Recipe - Chipotle Chiles (Smoked Chiles)

1 pound Ripe; red jalapeno chiles
10 pound Charcoal briquettes
As needed; smoke chips, your
choice, I use mesquite
chunks cut into smaller
pieces
As needed; sprigs of fresh
cut rosemary (optional)

Start this as early in the morning as possible.

Put smoke chips in a container and cover with water. Mound about one half
the briquettes into the charcoal pan and light. Wash the chiles and cut a
slit lengthwise in each one from just below the shoulder to about a half
inch from the tip. Place the chiles in a single layer (slit side up) on a
surface that will fit in the smoker and won't let the chiles fall through.
I use a BBQ wok, a pan shaped kinda like a wok (but with a flatter bottom)
with holes drilled through meant for stir frying vegies on the BBQ. When
the briquettes are covered with gray ash, spread out into an even layer (if
using a BBQ, spread the briquettes to the side leaving a bare spot in the
center). Place some of the soaked smoke chips on the briquettes. Fill the
water pan with 2 to 3 inches of water (if using a BBQ, use an aluminum foil
pan that will fit in the bare spot in the center of the BBQ) and put in
place over (or in the center of) the briquettes. Put smoker or BBQ rack in
place, place the container of chiles on the rack over the pan of water, and
cover the smoker or BBQ. The idea is to keep a lowheat, smoldering, smokey
fire for several hours. Add briquettes, smoke chips, and the optional
sprigs of fresh rosemary as needed to keep generating heat and smoke. After
6 or 7 hours, the chiles have probably absorbed as much smoke as they're
going to. They should be a dark, brickred color and somewhat wrinkled;
but, they won't be totally dehydrated to a point where they would keep at
room temperature. Remove them from the smoker and finish drying them in a
warm oven or a dehydrator. Use for making Chipotles en Adobo or wherever
chiles with medium heat and smoky flavor is desirable...such as barbeque
sauces.

Note: while ripe jalapeno chiles are considered the traditional fresh chile
for smoking and drying to make chipotle chiles, other chiles can also be
smoked and dried. I've found that ripe Fresno chiles are generally more
available commercially that (should read "than"...gonna have to change
that) ripe jalapenos and make an acceptable substitute.
Posted to CHILEHEADS DIGEST V4 #113 by Rich McCormack macknet@cts.com on
Sep 04, 1997