Loves me some green chile. This is one reason my wife and I are considering New Mexico as a retirement spot.
Anyway, I just got my big can of roasted Hatch green chiles in the mail yesterday, and am having a great time figuring out all the yummy things we’re going to do with them. But, alas, they won’t last forever. And it was a bit pricey to order them online and have them shipped to Michigan. So: are there any good alternatives to the Hatch brand available nationally? Is there really a difference between the Hatch greens and others? Or is this just an example of a really, really successful marketing campaign by the Hatch people?
Depends on what you are doing with them. Can you find green chilis at a local market? They won’t likely be Hatch, but they’ll do for most purposes. There really is very little difference that I’ve found. Of course, I’m spoiled by the year-round produce coming out of the Imperial Valley.
I have the same problem you do - I looooove the chiles, but getting them shipped from NM is a crazy expensive thing to do.
I’ve found decent chiles in the grocery store, at least decent enough that I’m happy with them given the price difference of shipping the hatch ones up. Specifically, I’ve had good luck with the chiles sold in the local grocery store that are labeled anything from “Anaheim” to “Green Chili Peppers” to no label at all. I just buy the ones that look like hatches and are hot.
The biggest trick is roasting the stupid things. I have a really great stovetop roaster, but it’s only big enough to do a few at a time. I don’t feel like I get a good roast in the oven or the grill, where it’s possible to do more. So I do a few at a time and only have lovely wonderful green chile a few times a year.
There will be a slight (very slight) difference in the heat level or other aspects of the flavor profile in non-Hatch chilis. With what you are doing to them, you won’t notice it much, if at all. Terroir applies to chilis as well as grapes.
Athena, have you tried roasting them under your broiler? Put 'em three inches away or so from the broiler on a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan, turn when one side is good and blackened. It works a treat, I’ve found. You can also do it directly on the burner - I have a glass top stove, and it works OK. Hot work, though. If you have gas burners (which you probably do), then you’ll need tongs, probably. (If it’s even possible. Not sure with gas. Want gas, but don’t have.) But then you’re running into the small quantity thing again.
Don’t try to roast them with the puny kitchen torch that I have. (A propane torch, like Alton Brown recommends and that you can find at a hardware store, might work though.) Took forever, then I gave up.