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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

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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 read more