re: [CH] Chiles in Alcohol

The Old Bear (oldbear@arctos.com)
Sun, 27 Sep 1998 08:06:54 -0400 

In ChileHeads Digest, v.5 #49, Ian Sinclair wrote:

>Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 08:53:01 +1200
>From: Ian Sinclair <Ian@directus.co.nz>
>Subject: [CH] Chiles in Alcohol
>
>After reading the posting about removing chiles in liquor after 3-5 days
>to avoid less than savoury flavours, I thought I better extract the 8
>sliced scotch bonnets I had floating in a bottle of Absolut for the last
>three weeks. The vodka had a pretty good zing, and a reasonably strong
>chile flavour. Next time I will extract the chiles earlier and see if
>makes a difference to the flavour, I think I would prefer the heat
>without so much flavour in vodka. . . .

This comes from the El Paso Chile Company's book "Chiles" by 
W. Park Kerr (which I mentioned in a previous posting to this 
list):

                  Hot and Cold Tequila
                  --------------------

    I keep a bottle of this incredible concoction in the
    freezer, poised to pour into chilled martini glass, 
    just in case I have an emergency situation that calls 
    for an attitude adjustment.  Try it poured into 
    tomato juice for a breathtaking eye-opener, or drink 
    shots to accompany a platter of chilled shellfish.

      1  750-millliter bottle of 
         best quality silver tequila

      2  fresh jalapenos (1 red and 1 green, if 
         available), stemmed and quartered

      1  green onion, trimmed to fit the tequila bottle

      1  fresh serrano, stemmed and quartered

      1  chile de arbol, stemmed, split and seeded

      1  medium garlic clove, peeled and halved

      zest (colored peel) of 1 lime or 1/2 orange, 
      removed in a long, thin strip

    Pour off about 1/2 cup of the tequila and reserve for
    another use.

    Drop the jalapenos, green onion, serrano, chile de 
    arbol, garlic clove halves, and lime zest into the 
    bottle.  Cover and let stand at room temperature for 
    48 hours.

    Store the bottle in the freezer.  The tequila will 
    become think and syrupy.  Serve directly from the 
    freezer.

    Makes about 3 cups.

The recipe in the book is accompanied by an appealing photo 
of the chilled bottle with the red, green and orange forms 
of the submerged fruit appearing hazily through the frost 
on the glass.  Truly a beautiful sight.

To help select a fine tequila, please visit The Old Bear's 
Secret Tequila Cave at http://www.arctos.com/arctos/tequila.html
-- which is my contribution to chile cuisine.  :)

Cheers,
The Old Bear