Red or Green?

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

Hola! I'm back! While I was away taking photos, taking notes, and every opportunity to sample and sup as much New Mexico cuisine as possible I pondered what I wanted to share and talk about in my journal when I finally got back.

In case the previous line didn't give hint... I decided to delve deeper into the topic of food.

New Mexico food is a country of it's own. It has it's roots, as one might suspect, in Mexican food, but if you sample the wares of our south of the border friends, or even our neighbors (Texas, Arizona, Colorado) around us, you'll realize that we have a flavor and a flair that is all our own. Part of it is because of Navajo food influences (Navajo Fry Bread and Blue Corn are two tiny examples) and other cultural influences as New Mexico has grown and changed over the last two hundred years.

New Mexican foods are present at almost every festival, celebrated occasion, and event. You can find evidence of it on almost every Native New Mexican table. Two staples you almost always find at a meal here are Tortillas, and chili. (red or green).

In June of 1999 New Mexico adopted the State Question: "Red or Green?" This does not refer to the traffic lights. It refers to our chili. (Read about the adoption of the Official Question, as Well as Our State Motto) Fabian Garcia, a horticulturist, is given much of the credit for the roots of what New Mexican's consider Our Chili. In the early 1900s Senor Garcia experimented with chili seeds. In 1907 he developed chili which became the standard chili for New Mexican chili. This is now known as the Anaheim. The chili has evolved since 1950 and is now considered a variety under the New Mexican pod type category. Understanding the difference between New Mexican Green and Red Chili's and other chili you may be able to purchase is hugely important because of flavor and results. Believe me when I say please don't try and use Bell Peppers when a recipe calls for Anaheim or New Mexican Green chili. Many a poor soul gave up on the wonders of New Mexican food because they used the wrong chili in a recipe.

So ... if I were going to host a dinner/buffet and have you all over to sample some of my favorites ... what would I serve you?

Green Chili Stew
Posole (Hominy Stew)
Tortillas (Mexican Flat Bread)
Sopapillas (Puffed, Hollow Bread)
Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas
Chili Relenos
Tamales
Navajo Fry Bread Tacos
Biscochitos (Anise Seed Cookies)
Flan Caramelisado (Carmel Custard)

Many of these recipes I gave links to come from the same site, but I tried to show you a few sites where the recipes are authentic. Really, if you are going to cook a lot of New Mexican food you should get a cookbook, and the one I love is called Simply Simpatico. (this link is to Barnes & Nobles).

Hope ya try a recipe ... if you do, I hope you drop me a line and tell me what you thought, ask questions.... lemme know what you think of our world famous cuisine here. :)

Great Links:

New Mexico Cuisine
Cosinas De New Mexico
Chili Information (The Chile Pepper Institute)
Hatch Chile Express
New Mexico Chili

The Bare Bones Truth

My good friend recently introduced me to her beau, a very nice young man originally from Virginia, now living for the moment in Utah. He was visiting his sweetheart hear in the Land of Enchantment, and she was showing him the sights.

I am not sure how the conversation steered in the direction of bones, (pardon the pun,) but he amazed at what he called our obsession with bones. My friend had found a tiny animal skull the week before, and was trying to clean it so she could use it for a decoration. He was surprised. (Surprised isn't the word, but disgust may be too strong. Maybe.) I pointed out the cow skulls in my yard, I have three in different areas of my garden, placed strategically so that mint, flowers, and strawberries grow in, and around them. His reaction was anything but subtle. I think he was beginning to suspect that he had stumbled onto the New Mexican version of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre".

Trying to placate him, I pointed out that hunters frequently keep the mounted heads of deer and other prey over fireplaces. Quite correctly he mentioned there is a difference between trophy mountings and keeping the bones of varmints found on the roadside.

I admit I was a t a loss for words and explanations, and so he left my home quite sure I am crazy.

It wasn't until he'd was long gone before I realized that my inclination for collecting bones isn't as morbid or as unusual as it sounds. The New Mexican culture I have grown up in is heavily laced with influences from many cultures, most pointedly, the Native Americans.

Historically Native Americans as a culture have used whatever was available to them in order to survive. Wood, shell, stone and beads and clay from the earth; meat, hide, hoof, horn, and bone from the animals they hunted. Never a culture for waste, they created flutes, tools, utensils, jewelry, and other decorations of all kinds from what was left.

When I was a little girl my grandmother gave me a bone-bead necklace for my birthday. I have seen cow skulls all around me, painted with riotous color hanging on the walls of even the Capital Building. I had a friend who owned a beautiful horn cup, made from the natural shedding of a huge mountain sheep.

I sometimes forget that everyone hasn't grown up this way. Even though I have lived and traveled all over the US and some of Europe, I often take for granted that everyone hasn't been a part of this rich experience I have owned.

It's a place like no other, and that's why I come home after so many years. It's why I and so many love this wonderful place we call The land of Enchantment.