Green Chile Covers the Southwest

While traveling with my friend Laury in Colorado and New Mexico last week, I kept encountering “green chile” on menus. The references confused me: Steaks, enchiladas, burritos, and hamburgers were all said to be served with green chile (always mentioned in the singular), frequently “smothered” in this green chile. How can a single green chile smother a steak? And why would it want to?

I finally realized that “green chile” is a sauce, not a vegetable. Rather, it’s a sauce prepared from the vegetable. New Mexican chiles, close relations to Anaheims, are charred, steamed, peeled, and chopped, then stewed with onions, spices, and bits of pork to make a thin sauce. Red chile, sometimes offered as an alternative to green chile, is made from the same variety: Allowed to ripen, the chiles are dried, ground, and formed into a sauce. The heat level of either color can vary, as it does with chiles, depending on the climate, the individual plant, its ripeness, and whether seeds and membranes are removed.

I’m told that in the Mountain West, burritos are never served wrapped in foil—they are always prone, sauced with red or green chile. A green chile cheeseburger can wear a bun or a sauce-soaked flour tortilla. Green chile stew is simply green chile with chopped potatoes. Chile tops French fries, grilled chicken, vegetables, and eggs. If you order something and the server asks “Red or green?” he or she is talking about the sauce. If you answer “Christmas,” you’ll get both.

Laury’s green chile recipe

8 fresh chiles (Anaheim, if you can’t find New Mexican)

2 tablespoons veggie oil

1 chopped onion

2 pounds trimmed boneless pork shoulder, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1 tablespoon flour

1 tsp ground cumin

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

4 cups chicken stock

Char the chiles over a gas flame, grill, or broiler until blacked. Steam them in paper bag 10 minutes, then peel, seed, and chop. Heat a saucepan over medium heat; add oil and onion and sauté until soft. Add pork and cook until the juices evaporate and the pork browns, stirring, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with flour and stir until incorporated. Add chopped chiles, cumin, and garlic, sauté 5 minutes. Add stock and simmer one hour, stirring occasionally. Season to taste with salt and pepper.