Fresh chiles of your choiceWash chiles and cut them into ¹⁄4-inch slices. (Small chiles like chiltepin can be left whole.) Layer them in a food dehydrator. Set it to low. It will take about 12 hours for the chiles to dry thoroughly.
Put the dried chiles in a clean coffee grinder and blend to a fine powder. Store in an airtight container for up to six months.
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Homemade Seasoning Blends
YIELDS VARY
There are lots of ready-made seasoning blends on the market today. A lot of them are great—made from quality ingredients and very tasty. But I find that there’s no substitute for making your own spice blends at home. Here are a few of my go-to staples. Use hot or mild ground chilesdepending on your preference.
¹⁄4 cup ground chile peppers3 tablespoons dried onion flakes1 tablespoon garlic powder2 teaspoons Sonoran sea salt2 teaspoons dried Mexican oregano2 teaspoons hot or mild smoked paprika1 teaspoon ground coriander¹⁄2teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 part Sonoran sea salt1 part ground chiles
¹⁄2 cups Sonoran sea salt1 tablespoon dried Mexican oregano1 tablespoon Santa Cruz Spice
Co. red chile powder, or other red Anaheim, New Mexico, or California chile powder 1 tablespoon garlic powder
Combine the ground chiles, onion flakes, garlic powder, salt, oregano, paprika, coriander, and cayenne pepper in a sealed airtight container. Store for up to 6 months.
Combine the salt and ground chiles in a sealed airtight container. Store for up to 6 months.
Combine salt, oregano, chile powder, and garlic powder in an airtight container. Store for up to 6 months.
Jackie’s “Taco” Seasoning Blend
Two tablespoons of this replaces one store-bought packet. I put “taco” in quotation marks because even though this is modeled after the popular spice packets, I use it in so much more than tacos.
Sea Salt Blend
Use this blend as an all-purpose seasoning. Use chile powder from either single varieties of chiles, or mix different chile varieties into your own custom blends.
Asada Seasoning Blend
Use to season steaks for Carne Asada (page 115) or as a general seasoning blend.
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Sonoran-Style Staples
6 Persian limes
¹⁄2 cup ground turmeric
¹⁄2 cup paprika
¹⁄2 cup kosher salt
¹⁄4 cup New Mexico chile powder2 tablespoons garlic powder2 tablespoons ground cumin¹⁄2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes1 tablespoon ground coriander1 tablespoon dried
Mediterranean oregano1 tablespoon mustard powder¹⁄2teaspoons onion powder¹⁄2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Finely grate the zest from the limes with a microplane, then place the zest on a paper towel–lined plate. (Save the zested limes for another use.) Let dry uncovered in a warm place overnight.
In a medium bowl, stir together the dried zest with the turmeric, paprika, kosher salt, chile powder, garlic powder, cumin, black pepper, red pepper flakes, coriander, oregano, mustard powder, onion powder, and cinnamon. Store in an airtight container until ready to use, up to 6 months.
Adobo Spice Rub
Use this rub for the Adobo Pulled Pork (page 125). You can experiment with the seasoning blend in other dishes as well, including grilled meats or vegetables.
Jackie’s “Taco” Seasoning Blend.
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Sonoran-Style Staples
Barrio Sonoran
Sourdough Bread
MAKES LARGE LOAF
People literally line up around the block at Barrio Bread for Don Guerra’s artisan heritage-grain loaves. He says that this bread recipe especially encapsulates the historyof grains inArizona. In ancient times, the indigenous Tohono O’odham people of the Tucson region ate flatbreads with flours made by milling wild mesquite tree pods. Wheat was introduced during the Spanish Colonial period for breads for religious uses.
The Spanish colonists also introduced naturally leavened sourdough-style bread. White Sonora wheat is a heritage grain brought to the region by Father Kino. During the Civil War, the Pima Indians and their Hispanic neighbors produced and milled millions of pounds of white Sonora wheat for long-distance trade, and theirflour kept thousands of Yankee and Rebel troops from dying of hunger during the last years of that tragic conflict. White Sonora, when grown in the Santa Cruz Valley of Arizona, produces a flour with a relatively high protein content. But it is also low in gluten, making it more agreeable to some gluten-intolerant consumers. In Guerra’s recipe, the Hard Red Spring Wheat flour and the kamut support the gluten structure of the Sonora and mesquite flours. All the flours are available online for purchase.
This is a three-day process—excellent bread takes time—and I don’t mind! You will need a sourdough starter for this recipe, which you can either get online or from a local bakery. The starter will multiply with your local yeast and bacteria, and morph into its own unique being. A proofing basket helps whisk moisture away from the dough to retain its shape. You can use a glass or ceramic bowl instead. You will also need a large Dutch oven for baking. All the measurements for this recipe are by weight in order to get the exact same quantities of the ingredients as Guerra’s. You will need to use a kitchen scale with the measuring units set to grams. Youcan purchase the flours at Barrio Bread’s online store: barriobread.com/grains.html.
continued
On the first day, prepare the sourdough: In a large bowl, stir together the starter, bread flour, and water. Cover loosely with a kitchen towel and leave at room temperature 8 to 12 hours or overnight.
On the second day, make the dough: Add the 850 grams of water to the sourdough. In another large bowl, whisk all four flours together. Add