Let Them Eat . . . Oil?

Everyone who cooks more than frozen pizza has occasion to cook with oil. From Pam in a spray can to $80 per gallon extra-virgin cold-pressed olive oil, there is a place for it somewhere in the cooking panorama. That's no t to say that you can't make your own flavored oils. Things like rosemary, dill, tarragon or garlic oil can really add to salads and dishes from your kitchen. Here's another one - chile oil. In the picture above, I have bottles of canola oil, extra virgin olive oil, chile oil and garlic oil in the kitchen. Yum!

Ingredients:
12 oz fresh oil †
6 Tbsp dried red chili pepper flakes ‡

† use olive oil for a fuller taste, or a light vegetable oil to let the infusion flavor be prominent. Also, if making chili oil for Asian cooking, you can also add a teaspoon of sesame oil in the mix.

‡ you can also use dried chiles of many varieties, like japonais, cascabel, or Thai. Just pulverize them and use them instead of commercial flakes.


Method:
Heat the oil in a sauce pan over medium heat to 180°-200°. While this is heating, add the chile flakes to a heat-proof glass container that you can seal. A one-pint mason jar works great for this. Once the oil is hot, slowly add it to the mason jar on top of the flakes.

Add the top to the jar, and being careful with the hot jar, agitate the oil to mix well. Let the jar sit for at least an hour for the flavors to meld. Once cooled, strain out the chile flakes and pot the oil into a fresh and clean bottle for use. You can save the oily chili flakes for use in cooking too - it's a win-win!