Fire and Spice

Chefs talk about peppers and other favorite Hispanic ingredients.

By Kate Leahy, Senior Associate Editor -- Restaurants and Institutions, 7/23/2008 3:18:00 PM

Hispanic ingredients are popular in foodservice establishments across all segments. To get a snapshot on what’s hot on menus, R&I asked foodservice professionals to talk about their must-have Hispanic ingredients. The result? Peppers draw the most loyalty, though other ingredients, such as agave leaf and longaniza are also on the radar.

Dionicio Jimenez, Chef, Xochitl, Philadelphia (r.)

To impart an authentic Mexican taste to his dishes, Jimenez often cooks with agave leaf and pulque, an alcoholic beverage distilled from the American aloe plant. For a dish called Barbarcoa de Borrego, he slow-cooks lamb with pulque and adds an agave leaf on the top to keep the lamb submerged in the pulque.

Edwin Mateo, Executive Chef, SolToro Tequila Grill at Mohegan Sun, Uncasville, Conn.

Mateo’s most-used item is sofrito, a base in countless Hispanic dishes. “I use it when I make rice, beans, soups and stews. It gives [a dish] the distinct flavor of Latin cuisine.” He makes his sofrito with recao, a thin, spiny green herb native to Latin America (also called cilantro) and aji dulce, a small sweet pepper.

Carmen Gonzalez, Executive Chef, Lucy of Gramercy, New York City

Gonzales uses longaniza and pique peppers. Longaniza is a Puerto Rican sausage that Gonzales browns, then mixes with sweet plantains, green onion, and cilantro for a rolled pork loin stuffing. Pique peppers, the unofficial national pepper of Puerto Rico, according to Gonzales, are used in Lucy of Gramercy’s dipping sauce served with alcapurrias, grated yuca mixed with stewed chicken and fried.

Carlos Fernandez, Chef/owner, Hi-Life Cafe, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

“I use peppers all of the time. To me, using different peppers is similar to how French chefs use different salts for seasoning. Jalapenos are, without a doubt, my go-to pepper. We stuff them, wrap them with bacon, and fry them. I like chipotle for a touch of smoke and habaneros for a touch of heat. For habaneros, my favorite thing to do is to incorporate them into a barbecue sauce.

Robert Ares, Executive Chef, Chicago Zoological Society, Brookfield, Ill.

Ares regularly incorporates Caribbean staples such as sweet potatoes, cassava and mangos, into his menus, using a light touch with sauces and a variety of fresh produce. “Cuban cuisine involves a lot of traces of African and Spanish cuisine,” he says. “I tend to combine a lot of things … I always like to try something different.”

Jean Paul Desmaison, Executive Chef, La Cofradia, Coral Gables, Fla.

“We use limo, a very aromatic Peruvian pepper, in our basic seviche juice, which serves as a base for all of our seviches. We also use spicy yellow peppers, cutting their heat by boiling, peeling, and blending them into a paste. Rocoto [a round, spicy Peruvian pepper] is the spiciest pepper we use. In Peru, they stuff rocoto peppers with meat and raisins, which is where I got the inspiration for our stuffed piquillo peppers. I also like huacatay, a black mint that we use in salads with fresh beans and cheese as well as chupe de camarones, a concentrated shrimp soup.”