Like chocolate? Like chile heat? Have we got a drink for you!

Following up on the success of their coffee liqueur, Patrón XO Cafe, Patrón Tequila has launched a chocolate version: Patrón XO Cafe Incendio.

The name is a bit confusing. While there may be coffee (cafe) in the recipe, the drink presents as chocolate, chocolate, chocolate.

With a base of Patrón’s silver tequila, the deeply chocolatey liqueur uses premium quality criollo chocolate, blended with “Aztec spices”—so called because the Aztecs (and the Mayas before them) flavored their chocolate drink* with the heat of arbol chiles, plus vanilla, cinnamon, musk and cornmeal—no sweetener.

Incendio, fiery, is the right word: This velvety liqueur with a luscious aroma is at once deeply chocolate and sizzling hot.

After you buy a bottle for yourself, get some as gifts. You will be amado, beloved.

In addition to sipping, enjoy it:

Eating seasonally means drinking seasonally, too. So from now through the end of holiday season, we’re going to enjoy cocktails with fall and winter ingredients, returning on January 1st, National Bloody Mary Day, to our usual drink of choice.

Thanks to ONEHOPE Wine for these two sparkling cocktails, made with regular cider and their sparkling wine (you can use any sparkler).
 
 
RECIPE: PEAR & SPARKLING CIDER COCKTAIL

Ingredients For 8 Cocktails

Pear nectar, apple cider and sparkling wine unite in a seasonal sparkler (photo © Svedka Vodka).

1. RIM flutes with cinnamon and sugar mixture.

2. COMBINE pear nectar, apple cider, sparkling wine and Bourbon in a pitcher. Serve immediately, garnished with sliced pear.

We’re not sure why it’s called a Mimosa (which is Champagne and orange juice). Think of it as a Mimosa for Scotch lovers (photo © Svedka Vodka).

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE brown sugar, Scotch and apple cider in a flute.

2. TOP with sparkling wine and garnish with fresh apple slices.
 
 
ABOUT ONEHOPE

ONEHOPE is a social enterprise that integrates causes into products and services to make a social impact. ONEHOPE Wine, produced in California in partnership with Rob Mondavi, Jr., donates half of its profits to partner causes. Learn more at OneHopeWine.com.

A marriage of two of our favorite fall vegetables with added bacon: What could be better? This side dish can take a place on your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner tables, or be served as part of a weekday dinner.

The recipe is from the new Paleo Takes 5—Or Fewer cookbook, which focuses on recipes with five or fewer ingredients.

Slow roasting the vegetables caramelizes them, to create extra sweetness along with a savory crunch. There’s more about the process of caramelizing below.
If you’re not a fan of Brussels sprouts, here’s an alternative recipe: beets and carrots.

RECIPE: BEETS & BRUSSELS SPROUTS

Ingredients For 4 Servings

A luscious marriage of fall vegetables from the new Paleo Takes 5—or Fewer cookbook.

*The typical ratio to substitute dried herbs for fresh, or vice versa: 1/3 part dried herbs equals 1 part fresh herbs.
 

This book has healthy Paleo Diet dishes that use far fewer ingredients than many Paleo recipes. Photo courtesy Page Street Publishing.

Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F (176°C).

2. ARRANGE the slices of bacon on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Bake for about 20 minutes in the oven until crispy. Remove with tongs and set aside on a plate to cool. Reserve the bacon fat for cooking the vegetables.

3. ADD the beets, Brussels sprouts and garlic to a large roasting pan. Drizzle with the reserved bacon fat. Sprinkle with thyme, salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly using the tongs. Roast in the oven on the middle rack for about 45 minutes until everything has caramelized slightly. In the meantime…

4. TOAST the pistachios on the stovetop in a small pan over medium heat. Transfer the contents of the roasting pan to a large bowl and top with pistachios. Use tongs to toss all ingredients together.

5. ADD crumbled goat cheese and serve.

WHAT IS CARAMELIZING?

At its most basic level, caramelizing is chemistry. At 338°F, sugar begins to break down at a molecular level and form new compounds. To our eyes and understanding, this means it turns brown and becomes caramel—a broad term that extends to more than just candy and sauce.

Let’s use onions as our example. Not only do they have a very high natural sugar content—which is helpful when caramelizing—but they are also the most typical item one caramelizes.

