Using Chipotle Peppers

Steph from The New Deli mentioned that we could probably make an awesome Chipotle Chicken Sandwich; her husband noticed that Subway had one, and he figured we could probably make a better one. So we did!

I noticed a recipe on grouprecipes.com that is supposedly close to Subway's "Chipotle Southwest Sauce", and it sounded fairly good to me. But having worked in the food business since the seventies (yes, I'm dating myself...), I still think our method is better.

One component of the grouprecipes recipe is fresh garlic, although we've found over the years that "fresh garlic" gets pretty nasty if it's not really fresh. If you add fresh garlic to your dressings and don't use them within a few days, the flavor starts to deteriorate. (That's why, at the deli, we always add fresh garlic to the daily dressings, so they will in fact be fresh-tasting. Extra garlic is chopped and kept, mini-ice-cube-style, in bags in the freezer.)

So sure, use the grouprecipes recipe if you'll be using the sauce up that day; otherwise, add fresh garlic just to what you're serving that day.

Meanwhile, back at the deli, secrets-of-the-trade continues. A lot of recipes ask you to add "chipotle chiles in Adobo Sauce" (like you find here on Amazon). Notice that chipotle chiles are only a small part of the ingredients. This means you're paying for cheaper ingredients (vinegar, tomato, ancho chiles...), when all you really want is a bit of that robust, smokey chipotle pepper flavor.

The most economical, flavorful answer we found for us at The New Deli is this: We buy dried chipotle peppers for a very reasonable price, from our local International Market (even FoodMax, at times). I tried the ones from Amazon; did a taste test and determined that, although they cost more than mine did, they didn't taste any better. But hey, if you don't happen to have a market that carries dried chipotle peppers, then I do recommend the Amazon dried peppers; they're still much better than mixes containing minimal chipotle...

But what do you do with the hard, crusty little peppers once you have them?! We stem them and chop them coarsely by hand, pouring just a bit of boiling water over them, some salt, and a bit of virgin olive oil. We then let them soak in a jar in the fridge overnight, processing the softened peppers into a puree the next day.

The rest of the recipe is easy: We just mix the pureed pepper mix into some mayo, and use it as a spread for our sandwich specials. (Or for a yummy dip for pieces of chicken or bread when we need a snack...) Add any other favorite ingredients, and keep extra of the puree for future batches. Also, you may note that a batch of the Chipotle Mayo will get stronger as it ages. It will keep for several months in the kitchen.