Gastro Gnome - Eat Better Wherever

What's the deal with Hatch chilis? Need a quick answer!

One of the best parts about drawing a Gila archery elk tag is swinging by Sichler Farms south of Socorro and grabbing a few gunnysacks of chile. Medium is perfect for me. The last batch I got was mild, which I picked up thinking that we could still use them in anything we cook and still let our toddler eat it. The mild just isn't the same. Hot is just a little too much for this guy. There's nothing like a 24 hour drive home from hunting and then spending the entire next night up roasting and peeling chile peppers. They vacuum seal super well and you can enjoy them for a couple years. What a treat.
 
The area grocery store; HEB, mixes em in just about everything this time of year, no complaints on any of it yet
 
You live close enough to know the Pueblo Chiles are just a tad better that the Hatch variety ;)
Oh man, you went there ;) . To a New Mexican, saying that your green chile is better is like telling someone their kid is ugly. https://www.cpr.org/2019/07/10/grea...n-as-governors-trade-jabs-in-hatch-vs-pueblo/

Regardless of if they are from Pueblo or Hatch, roasted green chile is a staple. Any wild game will go well with some version of green chile. We put up about 2-3 bushels of roasted, peeled and diced chile in our freezer each year and pull it out for all of the obvious things like to put on burgers, pizza, eggs, and in all of the dishes like enchiladas or just as green chile sauce to slather over whatever you want. Mix it up if you like spice. Throw some in risotto, quiche, stews, pasta… you name it. Think of Forest Gump when they are talking about all the ways you can eat shrimp. Skies the limit.

The tips above are all great - get it roasted at the stand to save the time, twist up the plastic bag and let it sit up to a few hours so the skin comes of really easily, and then either put right into ziplock freezer bags with or without the skin still on in portion sizes you know you will use. I like taking a day each fall to peel it all and even dice it before putting it away to save the hassle when you pull out a bag. I have some with me here while we are out of town for a buddies wedding.

Last pro tip: buy it in mid to late September. Better flavor from the later crops.

mmmm
 

Attachments

  • 2246CA2C-B19F-4446-9A42-72566B59A8FB.jpeg
    2246CA2C-B19F-4446-9A42-72566B59A8FB.jpeg
    2 MB · Views: 5
Since I'm so far from NM or CO I just buy the 505 brand of roasted Hatch chiles found at some Wal-marts, Sam's Clubs and Costco's. There is a guy who usually trucks in a load to Charlotte along with his roaster and roasts them on site but since I don't always know when he's in town I can't count on that source.
 
Since I'm so far from NM or CO I just buy the 505 brand of roasted Hatch chiles found at some Wal-marts, Sam's Clubs and Costco's. There is a guy who usually trucks in a load to Charlotte along with his roaster and roasts them on site but since I don't always know when he's in town I can't count on that source.

505 is acceptable, I buy the 3-pack at Sam's club when I run out of the fresh stuff.
 
Oh yeah, I went there :)

Oh man, you went there ;) . To a New Mexican, saying that your green chile is better is like telling someone their kid is ugly. https://www.cpr.org/2019/07/10/grea...n-as-governors-trade-jabs-in-hatch-vs-pueblo/

Regardless of if they are from Pueblo or Hatch, roasted green chile is a staple. Any wild game will go well with some version of green chile. We put up about 2-3 bushels of roasted, peeled and diced chile in our freezer each year and pull it out for all of the obvious things like to put on burgers, pizza, eggs, and in all of the dishes like enchiladas or just as green chile sauce to slather over whatever you want. Mix it up if you like spice. Throw some in risotto, quiche, stews, pasta… you name it. Think of Forest Gump when they are talking about all the ways you can eat shrimp. Skies the limit.

The tips above are all great - get it roasted at the stand to save the time, twist up the plastic bag and let it sit up to a few hours so the skin comes of really easily, and then either put right into ziplock freezer bags with or without the skin still on in portion sizes you know you will use. I like taking a day each fall to peel it all and even dice it before putting it away to save the hassle when you pull out a bag. I have some with me here while we are out of town for a buddies wedding.

Last pro tip: buy it in mid to late September. Better flavor from the later crops.

mmmm
 
OK, thanks for all the fast replies. Think I'll get some and go from there. (y)
are they already roasted?Around here, Colo and SW you pull up and they roast ‘em on the spot and hand them to you.

Hard for hatch fans to hear, but chiles just as good are grown in colo….and I grew up on hatch chiles living in NM. We buy at least 3 bushels of roasted chiles
per year, usually one is poblanos.
 
Last edited:
Oh man, you went there ;) . To a New Mexican, saying that your green chile is better is like telling someone their kid is ugly. https://www.cpr.org/2019/07/10/grea...n-as-governors-trade-jabs-in-hatch-vs-pueblo/

Regardless of if they are from Pueblo or Hatch, roasted green chile is a staple. Any wild game will go well with some version of green chile. We put up about 2-3 bushels of roasted, peeled and diced chile in our freezer each year and pull it out for all of the obvious things like to put on burgers, pizza, eggs, and in all of the dishes like enchiladas or just as green chile sauce to slather over whatever you want. Mix it up if you like spice. Throw some in risotto, quiche, stews, pasta… you name it. Think of Forest Gump when they are talking about all the ways you can eat shrimp. Skies the limit.

The tips above are all great - get it roasted at the stand to save the time, twist up the plastic bag and let it sit up to a few hours so the skin comes of really easily, and then either put right into ziplock freezer bags with or without the skin still on in portion sizes you know you will use. I like taking a day each fall to peel it all and even dice it before putting it away to save the hassle when you pull out a bag. I have some with me here while we are out of town for a buddies wedding.

Last pro tip: buy it in mid to late September. Better flavor from the later crops.

mmmm
All very solid insights.

I am in the “bag ‘em and freeze with skins on and peel as use” camp. lol.
 
Last edited:
I live about a hour and a half from Hatch, we roasted, peeled, chopped, and froze 80 lbs. last Saturday. In late Sept. or so I will go get fresh red and put it up. That usually gets me through a year. We get the Big Jim variety, it is what it is, mostly mild, but some are so hot they lite you up. They are the biggest meatiest variety.
 
Thank you all! I bought 6 to try them out. Once I settled in and started looking I saw they are RELATED to an Anaheim pepper. Don't flame me! Everyone seems partial to their peppers and I'm a eat them or not type of guy. Plans are to do a bacon wrapped shrimp stuffed recipe with them. I'll try to post pics and results when they happen.

Thanks again.
 
Thank you all! I bought 6 to try them out. Once I settled in and started looking I saw they are RELATED to an Anaheim pepper. Don't flame me! Everyone seems partial to their peppers and I'm a eat them or not type of guy. Plans are to do a bacon wrapped shrimp stuffed recipe with them. I'll try to post pics and results when they happen.

Thanks again.
That sounds good Dave, let us know how you like them. We do the same thing with Jalapenos. Mostly with cream cheese and wrapped with bacon, but have done them with the shrimp.

Our FFA kids are doing their annual fund raiser which is a chile sale. They will roast and sale 10,000 lbs. of chile this weekend.
 
Last edited:
Lots of great info already. Eat them a ton, more so when my mom lived in NM. Heat is usually not bad, like a midwest jalapeno. But can be as hot as a habanero if the grower worked his magic on them haha!

Great on burgers, or the New Mexico classic pizza: pepperoni and green chilis... Yummm
Are these available around us?
 
Kenetrek Boots

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
113,668
Messages
2,029,008
Members
36,276
Latest member
Eller fam
Back
Top