were very dry. 

[Dante]

On 6/29/2024 at 9:40 PM, liuzhou said:

If you mean whose does Blementhal use, you'd have to ask him.

 

The Spice Shop site has a Somali, I'm guessing that's the one as he mentions them in the book.  Ordering from there. 

On 6/30/2024 at 6:22 PM, blue_dolphin said:

As far as subs go, one of the seed websites says it's thought that the devil's penis pepper is a cross between a peter pepper (a little hot) and a devil's tongue pepper (very hot) so something like a habanero is probably going to be in the heat range and they taste good, too.

 

I was thinking that or something of similar heat if I can't find them.  Spice Shop had them listed but they're sold out.  Closest I've come to finding them so far.

 

I usually like to follow the recipe the first time, and then adjust it from there.

 

9 hours ago, johnny_sauvage said:

I made this recipe this weekend

 

I do plan to focus mostly on the chili itself, and make my own corn muffins.  I'm more doing this to learn from the recipe and see what I can apply from it to my own chili making.  I've made other In Search of Perfection recipes and have each one has taught me something. 

 

 

[Shel_B]

1 hour ago, Dante said:

 

The Spice Shop site has a Somali, I'm guessing that's the one as he mentions them in the book.  Ordering from there. 

 

I was thinking that or something of similar heat if I can't find them.  Spice Shop had them listed but they're sold out.  Closest I've come to finding them so far.

 

 

 

@Dante I checked The Spice Shop and it looks like I can order the product.  I hope it's the right item and that the link works for you.

 

https://thespiceshop.co.uk/checkouts/cn/Z2NwLXVzLXdlc3QxOjAxSjFSR0s0RktSRUhFWjBCVkhGRUMwRUQy

Edited July 2 by Shel_B
Additional information (log)

[Shel_B]

On 6/30/2024 at 6:53 PM, Shel_B said:

@blue_dolphin ...Thanks for the mention of pasilla de Oaxaca.  That's new to me, and coincidentally, I've been looking for an alternative to Chipotle.  I found a couple of places online that sell the whole, dried pods, and ordered some. There's a couple of dishes coming up where they'll be used.

The peppers have arrived, and at a great time.  The meat for the dish I want to try them in is defrosting as I type. Eagerly waiting to give 'em a try.  

 

They smell great ... nice and smokey, but not quite as intense as my recent chipotle purchase. These appear to be a good alternative to chipotles, appearing to be closer to the morita than the meco.  From what I've read, they're not quite as hot as chipotles, so that could be a good thing for some people and for some recipes.

 

So, @blue_dolphin, thanks again for tip.  These will be a great addition to my cooking.

 

 

Edited July 6 by Shel_B (log)

[Dante]

On 7/1/2024 at 9:27 PM, Shel_B said:

@Dante I checked The Spice Shop and it looks like I can order the product.  I hope it's the right item and that the link works for you.

 

https://thespiceshop.co.uk/checkouts/cn/Z2NwLXVzLXdlc3QxOjAxSjFSR0s0RktSRUhFWjBCVkhGRUMwRUQy

 

yeah, I had mentioned that they had the somali, but the next part was in regards to the Devil's Penis (note the quoted text above the part by me), that Spice Shop has Devils Penis but it's sold out.