Several months ago someone asked me if I had ever had smoked paprika. I had to admit that I had not heard of such a thing. This week a member of our culinary staff at Emeril’s handed me a clipping out of Gourmet Magazine explaining all about smoked paprika.

It appears that smoked paprika is produced in Spain in an area known as Extremadura. This remote region in the western part of the country bred legendary conquistadores (among them Cores, de Soto, de Balboa and Pizarro) who returned to their homeland bearing untold riches from the New World, including numerous chile varieties. The area aroiund the village of La Vera is renowned fore its paprika chiles. The hand-harvested capsicums are not dried in the sun (as are the paprika chiles of Hungary) but are roasted for 15 days over smoldering oak fires. Once the chiles are roasted, the flesh is stone-ground to a velvety red powder. And know you know.

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