Chipotle's My Way
 

Howdy!

I hadn't seen anyone else post how they make chipotle peppers, so I thought I'd show some pics of how I do it!

Jalapeno's were on sale for .99/lb (pretty good for around here) so I grabbed a little over 12lbs of em'.

First off, traditionally chipotle is usually a red jap, but they are always $3-$4/lb and there's no way this cheap skate is paying that much! :becky:

Also, I always make chipotle powder out of what I smoke, no adobo sauce etc, so look else where if that's what you want. I use the powder in place of cayenne pepper in any rubs or seasoning of dishes... it just has way more flavor!

The way I make the pep's is prolly a bit unorthodox too, but whatever.

Here we go!

6lbs cut and 6 more to go - I cut the stem off and then quarter the pepper.
http://i965.photobucket.com/albums/a...39Medium-1.jpg

I cut the pepper as close to the stem as possible so that the pith (the white stuff inside) has something to hang onto once I cut it into 1/4's.
The pith is where all the heat is stored, if you want a cooler powder, you can remove the pith and seeds, but you might as well use bell peppers if you're going to do that! :rolleyes:
The seeds are a little bit bitter when ground up, but I really don't mind that for 2 reasons - 1) bitter is one of the 5 things your tongue can taste 2) I use such a small amount of the powder that the bitterness isn't really noticed... besides, the heavy smoke I'm about to hit it with will be waaay more bitter than the seeds!

No, I am not part smurf, this is the required hand protection for cutting up this many japs!

http://i965.photobucket.com/albums/a...1044Medium.jpg

You can see that once I 1/4 the pep, the end has enough pith still attached so that it doesn't fall off, that will be important once they go on the smoker.

http://i965.photobucket.com/albums/a...1045Medium.jpg


All 12+ lbs on the chargriller... Just toss em' on, we'll even out the layers as they start to wilt & shrink up.

http://i965.photobucket.com/albums/a...1049Medium.jpg

http://i965.photobucket.com/albums/a...1050Medium.jpg

Here's the firebox loaded up with 1 1/2 chimney's of stubbs, unlit. There are about 6 lit briq's at the bottom of the left side. Mesq chunks on the top and replentish as needed.
I use mesq for the peps so that they have a very strong smoke flavor, that way if I add a teaspoon to a pot of chili, I get a subtle smokey flavor.

http://i965.photobucket.com/albums/a...1059Medium.jpg


Obviously there is a big fat hot spot right below the upper vent. I re-adjusted the tuning plates below the grate so that hopefully we'll have a bit more even heat. Not a big deal since we'll shuffle all the pep's around now to make sure they are all getting smoke and drying equally.

This pic was taken after 15 hrs. I didn't tend it that whole time, just checked it before bed @ 11pm. It was still slightly warm this morn when I moved peps and reloaded the fire box. Usually there would be more of the peps dried and dark at this point, but it's been raining so the humid air slows it down a bit.

http://i965.photobucket.com/albums/a...1053Medium.jpg

Pic after reshuffling the peps. You can tell that they've really started to shrink up, not quite so crowded now...

http://i965.photobucket.com/albums/a...1057Medium.jpg



Thanks for lookin!

I'll post more pics as they progress towards being powder!

Wow! All those japs look like heaven on a grill. Keep us posted as I'm thinking this is something I'd like to try...

Looks like you smoked Papa Smurf's hand VVV :shock:
http://i965.photobucket.com/albums/a...1050Medium.jpg

That'll teach him to keep his farkin hands outta my peppers!!

I forgot to mention, at this stage of smoking the peppers, if a fella wanted to make a fresh salsa, a few of these wilted japs chopped up and added to it makes for a crazy good salsa!!

Orrrrr...hot sauce too! I made about a quart of that with some smoked jalapenos and seranos and a lot of garlic, onion and vinegar a few weeks ago. Looking good so far Ry!

Dang it Guerry! Stealin' my thunda'! :boxing:

Well, not really... I hadn't thought of making my own sauce...

Usually I add about 3 tablespoons of powder to a large costco bottle of Tabasco - yes I know they have their own chipotle Tabasco, the stuff sucks compared to making it this way! Smokier and hotter!!

I'll have to try making some from scratch!

Looks great. Enjoy the heat.

I bet the smell of all dem peppers was fantastic! Looking good. Plenty of heat there for a long time.

Bob

^^^^What Bob said!!! Bet the smell was awesome. Nice lookin' peppers knuckl!!

Man, those peppers look so good. The jalapeno is God's gift to humanity. It's the perfect pepper.

I never liked the flavor of jalapenos, but I LOVE chipotle. I don't know if it's the ripeness or the smoke. Might have to give that a try and see. Thanks for posting!

Thanks for the kind words fellas!

I made the mistake of smoking my own peppers once and now I can't live with the alternative!!

Alrighty then! Updated pics!
Just about done after 27 hrs on low heat & smoke and... Hey!! What the crap!!?? I thought I had more peppers than this on the grill! Have you guys been taking some while I wasn't looking???

http://i965.photobucket.com/albums/a...1064Medium.jpg


You know they are close to done when they start to look like dried up slugs on the driveway blacktop in the middle of an August heat wave!

I find that if there isn't enough heat to dry them quickly they stay green and your powder will be more jalapeno flavored and greenish instead of the dark dirt color than fully dried will give you...

http://i965.photobucket.com/albums/a...1066Medium.jpg

I'll post another pic once they all dry fully and I grind them up, prolly a day or two...

Very nice smoked jalapenos. Those will be great ground up into smoked jalapeno powder.

lol, yeah I guess I really can't call em' chipotle peppers can I... :tsk: smoked jalapenos they are...

but seriously, is it just cuz they're not red??? I mean I wouldn't try calling smoked Habs chipotle, just japs... I realize the flavor is different between red & green... but common! :rolleyes: