Chile Roasting Time

[Jenise]

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I miss Larry Greenley!

Wegmans stores in the northeast have been having a traveling Hatch Chile festival. They had a roasting station out in front of the store and people were giving away free tastes of Hatch chile foods in a dozen different departments. I had heard enough about them that I was curious and I bought a bag of fresh ones and a package of already roasted ones. They had divided them into hot and mild which was a good thing. Louise and I shared a stuffed chile that I had bought and it was hot, and all but inedible for us. We ate the stuffing and nibbles of the pepper.

I do feel like I know what the fuss is about now, they are really nice with eggs, with cheese, mixed with roasted okra (complementary flavors, somehow). I'm gonna miss them when they are used up. But I think other green chiles must taste pretty similar. FWIW I would be spelling it "chili" but I've seen people get beaten up online for saying "Hatch chilis." The local New Mexico spelling is the same as the country in South America.

[Jenise]

Same in these parts, Frank.

When Larry Greenley used to send me chiles, he always chose a variety called Big Jim which are considered Mediums. They were, IMO, perfect. The heat was a mild heat (though every so often you got a super hot one as is the way of all types of peppers) and a chile and a half were the perfect complement to a hamburger of grilled cheese sandwich. When I roasted them, I would bag them in lots of three-four depending on size, because that was a perfect serving for two.

When Hatch chiles started showing up in stores (and I doubt all these Hatch chiles are actually from Hatch) here, the grade 'Medium' didn't come with them. Most have been 'hot', but occasionally one would see 'mild'. Every single hot I've tried, and I've bought two-three each year to try, have been incendiary, and the milds are almost wimpy. Some have been good, though, and the Whole Foods Market chain was getting some labelled Medium and in fact the boxes indicated they were our old favorite, the Big Jims. This year once again our local markets only got milds and hots, and again the hots were insane. I complained to a produce manager about that and he said, "well you're only supposed to use a little bit". NO, I said emphatically, you don't know how to eat these or you wouldn't tell me that because it defeats the point--the point is to put a lot of spicy green pepper flavor into your food, not just add heat. If that was all you had to do, we could just buy cayenne pepper and be done with it."

A neighbor and I tried some of their milds and they were as hot as the hots--either store personnel mixed them up, or customers did, or the labelling is meaningless. So Bob and I actually made a run to Seattle where we were going to buy Big Jim chiles at the Whole Foods Market, but before we got there we spent a night on Bainbridge Island where we walked into a grocery store wherein, entering through the aromatic bakery at one end of the store, we could smell the perfume of raw green chiles from the produce department on the other side. So we bought a few of their hots and milds to try. We asked, btw, if they knew what variety they had. "We don't get varieties," we were told, "the boxes just say 'mild-medium' and 'medium-hot'." The guy brought out a box to show us--and indeed they were as he said, but they also had a place for a variety name he hadn't noticed before and the name wasn't one I knew--it was 'Arizona' followed by a number, like "Arizona 1085". Made me wonder if they weren't grown in Arizona, even though the box appeared to otherwise have been an authentic Hatch, New Mexico, grower.

Anyway, we took those to our lodging and cooked up each. The hots were insane. We love hot food but one bite each had us pounding the table, shedding tears, and running for ice. By comparison, the mild-mediums were definitely more mild than medium, but they were large and fruity, about 10" long, and the obvious source of the perfume we smelled when we walked into the store. We went back the next day and bought a case. And indeed they are wonderful, and we're very happy. I can add red pepper flakes to get more heat if I want it, but there's no substitute for that amazing spicy green pepper flavor and what I bought has that in spades.

Btw, where in the past we've roasted them on the barbecue? Our current barbecue is too wimpy for that, and I want them closer to raw/charred vs. cooked-and-blistered, which is all my barbecue would do (the authentic New Mexico flavor requires char, don't be afraid of turning that skin to ash), so this year in desperation I fired up all six burners on my Viking range and with Bob and I both working it and putting 3-4 on each burner, we roasted all 25 pounds in about 45 minutes. Outstanding results, best ever.

But anyway--point is, your Wegman's experience is like what we had here in Bellingham and some stores only got the hots, no milds at all. And what's so weird about it, is that most people don't eat food as hot as Bob and I do, and many would try these and will never give them a second chance because they don't know that there's a Big Jim or equivalent (Sandia is also a delicious medium variety) out there they'd love.

And you would too.

Thanks for all the useful information Jenise!! I had wondered how you got from a limp pulpy roasted pepper to chile relleños. Your explanation about charring the "cellophane" skin while keeping the pepper basically fresh and crispy explains that, it would be easy to stuff those peppers.

I am almost talked into ordering a 5 pound box of Joe E Parker chiles. The Hatch Chile company says that they are more consistently "medium hot" than Big Jims, which can vary into that flamethrower range on occasion. And there's free shipping on that size box.

https://www.hatch-green-chile.com/shop/ ... le/medium/

I'm a little worried about freezer space but these peppers cook down to way less volume than one starts with. And there's some stuff in my freezer that I could use up.

If you read the description in the URL let me know what you think please.

