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Well Done
By Evelyn Grosvenor-Smythe
DEAR DAME EVELYN , I eat a lot of bell and chile peppers ... every day. I only remove the stems. All the cooking shows remove the skin and the seeds and membranes inside but never mention why. Should I care? Please tell me why. Thanks. Chili Sweet C, Should you care? Should you worry? No, non, nein, nyet. The reason for charring peppers is that it makes the skin easier to remove, and the reason for removing the skin is that it can be tough – potentially an issue for the slice and dice-minded cook, as well as for the diner who wishes to chew discreetly. Skinned peppers, in other words, are more docile from beginning to end. (The classic procedure, incidentally, involves setting the pepper on the grate of a gas burner, in the midst of the flame, and turning it occasionally with tongs so it blackens all over. It should then rest for a few minutes under a damp paper towel to loosen the charred skin, which can be scraped off with the blunt edge of a chef's knife. An alternative to a gas flame is a broiler; broil the pepper until its skin begins to blister. This method doesn't produce that wonderful, autumnal aroma but otherwise works well enough.) Chile peppers are a slightly different story, since their heat resides mainly in those internal fleshy veins clotted with seeds. Seeds, whether in sweet or hot peppers, are unsightly and should always be scraped away after coring (the cutting out of the stem, as if it were a pumpkin being turned into a jack-o'-lantern), but with hot peppers it is prudent to scrape away the veins too before chopping or slicing or pureeing or making chiles rellenos. One wants a suggestion of heat, not a barn burning out of control. An exception to this general principle is salsa, which Dame Evelyn makes with whole jalapeños, sometimes seeded and sometimes not. There is a certain Russian roulette dimension to these productions she finds exciting. But for better control, especially when guests are involved, trim the veins. Hotly, E.G.-S. Is pumpkin soup really made out of pumpkins, and if so, why? Dame Evelyn
has the scoop:
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