Going to make a pot of gumbo this weekend with leftover turkey and
turkey stock from Thanksgiving, plus tomatoes and okra from the freezer.
The recipe calls for onions, celery, and bell peppers, which is a
"trinity" in Cajun and Creole cooking. Jalapeños were on sale cheaper
than bell peppers so I bought a pound of those. Storebought jalapeños
are kind of a craps-shoot whether they'll be hot or not. So I'm
planning to chop them (most of the seeds removed) and sauté them with
the onions and celery. Later I'll adjust the amount of cayenne in the
recipe to get the heat level right.

Does this sound reasonable? Or will it taste all wrong? I think any
subtle flavor difference will be covered up by all the garlic, thyme,
and black pepper (etc)

Bob

On Fri, 30 Nov 2012 14:12:42 -0600, zxcvbob >
wrote:

>Going to make a pot of gumbo this weekend with leftover turkey and
>turkey stock from Thanksgiving, plus tomatoes and okra from the freezer.
> The recipe calls for onions, celery, and bell peppers, which is a
>"trinity" in Cajun and Creole cooking. Jalapeños were on sale cheaper
>than bell peppers so I bought a pound of those. Storebought jalapeños
>are kind of a craps-shoot whether they'll be hot or not. So I'm
>planning to chop them (most of the seeds removed) and sauté them with
>the onions and celery. Later I'll adjust the amount of cayenne in the
>recipe to get the heat level right.
>
>Does this sound reasonable? Or will it taste all wrong? I think any
>subtle flavor difference will be covered up by all the garlic, thyme,
>and black pepper (etc)
>
>Bob

I can see you being able to sub the jalapenos for the heat portion,
but the green peppers definitely add their own special taste. I
wouldn't even sub red or yellow bell peppers for the green ones.
Janet US

On 11/30/2012 3:49 PM, Janet Bostwick wrote:
> On Fri, 30 Nov 2012 14:12:42 -0600, zxcvbob >
> wrote:
>
>> Going to make a pot of gumbo this weekend with leftover turkey and
>> turkey stock from Thanksgiving, plus tomatoes and okra from the freezer.
>> The recipe calls for onions, celery, and bell peppers, which is a
>> "trinity" in Cajun and Creole cooking. Jalapeños were on sale cheaper
>> than bell peppers so I bought a pound of those. Storebought jalapeños
>> are kind of a craps-shoot whether they'll be hot or not. So I'm
>> planning to chop them (most of the seeds removed) and sauté them with
>> the onions and celery. Later I'll adjust the amount of cayenne in the
>> recipe to get the heat level right.
>>
>> Does this sound reasonable? Or will it taste all wrong? I think any
>> subtle flavor difference will be covered up by all the garlic, thyme,
>> and black pepper (etc)
>>
>> Bob
> I can see you being able to sub the jalapenos for the heat portion,
> but the green peppers definitely add their own special taste. I
> wouldn't even sub red or yellow bell peppers for the green ones.
> Janet US
Weight for weight, jalapenos are different tasting and hotter than green
peppers, so you might want to add them in batches with tasting. I
believe they were about the same price as green peppers today: about
$1.90 a pound but I've never seen them costing much less. Cubanelle
peppers are often relatively cheaper and would be a better substitute
for green.

--
Jim Silverton (Potomac, MD)

Extraneous "not" in Reply To.

On 11/30/2012 2:12 PM, zxcvbob wrote:
> Going to make a pot of gumbo this weekend with leftover turkey and
> turkey stock from Thanksgiving, plus tomatoes and okra from the freezer.
> The recipe calls for onions, celery, and bell peppers, which is a
> "trinity" in Cajun and Creole cooking. Jalapeños were on sale cheaper
> than bell peppers so I bought a pound of those. Storebought jalapeños
> are kind of a craps-shoot whether they'll be hot or not. So I'm
> planning to chop them (most of the seeds removed) and sauté them with
> the onions and celery. Later I'll adjust the amount of cayenne in the
> recipe to get the heat level right.
>
> Does this sound reasonable? Or will it taste all wrong? I think any
> subtle flavor difference will be covered up by all the garlic, thyme,
> and black pepper (etc)
>
> Bob

Well, I would not put jalapenos in gumbo, I believe the bell peppers
will be enough. The flavors would be off, and the cayenne will give you
all the heat you need.

Cut the jalapenos into strips, dip them in flour, egg wash, then flour
again, and fry them. We had those recently and they were very good.

Becca

"Janet Bostwick" > wrote in message
...
> On Fri, 30 Nov 2012 14:12:42 -0600, zxcvbob >
> wrote:
>
>>Going to make a pot of gumbo this weekend with leftover turkey and
>>turkey stock from Thanksgiving, plus tomatoes and okra from the freezer.
>> The recipe calls for onions, celery, and bell peppers, which is a
>>"trinity" in Cajun and Creole cooking. Jalapeños were on sale cheaper
>>than bell peppers so I bought a pound of those. Storebought jalapeños
>>are kind of a craps-shoot whether they'll be hot or not. So I'm
>>planning to chop them (most of the seeds removed) and sauté them with
>>the onions and celery. Later I'll adjust the amount of cayenne in the
>>recipe to get the heat level right.
>>
>>Does this sound reasonable? Or will it taste all wrong? I think any
>>subtle flavor difference will be covered up by all the garlic, thyme,
>>and black pepper (etc)
>>
>>Bob
>
> I can see you being able to sub the jalapenos for the heat portion,
> but the green peppers definitely add their own special taste. I
> wouldn't even sub red or yellow bell peppers for the green ones.
> Janet US

The yellow and red do change the taste. My daughter prefers the taste of
the red ones so if I am making something for her, I usually have to put the
red in. I will usually do a mix of red and green because that is better for
me than all red. Unless of course the recipe calls for red.

zxcvbob wrote:
>
> Going to make a pot of gumbo this weekend with leftover turkey and
> turkey stock from Thanksgiving, plus tomatoes and okra from the freezer.
> The recipe calls for onions, celery, and bell peppers, which is a
> "trinity" in Cajun and Creole cooking. Jalapeños were on sale cheaper
> than bell peppers so I bought a pound of those. Storebought jalapeños
> are kind of a craps-shoot whether they'll be hot or not. So I'm
> planning to chop them (most of the seeds removed) and sauté them with
> the onions and celery. Later I'll adjust the amount of cayenne in the
> recipe to get the heat level right.
>
> Does this sound reasonable? Or will it taste all wrong? I think any
> subtle flavor difference will be covered up by all the garlic, thyme,
> and black pepper (etc)

When substituting for bell peppers (one of my few strong dislikes) I
prefer to use other non-hot peppers that I don't dislike. Cubanelles or
sweet paprika peppers when I can find them. Or peppers that have a type
of hot that I don't detect so I'm immune to. Hot paprika peppers.

If all I've got is the hot ones I'll go for the milder among the hot
ones. Banana peppers range widely in heat but are usually milder than
jalepenos. Pascilla chilles are mild to the point I can't detect their
heat but my wife can.

Using jalepenos should work but you'll likely need to leave out more
than 200% of the cayenne. As you can't leave out more than 100% of an
ingredient expect the result to be quite hot. Also jalenpos and
pascilla chilles have distinctive flavors of their own that will bias
the result. It will be good but not the same as the original recipe.