Hatch Chilies

smbishop

Caught the HEB/Central Market Hatch Chili Festival near the end.   Roasted Hot and Mild on the Small and Large, pealed, then into the freezer for 2 hours, then Foodsaver...

In no particular order:

loco_engr

Scott . . . nice score on the chili's
Nice setup you have there!

smbishop

loco_engr said:

Scott . . . nice score on the chili's
Nice setup you have there!

Thank you, it is an annual tradition!

Botch

I was stationed in Albuquerque for 5 years, so this brought a smile to my face; can't wait for those smells at my local grocer (who now roast Hatch in the parking lot).  

smbishop

Botch said:

I was stationed in Albuquerque for 5 years, so this brought a smile to my face; can't wait for those smells at my local grocer (who now roast Hatch in the parking lot).  

Yes!  The smells are amazing.  Central Market spends a month roasting outside the store with several tasting stations inside the store of all their creations.  Love it!

Langner91

I missed them this year.  Nice score!

Battleborn

Picked some up today from Kroger. Planning on roasting them tomorrow. Yours look amazing. 

CeeGeeW

@smbishop Looks great and tasty!!  Where did you get your grill matt from?

smbishop

CeeGeeW said:

@smbishop Looks great and tasty!!  Where did you get your grill matt from?

I bought these years ago and cut them to size for my Large and Small:

https://amz.run/6zUD

minniemoh

Ohhhh! I need to find some of these. I haven't had them in years! 

rekameohs

smbishop said:

Caught the HEB/Central Market Hatch Chili Festival near the end.   Roasted Hot and Mild on the Small and Large, pealed, then into the freezer for 2 hours, then Foodsaver...

What are the preferred uses for the chili?  I've read where people get very excited when the Hatch chilis are available, but wouldn't know what to do with them if I got any.  They look delicious.

dmourati

rekameohs said:

What are the preferred uses for the chili?  I've read where people get very excited when the Hatch chilis are available, but wouldn't know what to do with them if I got any.  They look delicious.

Some ideas I've tried with Hatch Chiles:

Chile cheeseburgers
Enchiladas
Pepper Stout Beef
Quesadillas 
Chiles Rellenos
Green Chile Chicken
Salsa

They are pretty versatile. Any time you would use a jalapeno or a serrano, you can sub in a Hatch chile. If you order them, you can chose the spice level. The peppers are bred and grown with very specific heat levels in mind. More than one can say for most grocery store chiles.

Botch

To @dmourati's excellent list (I do them all except Pepper Stout Beef) I'd have to add:
- Green Chile Stew (Onions, garlic, cumin, varying ratios of roasted tomatoes/chicken broth/water, any kind of smoked pork (except for ribs/belly), and as much green chile as you want.  I make that at least monthly thru the fall/winter months.  One boss I had in Albuquerque ate bowls of roasted green with just garlic and salt; not recommended.  
- Huevos Rancheros, the Greatest Breakfast Ever Invented.  Fry one or two corn tortillas in bacon grease (not traditional, which would be just lard), smear with a bit of fried beans or not, two fried eggs, a thickened sauce of chicken broth, cumin, garlic, and as much green chile as you want, topped with cheese(s) and run under the broiler for a couple minutes, sprinkle on green onion (also not traditional) and/or cilantro.  This is "green" HR, "red" is made with red (ripe/dried/ground) chile in the sauce, and in NM "Christmas" is green on half and red on half.  
Dammit I'm hungry now.  

caliking

The Central Market Hatch Chili festival is on until 8/22 around Houston. I'll try and swing by to get some. I seem to be the only one excited about hatch chilis in the house, so it may be just for me

dmourati

Just put in my annual order. Thanks for the reminder.

buzd504

dmourati said:

rekameohs said:

What are the preferred uses for the chili?  I've read where people get very excited when the Hatch chilis are available, but wouldn't know what to do with them if I got any.  They look delicious.

Some ideas I've tried with Hatch Chiles:

Chile cheeseburgers
Enchiladas
Pepper Stout Beef
Quesadillas 
Chiles Rellenos
Green Chile Chicken
Salsa

They are pretty versatile. Any time you would use a jalapeno or a serrano, you can sub in a Hatch chile. If you order them, you can chose the spice level. The peppers are bred and grown with very specific heat levels in mind. More than one can say for most grocery store chiles.

I subbed them for bell peppers in ropa vieja and it came out awesome.

Langner91

OMG, I wish I had a batch of them for some PSB.  I have been craving it and that would be perfect!

Thanks for that list.

dmourati

Box 1/2 arrived today.

Ozzie_Isaac

rekameohs said:

smbishop said:

Caught the HEB/Central Market Hatch Chili Festival near the end.   Roasted Hot and Mild on the Small and Large, pealed, then into the freezer for 2 hours, then Foodsaver...

What are the preferred uses for the chili?  I've read where people get very excited when the Hatch chilis are available, but wouldn't know what to do with them if I got any.  They look delicious.

I roast them, skin them, and eat them as a snack.

I add diced roasted chilis to every soup and sauce this time of year.

I will say, the hatch chilis I have been getting this year have been unusually spicy/hot.  Most years the spice is down and flavor up, not in 2023 it seems.

Oh yeah, and my favorite use is chili rellenos.

TechsasJim

Crap I haven’t seen any Hatch at my H‑E‑B yet.    I do the same thing annually, roast, peel, eat, freeze for later.  

dmourati

I'm about 15 pounds into roasting this year and here with this pro tip if you roast your own:

Don't blacken the hell out of them. That makes the chiles sort of mushy and they disintegrate. The skins also will tend to get fused to the flesh.

Instead, go for a leopard pattern with some black and some green mixed together.

My first above, the chiles are about perfect.

Pro tip #2:
After leopardization, throw the chiles into an ice bath. Stops cooking and makes the skins even easier to remove. 

Langner91

Found some today!

Botch

dmourati said:

Pro tip #2:
After leopardization, throw the chiles into an ice bath. Stops cooking and makes the skins even easier to remove. 

Now that's something new; I've always received my chile in a garbage bag with instructions to let them steam a couple hours before peeling.  I'll have to try this with a few fresh chiles; would be kinda hard to do with a full bushel.  

Ozzie_Isaac

dmourati said:

I'm about 15 pounds into roasting this year and here with this pro tip if you roast your own:

Don't blacken the hell out of them. That makes the chiles sort of mushy and they disintegrate. The skins also will tend to get fused to the flesh.

Instead, go for a leopard pattern with some black and some green mixed together.

My first above, the chiles are about perfect.

Pro tip #2:
After leopardization, throw the chiles into an ice bath. Stops cooking and makes the skins even easier to remove. 

I char them like @Mickey's wings, toss in a gallon ziploc for 10-15 minutes, then peel them.  Skins peel right off.

dmourati

I think if you garbage bag or ziploc bag them, that'll work just fine for removing the skins. The thing is that the chiles continue cooking with those modes. The steeping does more than just loosen the skins, it cooks the flesh of the chiles.

I have a parking lot scenario with a huge propane roaster going by batches. I imagine that is mostly a volume optimized situation.


https://youtu.be/UGg6QJm316Y?t=246


https://youtu.be/mJ_bHk6tlFE?t=280

Botch

@dmourati, I didn't know you did that for a living!  Makes sense to cool them immediately to keep the flesh uncooked; I don't make my own relleños because the flesh is too fragile; that's probably why.  
I think next year after I get them home, I'll pull out a few from the garbage bag and chill them, freeze them separately, and try relleños again.  In my usual stews and sauces, that they're already cooked thru is no biggie.

dmourati

Not a profesh by any stretch, it was a bad edit on my part @Botch, I meant to say I have *seen* a parking lot scenario.

Legume

Has anyone tried using a weed burner by itself or in combo with a hot grill?

Botch

For those of you who've not seen a roaster in action, here's a video of how they work (I chose this one as it was put out by NMSU, my alma mater):
 
https://youtu.be/mTnhRuXwwDA?si=u7pM9g_VPeHjR9mG
 
You've really piqued my curiousity about cooling them immediately; in 31 years of buying chile I've not even heard of that before.  I could half-fill my large cooler with water and a bag of ice, and dump the chile directly in in the parking lot.  I don't have enough room in my kitchen freezer for another bushel, but I've been toying with buying a small chest freezer for the basement; hmmm.  Guess I've got until Labor Day to make a decision.  

TechsasJim

Botch said:

For those of you who've not seen a roaster in action, here's a video of how they work (I chose this one as it was put out by NMSU, my alma mater):
 
https://youtu.be/mTnhRuXwwDA?si=u7pM9g_VPeHjR9mG
 
You've really piqued my curiousity about cooling them immediately; in 31 years of buying chile I've not even heard of that before.  I could half-fill my large cooler with water and a bag of ice, and dump the chile directly in in the parking lot.  I don't have enough room in my kitchen freezer for another bushel, but I've been toying with buying a small chest freezer for the basement; hmmm.  Guess I've got until Labor Day to make a decision.  

This is how they do it at my H‑E‑B.   Wonderful results but still haven’t seen it this year which is odd

Ozzie_Isaac

Legume said:

Has anyone tried using a weed burner by itself or in combo with a hot grill?

I use a weedburner sometimes.  It works well to finish charing the edges.