Hatch chilies
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There was a discussion of Hatch chilies on WTF some months ago. We never see them here in NYC but was surprised to see canned Hatch (with a trademark!) chilies at a Manhattan grocery store. Don’t know how authentic they are, but the label does say they are packed in Albuquerque.
Tasted the hot ones, they are OK, but any canned vegetable is a poor representative of the fresh item.
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Hatches are great, but there are other green chiles that are as well. I always have some small cans and some from Bueno in the freezer.
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@Mik Have you tried Bueno tortillas? They're the best unless you have someone willing to make them by hand.
@Nina said in Hatch chilies:
Have you tried Bueno tortillas? They're the best unless you have someone willing to make them by hand.
Hadn't heard of Bueno. Looked them up and see they have chicken Hatch chile tamales, which sound delicious.
Sadly, their products aren't sold in my neck of the woods.
As the saying goes, no Bueno.
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We see a dozen nice varieties of tortillas here (big Mexican population) but no Bueno.
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@Mik Have you tried Bueno tortillas? They're the best unless you have someone willing to make them by hand.
@Nina said in Hatch chilies:
@Mik Have you tried Bueno tortillas? They're the best unless you have someone willing to make them by hand.
No but I would if we got them here. Their frozen tamales are awesome. I like to nuke up a couple and put a couple poached eggs on top. Great spicy breakfast.
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Glad to see some expert advice in this thread. I am sure that Nina knows chilis and I will look for the tortillas at Walmart that Jodi cited.
In recent years, our local Giant Eagle has roasted and sold Hatch chilis outside the supermarket when they are in season.
We got video and pictures of some people we know here making hot sauce yesterday. They showed a big bowl of little red chilis, a lineup of blenders being used to prepare the sauce, and bottles being filled with it. From the facial expressions of one taster, I would judge that it is hotter than I might prefer.
Big Al
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Hatch season is around Labor Day. Fresh chiles are great, but cooking them into a chile sauce is a risky enterprise! You never quite know how hot your batch of Hatch will be. I have trouble with really incendiary specimens. After roasting them (like Italian roasted peppers), you peel off the skin and remove the seeds. This can do a number on your hands if you're not careful. On your eyes too if you're around the aerosols too long. Then you cook 'em with some onion and garlic and oregano etc. to create a chile sauce to use on all sorts of things.
I can't imagine working with the chile varieties that are double, triple, or orders of magnitude hotter than Hatch. I just don't see the point.
I think the canned ones are just fine cooked into recipes that call for a fair bit of them.
