Roasted Ghost
|
|
Roasted Ghost
|
| Servings |
| 1 batch |
|
|
Ingredients
- 6Oz (weight) ghost peppers — firm fresh peppers. Nothing mushy.
- 1bulb garlic — A big bulb, separated into cloves and peeled.
- 2cups water
- 1tbsp smoked salt
- 2tbsp smoked paprika
- 2tbsp honey
- 1splash vinegar
- 1/4tsp xanthan gum — Optional, but keeps your sauce from the unappetizing trait of separating while stored. It just looks more professional. Google it or try this.
- Gloves and glasses for anyone involved
Instructions
- Get a medium hot grill going. Charcoal or gas are both fine. Just be sure it is placed so you can move all the way around it and keep yourself upwind.
- Optionally char the peeled garlic cloves
- Dice the garlic fine or pulse it in a processor.
- Roast the peppers until nicely charred, turning frequently. Try to do it quickly in one batch — watch out for the fumes.
- Optionally pull off and discard the stems and remove seeds and membrane. This knocks some of the heat back — be careful where you discard these bits. Try to keep any blackened bits of pepper skin that slough off. They have lots of flavor.
- Sautee peppers and garlic in a splash of water on medium-low heat for about a minute.
- Add the salt, paprika, honey, vinegar, and water. Simmer until reduced by half.
- Carefully load the mix into a food processor or blender (still outside). Blend while slowly adding the xanthan gum. Don’t just dump it in, it will ball up and won’t do its job. An immersion blender works too but is more prone to splash. A food processor is the best tool — making it safe and easy to slowly add ingredients (like xanthan gum) while processing.
- Blend/pulse until you reach the desired consistency. You want no ghost “chunks” left, though a little chunking in a mild pepper batch is good. Being able to discern small bits of char adds visual appeal.
- Transfer to glass jars and freeze or refrigerate. Will keep a very long time.
Recipe Notes
Of course this recipe is also fine for milder peppers. But I’d still do this outside unless really REALLY mild. The consequences of mistakes are very unpleasant. Keep pets and kids away too while processing.