calabrian chile crisp ( Good Things)

Ingredients

MAKES ABOUT 3½ CUPS

5 large shallots (about

12 ounces/350g total), peeled

3 to 4 heads garlic, peeled

7 to 10 dried Anaheim, New Mexico, or California chiles (about 50g total)

4 to 6 dried guajillo chiles (about 30g total)

25 to 30 dried Calabrian chiles (about 20g total)

¼ cup (40g) toasted white sesame seeds

3 tablespoons (30g) toasted black sesame seeds

3 scant tablespoons (35g) granulated sugar

1 tablespoon (4g)

Sichuan peppercorns, partially ground in a mortar and pestle

¾ teaspoon (2g) freshly ground black pepper

One 2-inch piece of cinnamon stick, broken into 2 or 3 pieces

3 tablespoons (27g) kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling

Scant 3 cup (90g) salted dry-roasted peanuts

1 1/3 cups (295g) neutral oil

7 tablespoons (95g) extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed

½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil

½ teaspoon (2g) MSG (optional)

Directions

Use a mandoline to slice the shallots into % inch thick righ Slice the garlic crosswise into very thin chips, about e inch thick. You should end up with about 200 grams of shalls and 100 grams of garlic. Set aside.

Preheat a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Once it's hot, reduce the heat to low, add 4 or 5 of the dried chiles, and toast, flipping with tongs occasionally, for 1 to 2 minutes per side, until they soften slightly, change color, and become fragrant. Be careful not to let them burn or smoke. Repeat until you've toasted all the chiles.

Wearing disposable gloves, seed, stem, and remove the ribs from the Anaheim and guajillo chiles. Remove the stems from the Calabrian chiles but leave the seeds behind. Working in batches, use a spice grinder to grind the chiles down to the size of pepper flakes. Transfer to a large heatproof bowl or pot along with both sesame seeds, the sugar, Sichuan peppercorns, black pepper, cinnamon stick pieces, and salt. Set aside.

If there is any skin on the peanuts, place them on a clean kitchen towel and gather the ends to form a pouch. Rub the pouch of peanuts between your hands. The friction will encourage the peanuts to shed their skins. Place the peanuts in a colander or sieve and shake off as much skin as possible. Pound the peanuts in a mortar with a pestle until no whole pieces remain. Add to the bowl of chiles and set aside.

Line a sheet pan with paper towels and set a fine-mesh sieve over a medium saucepan. Set aside.

In a second medium saucepan, combine the shallots and neutral oil and place over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until the shallots begin to bubble vigorously, 3 to 4 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and, with the shallots constantly bubbling, continue frying: The constant bubble is key; the oil temperature will hover right around 212 F until the water in the shallots evaporatesss, and then it will climb to about 240°F. Stir regularly to ensure even cooking, until the shallots turn pale golden brown, 18 to 22 minutes longer

Quickly and carefully pour the shallots and the oil into the prepared sieve, draining the oil into the medium saucepan below. (The shallots will continue to cook to a deep golden brown as they cool and crisp up.) Carefully spread out the shallots to cool on the prepared pan and sprinkle lightly with salt. Set aside.

Reset the now-empty sieve over the pan you cooked the shallots in and set aside. Place the saucepan with the strained oil over medium heat and heat to 250°F. Add the garlic (it will bubble a lot) and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring, until the garlic begins to take on the faintest hint of color, 4 to 5 minutes.

Quickly and carefully pour the garlic and the oil into the sieve, draining the oil into the empty saucepan. (The garlic will crisp up and darken slightly as it cools-the final color should be about that of a lightly toasted sliced almond. It is of the utmost importance that the garlic does not brown any further. If it does, discard the garlic and the oil, which will both taste acrid and ruin the entire chile crisp, and start with new garlic.) Carefully break up any clumps and spread out the garlic to cool alongside the shallots; sprinkle lightly with salt. Set aside.

Return the oil to 250°F over medium heat and pour it over the bowl of chiles. Stir to combine, then set aside and allow to cool to room temperature.

Add the shallots, garlic, olive oil, sesame oil, and MSG (if using) to the bowl with the chiles. Stir, taste, and adjust the salt as needed. Pour into a 1 quart jar (see Sterilizing Jars, page 38), top with more olive oil if desired, cover, and refrigerate indefinitely, though it won't last that long!

Notes

I first learned about crispy chile condiments when / tasted Jing Gao's Sichuan chile crisp in 2018. I was immediately hooked and started trying every version that money could buy. Then, at the height of the pandemic, a care package arrived on my doorstep from pastry chef Carolyn Nugent. Inside as a jer of her homemade chile crisp, teeming with crunchy shallots, garlic, peanuts, and black and white sesame seeds. It had an ideal balance of spicy, salty, sweet, and savory. And every spoonful was so packed with crispy goodness that my plate was never overrun with grease. Flavorwise, it lay somewhere on the spectrum between a Chinese chile crisp and a salsa macha from Veracruz. It was such a revelation that it inspired me to make a chile crisp of my own.

More than anything, I dreamt of an all-purpose condiment—one that would complement Mexican, Sichuan, Japanese, and Italian flavors equally well. It'd be spicy, but not too spicy, a little tingly, and packed with flavor and crunch Carolyn gladly shared her recipe with me, mentioning it was a variation on Sohla El-Waylly's version. With their recipes as my touchstones, I began to tweak things.

All along, I'd known I wanted to incorporate Calabrian chiles into my version. Layered atop a base of rich, mild Anaheim and guajillo chiles, the Calabrians round out the symphony of spice. While I enjoyed the tingle in Carolyn's condiment, I cut down on the amount of Sichuan peppercorns in mine. I wanted the tingle to support, rather than overwhelm, the chiles' gentle burn. Then I pumped up the salt and sugar and peanuts and followed Carolyn's suggestion to pack in as many shallots as possible. After about a year of experimentation —and many iterations that were far too tingly, spicy, or garlicky—I finally had a condiment I reached for at every meal.

I now fret any time the jar of chille crisp in my fridge is less than a quarter full. I put it on toast, on eggs, on pasta and rice. It's salty and savory and sweet and crunchy and will ado a nice, rounded amount of richness to an otherwise lean bowl of brothy soup. This recipe is a weekend project, for sure, but it brings me so much daily pleasure that l'd glady spend twice the amount of time it requires for half the yield.