I made a recipe that called for dried guajillo and New Mexico chilis. I found guajillos no problem. I went to several stores, including stores with a lot of international stuff, and couldn't find New Mexico dried chilis. I substituted Anchos, and the dish came out good, but I'd like to try it with what the recipe called for. The recipe was for a braised pork. Where can I buy these? I know I can get them online, but they must sell them in a big city?
P.S. I didn't see Hatch chilis either which I think is the same as a NM chili.
Where do you live? I see dried NM chiles all the time in Boston area supermarket chain stores. I might be wrong, but I think Hatch chiles are sold fresh and also roasted, frozen or canned; they are green if fresh, and they are grown in New Mexico. The dried NM chiles are red, they may well be dried Hatch chiles, but they are usually sold labeled simply "New Mexico".
Maybe I've been looking in the wrong section. I've been looking by the dried Mexican chili's. I'm in Chicago.
"Maybe I've been looking in the wrong section. I've been looking by the dried Mexican chili's. "
I think that's the most likely problem, New Mexico chiles really aren't a "Mexican" chile as such. (They're "sort of" like guajillos, but not quite the same. And very different from the poblano-type anchos and mulatos.)
I don't think I've ever seen NMs (much less "Hatch" chiles) at a Mexican grocery store, or even under a Mexican brand or in a "Mexican foods" section of larger mainstream supermarkets. They tend to get "placed" somewhat randomly at the grocery stores here that carry them, but more often than not they're in or near the produce section, if that helps any...
And those random stacks in produce refers to the fresh variety and coincide with their season. Dried ones though, should be readily available year round, no?
"The typical season for chile here in the Hatch Valley runs from the first of August through the end of September. However, depending on the weather, we may have chile coming off by mid July. Some years, we've even harvested into the third week of October due to warm weather."
I don't think I've ever seen dried Hatch chiles per se for sale locally, though I have seen ristras and wreaths being sold in catalogs/online, but no, I meant the dried New Mexico chiles, usually in packages, at mainstream supermarkets anyway (though sometimes sold loose by weight, elsewhere). I guess on the general rationale that they're still "produce" even though they're dried? And stuff like dried fruit, dried tomatoes, and nuts often end up there too, so I guess it makes as much sense as putting them anywhere else...
Yes, in other parts of the country they are in the produce section when in season and some places even roast on the premises. Of course we don't have that in New York City. :(
well, in Boston area small Mexican markets the New Mexico dried chiles are right next to all the Mexican dried chiles. Same in the local chain supermarkets...all the dried chiles are together. My area has more Central American immigrants than from Mexico, maybe they use New Mexico chiles more that those from Mexico. I don't know. They are readily available in the packages year round. In some markets they are in the produce section along with dried fruit and jarred sun-dried tomatoes and jarred garlic, while, say, the canned artichokes are in the canned vegetable aisle.
Interesting. In the mainstream supermarkets that carry them here, whichever types they have are usually all in the same place, but availability is superficially random and I never really "expect" to find them at mainstream supermarkets at all (unless I've seen them there before). And again, the small specifically-Mexican places hereabouts never seem to have them. But then the overwhelming majority of the Mexican immigrants here are from Puebla (or thereabouts) and the Mexican grocery stores - the greater number of of which have sprung up here only in the past 10 or so years - carry a pretty a limited range of mostly "staple" products targeted to that specific demographic. In a few of the longer-established pan-Latin neighborhoods you will find much larger supermarket sections with subsections for a number of different nationalities, and sometimes slightly more esoteric products, but the smaller independent grocery stores tend to target, and be patronized by, much more nationality- and region-specific customer bases...
You want Tony's Finer Foods. They are sprinkled around town. The new one on Lincoln just above Foster is big and clean. The old one at Fullerton and Central Park, not so much, but this Hispanic chain has a wall of dried peppers in all its stores. And all other Hispanic products.
The link below goes to a post from Querencia, about ethnic groceries in Chicago. You could try calling the place she mentions (#6) for Hispanic goods; maybe they will have suggestions even if they don't have the chiles. https://www.chowhound.com/post/academ...
You could also ask the mods to add "in Chicago" to your title, and/or to move the thread to the Chicago board. Meanwhile, I agree with Madrid about their looks - see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Mex...
Have you looked in Capitals, at Grand & Harlem? They have lots of dried herbs and spices, piprimarily from Mexico but they npmaybhave them.
God bless autocorrect, which transform “Caputo’s” into Capitals! The full name of the store is Angelo Caputo’s Fresh Market, https://maps.apple.com/place?address=...
To generalize: in Chicaco Caputo's sells Italian goodies, Shop & Save sells Eastern European goodies, and Tony's Finer Foods sells Hispanic goodies. Jewel is mainstream, WholeFoods is fancy, Trader Joe's is, well, Trader Joe's. Devon Avenue is Indian/Pakistani. And Treasure Island is history.
Q, while the ethnic background of the Caputo family is, obviously, Italian and they do stock a lot of Italian products, they also carry a large slection of Hispanic products both in the produce and grocery sections and, to a lesser extent, Asian foods. As Eldon Kreidr and I both reported, they do in fact stock the NM peppers that the OP is seeking. (Tony’s may too and, depending on where the OP lives, that may be a more convenient source for him.)
I agree. Though Caputo's started as Italian and still has a good amount of Italian oriented stuff, I think their product mix has shifted due to demographic changes. Caputo's is not really close to me. The Tony's on Fullerton didn't have NM chilis, but I will try another Tony's. Jewel had a pretty basic assortment of dried chilis and no NM chilis.
I was in the Caputo's at Grand and Harlem this afternoon. They carry the same brand as Tony's with a smaller and somewhat different selection. This store has both New Mexico and California dried chiles toward the west end of the same wall as has the bulk dried fruits.
In Chicago you should have no problem. I recommend any branch of Tony's Finer Foods, a small chain of large supermarkets featuring all foods Latino. All have a whole department of spices and chilis in little bags hanging up on a frame. If it's convenient for you, the store on Lincoln just a door or two above Foster is big and new and clean. The store at Fullerton and Central Park is sometimes a bit yucky but has the full complement of dried chilis.
I tried Tony's and Valli Produce. They had all kinds of chili's but no New Mexico. That is unless they are somewhere else and not with all the Mexican style of chilis.
Tony's stores are extremely uneven in size and what they carry. I can say that the store on Lincoln just north of Foster is one of the larger stores but not as large as some Super Tony's. This store has a much larger selection of Mi Costenita spices and dried chiles than most. A three-ounce package of Chile Nuevo Mexico costs $1.79. They are in aisle 1 near the checkout end and fairly high up in the rack.
by Jen Wheeler | Need a spring vegetable guide to what's in season? Consider this your spring produce cheat sheet—complete...
by Rachel Johnson | Whether the kids are still distance learning or returning to a classroom, with school back in session...
by Kelly Magyarics | You’ve sprung for a gorgeous piece of enameled cast iron cookware; protect your investment by cleaning...
by Debbie Wolfe | Home chefs love wood cutting boards because they are durable and reliable. Wood boards are attractive...