Expert's Guide to Dried Chiles 

Thank you for that info!

Hey, great idea...thanks for that tip!

Brilliant and sounds like fun too.

@@FlyTyer1948 Lots of fun and a real eye opener. Not just the range of flavour, but the different heat profiles: which part of the mouth (from lips to throat), how the heat develops (instant sear to slow blooming and quick or slow fade) to type of heat (numbing, or palatal high or cheek pinching or catching) With practice you can taste a dish and know just what's needed to balance the heat from front to back, to up the punch without affecting the flavour, or to tune the flavour just as you might when blending beverages.

I've thought before that dried herbs and peppers have a tea-like quality to them, so this makes sense. I would think that rehydrating them and tasting the flesh might also get some additional flavors. Maybe also grinding in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder and marinating in a very small amount of oil with some salt for a longer period, like overnight or days/weeks.

@@RabidHobbit Good thinking. Aromatics tend to be soluble in oils or alcohol, and so this could better highlight subtle differences. I find the fun with using spices is that changes in preparation(raw, dried, dry roast, tempered in oil) and timing can make such a difference to the final result.

That's a great tip. Would you still toast these up a bit before putting it into a blender or food processor or spice mill, or just put them in as they are to make into the powder? Also, which type of chili do you use?

@@mayonnaiseeee If you toast a dried chili it gets pliable. That would be pretty hard to grind. But you can certainly put chili powder in a dry pan and toast it or fry it in some oil before using it, the flavor compounds in chilis are fat soluble and will transfer to the oil.

@@mayonnaiseeeeYes, I toast them for a few minutes in a skillet until they just start to char. Then into the spice grinder (coffee grinder) after cleaning out the seeds and stem. I use a random mix from the selection like what Jack showed. Go easy with the Arbols -- you may get a hotter powder than you wanted. You can always add more heat to the pot later.

@@originalhgc Thanks for the info! Will be trying this for my next recipe using chili powder.

@@originalhgcMy tendency was to grind up the ones I wanted to use but keep each result separate and then put them into freezer bags. Which could then be tossed into a freezer to keep fresh for months. Having a separate bag of Arbol powder is great because it's easy to add in as much heat has needed, though you do need to give the powder time to add the flavor to the dish (usually a chilli.)

Why have I never thought of this... ! Cheers

I can verify that the tastes are similar enough that you can do that. Though you will miss out on the sort of depth of flavor that Ancho seems to add to a dish that isn't there with the Guajillo. That one seems to be more of a bright fruity flavor.

@@nanoflower1 Good to know. If I happen to see Guajillo in one of the local grocery stores, I'll definitely snatch it up.

In the 80s I remember us having to evacuate my flat because I'd got distracted whilst roasting chillis on my tawa. Worthy of a cry of "Gas! Gas! Gas!"

Maybe a good excuse to repaint the kitchen?

I make a mole once in awhile with New Mexicos (my favorites), guajillos, chipotles, pasillas & some anchos.

Those are closer to arbols if you just want heat without much flavor.

Yes, I left a similar comment. Kind of disappointing, especially since all these Mexican peppers are far better known by American consumers already. We need to be informed about the dried peppers we know less about.

While put out interesting dishes that are less known to the american diet, it seems like they mostly stick with informing an american or north american audience based on what they could easily buy.

@@axeavier Using Amazon is super easy. Far easier than going to the supermarket. I almost never even buy things like anti-perspirant, toilet paper, paper towels, soap, dish soap, socks, or a plethora of other goods in in person any more.

@@axeavier Regardless of how easy it is to find ingredients (not very hard these days with plenty of international markets as well as online) that's no excuse for not at least mentioning all these were Mexican chiles, and then not even acknowledging the common use of other chiles in Asian recipes (Indian, Chinese, Thai etc).

It is piquin in Spanish. In English pequin or piquin are both acceptable spellings, with google searches for each spelling returning similar numbers, with 1.08 million hits for piquin, and 0.993 million hits for pequin.

These chiles are amazing! It may well be worth it.

That's likely the same as the New Mexico chili. Take a small bite or taste of one and see what it tastes like. If it has little to no heat then it fits in with the NM chilis

The California Chile is the same as the Anaheim Chile. Not quite as hot as the New Mexico. I think of dried California Chile to be the closest to what I've tasted in most off-the-shelf 'Chili Powder' (along with some cumin and Mex. oregano, sometimes added cayenne for spark). Often the kind of flavor you get with American canned chili. They're OK, but they don't really push towards a distinct Mexican profile - from what I've seen, they tend to use more Ancho and Guajillo for dried chiles (both of which are readily available in most grocery stores).

