[CH] Chile sherry
Mary McGee Wood (mary@cs.man.ac.uk)
Fri, 6 Feb 1998 18:30:38 GMT
Chile-flavoured oils seem to crop up as a bit of an FAQ here, but I
haven't seen anyone mention one of my own favourite condiments, chile-
flavoured sherry.
"Joy of Cooking" suggests preserving chiles by packing them into a clean
sterile jar and covering them with sherry - stored in a cool dark place
they'll keep pretty well forever - "use both the chiles and the sherry".
What I do is to take a bottle of moderate quality sherry (bad stuff stays
bad but there's no point paying over the top for real subtlety) and drink
two or three inches of it :-) Wash and slit open (but keep whole) and drop
into the bottle, enough chiles (variety of choice) to bring the level back
up to the top. Leave for a few weeks or more to infuse. Use instead of vinegar
in salad dressings (or anywhere); add to soups, stews, casseroles, gravies,
marinades, anything wet, in quantities to taste.
So far I have only done this with dry sherry, but I'm about to try
a sweet one, which I bet will make a knock-out addition to hot cocoa (in
more ways than one :-)
Oh, and when you've used up the sherry, eat the chiles.
best to all,
Mary
mary@cs.man.ac.uk
(posting for the first time after lurking for a few months)