Most areas of
China employ these two ingredients in varying amounts, from dainty touches in
the Yangtze River Delta to the fiery mounds that make foods in Sichuan and
Guizhou so enticing.
And so, it’s more than helpful to know how to deal with
these two lovely aromatics, everything from selecting to storing to prepping
them.
These two ingredients are easy to work with once you get to know them. Here's how...
Fresh chilies
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| Firm, fresh, & shiny |
The first thing
you need to know about these is how to determine whether your chili pepper is
hot or mild, sweet or grassy. Heat is determined by the variety, while
sweetness depends upon ripeness. Larger peppers tend to be milder than smaller
ones, but of course your mileage will vary.
Select chilies
that are firm and shiny. Run your fingers all over them; softness indicates
rot. Check the caps, which should be green and firmly attached to the fruit, as
this is often where rot begins.
If the peppers are wrapped on a tray (as they
often are in Chinese markets) and fondling is difficult, look at the cut ends
of the stems: Shrinkage and darkening on the cut tells you that these have been
sitting around for a while, so inspect them as carefully as you can.
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| Cut around the core |
Store fresh
peppers in the refrigerator, preferably in dry paper bag (to absorb moisture)
wrapped in a plastic bag (to keep them from drying out). Wash them just before
using and pat dry.
If you have
sensitive skin, or if you are working with hotter peppers, wear gloves. I keep
a box of surgical gloves in the kitchen for just such occasions, as well as for
working with things like raw taro, which makes my skin itch.
Do not touch your
face or any other sensitive area, as the juice will burn, and wash your hands carefully once you’ve
finished prepping them, as these oils will cling to your skin or gloves.
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| Shake out the seeds |
To seed a
pepper, I’ve come to rely on this easy method: Slit the pepper down one side,
slide the knife in between the flesh and the seeds, and then roll the knife
around the core. You will end up with most of the seeds still attached to the core,
and all you have to do is shake any wayward seeds out of the flesh. The pepper
can then be sliced or chopped.
You can leave the
seeds in the peppers if you like them that way, but I prefer the smoothness of
a seedless sauce, as well as the lack of bitterness that the seeds often
provide.
Garlic
Fresh garlic is
available year around, but the best ones to get (if you can find them) are the
lavender ones that show up with the first harvest. These are juicy and tasty,
so grab them.
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| Cut off the stem ends |
Garlic imported
from China has the rootlets removed, giving them smooth bases. Avoid this
garlic if you can because of the high levels of pollution and heavy metals in
the soil. Organic garlic is more expensive, of course, but it is generally
fresher and much healthier.
Select heads
that are firm all over. There should be no black areas in the papery coverings
(that’s mildew) or green sprouts showing. Those sprouts tell you that the
garlic has been on the shelf for a while, and the bulb’s energy has been transferred
into reproduction and the individual cloves will begin to dry out. Refrigerate
the garlic—like fresh chilies and ginger, for that matter—in dry paper bags
wrapped with plastic bags.
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| Whack the clove with a blade |
There are a
couple of ways to peel garlic, but these are my favorites:
If you just want
a couple of cloves, break them off of the bulb. If you want to prepare the
whole head, cup it in your hand with the root side down and then smack the
roots against a counter; this should break them off, or at least loosen them
considerably. You now should have a bunch of individual garlic cloves in front
of you.
If you are not using all of them immediately, I strongly urge you not
to peel the extras, as they rot easier once naked and also will smell up your
fridge.
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| Remove any green sprouts |
To peel a clove (or cloves) without mashing it, first trim off the hard root end. Then, lay the flat side
of a wide knife or cleaver over the clove(s) and press down on in with your hand
until the clove cracks; you then can slip off the papery covering.
If you are
planning to mince the garlic, then whack it with the side of your blade a la
Martin Yan; this will leave you with a pulpy layer underneath that papery skin,
and all you have to do is chop it a bit.
If you do find a
green sprout in the center of a clove, remove it completely. Some people say
that they taste bitter, but my main complaint is that they are tough and
tasteless, so I jimmy them out with the tip of a knife and discard them. That
particular clove will naturally be a tad less aromatic, but all in all still
usable.
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| Fast chopping moves |
Chop garlic by holding the handle of your knife with one hand and pressing down on the tip of the blade with the other. With this technique, the tip of the knife does not move, but rather acts as a stable point, allowing the blade to move freely in an arc over the food. You then can move your knife back and forth over the garlic (or any other ingredient) very rapidly. Use your blade to scrape up the garlic, and you're done.
By the way, use
the search engine on this blog (in the right-hand column) to find many
delicious ways to use these two delicious ingredients.