Every time you caramelize an onion, you’re heating its molecules to 338°F, causing the water to evaporate and the sugars to change. It’s as simple as that.

The process of caramelizing—the caramelization of the sugar inside the onion or other food—is a type of non-enzymatic browning, not involving amino acids, that is different from a Maillard reaction.† Instead, the sugar is oxidized.
 
†The brown caramel color in certain foods comes from a reaction between the sugar and an amino acid in food. Called the Maillard (my-YARD) reaction after the French physician and chemist Louis Camille Maillard, it’s a form of non-enzymatic browning that usually requires heat. Each type of food has a very distinctive set of flavor compounds that are formed during the Maillard reaction. The color and flavor of toasted bread and nuts; barbecued, roasted and seared meats; and roasted coffee (and many other flavors) are the result of Maillard reactions. And of course, caramel candy is the result of a Maillard reaction.
  

Today is National Chicken Soup for the Soul Day, honoring a series of books that have been warming hearts for twenty years with their inspirational stories.

While some might use the day to feed the soul, we’re doing some traditional feeding with a twist on chicken noodle soup: Japanese chicken soup from Haru restaurant in New York City.

Udon is a thick wheat flour noodle of Japanese cuisine, typically served in hot chicken broth.

> Here are more noodle recipes.

> The history of noodles.
 
 
RECIPE: CHICKEN UDON SOUP: JAPANESE CHICKEN
NOODLE SOUP

Ingredients For 4 Servings

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the stock, soy sauce, and mirin in a medium saucepan over high heat, and bring to boil. Lower the heat and add the chicken and mushrooms. Simmer 4-5 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. In the meantime…

2. BOIL the noodles per package instructions. Drain and split evenly between four bowls. Ladle the hot broth, chicken, and vegetables into each bowl.

3. DRIZZLE some in sesame oil and garnish with scallions. Serve immediately.
 
 
 
 
CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.
 
 

[2] It’s easy to locate dried shiitake mushrooms if you can’t find fresh ones (photo © Hannah Kaminsky | Bittersweet Blog).

[3] Instead of chicken, load the soup with seafood (photo © Asian Grocer [now closed]).

[2] Pumpkin Tartlet (photo © The Daphne Baking Company [alas, now closed]).

If you’ve ever tried to scoop the flesh from a big, orange pumpkin and turn it into pie, you probably don’t want to do it again! Wrangling the fibrous pumpkin flesh isn’t easy.

But there is a solution, known to pumpkin pie bakers: butternut squash. It’s also the “pumpkin” you should ue in pumpkin flan and other pumpkin desserts.

To prove the superiority, author and cookbook writer Melissa Clark, a popular food writer at The New York Times, tested different squashes to determine for once and for all what the best choice is for a pumpkin pie.

She found that butternut squash tied with acorn squash for the best flavor, although butternut delivers better color.

Butternut squash is very easy to work with; the skin slips right off with a vegetable peeler. Her tasting notes are adapted below. You can read the full article here.

Why not take the easy road and use canned pumpkin? Fresh really does taste fresher and brighter, says Clark.

She’s done all the heavy lifting (and roasting, and scooping) to prove it. Her findings:

Acorn Squash: Honeyed, moist, not too fibrous.

Blue Hubbard Squash: Hard to cut through the rind, granular texture. The flavor was pleasing and delicate, but the flesh wasn’t as sweet as some of the others.

Butternut Squash: Deep and richly flavored, sweet, with relatively smooth flesh that is easy to purée. THE WINNER!

Carnival Squash: Neither tender nor sweet not tender.

Cheese Pumpkin: Unwieldy and heavy to carry home, difficult to through skin, granular and watery flesh. The bright, fresh flavor works for savory dishes but not for pie.

Delicata Squash: Mild, velvety flesh but not sweet enough for pie.

Kabocha Squash: Dense and velvety flesh but a vegetal flavor that is terrific for savory dishes.

Sugar Pumpkin (the “pie pumpkin): It’s neither sugary sweet nor very tender, but fibrous and bland tasting. Save them jack-o’-lanterns. (And they have the best seeds for roasting, says Clark).

Spaghetti Squash: Stringy, watery and not sweet enough for pie.
 

Check out the different types of squash in our Squash Glossary.