McCormick crushed Red Pepper Flakes

[LuckyLuke]

Surely you can find Merkén / Merquén, as far as I understand it's a Mapuche thing, the closer you get to Chile the more available it is.

Fascinating...I'll try to find it here. Plenty of Mapuche presence around Neuquen but I'm not very familiar with it's culinary influence.

 

[LuckyLuke]

Surely you can find Merkén / Merquén, as far as I understand it's a Mapuche thing, the closer you get to Chile the more available it is.

Went to Chile last week and finally tried some Merken, very pleasant flavor with a hint of spicy. Sadly the mix I bought in Argentina was a lot more bland. Supposedly each side uses different peppers. Wish Argies weren't such softies with spices.

 

[FrankPintor]

Went to Chile last week and finally tried some Merken, very pleasant flavor with a hint of spicy. Sadly the mix I bought in Argentina was a lot more bland. Supposedly each side uses different peppers. Wish Argies weren't such softies with spices.

I've had good luck with merken in Bariloche, but I guess it's going to be hit-or-miss. I do need to get some again.

At the farmers' markets in provincial Chile you can find stalls with only red and green chiles, and any self-respecting customer will take one and bite into it to confirm it has a kick. I don't know the exact type of chile, over there they just called it "aji chileno", but if memory serves (doubtful, it's been a while) it might be "cacho de cabra". If I understand correctly, the red chiles are smoked and ground up to make merken.

Pebre is very big in Chile, with chopped and crushed raw chiles and other veggies (onion, garlic, tomato, etc) and appears with almost every meal. They go through a lot of chile. And yes, the flavours are bolder, not just spicier and hotter, cumin is a favourite spice, but also lots and lots of cilantro, which isn't too easy to get here, we need to find the veggie shops with Bolivian or Peruvian owners who might have a bunch or two at the back of their fridge.

 

[FrankPintor]

Back to this topic. A few days ago I bought a kilo of aji / chiles from our local fruit and vegetable shack “La Curva” on Ruta Provincial 4. I got a kilo because, well, Argentinian chile isn’t up to much.

As it turns out, a kilo of chile is quite a lot, and I’ve just finished de-seeding them under running water with 3 breaks to recover from my coughing and sneezing fits. My hands are starting to burn now.

After having made a simple sofrito I’m boiling up the Chiles with onion, tomato, red pepper, celery, and garlic. The house will probably be uninhabitable shortly, and I hope to blend and bottle the end product by tomorrow.

I guess finding good chile here is very seasonal and I just lucked out. Unfortunately, the last words from the owner of La Curva were that he’s going on holiday, with Argentinian campesino precision he said. “Una semana, o dos”. If anyone is interested, I can give a heads-up when he’s back and if he has chile. In the meantime try your local verduleria, you might get lucky.

 

[Redpossum]

When I make salsa, I slather my hands up with a thick layer of vegetable oil before I start the process of de-seeding the chiles. It helps prevent most of that burning of the hands afterward. When I'm done, I wash my hands three times, and then with them still wet I sprinkle a generous amount of baking soda (bicarbonato de soda) in one palm and rub it all over my hands. The extreme alkaline of the bicarbonato helps neutralize the acid of the chiles.

 

[LuckyLuke]

Never bothered with the deseeding. My sauce involves boiling the chile peppers whole, straining, blending the boiled peppers (with seeds), mixing in vinegar and salt, spices, then bottling. Letting it sit for a few weeks to ferment and finally straining out the solids. The result is a tabasco like sauce. For a spicier finish, mix back in some of the chile solids.

 

[rob0001]

If you are asking about the red pepper flakes that we in the US put on pizza. The best substitute to McCormick is a US brand sold here called Badia, crushed red pepper. It is as hot as the ones you usually get. Available many places and mercado libre.