[CH] playing with dragons

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Pods,

Whenever I return home from the fields, laden with peppers, the next 
question is always, now what?

This year I didn't bring home habs, so the usual red mash is out.
For the first time, I brought a lot of Thai Dragons.  After having worked 
with them, I've developed a much better appreciation of them.  It seemed 
like I could take them any direction - dry them, pickle them whole, slice 
them into a salsa, or make a smooth red sauce, which is what I did.

I had in mind a sweet red sauce like some of the Asian ones I've tried.  I 
started the project by finely dicing and gently simmering a few lobes of 
ginger and a head of garlic.  Then I used my usual mash technique of 
chopping the peppers, cooking them to tenderness, and processing them again. 
  I used vinegar in the food processor, to obtain a slurry.  As I started to 
put the chopped peppers and onions into the pot, I tear-gassed myself out of 
the kitchen.

As the sauce simmered, I added light corn syrup to sweeten it.  This is the 
first time I've done this; I seldom make a sweet sauce, and when I do, I 
sweeten it with something like apples or orange juice concentrate.

Well, I got a sweet sauce, all right, but those peppers have plenty of kick 
to shine through it.  I was trying for a balance of 
sweet-tart-hot-garlic-ginger flavor, and it worked.

As a result of pressing the mash through a seive, I have some leftover pulp 
and seed mixture.  I didn't want to just throw it away, so I poured in 
enough vinegar to make about a quart and a half of ... of ... well, I really 
don't know what it is, or why it's here, or what it wants from me.

*Glances fearfully into the kitchen*

I'll let it stay there for a while, threatening me with that vivid red that 
can only come from a mixture of pain and sin.  Eventually, I'll strain it 
and use the flavored vinegar in some of the Asian-style dressings and sauces 
I've been experimenting with recently.

- A


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