Making use of Bishop’s Crown peppers and getting a spicy surprise!

Sometimes, first impressions can deceive you. Here is such a story for your reading pleasure.

My aunt gave my family an interesting plant I had never seen before, a Bishop’s crown pepper, a truly fun and unique looking pepper, of a rather mild heat with a pleasant fruity flavor, I ranked them as basically mini bell peppers with extremely thin flesh in terms of usefulness, so perhaps for stuffing. I did read some accounts of how they were quite hot and I dismissed them immediately from my first hand knowledge.

Not wanting to stuff several little peppers I decided to take a page out of Michael Ruhlman’s book, as I tend to, and make a pickled pepper, and take advantage of it to use up some of the massive amount of carrots I had laying around the house due to an ill advised grocery shopping decision.

To make a long story short, after going through the whole process of prepping, brining and pickling the pepper carrot mixture and giving a piece an experimental bite to see how much the mildness had improved, my eyes immediately started watering and I started looking for some milk.

I’m not going to say they were magically heated  up by the salt, they were probably hot to begin with, but it was quite a shock.

But while the results turned out differently than expected, they were not unwelcome in the slightest. The heat infused carrots were a special revelation, and diced up and used in a mirepoix, they add a delicious kick to soups.

For those of you who probably don’t have a Bishop’s Crown Pepper plant available, I bet red jalapenos would work in a pinch. If using legitimately hot peppers like Serranos, you might have to cut back on the amount of peppers, or add some filler peppers like poblanos or bell peppers. Anyway, I’ll try those out later.

In the meantime, here’s how to make it.

The proper combination of vegetables for picking is more art than science honestly, the science comes with the brine. In this case I used nearly two carrots, 15 bishop’s crown peppers, a medium red onion and a head of garlic.

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No recipe this time, just a warm wish from me to you.

2013 was a good year for me. My professional outlook has improved dramatically, I’ve strengthened relationships with friends and family. I’m looking forward to what 2014 will bring.

I know 2013 wasn’t good for a lot of people though, so I hope that for you, this year takes all that away and gives you something much better.

And for those of you that had good years, keep that momentum going!

Have a safe New Years Eve everyone!

First of all, happy new years to all of you, and thanks for sticking with me.

Secondly, here’s an indoor s’more. Golden grahams done up in a Rice Krispies treat style, with chocolate.

With the food portion of the post done, thanks for coming again. I’m sure you all have noticed I have not been posting as much, so I thought I’d come and let you all know what’s going on.

It’s been a really busy 2013 for me, and the franticness actually began before Christmas in 2012. My grandmother passed away and that was a really hectic time. It got the family together in a hurry though, and I think we’re stronger for it, if a bit sad.

After the funeral there hasn’t been much time for rest. I thought I’d add a factoid that is directly relevant, in that my family is trying to eat more vegetarian, and so far we’ve been able to eat vegetarian every Sunday since then. Unfortunately with my time constraints and lack of practice, I have been unable to do this for the rest of the days of the week due to the following.

I’ve started the new year swinging with a long term sub position and two night classes plus a little bit extra. Sleep has been precious, and cooking up anything is quite a stretch to say the least.

Hopefully as I get into the swing of things, they will be getting easier, but for now, I just wanted all of you to know why things have been quiet here.

Hope you guys have more time to breathe than I do!

-Brian

Wherein A Cook & A Geek Dresses Up an Egg for Halloween

Or beeting off your huevos in time for the holidays

So I guess this is a thinly veiled attempt at making some food seasonal given the upcoming spooky holiday. Because shortcuts and multi purposing are beautiful things.

It’s actually a bit of a coincidence really. Dad came back and brought home some beautiful fresh beets because he wanted to have some of these naturally dyed beauties after seeing some in the Amish country on his most recent excursion. I’ve actually seen these before but I’ve never realized they were a Pennsylvania Dutch tradition before my dad told me he saw these there.

The more you know I guess!

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I recently posted on Machine Age Productions some advice on how to throw an event involving food and gaming without getting in over your head.

The five tips are as follows:

1. Know your limits

2. Prep as much as possible

3. Know how to delegate simple activities

4. Have a schedule

5. Avoid experimentation

For exactly what that means, head over to Machine Age Productions and take a look!

http://www.machineageproductions.com/dining-and-gaming/

Because geeks need comfort food too.

There are few things I find more comforting than a good hearty, homemade chicken soup. Be it during a cold snowy day (yes I’ve woken up to those, but not in the Bay Area) in the middle of a childhood cold, or simply because I’ve wanted something hot, warm, and savory, chicken soup has been the epitome of comfort food.

Followed closely by rice congee. But that’s another post.

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Farewell to Foie Gras: Selected Logs in a Traveler’s Discoveries of Food and Drink across Arduise, available for $4 on DriveThruRPG!

Before you think I’m an anti Foie Gras person, no I’m not.

I’ll leave it at that for now.

It is actually more of a joke title that does indeed reference the California Foie Gras ban, and because it neatly parallels the title of the Machine Age RPG it accompanies, Farewell to Fear. Which is awesome, as several Kickstarter backers will agree.

I’ve put a lot of work into this but I can’t take all the credit of course.

Farewell to Foie Gras is a collaborative work with my editor Renee (this cannot be overstated), the artist Max Brooks, and of course the support and inspiration from David and Filamena, who made all of this happen.

So please check it out folks!