Busy day around here and the start of NFL Season

Being unable to find my coffee grinder in the Room of Doom (the extra bedroom that's become the dumping ground for boxes we haven't unpacked yet) I broke down and bought the cutest mini food processor yesterday. Like the coffee grinder, this one will ONLY be used to grind and pulverize hot peppers and maybe dried garlic.

So anyway, I started my grindathon off with the least hot of the peppers, the Jamaican Yellow Mushroom peppers and got them ground up and back in the jars (seeds and all, so I can pack the biggest PUNCH).

Next came the habaneros, the Aji Limons, the Chile de Arbols, then the Big Bad Daddies- the ghost chiles and trinidad scorpion chiles. Let me just say this- BREATHE with caution when grinding peppers and DO NOT handle the grinding equipment with your bare hands until they have been washed thoroughly. The difference in the aroma of these different peppers was really surprising to me. The Jamaicans had a very sweet pepper like fragrance but they did make me sneeze. The trinidads had a similar red pepper like fragrance and I was VERY careful to not get too close to the open workbowl or jar when I spooned the powder back in the jar.

Ghost chiles are another story altogether. Even when cutting up the fresh peppers, they have a strong, pungent, almost acrid chemical smell. Makes me really wonder why someone ever decided to eat these things. After grinding them up, that scent was intensified immensely.

A few weeks ago I came across a recipe for burgers with ghost chile powder in the meat mixture. It said to use 1/8 teaspoon. At the time, and having only eaten fresh ghost chile up to this point, my thought was "what a chicken, I'd dump alot more in my meat mixture". Folks.........after grinding them and testing the heat level, I will be sticking to the recommended 1/8 teaspoon.

The Chef and I both FINALLY taste tested the Trinidad after grinding and I'll tell you what- every fear and worry we had about these things being monstrously HOT was confirmed !!!!!

Now that the peppers are ground and awaiting some scientific research in ouur kitchen, we'll play and taste and test out combos and come up with our own chili powders, taco seasonings, hot meat rubs, all sorts of fun things !!

One of the experiments we want to work on is a super hot wing sauce recipe, and what better day to start playing with hot wings than the first day of NFL Regular Season ?? Nothing goes better with football than hot wings !! We already know we're going to do a traditional buffalo wing sauce for some, and I have a blueberry jalapeno sauce to try, and our brains are buzzing with ideas on how to incorporate the super hot peppers into a spicy sauce. The Chef is thinking something tomato based maybe, or a super enhanced version of traditional buffalo sauce, and I'm leaning towards using the pepper in the dry rub used before cooking the wings or maybe an oil or butter based pepper glaze. I think we'll have just as much fun coming up for a name for our deadly concoction.

Now.....about this NFL thing....... all you need to know about me is this- SKOL VIKINGS !!!!!!