@@kindabluejazzYeah, Ancho and Guajillo tend to make up the majority of the chiles I use when making chilli. With some occasional additions like cacabels to change up the taste. Haven't given the California Chiles a try.

Mexicans have harvested chiles for thousands of years and turned dried chiles into an American comfort food with the classic cheesy enchiladas and beef chili among others.

I just learned about salsa macha a week or two ago. It’s a Mexican chili oil and you would in fact use chipotles in it! No, a cascabel wouldn’t be an appropriate sub for birds eye chilis, but I think pequins or arbols might.

@@xactoly Obviously I was not referring to a Mexican chili oil, but you make a great point about substitutions. This is yet another reason why ATK should include information about chilis from other parts of the world. How will the audience of ATK know to substitute pequins or arbors in recipes that call for birds eyes? And if one is better substitution than the other, that is the kind of information that would be useful.

If they’re like a dried fruit, they’re good. Super dry and mold is bad. This video was 25 minutes too short. Ole rico and rick bayless have good tutorials.

It's just an intro for people who aren't familiar with the products. No need to overwhelm people with all the options.

@@nanoflower1 Too bad the only options they underwhelmed us with are the already relatively well known (in the US) Mexican varieties of dried peppers. Maybe a few other options from the many countries on other continents could have been included. I mean, what about japones, tsin tsin, ají panca, calabrian chilis, piri piris, etc, etc?

@@fordhouse8bI wish those were readily available but they don't appear to be. My local Publix carries most of the peppers they showed in the video (though they are old enough to have dried out) but even my local international market doesn't have most of those peppers. Would love to be able to pick up some calabrian chilis or piri piri for their unique tastes but they aren't found here. I think that's the issue because these videos are meant to be usable by most of the audience. Ordering by mail isn't something many people are going to do for food items but they might give it a try if they can find it in a local store.

@@nanoflower1 I feel lie that may have been relevant 20 years ago, but today the majority of Americans shop online and over 90% of Americans who have shopped online, have shopped on Amazon. I just made a quick search, and every single one of the pepper varieties I listed are available there. If I relied on my local grocery stores for all of my food, I would not have discovered any number of foods. I also feel like some items that I only could find online a few years ago have now become more commonly available in regular supermarkets. ATK should encourage its readers and viewers to use more exotic and unusual ingredients. This will help drive the market, and make them less exotic and more obtainable. ATK sometimes has an unfortunate tendency to follow instead of leading,.When it comes to foods that are not part of the traditional American mainstream, they are often to quick to reduce things to the lowest common denominator, rather than challenge their followers to embrace new tastes and ingredients. This is one thing dislike about their recipe development. Who exactly are the people testing their recipes? When they develop recipes from cuisines that are not American as apple pie, so to speak, at least a good portion of the testers should be people who grew up eating it, or are at least very familiar with it. Of course if they subsequently want to develop versions tailored to American palates, that is fine. But before introducing their audience to a tamed down version, they ought to expose them to the ‘real’ thing. Sorry about the rant!

That’s a very weird question. It’s 2024 and you don’t know why co-workers are wearing masks at work? To prevent the spread of disease, of course. Or are you just trolling and hoping for a bite? Yeah, I thought so.

I just watched a video earlier about a kitchen in Japan that cooks for about 3000 students, and that place looked about as cleaners a surgical station, with everyone wearing masks, hair coverings, and washing and sanitizing their hands up to their elbows. What is wrong with that?

@@fordhouse8b this isn't Japan and those ATK cooks aren't cooking for thousands and I'll bet they're not sanitizing to the elbow.

@@RichSobocinski So what is your point? You just don like sanitation in general?

@@fordhouse8b I like to see people's faces. I've lived over 60 years with unmasked people preparing my food - including a few years on an aircraft carrier where they're preparing food for 5000+. It hasn't been a problem so far.

Probably because you aren't keeping them properly. I've been cooking with them for a few decades now, and can assure you that they can be kept for years given that they are stored well. Some of them have even more flavor after being stored.

@@SuperTinyTurtle I think a lot of people don't really understand that airtight means airtight not just a closed container.

Also known in mexico as dried chiles 😂

What?

Ok

@@jimparkin2345 good boy. Acknowledge and move on.

Possibly on purpose.You know the main purpose of these videos is to drive traffic to their subscriber supported website, right? Go there, pay up, and all the information in this video, and more is available, clearly written for you to read. After you pay for the privilege.

chilies are a subset of peppers, chill out. If it's spicy we call it a chili (aka a chili pepper) to be specific