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The Chipotle Topic


hazardnc

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Inevitably, recipes calling for chopped chipotles only call for 1-2 chopped chipotles, thus leaving a large amount to go to waste. Thank goodness someone invested tomato paste in a tube, as I found the canned stuff was subject to the same fate as the chipotles.

What do you do with the excess? I am trying to adopt a better "waste not, want not" mentality for the new year.

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excellent question; I'm in the same boat; just used a couple for turkey chili...

edited: per Nullo Modo's post below... I used more than a couple--also used a bunch of Chimayo red chile... it was plenty flavorful and spicy. For the amount I was making-- a whole can would have definately been overload!

Edited by ludja (log)

"Under the dusty almond trees, ... stalls were set up which sold banana liquor, rolls, blood puddings, chopped fried meat, meat pies, sausage, yucca breads, crullers, buns, corn breads, puff pastes, longanizas, tripes, coconut nougats, rum toddies, along with all sorts of trifles, gewgaws, trinkets, and knickknacks, and cockfights and lottery tickets."

-- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1962 "Big Mama's Funeral"

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Chipotles are indeed to precious to waste, so whenever cooking with them I tend to dump in the whole car. As far as chiles go Chipotles are more of a smokey full heat than an all out mouth on fire abdominal pain heat, so most recipes that aren't based on some intricate delicate balance can easily get by with an entire car. Using only two in a pot of chili would hardly seem to be worth the time.

As for other uses: Scramble them up with eggs for breakfast, spread them on some toast with butter or peanut butter, eat them straight out of the can, they are great in a number of situations...

He don't mix meat and dairy,

He don't eat humble pie,

So sing a miserere

And hang the bastard high!

- Richard Wilbur and John LaTouche from Candide

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thus leaving a large amount to go to waste. 

What do you do with the excess?  I am trying to adopt a better "waste not, want not" mentality for the new year.

Chipotles keep very nicely in your refrigerator for weeks and weeks. I usually grind up the whole can in advance. I keep the extra in a well sealed plastic container in my fridge and use it in all kinds of dishes like corn bread, chili, refried beans, meatloaf, mashed or roasted potatoes as a southwestern marinade.

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Or line a plate or cookie sheet with waxed paper, plop the little babies down with a little sauce on each, and put the whole lot in the freezer for a bit. Once they're frozen solid, bag the lot in a resealable bag. Then you can pull them out one at a time when you need them.

MelissaH

MelissaH

Oswego, NY

Chemist, writer, hired gun

Say this five times fast: "A big blue bucket of blue blueberries."

foodblog1 | kitchen reno | foodblog2

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Or line a plate or cookie sheet with waxed paper, plop the little babies down with a little sauce on each, and put the whole lot in the freezer for a bit. Once they're frozen solid, bag the lot in a resealable bag. Then you can pull them out one at a time when you need them.

MelissaH

Ah, excellent! I've frozen them but never thought of doing it individually.

"Last week Uncle Vinnie came over from Sicily and we took him to the Olive Garden. The next day the family car exploded."

--Nick DePaolo

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Or line a plate or cookie sheet with waxed paper, plop the little babies down with a little sauce on each, and put the whole lot in the freezer for a bit. Once they're frozen solid, bag the lot in a resealable bag. Then you can pull them out one at a time when you need them.

MelissaH

This is a great suggestion, but I now avoid the whole problem by using ground chipotle powder (from Penzey's). It's super-convenient. :smile: I can't give you a conversion formula because I just guess on the amounts, figuring that this is something you have to do to taste, anyway. With the ground stuff, a little goes a long way at my house.

Fern

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Excellent idea.

As this subject was started by comparing chipotles to tomato paste, can you do a similar freeze technique with tomato paste? Freeze a tablespoon on some wax paper, then combine into a freezer bag?

I always hate finding half-cans of chipotles & tomato paste in the fridge, with a thick layer of mold. <sigh> They're so small and so easily hidden in the back.

...wine can of their wits the wise beguile, make the sage frolic, and the serious smile. --Alexander Pope

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I puree leftover chipotles and put them in the fridge. They seem to last forever. Leftover tomato paste I put into saran wrap and make a little tomato paste ball and throw it in the freezer. Works beautifully.

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Or line a plate or cookie sheet with waxed paper, plop the little babies down with a little sauce on each, and put the whole lot in the freezer for a bit. Once they're frozen solid, bag the lot in a resealable bag. Then you can pull them out one at a time when you need them.

