Dining - Cuisine; Chili Fever

The sweet, delicate fragrance of roasting chilies is the pure scent of New Mexico cooking. In late summer when the evenings begin to cool and the air is crisp and clear, the wonderful aroma permeates the air. You will find yourself longing for a taste of one of these smoky morsels. In exploring the wonderful taste of chiles, you are exposed to the spicy and savory foods of the American Southwest and the cornerstone of New Mexican cuisine. Chiles are often paired with beans and corn or flour tortillas and perhaps some buffalo meat or beef and combined with any number of other spices and flavors that include cumin, garlic, tomatoes and cilantro. Modern New Mexico cuisine represents the blending of Indian, Aztec and Spanish food preparations over the past three centuries, layered with the recent influence of the Western movement, which has resulted in a glamorous array of tastes, smells and textures. Of course, the chile is central to this cuisine.

The chile — green or red — chopped, diced, dried, stuffed, sautéed or roasted over an open fire, finds its way into nearly all dishes, with aromas that stir the soul. Whether visiting the many world-class restaurants in New Mexico, eating as a guest in a local home or experiencing a Saturday morning visit to one of the local farmers’ markets, chiles and their various incarnations are ever-present.

It all starts with the basic New Mexico green chile: earthy and somewhat sweet and grown as far north as Dixon, which the experts will tell you is the home of those with the richest and deepest flavors. Just a few miles south, the green chiles of the Chimayó area are known for their exceptional mildness, with some left to mature and dry to be ground into the famous Chimayó Red. In the Mesilla Valley of Southern New Mexico, the world-famous Hatch chiles are commercially produced and get the nod as those with the most heat. At late summer harvest time, you’ll notice large wire-cage drums equipped with propane burners that find their way onto roadside pull-offs and supermarket parking lots, where 40-pound bags of chiles are roasted at a time. Here, locals find their freshly roasted bounty to take home and quickly peel, chop and freeze for their yearly stash.

The New Mexico red chile — the deep and intensely flavored, vine-ripened version of the green — is left on the plant to mature into bright red fruits in the cool fall sun. These are then strung onto a cord to form ristras by an intricate process handed down through the generations. You see these ristras hanging from the eaves and porches of houses and in local kitchens, where the dried chiles are picked when needed for grinding into powder or chopped for a favorite dish.

One thing in the area is certain: The New Mexico chile is either an integral part of the dish or in a bowl nearby. Red or green? If you can’t decide, simply say “Christmas, please” — a little red, a little green.

For information on traditional and contemporary Native American foods, pick up Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations by Lois Ellen Frank.