I collect chile condiments the way my grandmother collected miniature porcelain baskets of flowers, all lined up in perpetual bloom on every flat surface of her living room.
Open my fridge, and you’ll see a similar display: this one, of jars and bottles vying to be smeared over avocado toast, roast chicken or buttered, jammy eggs.
Like my grandmother and her myriad posies, I value the differences in each condiment, the various types of chiles, the size of the flakes or smoothness of the purée, whether they’re preserved with oil or vinegar or brine. Some brands have sugar, garlic and spices; some are plainer and more minimalist.
A current cult favorite, Chile Crunch, combines garlic, red-pepper flakes and oil, cooked slowly together until the garlic turns crisp and a little nutty in flavor, and the chile gets toasted and earthy. I went through most of my first jar in a civilized manner, dashing it on cooked proteins or crostini. But there were times I ate it nearly straight from a spoon, on top of a dab of cottage cheese to mitigate the mouth-searing heat.
Oil, garlic, salt and red-pepper flakes meld together in the skillet.CreditAndrew Scrivani for The New York Times
It wouldn’t have occurred to me to make one myself if I hadn’t seen a recipe in David Tamarkin’s excellent new cookbook, “Cook90” (Little, Brown and Company, 2018). Mr. Tamarkin, the digital director of Epicurious, might be as addicted to chile condiments as I am. He recommends drizzling the easy-to-make oil (which was developed by Rhoda Boone, the video food director for Bon Appétit and Epicurious) on hummus, braised greens or plain yogurt with chickpeas strewn on top.
In my recipe, I use the oil as a pungent sauce for thinly sliced chicken cutlets. Given the depth of its flavor, chile-garlic oil is a perfect way to enliven white meat, which tends toward bland. The cutlets get a quick sauté with capers and thinly sliced lemon wedges, both of which caramelize slightly in the pan, before being anointed with the heady chile mix. It’s spicy but not burn-your-tongue hot. Or if you’re not sure about your guests’ heat tolerance, serve the oil on the side. (As a bonus, those who really love chile have more in easy reach.)
Then store the leftover oil in the fridge, where it will crown your condiment collection like so many porcelain flowers on a grandmother’s coffee table. There are some things you just can’t get enough of.
