I think it’s more about my preferences and acculturation. As I mentioned in other threads, I grew up (6-18) in Las Cruces NM. Less than an hour from Hatch NM of wide fame. The regional preference is fresh (or fresh frozen) chile flavor forward. Which of course, informs my preferences.
I therefore try in such threads to make my prejudice clear, as it causes me to have strong opinions on dishes where the chiles become more of a “supporting” actor. I don’t make or buy most Tex-Mex style chili, or even beef-based dishes. Pork was the main meat-critter supporting animal growing up because, again, it didn’t try to stand out against the chiles coming first.
Cool, I hadn’t picked up from other threads that you were raised in Las Cruces, NM. Growing up that close to the border, I guess you know your Mexican cuisine!
Still and all, I already bought a bunch of dried chile peppers, so I’m not not going to use them
But wouldn’t those fresh chiles typically be green? I use fresh chiles for geeen chile and dried for red chili. And, yeah, they taste completely different like how I wouldn’t want to use fresh red jalapeños or other chilies for Tex-Mex as they wouldn’t taste right. New Mexican green chile is bright and fresh, while Texas or chile Colorado is deep and earthy, even smoky. Completely different flavor profiles, completely different dishes, depending on what I’m in the mood for.
I’ve always used Kenji’s recipe for this. He adds some ingredients that you might not think belong in this dish, but as always, he has science on his side and things like fish sauce, soy sauce, orange juice, etc. find their way in. In addition to the dried chilis, he adds a couple of canned chipotle peppers which adds a smoky flavor and some heat. His recipe for this dish is available online under the Serious Eats website.
For the record, I know my New Mexican cuisine. It’s pretty distinctly it’s own thing, very different from Tex-Mex, and different from the (many!) regional cuisines of Mexico proper. Thus my desperate flailing to differentiate my preferences, rather than any sort of appeal to “authenticity”.
Well, for that particular dish, I’d go a Pueblo Mirasol chile. It’s a upward facing, red medium-hot chile with really meaty flesh and a somewhat sweet flavor.
I get it. There are so many regional variations to things it’s hard to say what’s ‘authentic’, if really anything. I want to try making an ‘authentic’ chili Colorado, which I understood to be a traditional Mexican stew. When I try to make a so-called ‘authentic’ dish for the first time I try to stay true to its original ingredients to get a baseline, then tinker and experiment from there next time I make it.
But it’s hard to resist tinkering from the get-go, as with Chefguy’s post:
I use fish sauce and soy sauce in non-traditional or non-expected ways all the time to add umami. And I was also thinking about adding a small can of chipotles in adobo sauce I got in the back of the cupboard to the mix tomorrow. But I’ve used all that stuff before, and I have to decide at some point how much is too much. The baseline for me is, I want to find out what cooking with rehydrated pasilla, guajillo, and ancho chilies tastes like.
I see absolutely nothing wrong with doing it “by the book” the first time and then tinkering. Though I also would probably cheat by having a lot of stocked additions/mix-ins available for post serving tinkering. That way you get to have your by-the-book authenticity and the cheats at the same time!
Yeah, I’ve seen the fresh mirasols here in Chicago but extremely rarely. I’m in Phoenix right now so I’m happy to be going home with some red Hatch chili powder that I can’t find in Chicago. Can’t wait to try a Tex-Mex chili with it soon. I used it for some chole/chana masala today, and it was quite nice.
Well, again, that’s why I said my preferences are heavily influenced by my comparative availability of good, fresh peppers. I drive down to Las Cruces at at least twice a year (my father and step-mother still live there most of the year) and bring a cooler if it coincides with roasting season… big Win. Or I get a mixed bushel of roasted peppers every early fall from the Pueblo roasters, portion out into quart bags, and freeze.
It’s the flip side of having minimal variety of any sort of fresh or even fresh frozen seafood outside of the usual suspects.
By the FSM, I know that feeling. Of course, that’s also when I know I’ve done well on a trial dish.
Compared and contrasted to something that tastes fine, but you’re not going to weep for it when it’s gone.
When I make this, I stem and seed the peppers and microwave them in short bursts until they’re soft. Then they get thrown in the food processor with some beef broth and a roasted tomato.
I usually do this the day before I make the rest of the dish so it has a chance to meld a bit.
Did a grocery run this morning and was surprised to find green Pueblo chiles, so I picked some up. I had mentioned I was probably going to add a couple fresh jalapeños for a counterpoint to the dried peppers. Maybe I’ll throw a Pueblo or two in too. Well, maybe just one of each- I don’t want to distract too much from the flavor of the dried anchos, pasillas and guajillos.
Yeah, I’ve tried that style of chili with just dried peppers along with fresh peppers a few time, and, for me, I decided the all-dried pepper version was better. Just puts more focus on those wonderful deep flavors. Fresh greens I’ll use as an add on when serving.
I recommend not capitalizing the c in colorado. The dish is named for the color, not the state. I wonder how many readers in England or somewhere are now under the impression that the dish has something to do with the State of Colorado. It doesn’t.
Thanks, maybe I will leave out fresh peppers this time then. I’m sure those Pueblo peppers I picked up will be great in something else. Or maybe I’ll dice one up raw for a garnish on the chili.
Yes, I’m aware of that, even mentioned it upthread in fact. I’m not sure why I keep capitalizing ‘Colorado’- maybe force of habit, or my iPad is doing it for me (like it just did there )
In general, I’d defer more to @pulykamell’s opinions than my own, based on many of these threads, they’ve got a wider palate than my own, and probably better at enhancing the core flavors of the dish rather than catering to my preferences.
Back to fresh pepper options - when working with most peppers that I don’t have exact provenance on, I prefer to taste before adding. So much variation on heat and flavor from location to location and day to day. If I buy a jalapeno from Kroger, sometimes it’s a green bell pepper (bitter, no heat), sometimes it’s the sweet heat that reminds me of a good hatch, and every other combination of heat / sweet / bitter you can imagine. So take a nibble before adding to a dish. And roasting normally brings out a good bit of extra sweetness, so tasting pre-and-post roasting is sometimes good as well.
Yes! I always taste my peppers too. They vary so much. One day I’ll buy jalapeños and they’re like bell peppers almost. Another day and they have surprisingly serious heat. I’m also particular about dried peppers not being too dried, but still having some “life” in them, but I believe that was already mentioned in this thread.
The version mixing fresh and dried peppers isn’t bad—one may like it better that way. To me, it detracts a little, but someone else may find it adds.
This thread has me jonesing for something chili like, and the foodie pit thread has me hankering for onion, so I’m going to do a cross between a chile adovada (with the Hatch red chile powder I just brought back from Phoenix) and a Hungarian pörkölt (which usually gets translated as goulash here.) I’ll basically follow the Hungarian stew procedure but use New Mexican spicing. I’ll probably mix in a little Hungarian paprika with the powdered chiles. Now I have to think up some sides.
That’s for both of us then. Yesterday I secured some inexpensive and unimpressive mass produced pork sirloin. It’s going to get cubed, soaked in a paste made with a can of blended off the shelf chipotles in adobo sauce with extra garlic, toasted cumin, and a bit of beer to thin out.
Then the next day, it’ll go in the slow cooker, with me adding some of my saved mirasols chopped fine added for the last hour or so. Plan is to get in the cooker Monday morning and have deliciousness all week!
)