Ask any New Mexican resident or New Mexican food enthusiast about what makes New Mexican food different or better than any other food, and their faces light up with excitement. Locals speak of fall. A time of the year when the smell of roasting chiles permeates the air. New Mexican food is all about the chile.
Chile festivities in New Mexico are a dearly held tradition. It is the time of year when locals fill up their freezers with freshly grown, freshly roasted Hatch chile.
With all that chile being celebrated, grown, roasted, sold and eaten, there has to be a safe way to handle the delicacies. Read on for tips on how to handle red chile stains, meat handling tips, vegetable cleanliness, red chile powder vs. pods, and other great tips for your New Mexican cooking delight.
1. Chile Handling
New Mexican food is all about the chiles. Therefore, many of the cooking tips revolve around chiles.
When cooking chile, know that there may be chile oil residue on fingernails or underneath fingernails that is not fully washed off. Wear gloves when handling chiles, but especially if peeling.
If chile makes its way to your eyes, immediately wash your hands with warm soapy water. Splash cold water in your affected eye and use 'Refresh Eye Wash' to soothe the burning sensation. Prevention is always key.
If chile makes its way to your eyes, immediately wash your hands with warm soapy water. Splash cold water in your affected eye and use 'Refresh Eye Wash' to soothe the burning sensation. Prevention is always key.
2. Red Chile Stains
If red chile makes its way onto your clothes, treat as quickly as possible. Hot water and soap on the fabric should remove the stain. If the item is fine silk or other fine fabric, use soda water to tap the stain off. Keeping a box of borax near by is also a good idea.
3. NaCl
The bright red color of a chile stain or a wine stain will turn brown if salt is poured on it. You can then use hot water and soap to remove the stain.
4. When all other stain removers fail, use Rit
If after a week of that delicious meal, you are doing laundry and it is then that you notice a chile stain, the time for other remedies has expired. Rit is sold in white, brown, blue, pink and a few other colors. I have used it on a white dress that had red chile stains and they came off.
Prevention is always key. Wearing an apron is highly recommended.
5. Frozen Meat Handling
When meat is frozen, the flavor structure expands and can break. If meat is thawed out slowly, the liquid stays inside the cellular structures maintaining the flavor integrity. If the meat is thawed out rapidly, the cellular structure breaks, the liquid is released, the nutrition is lost, the flavor is lost and especially with chicken breast, the meat will be very dry.
Most health departments warn that bacteria grows between 100 degrees and boiling point. Maintaining meat at these temperatures will provide bacteria with optimum conditions for growth.
6. Sear Meat
Whether using an oven or stove top, searing meat at very high temperatures, before lowering for slow cooking will ensure that bacteria is killed. The searing will force meat juices out, will kill the bacteria and you can then slow cook in those flavorful juices safely. (For roasts, sear for no less than 15 minutes before lowering temperature)
A constant boil for over 5 minutes will also kill bacteria.
7. Wash veggies
According to Jane Butel, chef, author, and cook extraordinaire, "Old Mexico uses iodine in water to clean vegetables." Here in New Mexico, we have very hard water and water alone is not an optimal practice for properly cleaning vegetables.
Vegetables that are gown on soil or in the ground are exposed to human and animal waste. Who hasn't seen or read about an E-coli or listeria outbreak?
There are other products, such as Fit (natual) or Calgon (chemical) that are commonly used to clean produce. I personally prefer to use Fit, citrus juices, or all natural essential oils mixed with water to clean the surfaces of all vegetables.
8. Wash Lettuce
If lettuce is a vegetable, why is it in a category of its own? Lettuce is a key ingredient in most New Mexican dishes. In order to keep lettuce crispy, fresh and clean, some cooks wash and place in the fridge with paper towels.
Ms. Jane Butel warns that even if lettuce is washed and placed nicely in the fridge with paper towels, "lettuce will still be recontaminated." She advises to place a clean cloth after being washed in stead of the paper towels. But be warned, the vegetable will still spoil faster, than if left in original condition.
Also, using iodine to wash lettuce or any other vegetable will not alter the taste of the vegetable. It will simply kill the bacteria.
9. Red chile powder vs Pods
When you buy red chile powder, the label on the bag is very clear: hot, medium, mild. When you buy pods, there is no way of knowing the intensity of the chile. If you are looking for a consistency in your cooking, powder seems to be the better choice.
If using pods, boiling, stewing, blending, and draining the cellulose coating will all be part of the fun. Using powder avoids all of these steps.
Also note that not all powder chile is created equal. Some contain chemicals to prevent the chile from clumping and more chemicals to prevent color loss. Make sure your supplier is selling pure powder without silicates or color stabilizers.
Chile loosing its color is a clear indication that the nutrition is gone as well.
Keeping chile powder in glass containers in the fridge or freezer is the best way to keep it fresh and to keep nutrition in tact.
Adding a bit of cumin while cooking and a bit after cooking will also give red chile a fantastic flavor.
Finally, remember that cooking chile over 300 degrees, will burn it.
10. TOO HOT!
What to do if your chile dish gives you a delicious knock out?
Lime juice, as well as all things vinegary will soothe the burn and will help lower the hotness of a dish. In old Mexico, after chiles are roasted and peeled, the chiles are soaked overnight in lime juice prior to cooking the next day.
Animal fat, dairy fat (ice cream) or anything sweet will also help the heat of a burning mouth. Sopapillas, a New Mexico classic is a very tasty aid for your burn.
If all else fails, drink beer, wine, or margaritas!
Jane Butel - Chef, Author, Teacher
I would like to thank the amazing lady that made this article possible. You are truly the expert of cooking New Mexican food!
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