aka “Why I Don’t Twitter.” Yes, I edit myself and try to provide you with the best copy/stories I come up with. But hear this. I’ve been bothered by a recent episode of Rick Bayless’ One Plate at a Time.
Permit me a setup. Twenty years ago I slaved in the kitchens of Margaret Fox at Cafe Beaujolais, in Mendocino, CA. It was a month-long unpaid internship and I wasn’t even allowed a portion of the kitchen’s share of the tip money, which I could have used for firewood because it was freezing in my unheated cabin. I’d spent all my savings on cooking school and a rental car to drive to and from work. Luckily the subletter left a mattress and several blankets, and flying termites by the thousands.
The infamous Diana Kennedy was coming to visit, doyenne of Mexican cooking. One cook was caught rinsing a painstakingly roasted chili to rid it of seeds and skin. NO! Diana Kennedy is coming! She came and went, I got to spend three hours driving her to the airport (I was the only one with a day off, new car and insurance) and she made us some lovely shrimp with garlic, and picked fruit and made us berry ice cream.
I very much enjoy chef Rick Bayless, can’t wait to go to Chicago to visit his restaurants, and am a new devotee of Create. I love Mexico: One Plate at a Time. He makes his dishes sound so easy for the home cook. Recently I watched him rinse off a roasted chili pepper to get rid of seeds and skin. I was told 20+ years ago that was a no-no because you lose all the flavor you imparted through the roasting process.
So I asked him, and congratulated him on winning Top Chef Masters. If there’s any top chef I’d like to apprentice with, it’s him, because he’s a perfectionist, an innovator, a classicist and seems to value the people who work for him. And his website made me make it 300 characters. That took four edits. Perhaps they just want to weed out people without the patience to whittle down to 300 meaningful characters. Anyway, this is MY blog and hopefully you’re still reading.
I love getting inspiration from others, moms who bake, cooks/chefs with other styles of food and ethnic traditions. Right now I just wanted to know if it’s OK to rinse the pepper and retain the flavor! It’s a pain not to use water except to get the skin pieces off my hands. I’ll let you know if he answers. In advance I’ll say Thanks, Rick Bayless, for being the creative chef you are and I’ll see you in Chicago! Cheers, Dee
p.s. 452 words, and I do this as a hobby! I would’ve been horrified to get this assignment in high school…
Cooking with Dee 
I love Rick Bayless, too, and have enjoyed making many of his outstanding recipes. BUT! There is no way I’d ever rinse a roasted chili or pepper. Never. I love the little black flecks, and don’t mind a seed or 10! That roasty flavor is so locked up in the oil to me. But what do I know? I’m only a home cook from San Diego!
It’s just ingrained in me not to rinse a roasted pepper! Ah, San Diego, I lived there for years. Seventy-two and sunny after the marine layer burns off! It’s snowing here and has been most of the day. We’ll see what we end up with in the morning. In the meantime I’m making chicken saltimbocca, roasted red potatoes and I de-stringed some snap peas so we’ll have them raw with a little salt and pepper. Thanks for writing in, Dee