You can roast chilies on a barbecue grill, over the flame of a gas stove or under an electric

broiler or in a very hot oven. Turn them often so they roast uniformly and acquire a dark, blistered

but not burned skin. Oven roasting a 550°F (290°C) is quick and efficient and you don't need to

bother turning them. It takes 3 to 7 minutes and the chilies are ready. I even know someone who

uses a small propane torch to roast his chilies—unorthodox but effective, though with this method

the fine roasted flavor doesn't have the chance to develop. Torching is much too fast.

Commercial kitchens often have a large pot of hot oil sitting on the stove. Cooks drop the

chilies right into the hot oil until they blister the skin (just a few seconds), then they dump them in

cold water. The skin just slips right off. Stir-frying them whole in a little oil in a hot wok is another

good way to blister the skins.

Some cooks also roast bell peppers. The process creates an entirely different-flavored

vegetable—it is neither like raw, nor like cooked pepper. Bell peppers are easier to roast than chilies

because they are larger. You cut them open, clean out the insides and lay large pieces flat on a

baking sheet, then you broil them close to the heat without turning. After you well-charred the skin

to nearly black, you steam them in a tightly-closed plastic or heavy paper bag for 15 minutes to

soften the skin, and it peels off easily. No matter what method you use, the steaming in a bag helps

to remove the skin with ease.

As with fresh chilies, roasting also enhances the flavor of dried chilies. The method

recommended by Mexican cookbooks is to dry-roast in a hot, heavy pan after you’ve removed the

stem and seeds. You need to turn the chilies constantly—not a pleasant task because of the smoke

and pungent fumes. Your other choice is oven roasting in at 350°F (180°C) oven for about five

minutes. You don't need to turn them, but be careful not to scorch or they turn bitter.

After roasting, cover the chilies with near-boiling water, put a weight (a plate, for example)

on top so they remain submerged and let them soak from 20 to 40 minutes, until they feel soft. The

thicker the skin, the longer they need to soak. When they feel soft, the skin slips off readily. An

alternative method of skinning is to cut each open, lay it flat on a cutting board skin side down and

with a small knife scrape the soft inside portion out. They are ready to mix it with other recipe

ingredients. Save the water you soaked the chilies in for liquid called for in a recipe for added mild

chili flavor. You don't lose the nutrients that way either.

Cooking with chilies

Bell peppers and other mild pepper varieties, such as the Italian frying peppers and

Hungarian wax peppers are good not only in cooking but either raw as in salads, marinated or

pickled. Hot chilies' place is predominantly in cooked dishes and some as pickles. Chiliheads, of

course, eat them in any form or shape in any part of a meal, preferably at three meals a day.

Unlike bell peppers that have simple culinary applications, chili peppers have a wide range

of use—as fresh-cooked vegetables, condiments and pickles, fresh in sauces, dried and ground into

a fine powder, or dried and rehydrated. Besides flavors, those that had turned red or orange on the

vine lend striking colors to dishes. The black, brick red and chocolate brown chilies also give

extraordinary, sometimes even bizarre, colors to food.

When you use dried varieties, remember that chilies are dried outdoors, and what you buy

are not always clean. Wash them thoroughly under running water before using.

The amount of ribs you remove determines the pungency of what you put in the dish. The

more veins, the more fiery the product. A technique used in the Yucatán in Mexico, home of the

fierce habanero, is to shred the bottom end of the chili with a knife into ragged slivers leaving the

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