[CH] New Mexico treats

Solsearch@aol.com
Wed, 6 Sep 2000 21:42:44 EDT 

We went in search of the best of New Mexico and we sure got it!  On the next 
leg of our journey for the hot foods show for Food Network (first leg to 
Austin, Texas Fiery Food Show) Stu and I had some chile goodies we'll think 
of all winter long while writing and editing "Eat the Heat".

 Dave DeWitt and Mary Jane Wilan poured us some 100% chile wine from Disaster 
Bay, in either Australia or New Zealand (I forget--it was good!)  It was a 
dessert brew, not extremely sweet but with a fast, medium heat.  They are 
nursing along just two bottles, so we went easy on their supply which they 
picked up from the vintner at a Fiery Foods Show down under a few months back 
I think.  Anyone know of this being sold in the U.S.?  It takes two years to 
make, and is made from ALL CHILE--not just flavored with it.

The green chile cheeseburger and chile cheese fries at thefunky Owl Bar and 
Cafe in San Antonio, NM (at the flashing yellow light in the center of town 
;-)  were fantastic takes on both those bland fast food staples.  Now I'll 
have to freeze simple chopped NM peppers, in addition to the  verde sauce Stu 
has made up til now, for topping burgers.  The jack cheese lays over the 
chile, on top.

Then there's breakfast:  I regret passing up the grits baked with cheese and 
chiles but loved the turkey green chile sausage patties.  We ate some of the 
best fresh salsa we ever ate at La Posta Restaurant in old Mesilla, NM.   
That place is a goldmine. 

But the best meal I ate was cooked by two Anglo cowboy brothers at the Hatch 
Chile Festival!  Pit-cooked beef brisket smothered in red chile sauce (made 
from dried, reconstituted NM 6-4 pepper flakes cooked simply with water, salt 
and garlic and pureed, then strained), pintos, spanish rice, whole roasted 
Hatch chiles with melted cheese, and tortillas warmed (in a bag) on the 
sun-baked hood of a pickup truck!  Richard and Tommy Bickle have cooked this 
spread at the Chamber of Commerce food pavilion for years and years, and they 
have it DOWN.  The tastes are spiced with a hefty whiff of chiles being flame 
roasted in 40 pound lots from one end of town to the other.  Heavenly.

Met memorable and wonderful folks, once again!  Chileheads are a rare breed!  
Judging from the New Mexicans, tho, chile must eventually make you real 
mellow.  Especially if you eat it under the New Mexico sky year round...

Karen Z.