Love this time of year when I can go to many grocery stores here and smell that green chile roasting on an open fire aroma. While I do love roasting at home, picking up bags of store roasted chile sure makes things convenient.

[Jenise]

Love this time of year when I can go to many grocery stores here and smell that green chile roasting on an open fire aroma. While I do love roasting at home, picking up bags of store roasted chile sure makes things convenient.

Up here, the stores over-roast them because they don't allow for carry-over cooking. They churn out mush, and no amount of fancy talk from someone like me can talk them out of what they think they know how to do. So where I appreciate the convenience you speak of, not all roasters are created equal.

BUT OH, I was lucky enough to spend August in New Mexico, and the smell of roasting chiles which is being done everywhere simultaneously it seems, is not just here and there but literally everywhere--unavoidable, like the smells of nearby forest fires. It changed me forever.

[Jenise]

Frank, interesting about the Joe Parker chiles. I sure like the sound of consistent heat levels, but not the 5-8" size where Big Jims and the mild-medium Arizonas I bought are 7'10" and 80% of mine would were in the 8-9". A big part of the attraction of what I bought was their consistently large size (the hots and so-called-milds-though-you-couldn't-prove-that-by-me available locally were smaller)--longer body means wider body and usually thicker walls. It's clear from the pictures that not only are the Parkers shorter but they're also narrower--doesn't leave a lot of stuffing room if stuffing's your aim, though I do see that the verbiage describes them as a good relleno chile, so in practice I could be wrong.

They're certainly right that Big Jims are somewhat inconsistent. I will confess to, after roasting, cutting out a little taster piece of each one used just to make sure it wasn't the one-in-15-or-20 (my experience, not a scientific fact) that would blow your head off, and the percentage of super-hots varied with each vintage. My Arizona milds are also inconsistent, but delightfully so. I love it when I get a hot one now, because the hottest they seem to be is a perfect medium.

But yes, char the skin but don't let the chile cook all the way. A lightly cooked chile will be a fresher green and a well-cooked chile will be a drab army green, only one shade stronger than canned chiles. When we roasted ours, since our aim was to ready them for freezing, we deliberately tossed the charred chiles in a pile so they'd sweat their skins loose. To use them for rellenos, you'd want to control the carry-over cooking a bit more than I did as mine were all heading for the freezer, but nonetheless look at the good green color of my charred/thawed chiles. The triple processes of charring, sweating and freezing softened them a bit--the skin rubs right off--but most retained a little firmness in the flesh--think of the raw center of a perfect kernel of risotto rice.

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After they're charred, I sit over a brown grocery bag and one at a time yank out the stem and seed pod. Goes pretty fast--hold hile in one hand, pull the steam with the other. One extra shake will clear 80% of the remaining seeds (the rest we can live with), and then I roll three chiles together in a small sandwich bag. Each roll of three will be about 1 to 1.5" diameter. Those get rolled up and stored inside a gallon-sized Zip Loc--several layers of plastic protection with which they'll stay nice in a good freezer for two years. One gallon bag will hold 12-14 rolls of chiles.

For breakfast today I made chilaquiles: raw fresh end-of-season tomatoes and onions sautéed in butter with oregano and Gebhardt's chile powder, to which chopped corn tortillas were added, molded onto a plate and topped with a triangle of cheese omelette and topped with a green chile 'salad'. The skin as you see rubs off easily. I just treated them with a splash wine vinegar, olive oil and salt. Perfect.

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Dang, Jenise, that looks SO delicious. And for that the size wouldn't matter.

I'm considering…

[Jenise]

Dang, Jenise, that looks SO delicious. And for that the size wouldn't matter.

I'm considering…

No, length or width wouldn't matter in most of the dishes I do. But thick-walled fruit always would. In other years, peppers have sometimes been thinner and I was never as happy with those--they overcook quickly and once you peel the skin off there's not much left. I love the green pepper taste of good green chiles. We also put them in hamburgers. It's our #1 way of enjoying burgers. When we do them that way, btw, we don't use traditional condiments or vegetables. Tomatoes cancel out the chile flavor, so you'd never want both. And arugula is better than any standard lettuce. Add onions and cheese--you're in heaven.

OK, just ordered 5 lb of Big Jims. Looking forward to this!

I love the green pepper taste of good green chiles. We also put them in hamburgers. It's our #1 way of enjoying burgers. When we do them that way, btw, we don't use traditional condiments or vegetables. Tomatoes cancel out the chile flavor, so you'd never want both. And arugula is better than any standard lettuce. Add onions and cheese--you're in heaven.

Amen to that! Nothing wrong with some bacon on their either. Great idea about arugula. Will definitely have to try that.

And ya, you are so right about overcooking at grocery stores. There are a couple of places here that do it well and a bunch that cook them through. Love that smell though and I'm always drawn to the roaster.

[Jenise]

Great idea about arugula. Will definitely have to try that.

And ya, you are so right about overcooking at grocery stores. There are a couple of places here that do it well and a bunch that cook them through. Love that smell though and I'm always drawn to the roaster.

