RE: [CH] Hatch chiles clarification?
John Sphar (chilehead@pacbell.net)
Mon, 16 Jun 2008 09:25:12 -0700
With your original spelling it could also be chilcostle, which are not used
in moles.
The chihuacle is a pretty rare chile in the US, although there is a shipper
in Bernalillo who always has the dried ones (The Chile Guy), but you have to
buy a kilo minimum. Smaller batches are at gourmetsleuth.com. They are used
in Oaxacan black moles along with guajillos, pasillas, anchos and chipotles
mecos. Oaxaca has another couple chiles of interest regarding chipotles. The
pasilla de Oaxaca and the chipotle grande. I buy the P de O and make
chipotles in adobo sauce using Mark Miller's easy recipe in the back of The
Great Chile Book. I've been eatin them out of the can for about 16 years
before they became commonplace.
The different chipotles I know of are: moras, smoked chile moritas
(red-purple found in grocery stores); chile mecos (smoked jalapenos - tan to
brown, hard to find except in some Mexican grocery stores); pasilla de
Oaxaca, and chipotle grande.
The traditional black mole recipe (where the chihuacle comes in) is
delicious, but a bit bitter due to you have to burn up all the seeds saved
from the chiles on a skillet and add them into the recipe. I used the black
mole from "A Culinary Journey through Oaxaca, Mexico" by Susana Trilling:
Ballantine Books, 1999. I'd love to post it but it's three pages! If anyone
wants it, how would I get it to them? An email attachment?
John S.