I keep hearing how great this stuff is, full of smoky flavor and heat goodness, so I picked up a couple (small) cans. I’m told it is hot stuff and see no reason to doubt it. I like a bit of heat, but I am not a fan of “burn off the roof of your mouth” type cuisine, if that makes sense. The Zatarains Red Beans & Rice boxed stuff is pretty tasty for instant, and the Andouille I can buy 'round these parts however is pretty lame, heat wise. So I need to amp it up. Just not into nuclear territory.
Would a tablespoon of the juice be about right for a pot of Red beans & Rice? Can always add more, but it’s more difficult going the other way. The next problem, I’ve now an opened can of Chipotle in adobo, that’s only 95% used. What else can I do with this stuff? Might try it in meatloaf, or Mac-n-Cheese.
Well, since you guys didn’t provide answers in less than 3 or 4 minutes, I’m throwing caution to the wind - installing a dollop of the Chipotle goodness along with the simmering Rice. More at the end of cooking, if necessary.
It does have a bite to it! I tried a taste out of the can, and it’s sort of what I’d call Ketchup for adults. Maybe better to add it toward the end of cooking. Have to be careful, but I like it.
Agreed, but at current prices for beef, even chuck, I would advise using pork shoulder just in case the flavor didn’t do wonders for the OP. But, yeah, I rate Adobo on the mild side as a southern NM boy for most of my life.
I always keep a couple of cans in the pantry along with cans of Rotel anytime I decide to make something generally Mexican in nature, but haven’t been to the store recently to get fresher options.
This is probably better that you went ahead and did it… because I tend to throw the entire can into a pot of chili, and that would have been my recommendation here
The Andouille was kind of a bust, it didn’t have any heat to it that I could detect. Seemed like garden variety pork sausage, chewy. Been better off using hamburger or chicken, or even breakfast or italian sausage, something more fatty would have had more flavor, too. The Zatarain’s is OK, but no match for “real” Rice and Beans.
There was a restaurant down in Orange called The Chili Pepper. It closed a few years ago (2019, I think); but when I lived in L.A. and worked in Orange, it was a favourite lunch spot. One of the dishes I especially liked was the chipotle salmon. It was a large salmon filet baked in a sauce of sour cream, chipotle chiles, mushrooms, and onions. It was served with steamed squash, Spanish rice, and refried or charro beans. When I made it at home the first time, I used a whole, small, can of chipotle chiles. Now, I like heat; but that was too much.
The Andouille sausages we can get here in the PNW are rather anemic. Too spicy for some people, but my cow-orkers can tolerate their heat in my jambalaya.
Agreed that is my default portioning, BUT I wouldn’t have done this for the OP’s dish. It would have probably overwhelmed any other flavors in the OPs dish.
I have found that most commonly available sausages (your local mega-mart) that are sold as ‘andouille’ were indeed just a dense sausage with a hint of the expected flavor. The few times I cook cajun inspired food, I have to go to a specialty store or order online for anything that actually fills the flavor profile better than default ‘Premium’ store sausage.
I don’t doubt it, but the rare occasions I don’t use the whole can, I normally add the remainders to some cider vinegar, salt, roasted garlic and onion and puree into homemade chipotle hot sauce. Between the salt, acid, and keeping in the fridge, it never has a chance to go bad. An advantage of this is that it’s sometimes easier to add the flavor by the dash in other dishes, where you want to add just a touch of the smoke and heat, but are worried about the flavor clashing.
Of course, other times, it’s just easier to add some nice quality dried chili and smoked paprika, but none of these solutions are wrong either.
If you have leftover chipotle, this is my recipe for charro beans in an electric pressure cooker:
The timing is for 5000 feet, so if you live at a different altitude, adjust appropriately (probably 46 minutes or so for sea level).
One chipotle pepper, and a generous amount of sauce, will make the beans mild. The heat is detectable, and people who don’t like any spice will complain. Add more if you prefer spicier.
Obviously, sub out the bacon fat for vegetarian.
Add the tomatoes after the beans cook. The acid in the tomatoes will prevent the beans from cooking. If you add them before the beans cook, they will never get properly soft.
1 lb dry Pinto beans
2 tbls bacon fat
1 white onion
4 cloves garlic
1 tbls cummin
1 tbls salt
1 Chipotle
5.5 cups water
2 bay leaves
1 can chopped tomatoes
Sweat onion with bacon fat and salt. Add garlic and cummin. Deglaze. Add chopped Chipotle. Add beans, water, bay leaves. Pressure cook 52 minutes, natural release. Add tomatoes.
Set timer to start cooking 1.5 hours before time to eat
11 oz can of Chipotle Peppers in Adobo
1/2 cup strong white vinegar
1/2 cup water
1 tsp table salt
2 1/2 tbsp white sugar
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
Boil the water, vinegar, sugar, garlic, and salt for brine, add, hot, to the can of chipotles with adodo in a blender. Process to desired consistency. Bottle and refrigerate.
My ingredients for a great ‘Sub’, when Sriracha was unavaialable and collapsed their supply chain. Same heat and taste, but smoky.
