A recipe calls for 1 dried red chile.
Which one would you choose? I have ancho and Szechuan.
Would red pepper flakes work, and if so, approx. how much equals “one pepper”?
Thanks!
What dish are you making? The cultural influence and basis of the recipe will indicate which is more appropriate.
How hot do you want the final product to be?
Ancho has deep flavor but not much heat.
I usually sub 1/2 to 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper for a “dried red chile.” Depends on your taste for spicy food.
It’s oxtail stew, slow cooked. Two pounds of meat with vegetables.
Spicy is good.
I would go with two Ancho at least.
One good trick is to pull out about a cup of the broth into its own small cup and add a fair amount dried chili flakes. Warm this and let the chilis steep. Blooming it this way will allow the chilis to fully hydrate and reach their full flavor. This spiced broth can be carefully added back to the main pot to taste.
Szechuan peppers do not have capsaicin - they’re a different animal altogether. I wouldn’t ever substitute them for chili peppers in recipes that are looking for heat.
Why would the OP think Szechuan peppers are appropriate to use in a recipe that calls for a dried red chile?
If it’s a West Indian oxtail recipe, I’d go with at least a teaspoon of crushed red pepper. Ancho just ain’t right for that.
This advice might come too late, but I suggest making the stew in advance, cooling overnight, then lifting off the fat before you reheat and add the vegetables. Full-on-fat braised oxtails can be…unpleasantly unctuous.
Yeah, I didn’t think that the ancho would actually work in this recipe. I probably will just go with the crushed red pepper.
Thanks everyone.
Szechuan peppercorns do not, but there are chile peppers sold as Szechuan chiles that do. They are not easy to mix up. These are Szechuan chiles. And these are Szechuan peppercorns.
If they’re ground, smelling them should make clear which is which (one smells like a dried red pepper, the other smells more citrussy and grassy), but also a taste will make it clear. The chiles taste spicy hot. The peppercorns taste citrussy and make your mouth water and a little numb, but have no chile-type of heat to them.
If they are actual chile peppers (and I’m going to guess they are), I’d pick the Szechuan chile pepper over the ancho for this application.
Huh, I’ve never seen those referred to as Szechuan chilis.
If the OP has some of those, I’d say go for it. They’ve got good heat and are pretty basic peppers. If they’re dried, drop them whole into your stew and fish them out again before serving.
They appear to be Thai bird’s eye chili. I agree that those would be appropriate for the OP‘s stew.
The ones I’ve had from the Chinese market are a bit longer (maybe 2x) longer than your typical Thai bird’s-eye chiles. It’s nigh impossible to tell the difference between various chiles of this type by just a photo. There’s so many that look so similar to each other. At any rate, they are fairly interchangeable for me.
The long red dried peppers that you get in your Chinese food are Tien Tsin chili peppers.
Yes. I do believe that is the one.
If the recipe calls for a whole dried chile to be cooked in the sauce, the result won’t be as spicy as it would be if you ground up the same chile and added it to the sauce. Also, chile flakes aren’t all the same. Some are a lot spicier than others.
In other words, be careful adding chile flakes. It’s easy to overdo it or underdo it. It might be a good idea to add a little at a time and taste as you go. Allow at least several minutes between additions to give the chiles some time to infuse into the sauce. Remember as you taste that, when the dish is done, you’ll be eating more than a small spoonful.