Posts from Piehole Willie

I’m got family and their spouses coming to Chicago for the Independence Day weekend.  (And yeah: its Independence Day, not Fourth of July…)  My younger brother from Atlanta is also big into grilling and smoking, so for the very first time we’re going to smoke some pork together.  Baby back ribs, specifically.  I really want to put my best foot forward, bring my A-Game, provide the VIP treatment, so I’m whipping up a batch of my signature “Jack & Coke” BBQ Sauce. read more

Here’s a super simple but hugely delicious (and remarkably healthy) dish: Cedar Plank Salmon with Fennel Fronds.  Love this dish, I make it all summer long.  The sweet, anise-like flavor of the fennel plays off well with the infusion of the cider smoke.  Cedar planks for cooking are available just about anywhere you can buy grilling accessories or charcoal.

INGREDIENTS

• Slab of salmon (or any fish you like)
• Fennel bulb with fronds
• Salt & pepper
• Ceder plank

METHOD

Bring the salmon to room temperature.  Submerge the cedar plank under water in your kitchen sink for at least an hour.  Trim the fronds off the fennel bulb (reserve the bulb for salads or other recipes).  Season the salmon on both sides with salt and pepper.  Light your grill to medium-high.  Set the cedar plank over the fire.  When it starts to smoke set the salmon in the center of the plank and cover it with the raw fennel fronds and close the grill lid.  Cook the salmon to an internal temperature of 120° then, with a spatula or tongs, remove it to a plate.  Let sit for about 5 minutes as the internal temperature continues to rise to 125°.

I’ve been container growing exotic chiles in Chicago for over a decade.  Its a hobby that started by mistake, to tell you the truth.  I ordered some herb seeds from an online company many years ago, and they accidentally included their “Chile Variety Pack” which, to no surprise, was a collection of various chile seeds.  The chiles in the collection were fairly common varieties you’d find in any good produce section: bell pepper, serrano, jalapeño, habanero, etc.  But I planted them, tended them, and voila! a hobby was born.

After my first growing season I started thinking that it didn’t make much sense to grow the varieties I could buy at the local grocery store for 79¢ a pound.  I wanted to trying cooking with chiles that I didn’t have access to locally.  So I poked around online and quickly found access to a wide variety of exotic chiles.  Chiles from Asia like Bhut Jolokia (Ghost Pepper), Red Kona, and Thai Dragon.  Chiles from the American Southwest like Chimayo, Holy Mole Hybrid, Hermosillo, El Diablo and all colors of Habanero.  Caribbean chiles like Scotch Bonnet, Trinidad Scorpion, and Jamaican Chocolate Habanero. African chiles like Pilli Pilli and Peri Peri.  The Turkish Aci Sivri.  The more I looked into it the more amazed I became at the enormous varieties of chiles there are around the world.  So I ordered some different varieties that sounded interesting and ran with it. Over the years I’ve been able to successfully grow most of them in my Chicago backyard.

And where did I find these exotic chile plants.  Two places.  I get seeds from PepperJoe.com, and I get seedlings from ChilePlants.com.  Full disclosure: I get no compensation or consideration from either of these two sites.  I’m just calling them out because I think they’re great resources for chile lovers, and I selfishly want them to stay in business for a very, very long time.

Over the years I’ve used these chiles I’m grown extensively in my cooking.  In hot sauces and BBQ sauces.  I’ve dehydrated them and ground them for dry rubs.  I’ve used them fresh in a variety of recipes.  One particularly uncommon variety is the secret ingredient in my award winning chili.  (N.B. That secret ingredient is firecracker pequin chiles, a prolific hot little Southwest number with a naturally smokey flavor.  But you’ll have to grow them if you want them because you won’t find them any grocery store or vegetable stand.)

So 2016 is the year of the Tabasco for me.  I’ve planted quite a few plants in the backyard with the intention of making some barrel aged Tabasco sauce  in the fall.  More on that later this year.  Also growing Hawaiian Red Konas because the flavor profile sounds interesting.  And Cherry Bomb Chiles, which my better half stuffs with cabbage and ferments, leaving you with a delicious sweet Italian chile stuffed with sauerkraut (I’ll talk her into letting me post that recipe at some point.)