Down The Hatch!

Each year, Labor Day weekend is a sacred time for those of us who live for the feeling of having our tongues set afire, our pores pouring sweat and our stomachs clenched with pure chemical aggression.

Yes, it's the Hatch Chile Festival, the ne plus ultra of fiery food festivals, the searing summit of masochistic mastication.

Hatch, N.M., the self-proclaimed "Chile Capital of the World," lies about three hours south of Albuquerque, is normally a sleepy little town of about 1,000. But, during the festival, the population swells to upward of 15,000, bolstered by an influx of chileheads from around the globe who make their yearly pilgrimage in search of the pepper high to end all others.

All around town, the smell of spinning metal roasters full of fresh-picked chiles fills the air. Garlands of chiles, known as regalitos and ristras hang from every roofline and door jamb.

Lest you think this is a casual obsession, New Mexico State University actually has a Chile Pepper Institute devoted to perfecting and hybridizing the fiery fruit. Among the more well-known varieties of chile are cayenne, serrano, cascabel, jalapeno, habanero, Sandie, birdeye and piquin. The Sandia, or Anaheim, is the most popular form of chile found in Hatch, although pretty much all of them are represented in some form.

Chiles, contrary to popular belief, do not come from India. They're actually a South American product. George Washington was one of the earliest chile enthusiasts in North America, although their absence from his wife's collected recipes suggest that Martha was perhaps not quite as enthusiastic about them.

According to NMChili.com, Emilo Ortega planted the seeds for Hatch's future success in 1896, when he started a business in Ventura, Calif., growing the pepper that came to be known as the Anaheim. Fabian Garcia, at what is now New Mexico State University, followed up after the turn of the century by interbreeding and producing the "perfect" pod.

Thanks to a genetic structure that's very open to hybridizing and a willingness to adapt to just about any climate, it could almost be said that every town in New Mexico has its own brand of chile, but the ones grown around Hatch seem to have the taste that tickles the palates of people around the world.

If you've a hankering for some roasted chiles, but you're unable to get to Hatch before the crop is sold, you can order them year-round, fresh or roasted, in ristras and wreaths, and even in dip mixes or seed form, just click along to Hatch Chile Express. Should you want to roast your own, most kitchen stores (especially this time of year) have stovetop chile roasters, usually in the barbecue section. In a pinch, you can use your kitchen blowtorch (you DO have one, right?), but that surface-roasting doesn't give quite the same flavor as a slower roast.

Make it a true fiesta with some red, white and blue chile lights from my good friend Annie DuBois at TexMexToGo.com.

We'll get to this week's recipe in a moment, but first a few words on handling and cleaning chiles:

Watch your hands! It's best to wear latex gloves, but if you don't have any or have a latex allergy, be sure to clean your hands fastidiously after handling any hot pepper. You only need to get capsaicin in your eyes once to have the sort of experience that makes longtime cooks shudder years later.

Skin 'em. Pepper skins are tough critters, and unless you're planning on deep-frying or using some other high-heat cooking method, it's best to remove them. A few seconds' kiss with your kitchen torch, just until the skins are blackened, and then a few minutes in a tightly sealed plastic container, and you'll have easy-peel peppers.

Know your heat. Pay attention to your diners and their tastes. Cook to the lowest heat tolerance and provide a variety of hot sauces for those who wish to enhance their pain. For a great description of most of the major pepper types, click here.

Defuse the bomb. Almost all of the heat in a pepper lies in the seeds and white ribs inside the pepper. By removing the seeds and trimming off the inner ribs, you'll minimize the heat, but NOT eliminate it entirely. (And, really, why are you buying hot peppers if you want to neuter them?)

And now, modified from an original recipe from Central Market in Houston, the finest food store/kitchen emporium on the face of the planet, here's a Hatch Green Chile Stew recipe that will come out about Tabasco-hot if made with the mild chiles. It's got a complexity of flavor that will have you grabbing a second bowl even as the sweat breaks out on your forehead. I recommend serving it over rice, even though the recipe has potatoes.

Ingredients

2 lb. boneless pork (sirloin is best), cubed bite-size
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 c. chopped yellow onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
¼ c. flour
2 ½ c. canned chopped, peeled tomatoes, undrained
1 ½ c. roasted mild Hatch green chiles, peeled and chopped
1 ¾ tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
½ tsp. sugar
3 medium new potatoes, cut into ½-inch cubes
3 cups chicken broth

Heat olive oil in large stew pot over medium heat. Add cubed pork and brown lightly.

Add onion and garlic and sauté for 4 minutes, stirring frequently. Add flour and continue cooking for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until flour begins to brown slightly.

Add tomatoes, chiles, salt, pepper and sugar and mix well. Stir in potatoes. Pour in broth.

Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, for 1 ½ hours, until pork is tender.

Serve over hot cooked rice, just as you would chili.

YIELD: 8 hungry-person servings

There are thousands of chile-based recipes out there, and chiles can add zip to everything from omelets to Hamburger Helper. Learn the palates of your diners and don't be afraid to explore!

Got a comment? Question? Recipe to share? Drop me a line anytime!