What to use instead of aleppo pepper
It depends entirely on what it's doing in the dish. Here's the job, what else does it, and what to skip.
Advertisement
Mild fruity heat sprinkled over a finished dish
Aleppo flakes are dried with salt and a little oil, so they stay moist and cling to food, and the heat is low enough to use by the teaspoon.
Maras or Urfa pepperRan out
1:1 by volume
Maras is near identical. Urfa is darker and smokier with a raisin and tobacco note that shows on pale food.
GochugaruRan out
1:1 by volume
Same mild heat and bright colour with drier, fluffier flakes. No salt in it, so lift the salt in the dish a touch.
Sweet paprika with cayenne and saltRan out
2 tsp paprika + 1/8 tsp cayenne + 1/8 tsp salt per 1 tbsp Aleppo
Colour and heat land close. The texture goes powdery, so it dusts the plate rather than speckling it.
Red pepper flakes, ground a little finerRan out
1 tsp per 1 tbsp Aleppo
Three times the heat by volume, hence the third of the amount. Sharper, with none of the raisin sweetness.
What doesn't work: Cayenne measured spoon for spoon. Aleppo sits around 10,000 Scoville and cayenne around 40,000, so a tablespoon of cayenne makes a muhammara inedible.
Warm heat cooked into a paste or dip
Cooked into muhammara or a lentil soup the flakes soften and release their oil, so the heat spreads evenly and the fruitiness comes forward.
Hot red pepper paste, biber salcasiRan out
1 tbsp paste per 1 tbsp Aleppo flakes
Adds moisture and body, so the dip goes looser and redder, with deeper roasted-pepper flavour and less bite.
HarissaRan out
2 tsp per 1 tbsp Aleppo
Brings caraway, coriander and garlic with it, so the dip stops tasting Levantine and turns North African.
Roasted red pepper puree with red pepper flakesRan out
2 tbsp puree + 1/2 tsp flakes per 1 tbsp Aleppo
Sweet and thick with the heat added separately. It thins the paste, so hold back 1 tbsp of other liquid.
What doesn't work: Chipotle powder. The smoke reads as barbecue against walnut and pomegranate, and it is drier and much hotter, so the dip tastes American and burns at the back.