Yeah, arugula's sharpness plays up the sharp notes in the chile, where other lettuces would be dilutatory (is that a word?, spellcheck doesn't like it but it looks right to me.)

But oh yes, even if the markets are overcooking them I do love that aroma and am grateful for it being there.

One of the things I tasted at Wegman's was this

http://www.shockinglydelicious.com/poor ... ailgating/

I decided to make these for a party tonight. At Wegman's I had bought a pound of fresh "mild" chiles and a pound of roasted mild chiles. The ones we roasted ourselves had a bright flavor with enough hotness to be exciting. I wanted to show off that flavor. To tell the whole story, I started with corn tortillas and spread a thin layer of cream cheese, sprinkled with garlic powder as the recipe suggests, and then laid the surface with slivered roasted Hatch peppers. And rolled them up.

Well the first thing that happened was that the corn tortillas expanded on the inside, from the moisture of the whipped cream cheese, and contracted on the outside from the dry air -- and came apart like flaking paint. The result was ugly and unacceptable so I went and bought some flour tortillas (which the recipe had specified) and took apart the corn tortillas and transferred what I could to the flour tortillas. Of course I also put a new layer of cream cheese and garlic powder, plus a little salt because I noticed that they were low in flavor.

I made a second set of wraps/burritos -- half with just cream cheese and chiles, and half with =that= plus some roasted small okras which I had chopped up, and a stick of pepper jack cheese down the middle.

I was really disappointed with the pure Hatch chile burritos -- Wegmans had basically roasted them to death so they were the equivalent of chiles out of a can or jar. Green pulp, no hotness and very little flavor. The ones with roasted okra and a stick of pepper jack cheese tasted much better, at least they had some flavor. If I had been more assiduous with my pre-tasting (normally I am, but we were short on time) I would have put a stripe of hot sauce down the center of each burrito.

Interestingly enough, people gobbled up my appetizers -- I cut each rolled tortilla into 4 pieces a little more than an inch long.

But this has made me eager to get my box of Big Jims because I know I can do SUCH a better job of roasting than Wegman's did!!! And from tasting this recipe at Wegman's I know it can be delicious.

For what it's worth, the peelings from the corn tortillas with residual cream cheese are in the fridge. Guess what I am planning? Chilaquiles!! I think I have a couple of spare jalapeños to kick it up a notch.

[Jenise]

Frank, you were wise to move to the flour tortilla. Corn tortillas require heat to release the fats/soften/cohese/taste right. They're not interchangeable with flour tortillas, which do work fine cold. A tip to flavor up the chiles? After chopping/slicing them, sprinkle with a little vinegar, salt, olive oil and Mexican oregano. They'll come alive--THAT flavor with the cream cheese would be alive.

Big Jim is in the house!

I can't exactly remember why but I have a copy of "Tasting New Mexico" by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison. I think we stayed at a B&B where we had a discussion of cooking with someone from New Mexico -- it's interesting that so many of the dishes are reminiscent of Mexican cooking that I am familiar with, and Tex-Mex that I am familiar with, but with quirky differences that are kind of fascinating. The book has a lot of history and explanation. For example I learned that Roy Nakayama is responsible for the NuMex Big Jim pepper -- and that he liked using the tempura technique as a coating for chiles relleños before cooking. I am kind of limited, I can't use the recipe for relleños because on weight watchers I can't eat that much cheese. I remember helping Louise to make a big batch of manicotti, and then looking up the points. Eleven points each!! We had to freeze them and break them out one at a time, when my son came to visit. I may have to think up a modified filling with cheese and rice, something like that. And frankly I can't remember the last time we made hamburgers (although years ago we made them all the time).

One thing I noticed was that many recipes involve green chile sauce, which has roasted chiles cooked with chicken broth, garlic, onion, a bit of flour, and S&P. For example the "green chile cheese omelet" involves making a standard cheese omelet and then topping with green chile sauce. I like the idea of making that because I can tweak it, I can add some hot sauce if it's not spicy enough. Also, I roasted half a dozen chiles this morning on the stove burners. It's hard to scorch the tops and bottoms, but in making the sauce I could go ahead and use a little of the unpeeled green parts which will probably push the flavor in some good directions.

The remainder of my five pounds fits on two baking sheets/ jelly roll pans (they have rims). I think I am just going to try to broil them attentively and freeze.

Jenise I think you said you don't bother to clean off the char before freezing? That's how Wegmans did it. At least the whole process goes a little faster without that step. I might have continued with that this morning but the book suggests you really want to wear gloves if you are doing dozens of peppers, and I probably have a couple of dozen Big Jims left.

Anyway, thanks for this new adventure. BTW five or six of the peppers I received were turning red. The recipes for red chiles in the book are a little different from the green pepper recipes and I may hold those aside and treat them separately. The flavor is sweeter and milder.

Also it was interesting that -- they keep using "statehood" as a reference point -- 100 years ago it was common to roast and peel the chiles, and then dry them for future use (instead of freezing them). I do have a dehydrator and not much freezer space so that might be worth an experiment.

At any rate, I think anyone who is into Hatch chiles would be interested in "Tasting New Mexico."