Monday, November 8, 2010

Momofuku Pickled Thai Chiles

Did you know that you can pickle just about anything?  Here are some of the pickling recipes from David Chang's cookbook, Momofuku:

Pickled apples; pickled Asian pears; pickled beets; pickled cantaloupe, watermelon, or other melon; pickled carrots; pickled cauliflower; pickled celery; pickled cherries; pickled crosnes; pickled fennel; pickled napa cabbage; pickled ramps; pickled sunchokes; pickled Tokyo turnips; just to name a few.



1 cup water, piping hot from the tap - I used filtered water that I heated up in my electric kettle
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar - I only use UNSEASONED, sodium-free, sugar-free rice vinegar 
6 tablespoons sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
4 cups Thai Bird's-Eye chiles or other small (no longer than 2 inches) fresh hot chiles.

I had to make more brine to cover the chiles completely.  Be sure to wash your hands after handling these little devils!

You can use these chiles in a lot of applications.  Here are a few of my suggestions: 

Sambals or salsas
Stir-fry
Hot dogs, in place of those sport peppers you love
Compound butters
To add zing to a sauce
Roasted veggies - sliced thin and sprinkled in after roasting

3 comments:

  1. Hey Nick, are these peppers hotter than the sport peppers? What about the hot water, doesn't it have to be boiled in order to kill the bacteria?

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  2. These peppers can be significantly hotter than sport peppers depending on how fresh they are and whether or not you remove the ribs and seeds. I would slice one pepper open long-wise and scrape out the ribs and seeds and use them that way.

    We don't have to be too concerned about bacteria when we are pickling because of the high acid and salt content that is present in the brine. Pickling is not to be confused with canning, where we would certainly take a lot of precausion to ensure a sterile process.

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  3. Hey there Nick! Not sure if you still check up on this blog, but I wanted to say kudos for the recipe! I wasn't sure if I'd be successful in finding this recipe when I searched it up on Google but you came through for me :) Now I can try my hand at their octo vinaigrette. Yummm. Thanks again!!

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