MelissaH

I do something similar -- put one whole chile (and some adobo) into an ice-cube tray section, and then freeze. I actually have a whole collection of ice-cube-sized leftover fluids (lemon juice, chicken stock, condensed milk, chicken fat) in the freezer. I put each type of cube in a snack-size ZipLoc and then group by type (savory, juices, other) in a quart or gallon bag to prevent freezerburn... I've got a whole slew of ready-to-use nuggets of flavor. If you can find a tray that has 1oz-sized cubes, it's even cooler. But maybe that's just my inner food-geek talking. :biggrin:

~Anita

Edited by ScorchedPalate (log)

Anita Crotty travel writer & mexican-food addictwww.marriedwithdinner.com

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We freeze a couple each in sandwich bags after the can's been opened.

I don't get using more than 2 at a time, much less the whole can at a time. I find them infernally spicy: I made a soup once with 3 in there and it was almost inedibly hot, and while I'm no chile-head, I do pretty well with heat. Or am I just a bigger wuss than I thought?

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Getting back to "other uses for chipotles"...

I too find they keep fairly indefinitely in the fridge, and also find them to be a great addition to a lot of things: one or two minced and tossed into a pot of tomato sauce; mixed with sour cream, mayo, lime (juice and zest), garlic and chopped scallion for a *superb* dip (courtesy Cook's Illustrated); meatloaf; chili; enchiladas; scrambled eggs; stews....

I'm gettin' hungry.

Christopher

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More chipotle uses: My favorite roast chicken (courtesy of Cook's Illustrated) has a mixture of softened butter, chipotles, honey, pressed garlic and lime zest, mixed together and spread under the chicken skin.

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Been mentionned before but I think homemade Chipotle Mayo comes in handy just about every day... and it will keep for weeks. You could also mix it with softened butter and freeze it for your next BBQ.

If you only want to use a little at a time, I would suggest buying the dry kind and puree it yourself; the cost would be about a quarter!

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I, too, puree an entire can of chipotles in adobo, then keep it in the fridge in a well-sealed container. I was using some at Thanksgiving for making chipotle sweet potato soup (yummy Ming Tsai recipe), and noticed that the date on the container (I put dates on everything going into the fridge) was sometime in 2002! This stuff does last forever (which is good, since a little goes a long way), and it stays totally fine -- no mold, no change in flavor, nothing. I'm guessing that whatever gives these peppers their heat must act as some kind of preservative, too.

I love adding it to chili and scrambled eggs or frittatas. A pinch mixed into a batch of fresh guacamole is great, too.

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I use a fair amount of chipotles have been eating them long before they became trendy since my father lived in Mexico for many years. I have for years, dumped a can of chipotles in a jar and stored in the fridge. They seem to last for ever without developing mold or off tastes. I make my own from dried chipotles as well. My new thing is to puree them in a jar with a stick blender and store in the fridge and add to soups, meats or anything. I have been making a blend of chipotes and guava paste. Wonderful stuff. The guava paste adds a nice sweetness.

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  • 9 months later...

eGullet closed the Food Swap topic BUT not before a few of us managed to get in touch :cool:

Abra sent me a tin of chipotles and I'm wondering if anyone here knows what to do with them? Recipes (with detailed instructions and explanations of ingredients as I'm not familiar with western food... :sad: ) please!

Thanks in advance! :mwah:

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eGullet closed the Food Swap topic BUT not before a few of us managed to get in touch :cool:

Abra sent me a tin of chipotles and I'm wondering if anyone here knows what to do with them? Recipes (with detailed instructions and explanations of ingredients as I'm not familiar with western food... :sad: ) please!

Thanks in advance! :mwah:

What kind of food do you normally make? I usually make them with some sort of tortillas substance, or make a sauce out of them. However, that generally requires other western ingredients, like tortillas, or other smoked peppers, or tomatillos, the list goes on. If we could tailor suggestions to other ingredients you typically cook with that may work best?

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Been mentionned before but I think homemade Chipotle Mayo comes in handy just about every day... and it will keep for weeks. 

This is particularly good as a dip for cold grilled shrimp.

I don't understand why rappers have to hunch over while they stomp around the stage hollering.  It hurts my back to watch them. On the other hand, I've been thinking that perhaps I should start a rap group here at the Old Folks' Home.  Most of us already walk like that.

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I'm wondering if anyone here knows what to do with them?

scoville is right - chipotles are hot, and many don't like hot food. However there are many recipes calling for only one or two chiles in them. I found lots of recipes by Googling "recipe chipotle".

John

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There's a recipe for Chipotle Mayonnaise in the eGCI classes:

"Basic Condiments by Andie Paysinger and Mary Baker"

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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