Celebrating New Mexico: traditions surrounding a fall green chile roast

[patrickamory]

OMG Yum!

[bobag87]

Tonight was Tortilla making night.  I actually got 131 made (minus several that I ate).  Ingredients are the same as last year.  We are getting better at it.  Only took about 5 hours tonight from dough to finished tortillas.  And yes, I swear by White Lilly Flour on this.  Thanks to staff for setting up a compromise board on this.  I promise, 250 pounds of hatch chiles show up tomorrow.

 

 

Edited September 14, 2015 by Smithy
Rotated photos per member request (log)

[bobag87]

By the way, as always, no one can complain about the asymmetrical tortillas.  I am not a good roller.

[Smithy]

Impressive! I like the looks of the work area, as well as the product.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Tonight was Tortilla making night.  I actually got 131 made (minus several that I ate).  Ingredients are the same as last year.  We are getting better at it.  Only took about 5 hours tonight from dough to finished tortillas.  And yes, I swear by White Lilly Flour on this.  Thanks to staff for setting up a compromise board on this.  I promise, 250 pounds of hatch chiles show up tomorrow.

 

By the way, as always, no one can complain about the asymmetrical tortillas.  I am not a good roller.

 

bobaga87,

 

They look like lovingly handmade creations to share with special folks you care about a lot. I really appreciate your sharing of this fiesta with us here on eG. Thank you!

 

Edit: I also swear by White Lily flour, but it's usually for biscuits or cakes.

Edited September 10, 2015 by Thanks for the Crepes (log)

[Shelby]

Your tortillas look absolutely perfect to me. 

[blue_dolphin]

Looks great!  And I enjoyed the sneak peek of your cookbook shelf, too!

[bobag87]

We have Chiles!  Better photos will come later but they are here and awesome.  Tonight and tomorrow night are long nights.  

[bobag87]

Tonight's photos.  We processed the last of the 2014 Green Chiles and used them to make Queso and Green Chile Dip.  Made Chicken Stock for all of the stews.  Soaked the Chicos, Posole and Pinto Beans to get them ready to make the stews tomorrow night.  We made 14 quarts of Red Chile Sauce from dried and roasted red chile pods blended with the ingredients described in the tamale posts.  I never posted in the cook book thread, so here is my treasured shelf both for cookbooks and for some of our favorite Native American art pieces from New Mexico and Arizona.  The next few days will be a blur so I likely won't post much until we are done, but Happy Chile Roast to the eG folks!

Edited September 11, 2015 by bobag87 (log)

[andiesenji]

By the way, as always, no one can complain about the asymmetrical tortillas.  I am not a good roller.

When my Mexican neighbor was teaching me the "tricks" of tortilla making, she told me my "pin" was too long.  Her husband made hers from a 1 1/2 inch dowel rod - cut to 12 inches, so it could be rolled with the palm of the hand.

He made one for me too and it made a lot of difference in that I could roll with one hand while turning the tortilla with the other. 

[Shelby]

So much work Bobag!!!!  I am tired just thinking about it  Can't wait to see more  Your red sauce is beautiful.

[Chimayo Joe]

Wow! Impressive and mouthwatering. I'm a red chile freak. I could drink the stuff as a beverage.

[bobag87]

Chiles are here and the weather has gone crazy for Texas and cooled down. Long night ahead but taking five minutes to catch our breath.

[Okanagancook]

The small pin is like the ones you can buy at Asian stores. They are used for rolling dumplings and yes, much easier to turn the dough as you roll and with the dumplings one can roll the edges thinner so when they are pleated the dough doesn't get too thick.

Thank you for posting your kitchen endeavours. Everything looks very flavourful!

[bobag87]

All right sorry no updates, but it has been a blur of Chile Roast and recovery.  Yesterday was a lot of fun.  It is a family tradition and lots of cousins, nieces and nephews helped out.  In fact, with all the food and guests, I rarely get to enjoy standing over the grill and roasting.  Luckily, we had a good team and even made staff shirts this year for the folks who actually work.  

[bobag87]

So here is some of Friday night. The pictures trailed off as we were not focused on anything other than cooking.  A pic of the Staff shirts we had made for the roasters.  We always infuse tequila with chile.  A pot of queso with red and green chile.  

