New Mexico red chile from pods

Red chile is made from New Mexican pods left to ripen and dry, often on a ristra. NMSU Guide E-327 calls for pods in good condition, with no mold, insect damage, disease or decay, and allows pods from a ristra unless it has been sprayed with plastic, shellac or insecticide. Twelve to fourteen large pods, stemmed and seeded, make about a pint of purée.

The pods are washed in warm water, lifted out and washed again several times, then covered with boiling water in a five-quart saucepan and left for thirty minutes, until the pulp is soft and separates easily from the skin. They are blended with enough fresh hot water to make a smooth purée and, if the cook chooses, passed through a sieve. The guide says the purée should be simmered ten minutes before further use or storage. Its enchilada sauce combines one cup of purée with a cup of water, garlic, salt and oil, simmered ten minutes, then finished with crushed Mexican oregano for five to seven minutes more. Dave DeWitt’s version differs by toasting the whole pods in a low oven before simmering them with onion and garlic.

The purée is a sauce in its own right and an ingredient in others. Carne adovada, pork long braised in red chile, is the dish the James Beard Foundation called perhaps the most characteristic of New Mexico. In restaurants the sauce is offered against green chile under the state question, red or green, and both together under its official answer, Christmas.