BRITU/Chipotle Powder


 
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Jim Langford

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I made up a batch of BRITU today. I ground up whole cumin seeds in a coffee grinder. No such thing as onion powder in this neck of the woods, so I ground up some dehydrated onion flakes and added that. I kept everything else the same, except I added about 1/8 cup less sugar and salt, left out the MSG and, being a fire-eater, added an extra teaspoon of both the freshly-ground black pepper and the cayenne. I used McCormick dark chili powder. Which brand do you folks recommend? I must say the aroma of this BRITU is devilishy good! Can't wait to try it on some ribs.

As I was adding the cayenne pepper, it occured to me that this might be substituted by a product I have heard about but have never tasted: chipotle powder. My mother lives in Mexico, and I have eaten more than my share of chipotle peppers when visiting her, but I've never run into the powdered form. I love the hot and smoky flavor they give to foods. Chipotles, for those of you who might not be aware, are smoked red Jalape?o peppers. I wonder if any of you have used chipotle powder in your rubs or elsewhere. Do you know of any good sources for it on the Net? Have any of you altered the BRITU recipe in other ways?

Regards,

Mr S.
 
Yo Squeaky!

I make my own chipotle powder and all my own chili powder and Habanero powder. I even make my own smoked garlic(thanks to Bruce Cook!).

You need to buy yourself a burr-mill coffee grinder. So much better than the regular coffee grinders. You can set the thing for 9 different grinds, the finest of which will make powder. Best $40 I ever spent. Once I have my rub mixed, I run it through the grinder. I have found this tends to "release" the flavors(I do not always have the freshest spices on hand!).

I just smoke the japs and then grind them into powder.

I find that the use of the smoked powder is always lost when actually smoking something, so I use mine when NOT smoking. For instance in chili, on burgers or steaks or other applications like that. If you like the flavor of the japs, then simply dry those WITHOUT smoke and you have yourself jap powder.

Be careful though, sometimes the smoke does NOT make a better product.
 
If you go to the "Products" > "Spices" then scroll way down to:

Pepper, Chipolite Mexican Hot (Capsicums)30K


For some reason they have it listed under the "P" section for "Peppers" instead of the "C" section.

1 lb ground up is $9.95 and 2 lbs is $16.95.

It doesn't say that it is ground, but it is. I ordered the 1 pound container. That is enough to last you a long time. Goes great with Chili. I like to use it in place of Cayenne in many recipes.
 
Hi Mr. S!
Wow! The Sausage Maker is a lot better buy than Penzy's. I wonder if there could be that much difference in quality!
(http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-local/SoftCart.exe/scstore/p-penzeyschipotle.htm?L+scstore+lcbm5076ff3ecf3e+1003690689):

Ground Red New Mexican Chipotle Pepper
16 oz bag 25.90
8 oz bag 13.49
4 oz bag 7.29
2.4 oz glass jar 6.19
1.2oz plastic jar 2.99

Whole Red New Mexican Chipotle Pepper (Morita)
16 oz bag 33.90
8 oz bag 17.49
4 oz bag 9.29

From the Spice House http://www.thespicehouse.com/chipolte.htm

1/2 Cup Jar Refill $3.79
4 oz. $5.59
8 oz. $10.10
16 oz. $19.90
In a Half Cup Shaker Jar $4.78

The Santa Fe School of Cooking has some too, in smaller quantities. Their things are pretty high quality.
http://www.santafeschoolofcooking.com/catalog/cookinchiles.html

Here's one in Germany: http://www.pepperworld.com/default.asp

Best regards,
Rita
 
I'm not sure how to compare them, but the stuff I got from sausagemaker is excellent.
 
Thanks, guys. You are a veritable treasure trove of information. I'm going to check out all of the different sources and order a pound or so.
 
If you're interested, I've posted a Chipotle-Pepper rub in the Recipes Forum that sounds pretty good.

Regards,
Chris
 
Penzey's chile peppers are the weakest part of their offering.

It's a great place to buy ancho chiles: both whole and ground. These are the nicest dried chiles I've ever seen and the prices are reasonable.

They are very high on their chipotle peppers and the rest of their selection isn't that broad.

Here's a link that was given to me as a great source for dried chiles:
http://www.penderys.com/

I have not ordered from them yet, but their selection is terrific. They have everything. And their prices look good.

BTW, a pound of ground chipotle would be a TON. I go through less than a pound of ground ancho a year and that's making chile powder, barbq rubs, etc. Chipotle is MUCH more intense in terms of heat.

A convenient way to use chipotles is to buy them fresh in a can: Chipotle in Adobo.

A number of Mexican food distributors (Herdez, etc.) package them this way. They are fresh whole chipotles packed in a spicy vinegar sauce. If you transfer the contents to a tupperware after you open the can and keep it in the fridge, they last indefinitely. You can just grab a pepper when ever you want one.

I have been adding them to barbq sauces here lately. Just toss a whole pepper in and simmer. When it gets spicy enough, just fish the pepper out and toss it.

Or, for more heat, you could chop or puree the pepper.
 
I remembered Penzeys from this post several months ago and finally made it over to their retail store in Naperville, Illinois. I picked up a couple of their rubs along with some ground celery seed and hungarian paprika. This post indicated correctly that their price for ground chipotle was expensive compared to other Internet sources and that is true.

However, I also compared several other spices which turned out they were cheaper.

Anyway, I made some chicken tonight using their Galena Street Rub. Mighty tasty--not too hot, and very nice flavor.

One thing I did different was I popped the chicken into my broiler to crisp up the skin. Sprayed on a little parkay margerine and put it under the broiler for 4 minutes--got a great crunchy skin. Wish I could bring that broiler to competition.

Finally, you might want to get Penzey's catlog. One is available online and it includes some tasty recipes and also what I consider useful information about the spices, including some interesting facts about nutmeg.

Enjoy

Dale
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Mr Squeaky:
[qb]. Do you know of any good sources for it on the Net?
Regards,

Mr S.[/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

These folks do a good job with chipotles: http://www.tierravegetables.com/

Kevin

PS I've got a nagging feeling that I posted this once before. I apologize if I had. No spam intended.
 
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