Instructions

1. Start with the unsalted dry-roasted peanuts the list specifies. A salted nut takes on this seasoning as well as its own and ends up impossible to eat by the handful.
2. Mix the water, hot sauce, chili powder, cumin, red pepper and oregano together before the peanuts arrive. Ground spice tipped over nuts already sitting in liquid floats and clings to whatever happens to be on top.
3. Pour it over and stir until every peanut is coated and submerged. The skins are what hold the flavor, and a nut that only gets splashed keeps tasting plain.
4. Leave the bowl on the bench overnight. Peanuts are dense and take hours to accept anything at all, which is why this is not a fifteen-minute marinade.
5. Drain them and spread them one deep, shaking the tray to knock apart any that have stuck. Two peanuts stuck together stay damp where they meet and go soft in the jar.
6. Dry at 145 °F for 4 hours, watching the last stretch. The chili on the surface scorches well before the nut inside is at any risk, and scorched chili is acrid rather than hot.
7. Cool a handful on a plate and bite one. Peanuts feel crisp straight off a warm tray whatever state they are in, so a cold nut that crushes with a dry snap is the only proof worth having.
8. Airtight in a cool cupboard they hold a month, and in the freezer six. Peanut oil is more stable than most, but the hot sauce put moisture back into the skins and that is what shortens this batch.