Home > Relish Austin > Archives > 2010 > August > 17
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Hatch Madness: Putting famous green chile peppers to a blind taste test
With a little marketing help, Hatch chiles have become the rockstars of the pepper world.
Few produce items, much less peppers, have as many rabid fans as the green chiles that come from the small town of Hatch, N.M., but I’m sure garden blogger Renee Studebaker isn’t the first to wonder what all the fuss is about.
Chuy’s started hosting a green chile festival 22 years ago, but Hatch fever really caught on when Central Market launched its Hatch festival 15 years ago. Austinites suddenly had a ready supply of the peppers, both raw and roasted, that they could freeze and enjoy year-round. Central Market is now the largest buyer of Hatch green chiles, and the company now produces and sells dozens of Hatch products, including sausages, tortillas and even gelato.
But are Hatch peppers really that much better than Anaheims, your garden-variety green chiles that are available year-round? To find out, I asked Jill and Kevin Lewis of Austin Slow Burn to do a blind taste test for a new series I’m starting on Relish Austin called Feed Me Blind. (See footnote for more information on how to participate or send in suggestions.)
When it comes to peppers and all things hot, there are few people in Austin as knowledgeable as Jill and Kevin, who’ve been making some of the best salsas and fiery foods in Austin since the mid 1990s. They are fixtures on the hot sauce scene, and Hatch season is just about the busiest time of year for them.
We shot this video on Tuedsay in the Statesman studio, where I served them two quesadillas: one made with roasted hot Hatch chiles that I bought at Central Market and the other made with roasted Anaheims from H-E-B.
Could they tell a difference? Watch the video to find out:
Think you could taste the difference between Coke and Pepsi? What about farm fresh eggs versus store bought? Ketchup made with high fructose corn syrup versus ketchup made without it? We’ll be putting foods (and the people who swear they can tell the difference) to the test on Feed Me Blind, an occasional series on Relish Austin. Have a favorite food or drink you know you could pick out by taste alone or a suggestion for two items we should test? E-mail me at abroyles@statesman.com, and maybe I’ll ask to put a blindfold on you to find out if you’re right.
Photos by Mike Sutter and video by Jenni Jones for the Austin American-Statesman.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment Categories: Feed Me Blind
Hatch Madness: Central Market recipe contest, classes and Chuy’s special menu
The only thing hotter than the temperatures outside this time of year are the green chiles being trucked in from the small town of Hatch, N.M., by local grocery stores and restaurants.
The beloved Hatch chiles are hotter this year than most, says Lee Crenshaw, a longtime produce buyer with Central Market who helped create the Hatch mania that now descends on Central Texas every August.
“Hatch peppers are a variety of Anaheim peppers,” but in order to be called Hatch peppers, they have to grow in or near Hatch, N.M., Crenshaw says. “The soil and climate is what gives those peppers distinct characteristics.”
This year marks the 15th year of Central Market’s Hatch festivities, but now you can find both roasted and unroasted Hatch peppers at dozens of stores around Central Texas, including H-E-B and Whole Foods (the peppers cost $1.29 per pound raw and $2.79 per pound roasted at Central Market and H-E-B, $1.99 per pound raw and $6 per pound roasted at Whole Foods.) Both Whole Foods Market stores in Austin will be hosting free Hatch events from noon to 3 p.m. Aug. 28.
Home cooks have until Aug. 19 to submit their recipe online into Central Market’s annual No-Holds-Barred recipe contest. Two winners, one for both the Westgate and North Lamar stores, will go home with 75 pounds of roasted Hatch chile peppers and a $100 gift card. Marianne Roeder was one of the winners last year with her roasted chile and corn pizza (see recipe below).
Chuy’s annual green chile festival, now in its 22nd year, kicks off Aug. 30, runs through Sept. 19 and will feature six new dishes laced with — or in some cases drowning in — Hatch chiles, including chile-spiced grilled tilapia roja, spinach queso blanco with pepper jack cheese and chiles, roasted pork enchiladas with a green chile salsa costeña and Hatch green chile fajita beef tacos. You can also buy the spicy Hatch green chile sauce in the stores ($6.39 for 16 ounces, $11.59 for 32 ounces).
Don’t know a thing about Hatch? Check out some of the Hatch-themed cooking classes at the North Lamar Central Market and the Whole Foods Market downtown.
Central Market classes include: Hatch quick-fire challenge ($50) at 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 30 featuring Parkside chef Shawn Cirkiel and Central Market executive chef Larry Guilbeau, Hatch chile fiesta ($50) at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 2 with Aunt Pearl Burras of Greater Tuna fame and Hotter Than Hatch with cooking instructor Scot Loranc at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 4 ($40).
At Whole Foods Market, Indian culinary expert Chaya Rao will teach a Hatch chiles and vegetarian global cuisine class ($45) at 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 26.
Roasted Chile and Corn Pizza
For crust:
2 cups unbleached flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp. turbinado sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. instant yeast
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened and cut into pieces
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
2 roasted Hatch chiles, finely diced
1 cup water
For sauce:
1 7 ounce jar tomato paste
1/2 cup red wine
1 Tbsp. chile oil
1 tsp. cumin
salt, to taste
Toppings:
About 14 oz. grated part-skim mozzarella cheese
Chopped onion
Chopped green bell pepper
Chopped tomato
2 roasted Hatch chiles, chopped
Roasted corn, cut off of the cob
About 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
For crust, mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add softened butter and mix thoroughly. Add cilantro and chiles; mix well. Slowly add water until dough forms a smooth, non-sticky ball. Cover and let rise in a warm place 1-2 hours until doubled. Gently deflate and split into two equal pieces, let rest 10 minutes then roll into circles and place on greased pizza pans.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, mix together tomato paste, wine, chile oil, cumin and salt. Spread a thin layer of sauce on pizza dough, top with mozzarella and desired amounts of toppings. Sprinkle Parmesan on top and bake 30 minutes or until done. Makes two pizzas.
— Marianne Roeder
Photos by Larry Kolvoord for the Austin American-Statesman.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Grocery goods, Playing with your food