Edited September 14, 2015 by Smithy
Rotated photos per member request (log)

[bobag87]

And here are the chiles.  We ordered 150 lbs of Med Hot Big Jims, 50 lbs of Hot Sandia, and 50 lbs of extra hot.  The ristras on the outside are NM red chile.  Hung up for decoration, we always get untreated so we can use the chiles during the year.  Also, we smoke meat for all of the guests.  We did 3 briskets, 3 pork shoulders and 3 racks of beef ribs on the smoker.  No rub other than salt as we serve it with Red Chile BBQ sauce and pure Red Chile pure.  

 

Edited September 14, 2015 by Smithy
Rotated photos per member request (log)

[bobag87]

So the stews are the traditional New Mexico fare.  Three more racks of beef ribs were boiled.  Then cut up and added to onions, garlic, chicken stock, green chile and chicos.  The rare Native American smoked corn.  Posole was made with onions, garlic, chicken stock, pork tenderloin, possible and red chile sauce.  A pot of pinto beans with Habenero cured bacon, onions, beans and green chile.  Salsa was made with tomatoes smoked on the smoker, green chile, onion, garlic, lime and cilantro.  We also had the usual green chile dip as described last year, New Mexico Red Chile bloody mary mix, Sangria as a chaser for the tequila, etc.

 

Edited September 14, 2015 by Smithy
Rotated photos per member request (log)

[bobag87]

Ingredients for Chicos, the rare NM green chile and smoked corn stew.  Beef Ribs, Onions and Garlic, Green Chile and Soaked Chicos.  Simmered for hours with Chicken Stock and spices.  This is my favorite.

Edited September 14, 2015 by Smithy
Rotated photos per member request (log)

[bobag87]

So here is yesterday morning.  Smoker going, the stews on the stove. Our Senior Cousin who took the roasting lead.  And the set up for roasting with two of my cousins and my second cousin roasting.  The problem for me is the annual event has grown so much that I rarely get to do my favorite thing which is man the grill. 

[bobag87]

So we got it done on Saturday.  Little sleep and Sunday morning is always rough, but I found a bowl of chiles we had used to decorate with that had not been roasted.  I fired up the grill set up, which looks sad without the crowd, and got to roast a dozen chiles or so.  Tradition dictates that the roasters get fed home made tortillas with butter, salt and a freshly roasted green chile. That was what the homemade tortillas were for. I did not get one on the actual day of chile roast, but my lovely wife put some tortillas aside.  I got to roast chiles, have a tortilla and drink the awful, horrible Fosters beer which somehow my late father introduced into the Roast years ago. Now every roaster has to drink an oil can in memory of his continuing on of the tradition and his terrible taste in beer.  Happy Chile Roast 2015.  I hope this series was at least entertaining.  (Also, FYI egullet staff, in New Mexico, it is always spelled Chile, not Chili).   Thanks for tolerating the posts and let me know if you have questions.

 

 

Edited September 14, 2015 by Smithy
Rotated photos per member request (log)

[FauxPas]

The series is hugely entertaining! I could read it every year without every getting bored. 

 

I loved the Foster's beer story, ha. 

 

So much lovely food. Lovely pics (wish I knew how to rotate them). I can smell the chiles roasting, can almost taste those stews. 

 

Awesome stuff, thank you so much for sharing. 

[IowaDee]

If you ever feel the need to adopt another cousin, keep me in mind.  What a wonderful  family tradition you have made and how lucky the people are who take part in it.  Like so many have said, thank you for taking the time to share with us!

[Shelby]

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.  Simply stunning the amount of beautiful food and prep and work.  Did you have any leftovers?  I bet you didn't!  

 

We just had enchiladas the other night and after reading your latest installment I want something like that again NOW.

 

About how many people do you feed?  This is all at your house, right?  I hope you got to freeze and keep a bit of food for all of your hard work

 

And, yeah, I could read this every year and NEVER be bored.   Please always post

[bobag87]

Shelby, we have an outside freezer so this is our chile crop for the year.  We give a ton away though.  This is at our house and I bet we had 150 or so people show up throughout the day.  It is always a big party.  Thanks for all the kind comments.  Now it is time to get some sleep.

 

Chad