[CH] Chile festivals (Austin & Hatch, long -- sorry about that)

David Cook (zeb@austin.rr.com)
Thu, 9 Sep 1999 20:17:37 -0500 

Fellow Chile-Heads,

I can't say that I'm normally much for these "what I did on my summer
vacation reports" since hearing about it can't compare to being there, but
the last two weekends have just been too much and demanding of a report --
two solid weekends of hot sauce and chile festivals. I just have to write.
    The fun started the last weekend of August here in Austin with the 3rd
Annual Fiery Foods Show. Now, I don't know if the show was a success, but I
enjoyed it. Since my wife is thinking of going into the gift basket biz we
figured we might as well go to the trade show part of things, so Saturday
morning we trucked down to the civic auditorium and started looking. It was
a hot sauce wonderland, mostly Texas but Firegirl was there and even a
fellow from NJ. Chile Pepper Magazine was there pushing their new publisher
("Just doing one magazine not a whole line of different ones.") and tasting
samples abounded. Some highlights for us included: sweet pickled jalapenos
from several booths, Hot Paradise Habanero Salsa (almost a habanero mash),
Canyon Apple Jalapeno Salsa (more like a jelly), Smoky Hill Salsa Verde,
CaJohn's sauces (KaBoom and Three Spots, I think), Texas Heat Ranch Peaches
and Screams sauce (peach habanero sauce), Psycho Bitch Hot Sauce from
Firegirl (best name!), and probably more I've forgotten. My wife was holding
up just fine until somebody slipped her a sample of Firewater Hot Sauce,
then she was gone looking for the Dannon Yogurt booth! She's a pretty good
chilehead but she said that made her ears burn. She was mighty glad Shiner
was sponsoring the deal so she could get a cool one. She did have fun at the
cooking demo where they let you experiment with different ingredients to
make your own salsa. (Her's was a raspberry/tomato/chipotle salsa.)
    Then next day was the local free weekly's 9th Annual Hot Sauce contest
at a local park. This was no small affair. There more hot sauce booths, beer
booths, bands, and competition -- best amatuer red and green, best
restaurant red and green. Anybody could enter and you had to have enough to
feed a lot of people since the public could sample and vote on their
choices. It was only about 105 that day, so after a while you barely noticed
the chile heat.
    Things weren't over because that night was a meeting of a local foodways
group who'd chosen chiles as their subject naturally. I'd volunteered to
bring samples so between myself and a food pro down from Dallas we had
samples of at least 20 different types of dried and fresh chiles. A big bowl
of pico de gallo (sans chiles) was provided and everybody got to try
whatever they wanted. A baker brought loaves of his three-chile cheese
bread, my wife made habanero-lime cheesecake, and we were all done in by the
end.
    Last weekend was the topper, though. My sister had just moved to El Paso
so seeing her was the perfect excuse to go to the Hatch Chile Festival. It
was everything I thought it was -- and not. I was worried, given all the
dire warnings about the chile crop, the damage done from the curly-top
virus, windstorms, etc.that there wouldn't be enough chiles. I was wrong
although local folks complained about the high prices -- $15 dollars a #35
to #40 bag. Apparently that's double the normal price. At $20 a bag roasted,
I was in heaven. By the time we left, between my sister and I, we had 5 bags
of Hatch chiles: 1 hot, 3 mediums, and 1 mild. The festival itself was far
smaller than I expected, just one large shed/hanger for the bands and dance
floor, a little carnival and about two dozen food and chile booths in a
dusty little windswept lot where you could watch thunderstorms playing in
the distance. I was introduced to a local specialty, the chile relleno
burrito (with fresh homemade tortillas -- yum!). The roasters were
impressive too -- steel mesh drums like a lottery cage on a motorized axle
with a trio of propane burners at the bottom. When they lit them up they
roared like jet engines. A whole bag would be roasted in just a few minutes.
    By the time we got back to El Paso, chile juice had leaked out of the
garbage bags and all over the back of the jeep. (My compulsively neat
brother-in-law was not happy). We spent the rest of the day and night
sittting on the lawn packing roasted chiles into zip-loc bags to freeze. My
wife and I brought home two and a half bags as our swag. Our freezer
overfloweth with green chiles! (We also got a 3' ristra for $10 that's
drying outside.)
    For those wondering about next year and the curly top virus, I add this
note. A friend of my parents, a former crop specialist at UNM Las Cruces,
says it depends on the winter. If things are normal, the virus won't make in
through the winter. Last year's winter was mild which didn't help things at
all.
    Sorry for the long post.

David Cook

PS. If any chileheads are passing through Austin, we'll probably be glad to
make 'em green chile something.