So I’ve been working on this recipe for grilling boneless chicken breasts lately. It involves, lemon/lime juice, pineapples, garlic and undetermined spicy stuff for the marinade. The lime and pineapple combination go together very well but I’m always left wanting the chicken to be a little spicier. A combination of black pepper, Tapatio, and paprika haven’t really cut it. Any suggestions?
I’m tempted to just respond to the title, not the OP. Actually, the answer might be the same.
I can’t imagine black pepper and paprika going well with citrus and other fruits on, well, any kind of breasts.
How about using jalapeno peppers, or, better yet, a hot oil extract from such peppers. You want something that won’t affect the fruit flavors, but will add a sting.
I have several hot oils in my fridge that I use for such purposes, and I’ve experimented with them to see which goes best with the flavors I’m trying to spice up. Most recently I had good luck adding tiny amounts of something called Jersey Death Sauce to my stuff. It’s unbelievably spicy, so it doesn’t take much. In consequence, it doesn’t affect the flavor much.
Have you tried a Wonderbra?
What?
How about red pepper flakes? Sounds simple, but they are great for adding the right amount of heat- from kick to FIRE.
Awww. Ya got me. :o
But since I’m here…If you want really really hot try Dave’s Insanity Sauce.
Smoked paprika.
Grains of paradiseare expensive, but worth trying. Nobody will recognize the taste.
Maybe Try Ancho Chili powder, or even general dark chili powder?
The things I would be adding to make a marinade/baste would be:
coconut milk
a little brown sugar
coriander if you aren’t a hater
cumin
chopped fresh ginger or galangal
chopped fresh chilis
some lime and lemon zest
minced onion/shallot/leek
This would be my suggestion,get the amount just right and you should have succulent breasts.
I’m sorry, but what that recipe is absolutely screaming out for is habanero. That is the pepper that goes with savory citrus stuff. And there is no other pepper that has quite the same taste.
Buy one and just cut off a little bit to mince up tiny and throw in the marinade. Or leave a half of one in the marinade and take it out before cooking. Really, a tiny bit will go a long way. Be careful with your hands and eyes and whatever you cut next with that knife and cutting board.
It’ll taste fabulous, I promise.
Yep, I was leaning towards habanero, too. It has a great fruity flavor that marries well with the sweet-sour of citrus fruits. If you add some allspice and little thyme to the marinade, and you basically have a pineapple-twinged jerk paste.
That said, if habanero is too hot, the OP can try finely minced chipotles en adobo (smoked jalapenos). I’m a little burnt out on chipotles being in everything over the last several years, but they should be a good pair for the ingredients, and they add an extra smoky dimension and flavor.
But these aren’t your only pepper choices. Finely minced Thai chiles (red or green will both work fine, with the red being a little sweeter, but still fiery hot) would also work well in your marinade. Even finely chopped serranos, if you can’t get to the Thai chiles, should work.
Black pepper & citrus or fruit is a pretty classic combination (lemon pepper chicken, anyone…strawberries with black pepper, etc)? But if that’s not giving you enough heat as you say in the OP, I think the hot pepper suggestions would work best. If you want KICK, go straight for habanero.
I saw some chipotle oil at the oil section of Ralph’s yesterday. Is that the type of pepper oil you were talking about CalMeacham?
Ok, I’ll try the habanero pepper next time I get a chance. There’s also a little Thai neighborhood a few miles down the road so if I don’t find Thai chilis at the local supermarket, I’ll more than likely find them in a small shop over by the Thais.
So now that my breasts have been spiced up, should we slather them up with some sauce?
I vote for either habanero or some sriracha sauce. I agree that habanero is excellent in any citrusy/fruity/tropical preparation, and I love it. But sriracha is super easy to use and you don’t end up with habanero juice on your fingers or on the chopping board to ambush you later on.
I like to mix up this combination as a marinade:
Sriracha
Key lime juice
Minced garlic
Soy sauce
Honey
in any proportion that pleases you. Then marinate your chicken breasts or shrimp or pork chops in it and grill away.
Practice with a pair of tasseled pasties. That’s always spicy.
Portuguese piri-piri.
You can’t do it all with a marinade. You need a sauce to ladle over the cooked chicken. You can balance sweet with sour, such as balsamic vinegar and lime juice, or balance it with hot, such as Frank’s Red Hot or cayenne pepper. Don’t go all the way to really extreme hot sauces. You’ll hurt somebody.
The title and the thread are answered in the same way: less is more.