Red or Green?
By Mary Ellen Ipiotis
Is it chile or chili? Even the spelling of the word evokes discussion. It depends on where you’re at, who you’re asking and which menu you’re looking over. I tend to spell chile with an “e” at the end because it feels better and sounds more flavorful.
By Mary Ellen Ipiotis
Is it chile or chili? Even the spelling of the word evokes discussion. It depends on where you’re at, who you’re asking and which menu you’re looking over. I tend to spell chile with an “e” at the end because it feels better and sounds more flavorful.
This amazing plant and its various varieties grow from the fertilized ovaries of a flower and since it contains seeds, therefore defined as a fruit by the scientific community. Chile is also referred to as chili pepper, as colorful as it is spicy, could easily be considered soul food, a food of comfort and can be highly addictive to one’s pallet. Whether sweet, mild, hot, extra hot or just too hot to really enjoy by the average set of taste buds, it’s a savory addition to many a meal. To go with the red or green with your meal is so important a question to local diners … New Mexico lawmakers passed a bill legislating “Red or Green?’’ the official state question.
There are a few factors involved with one’s final decision when preparing or ordering in a restaurant, and of course depends on who is making it and what you’re in the mood for. You will more than likely hear the question pop-up while visiting any number of Albuquerque’s favorite spots that offer good New Mexican fare and includes red or green chile, and quite different from salsa in taste and texture, yes spicy and scrumptious but better paired with chips for dipping or to add on a taco or nacho’s, as a topping. Salsa is usually a chunky, tomato based dip type thing, similar to a relish and not typically asked for in your enchiladas, tamales, chile rellenos (ree-en-ohz), a battered chile pod stuffed with cheese, or smothering a mouth watering combo plate. It’s the chile sauce, like a gravy or caldo (stew), soupy kind of chile you want with your meal. A nice chopped, green chile, garlic salt, maybe a few diced tomatoes and onions is another way people around here love their chile served and is sure to put a smile on a hungry face in an instant, when it’s available and fresh. The smell alone, can cause one to salivate as the air around various neighborhoods and growers markets fills with the intoxicating scent of fresh green chile pods roasting on grills fabricated specifically for this time of year when chile must be roasted to perfection, peeled and gladly eaten throughout the year.
Now if you are thinking of ordering the very popular breakfast of Huevos (wev-ohz) Ranchero’s) usually consisting of eggs, cooked to your liking, hash browns or papitas (diced spuds), a little cheese, maybe pinto beans on the side and a nice garnish of lettuce and tomatoes on a corn or flour tortilla, in addition to a tortilla on the side to bring it all together…can be a masterful Diego Rivera or a disappointment if the eggs aren’t cooked the way you had hoped. Chile is a must with this local favorite, often thought of as a tremendous cure for the “cruda” (pronounced croo-tha) and means hung-over, maybe incurred after a steamy night of drinking and Salsa dancing which is a another thing all together, and not to be mistaken with the tasty appetizer, but can make you sweat even more than the sassy snack, that is salsa. Red, green or “Christmas” which means both red and green, not necessarily the best way to go if you don’t get into the spicy stuff. Definitely, the kind of decisions I like to make.
Indeed to go red or green is the question and one that can make your mouth water with just the thought of. I learned to fully appreciate chile when I lived up in the Pacific North West, while a fire fighter with the US Forest Service. To my dismay, I soon realized chile is not anywhere, nearly as a big deal there, as it is in my beloved Albuquerque and throughout New Mexico. I resorted to mixing a life saving, chemical alchemy of ketchup and Tabasco sauce as my make shift chile. I felt deprived of one of the staples of life. How would I survive without it? I adapted and modified accordingly but found myself often craving the real deal from home. To this day I feel sorry for people who know better, but do not have access to the liquid gold I was raised on and enjoy pretty much daily.
I can appreciate when someone comes to town on an annual pilgrimage to procure a sack or two of chile and have it shipped out to their home elsewhere or why it’s so important for family or a true friend to send out a cache of the food of the god’s, to store in the freezer for those day’s you can’t live without it. And why chile runs through the very veins of generations, its roots deeply planted in the rich soil found along the Rio Grande River, where family history, traditions and chile recipe’s surround the past and present and so often at the heart of meals found in the kitchens of Albuquerque and throughout the state. By now the question begs to be asked; Which will it be for you? Red or Green?
There are a few factors involved with one’s final decision when preparing or ordering in a restaurant, and of course depends on who is making it and what you’re in the mood for. You will more than likely hear the question pop-up while visiting any number of Albuquerque’s favorite spots that offer good New Mexican fare and includes red or green chile, and quite different from salsa in taste and texture, yes spicy and scrumptious but better paired with chips for dipping or to add on a taco or nacho’s, as a topping. Salsa is usually a chunky, tomato based dip type thing, similar to a relish and not typically asked for in your enchiladas, tamales, chile rellenos (ree-en-ohz), a battered chile pod stuffed with cheese, or smothering a mouth watering combo plate. It’s the chile sauce, like a gravy or caldo (stew), soupy kind of chile you want with your meal. A nice chopped, green chile, garlic salt, maybe a few diced tomatoes and onions is another way people around here love their chile served and is sure to put a smile on a hungry face in an instant, when it’s available and fresh. The smell alone, can cause one to salivate as the air around various neighborhoods and growers markets fills with the intoxicating scent of fresh green chile pods roasting on grills fabricated specifically for this time of year when chile must be roasted to perfection, peeled and gladly eaten throughout the year.
Now if you are thinking of ordering the very popular breakfast of Huevos (wev-ohz) Ranchero’s) usually consisting of eggs, cooked to your liking, hash browns or papitas (diced spuds), a little cheese, maybe pinto beans on the side and a nice garnish of lettuce and tomatoes on a corn or flour tortilla, in addition to a tortilla on the side to bring it all together…can be a masterful Diego Rivera or a disappointment if the eggs aren’t cooked the way you had hoped. Chile is a must with this local favorite, often thought of as a tremendous cure for the “cruda” (pronounced croo-tha) and means hung-over, maybe incurred after a steamy night of drinking and Salsa dancing which is a another thing all together, and not to be mistaken with the tasty appetizer, but can make you sweat even more than the sassy snack, that is salsa. Red, green or “Christmas” which means both red and green, not necessarily the best way to go if you don’t get into the spicy stuff. Definitely, the kind of decisions I like to make.
Indeed to go red or green is the question and one that can make your mouth water with just the thought of. I learned to fully appreciate chile when I lived up in the Pacific North West, while a fire fighter with the US Forest Service. To my dismay, I soon realized chile is not anywhere, nearly as a big deal there, as it is in my beloved Albuquerque and throughout New Mexico. I resorted to mixing a life saving, chemical alchemy of ketchup and Tabasco sauce as my make shift chile. I felt deprived of one of the staples of life. How would I survive without it? I adapted and modified accordingly but found myself often craving the real deal from home. To this day I feel sorry for people who know better, but do not have access to the liquid gold I was raised on and enjoy pretty much daily.
I can appreciate when someone comes to town on an annual pilgrimage to procure a sack or two of chile and have it shipped out to their home elsewhere or why it’s so important for family or a true friend to send out a cache of the food of the god’s, to store in the freezer for those day’s you can’t live without it. And why chile runs through the very veins of generations, its roots deeply planted in the rich soil found along the Rio Grande River, where family history, traditions and chile recipe’s surround the past and present and so often at the heart of meals found in the kitchens of Albuquerque and throughout the state. By now the question begs to be asked; Which will it be for you? Red or Green?
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