The Watson Test Kitchen

We had frost warning last night, so we had to clear the plants of all their fruit. Ripe and unripe. I plan on making a fermented "green" hot sauce with the unripe peppers, and maybe some milder salsas with some of the ripe ones.

Any suggestions or requests for smoke/no smoke, flavor variations (peach, mango, pineapple, others?) heat level, jellies, other ideas?

Pepper season is on overdrive!

I’ve been getting great feedback about the lower heat salsas this fall, but I’m also getting requests for “which one is the hottest???”

So here we go. Perfect fall weather, and and over abundance of super hot peppers… let’s set new heat records for WTK!

8 PEPPER and 10 PEPPER SMOKED SALSA!

As always, we’re starting with a base of tomatoes, red onions and garlic. Then we add in

Jalapeño
Habanero
Ghost
Scorpion
Reaper
Vietnamese Purple
Sugar Sweet and
Cubanelle

And for the 10 pepper we added MORE of the super hots as well as adding Poblano and Serrano.

Finishing off with apple cider vinegar, lime juice, salt, cumin and cilantro.

These are 🔥

After our trip to Italy this past summer, our youngest decided he was self proclaimed tiramisu judge. We must’ve tried over 20 different tiramisu while we were in Italy.  The favorite was at Trattoria Al Gatto Nero in Burano Italy. After some discussion with the chef, he told us their secret ingredient was Madeira wine. 

So my first attempt, I have used I highly rated recipe, and I have substituted Madeira for Marsala as was done at Trattoria Al Gatto Nero. This recipe uses whipped cream rather than whipped egg whites for body, and “shaved chocolate” rather than cocoa powder to layer with.

This was pretty darn delicious! Not even sure what to change, but will have to tweak it based on family feedback. The first thing we all noticed was that it needs more coffee flavor, so maybe real brewed espresso rather than instant powder next time…

Tiramisu:

24 ladyfingers
175ml espresso (instant)
75ml Madeira wine, divided
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 large egg yolks
50g granulated sugar, divided
225g mascarpone cheese at room temperature
175ml heavy cream
60g bittersweet chocolate

Mix espresso, 3 tablespoons of Madeira wine, vanilla, and 1 tablespoon of sugar in a wide, shallow bowl. Stir until the sugar dissolves.

In a double boiler, add the egg yolks, 2 tablespoons of Madeira wine, and 3 tablespoons of sugar. Beat with a handheld electric mixer at medium speed until frothy, 20 to 30 seconds. Place on the heat, and continue to beat until the beaters leave distinct tracks as you move them through it, 5 to 8 minutes.

Remove the bowl from the heat, then while it is still hot, beat in the mascarpone cheese until just combined. Allow the mixture to cool while whipping the cream in another bowl.

Fold half of the whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture. Repeat with the remaining whipped cream.

Dip half of the ladyfingers quickly into the coffee and line the bottom of the pan. Spoon half of the mascarpone filling over the ladyfingers and spread into an even layer. Grate half of the chocolate over the filling.

Dip the remaining ladyfingers into the coffee and arrange a second layer over the grated chocolate. Spoon the remaining mascarpone mixture over the ladyfingers, and grate remaining chocolate to cover the top.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours. Slice into squares and serve.

Lemon meringue from scratch…

Also serving baked beans, ribs, roasted corn and scratch coleslaw…
Recipe to follow!

It’s almost time! The first colorful peppers are almost ready! Jalapeño Is producing well, and the reaper, scorpion, ghost and habanero are loaded with green fruit too!

So I made a hot pepper fermentation last year with only super hot peppers, carrots and garlic. I didn’t “cut it” with bell peppers, and the resulting liquids is INSANELY HOT.

This is one is the ghost version, and a reliable taste tester has rated this liquid at 1.1 million scoville as is.

I plan on cutting this to reduce the heat. I picked up some fresh cherries and some peaches today, and will cook these down to sweeten and moderate the heat in the ghost concentrate.

Coming soon! Idea are:

Ghost
Ghost cherry
Ghost peach
Ghost raspberry

Any other ideas?

Our zucchini patch is very prolific this year, and is producing some watermelon sized fruit this year! I have been tinkering with a zucchini bread recipe, and I think I have found the perfect. mix...

180g all-purpose flour
180g whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
3 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup no sugar added apple sauce
175g white sugar
175g light brown sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
350g shredded zucchini
180g crushed pineapple (drained weight)
1 c mini chocolate chips

Preheat convection oven to 325º.

Sift flours, salt, spices, baking soda and baking powder together in a medium bowl

Beat eggs, apple sauce, oil, vanilla and sugars in a mixer until smooth.

Fold in zucchini, pineapple and chocolate chips.

Divide into 6 greased mini loaf pans.

Bake for 20 minutes, rotate in oven and bake additional 20 minutes (until internal temp is 200º, or tooth pick comes out clean)

Rest 5 minutes, then turn out onto rack to cool.

OK, salsa fans, after some requests have been placed, we have dug into the frozen stash of 2024 peppers, and we are back! This is a smoked mango salsa with habanero, reaper and scorpion. It does pack some heat, but not the hottest we’ve ever made. Let me know if you need some! 

Canning this morning, ready to go by this afternoon! 🔥

***Technique tip***

so I happened across a loaf of seedless, rye, and brought it home. Since I still had a large slab of the homemade pastrami from St. Patrick’s Day in storage, I figured I’d go ahead and make a mock Reuben (no sauerkraut).

but I have not been happy with my slicing skills just free hand, cutting it on a cutting board. So I brainstorm using the mandolin, and it worked exceptionally well! The firmness of the pastrami, as well as it being cold, made it easy to slice. Plus, I still have not invested in a real slicer, as they take up so much space.

Went ahead made the Reuben:

over medium heat, place, half a tablespoon of butter to one side of the pan. Place a slice of rye bread in the butter, and put the Swiss cheese on the bread. In the remaining heated portion of the pan, place your slices of pastrami, add some moisture, and cover to steam about one to two minutes.

Using tongs, place the hot pastrami on top of the Swiss cheese, add some thousand island dressing or Russian dressing, and place a second piece of rye bread on top.

Melt another half tablespoon of butter in the open side of the pan, distribute it wide enough to allow the rye bread to be coated with butter, and flip the sandwich into the buttered side of the pan. 

add some additional moisture, close the lid and steam for an additional one to two minutes while the bread toasts in the butter.

Remove from heat, allow to cool, then slice and enjoy!

Might need to find this one…

The Bruscotia pepper, also known as Bru Jockokia, is an interspecific hybrid chili pepper cultivated in Northeast Scotland.It is a hybrid of Capsicum Girdersum and Capsicum Asparflame, bred by Scottish chili breeder Angus Fairscorcher. PepperX was recognised by Tennents World Records as the world's hottest chili pepper in 2023, with a scoville measurement of 2.6 million scoville heat units. However today Tennents World Records have announced that this new chili has recorded an SHU of 3 million, becoming the hottest in the world.