Blackening Something

This one is from November 18, 2004.   I'm pretty certain that I was blackening a fish of some sort, but that's about all I know.   Go ahead and take the batteries out of your smoke alarms when you blacken something, but be sure to put them back in when you're finished.   It's not blackened if it's not smoking.
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1t black pepper
1/2t chili powder
1/2t paprika
1/4t file powder
1/4t mustard powder
1/4t garlic powder
1/4t ginger powder
5 dried thai peppers (~1/4t cayenne)

mix in a coffee grinder and cover whatever you're blackening in it. this totals out to a little over a tablespoon, which should cover a single fillet pretty well. would probably do a boneless chicken breast (probably a hunk of tempeh or tofu, too), as well. last night i put about 2-3 tablespoons of peanut oil in the iron skillet and set it to med-high. waited til the oil did the orange-peel thing and gave it a little more time (ideally you want it in the 350F-ish range, i think), then gently laid the fillet in the skillet. cooked for 1-1/2 to 2 minutes on each side. i also didn't move it while it was cooking (other than to flip it), in order to get the proper kind of crustiness. i think if you're doing more than one, you should interleave placing them in the skillet by about 20-30 seconds, so that it can get back up to temperature.