Cooking Mag Mommy

I have decided on a new rule of cooking. If working with ingredients I am unfamiliar with, I need to taste test them before liberally putting them in a number of dishes. Here's why. Tonight I made the dishes in May Gourmet's article "Hot and Sweet", a menu of Peruvian dishes that starts on page 108. I've heard a lot about Peruvian cuisine but I've never eaten or made an entire meal of Peruvian dishes. I found every ingredient in this entire menu in the extensive Peruvian section at Super H Mart. Four dishes called for either aji amarillo or aji misasol paste. I found aji amarillo , a rather innocuous looking yellow sauce. Looks can be deceiving . This stuff is hot! I could handle it but poor Eyrleigh started crying and grabbing her tongue. I felt terrible. I take responsibility for not testing this sauce before putting tablespoons, sometimes several tablespoons, in each dish. I am surprised, however, that Gourmet's test kitchen did not at some point...