Jack Boulware

From vacationing golfers to local policemen, at some point every person in Santa Fe is faced with the same question: red or green? Meaning, would you like sauce made from red chile peppers, or green? For both, the answer is simply, “Christmas.”

To the uninitiated, New Mexico seems pepper-crazed – you find chiles throughout the cuisine, from sauces to stews, marinades and tamales. The pepper is even the official state vegetable (although technically, it’s a fruit). Each autumn, the aroma of roasting chiles fills the streets of Santa Fe.

Chile history runs deep through the Southwest. Indigenous tribes have grown the peppers for centuries. In 1917 scientists first introduced the New Mexico #9 variety, often called the Anaheim, and it remains the most popular strain today. The peppers are mild heat, green in color, and change to red as they ripen.

But chiles remained a regional secret until chef Mark Miller arrived in Santa Fe. A onetime anthropology student, Miller was one of the first to recognize the unique pepper’s potential outside of New Mexico, and in 1987 he opened the Coyote Café, exporting the concept of Southwest cuisine to the world.

Today, most of New Mexico’s chile peppers are grown in the south-central Hatch region, while the northern higher elevation villages specialize in boutique heirloom varieties. Much like wines, peppers’ terroir varies from region to region. Santa Fe’s downtown Plaza Café serves its huevos rancheros with a deep dusky red sauce from Bernalillo, a small town 50 miles southwest. Mark Miller’s excellent Red Sage restaurant features a ribeye steak with a sharp savory chile rub from Chimayo, 30 miles to the north.

Fresh green peppers are available only during the fall harvest months, but stores sell dried chile pods and powder year-round. You can even drive up into the villages and buy chiles direct from the farmers. Thanks to chef Rocky Durham from the Santa Fe School of Cooking, here’s a quick and dirty primer to making your own basic chile sauces (feel free to experiment and embellish freely):

RED

Sauté ½ cup diced onion in oil, add 2-3 tbl minced garlic, cook until it starts to carmelize. Dump in ½ to 1 cup ground red chile powder, stir it while adding water. Add a pinch of dry Mexican oregano, another pinch of roasted cumin seeds, and a few slivers of cinnamon stick. Salt and pepper. Bring it to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes or so.

GREEN

Roast green chiles over high heat, set aside in Ziploc bag, or in a bowl under Saran Wrap. Peel and chop and set aside. Sauté 1 cup chopped onion, add 2-3 tbl minced garlic, cook until soft. Add roasted chiles, water, and bring to a boil. Add salt and pepper, simmer for about 15 minutes.

LINKS (if need for sidebar)

Plaza Café

www.thefamousplazacafe.com

Red Sage

www.buffalothunderresort.com/dining

SF School of Cooking

www.santafeschoolofcooking.com

(I didn’t include Coyote Café because Mark Miller has sold it, and it’s no longer the center of southwest cuisine, it’s gone more French/Mediterranean)

IMAGES:

I’ve hunted for stock photos of red/green chiles with mixed results, the Santa Fe CVB suggested contacting this photographer directly:

http://www.jackparsonsdigital.com/SantaFe/Santa%20Fe%20Htmls/ChiliBasket09.html

F/C

http://www.hotsauceblog.com/hotsaucearchives/new-mexicos-chile-pepper-farms/

http://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/research/horticulture/RR719.pdf

http://chilepepperinstitute.org/documents/frequently-asked-questions.pdf

http://mfnmfoods.com/chili/index.php/New-Mexico/N.M.-Chile-Pepper.html

http://www.allamericanspeakers.com/speakers/Mark-Miller/3694

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Mexican_Food

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Mexico_pepper