My son and I have been rivals the past several months trying to see who could turn out the best tasting Boiled Peanut, ( Cajun style )
Not too Hot-n-spicy but yet spicy enough to keep you wanting more, We decide to try boiling our own after having paid 4.00 for the last small bag we got from a local, the price has went up 3 times in this year, started out @ 2.00 then 250 then 3.00 and now 4.00 for the same size serving of ( 1 lb. shared between 3 people) We can buy a 10 lb bag of raw from kroger for around 9.00 and serve over 30 people, no extra cost to cook them we have free wood at our disposal, and I grow my own peppers, however I do have to purchase the sauce, which is less than 1.00 ..... It takes about 7-8 hours to cook them, depending on their size to get them to the right softness/texture, I use about 1/2 cup sea-salt, and 5 large jalapeño peppers, along with 4 oz bottle of cayenne pepper sauce, I found that we need to not put the sauce and peppers in until the last hour of cooking, If when put in to early the spice from the sauce/pepper is evaporated out through the steam,
and I think is the problem many folks have when trying to prepare Cajun style hot boiled peanuts,
For many years now I've been trying to get the local guy who boils them to add some spice heat to some of them, although His atempts has failed, believe it is due to him tossing everything in at the begining and walking away, coming back only to stir them once and while,
My theory which after several experiment batches and later turned into a fact is to get the nut and it's shell soften so can absorb the added flavor, although the longer you let sit in its brine the more spicy the nut will become, so if their good to your taist when through cooking you might want to remove them from the brine/water,
Oh yeah! I think mine turn out better then my sons do, of course I havn't told anyone my recipe but ya'll