12 hours Ago
Spicy Cornflake Fried Chicken and Hash Brown Waffles, good for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald I have a soft spot for warm maple syrup. When I was 8 years old, my Girls Scouts Brownie troop visited the Milk Brook Sugarhouse, a wooden shack nestled in a working grove of sugar maple trees in Lenox, Massachusetts.
Bill Markham, I am certain we called him Mr. Markham as polite Brownies do, talked to us about collecting thousands of gallons of sap that morning, pouring it into the flat vat in the center of the sugarhouse we were gathered around, and boiling it down for hours to produce maple syrup. It was a memorable talk, for sure.
But he cemented the memory for us with bowls of vanilla ice cream. He passed them around, dipped a stainless-steel ladle into the still-warm syrup, and drizzled some over the top of our ice cream. It’s a simple dessert I still enjoy today.
But I do have a new, more adult, maple love now: Spicy-hot maple syrup. Add oomph to your rye old-fashioned. Sweeten it with maple syrup infused with cayenne pepper, red chile pepper flakes, smoked paprika and salt.
Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald I first tasted it about five years ago in a rye old-fashioned cocktail served at a trendy restaurant my kids brought me to in Brooklyn. Think of it as hot honey’s amber-colored counterpart. Adding some heat to something sweet does two things for a palate: It adds depth of flavor, and it makes a little bit go further because the heat lingers once the sweetness fades.
That second attribute might prove economical too as Northeast maple syrup producers face immediate tariffs on syrup-making equipment coming from Canada, at least as of this writing, and longer-term climate change pressures that affect when and how long the sap runs in the trees. Add a spicy maple syrup and lemon salad dressing onto a winter slaw of sliced apples, Brussels sprouts, red cabbage and shredded carrots. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald I use spicy maple syrup in many everyday ways in my kitchen.
I add it to citrusy dressing for slaw , use it as the surprising sweetener for candied bacon (bake thick-cut slices on a rack on a baking sheet in the oven at 375 degrees F until just crispy, brush them with spicy syrup, and bake 2 more minutes), pour it over Cornflake Fried Chicken and Hashbrown Waffles as a sophisticated topper, and mix it into maple cookie dough. Infusing maple syrup with spice and heat alters its taste, but not its sugar-to-water ratio, so you can use it as a 1:1 replacement for pure maple syrup in any recipe you like. Kinney’s Sugarhouse in Knox has been making spicy maple products since 2018.
They sell Habanero Maple Syrup, whose heat creeps up on you with an obvious pepper flavor; and a Ghost Pepper Maple Syrup, whose heat hits you right away, their product descriptions say. A 5-ounce bottle of either costs $7.95.
The Kinneys add an extract made from peppers soaked in alcohol to their own syrup, then heat the mixture to a safe bottling temperature. “The syrups are a nice addition to sauces, soups and sausage sandwiches. We have customers who put it in their coffee and even on their pancakes!” says co-owner MaryAnne Kinney.
Further afield, Runamok Maple in Fairfax, Vermont, infuses its organic syrup with merquén, a Chilean spice blend made from smoked chili, coriander, cumin and sea salt. Condiment maker The Spicy Shark in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, makes its hot maple syrup with habanero pepper and ginger extract. You can buy these products online for $20 and $14, respectively, for 8 ounces.
There’s no need to shop, though. If you are a DIY cook, break a couple of dried peppers of your choice and put them in a saucepan with maple syrup over very low heat to infuse. Test early and often in the process to make sure the syrup doesn’t get too spicy, though.
Turn off the heat and let it infuse for an hour or so. Strain out the pepper pieces before pouring the syrup into a clean, glass bottle. If you want to regulate the level of heat you’re getting from the get-go, combine 1 cup of maple syrup with 3⁄4 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika and 1/4 teaspoon crushed red chile pepper flakes in a small saucepan, simmer over low heat for 5 minutes.
Cool to room temperature before pouring this spiced syrup into a clean bottle. Store spiced maple syrup in the refrigerator. To serve, pour additional spiced maple syrup over Spicy Cornflake Fried Chicken and Hash Brown Waffles.
Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald SPICY CORNFLAKE FRIED CHICKEN AND HASH BROWN WAFFLES You can use breadcrumbs if you don’t have cornflakes, but the cereal makes an extra-crispy coating. It takes about 6 cups of cornflakes to make the 2 cups of crumbs required for this recipe. For a shortcut on the waffles, use frozen shredded potatoes in equal measure.
Serves 4 FOR THE CHICKEN 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (or 4 thighs) 1 cup buttermilk 2 tablespoons pickle juice 2 tablespoons spicy maple syrup, more for serving 1 teaspoon kosher salt 2 cups cornflake crumbs 1 teaspoon smoked paprika 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon onion powder Vegetable oil for frying FOR THE WAFFLES 2 cups grated potatoes 1 tablespoon cornstarch 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted Slice each chicken breast diagonally into 4 pieces of equal measure. Combine the buttermilk, pickle juice, syrup and salt in a non-reactive bowl. Add the chicken and stir until the marinade is well-distributed.
Cover and store in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes but up to 24 hours. Just before you are about to cook the chicken, combine the cornflake crumbs, paprika, and garlic and onion powders in a shallow bowl. Remove 1 piece of chicken from the marinade and dredge it in the crumb mixture, taking care to coat it all over.
Set on a plate and repeat with the remaining chicken pieces. For the waffles, combine the grated potatoes, cornstarch, and salt and pepper in a small bowl. Stir well to combine.
Stir in melted butter. Add enough oil to measure 1⁄2-inch deep in the bottom of a pan large enough to hold all of the chicken in a single layer. Place the pan over medium-high heat.
At the same time, turn on the waffle maker to high. Carefully place the chicken into the hot oil (place the end of a wooden spoon in the oil, if the moisture in the spoon bubbles, the oil is hot enough) and cook until golden brown, about 4 minutes, turn the chicken over, and cook until the other side if golden brown. Transfer the chicken to a flattened paper bag to let the grease drain.
To make the waffles, spray the upper and lower halves of the preheated waffle iron with oil. Place 1/2 cup of potato mixture onto the waffle iron. Close the waffle iron and cook the waffles until they are golden brown.
Transfer to a warm plate. Repeat with the remaining potato mixture. (If necessary, keep the waffles warm in a low, preheated oven.
) Serve the waffles and chicken for breakfast, lunch or dinner, drizzling with the extra spicy maple syrup. We invite you to add your comments. We encourage a thoughtful exchange of ideas and information on this website.
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