Hatch Chile Festival - Sept. 1-3

[barelfly]

That’s right, just like the festival of so many getting their hands on the green chile around the country, Hatch, NM is hosting their annual Hatch Chile Festival this coming weekend, Sept. 1-3. I’ve never been but I think we will make it this year as it’s about 30 minutes away from our lake house.

There are various activities that go on, parade to kick off the Saturday, carnival, Chile Queen crowning, music and of course - a chile eating contest!

but, one of the special guests this year will be Cowboy Kent Rollins! He’s there on Saturday afternoon. I don’t know if we will be there when he is scheduled to talk or do a cook, but that’s pretty cool!

if you are interested in looking at the schedule, it’s here - it’s not much - Hatch is a tiny town of 1,700 people or so.

https://hatchchilefestival.org/

I’ll post up some photos of the festivities as well as any other photos I can get of Hatch and the crops that are near the roads back on this post later in the week!

[Willy]

The Chile Fest is fun, hokey small town parade and all! I finally learned how to tie a ristra there. If you can, eat at Sparky's--BBQ, green chile burgers, neat kitsch; though it will be crowded. We also tried a Mexican restaurant in Hatch (shall go nameless) and were, surprisingly, not impressed. For those needing to stay over night, your best bet is Las Cruces, or maybe Deming or Truth or Consequences. It's a nice backroad drive from Deming, or...you can take I-10 and I-25 (nah).

Oh, you might even want to buy some chiles. ;-) fresh, roasted, roasted and frozen, dried, ristras, powders, jarred salsas--they're all there. IF anyone is selling chile-laced chocolates or chile peanut brittle (both a la Senor Murphy's in Santa Fe), give 'em a try! Chile and chocolate is a match made in heaven. So is chile peanut brittle.

[58limited]

One of these years I'll make it there for the festival...

[Bad Hat BBQ]

Sounds like a good time. We will be visiting Woodstock NY (Catskills, Kingston, etc) late Sept and plan to attend a near-by Garlic Festival....I generally pass on State Fairs but food & wine festivals can be a fun distraction.

[Jim White]

Enjoy! Looking forward to the pictures.

[barelfly]

Had a blast at the Festival today. Never been and enjoyed it. For a town of 1,700 people, this weekend’s festival probably just made the year for these small shops throughout the town. We went early, there by 10am and got to walk around and enjoy the festival grounds without many people. A few things chile, but more of a food and snack type thing with a few vendors selling some cookware and such. But - what was evident - keeping the chile growing in New Mexico and the farmers prosper from it!




I’ll post up a few replies here with some photos to show the fun! First up we will go with the food!

first we sampled some brittle - they had peanut, pecan and pistachio - the pistachio was my favorite and of course it’s chile themed! This was my loot! The red chile pistachio was phenomenal!



Next up - as my son is with us for the weekend - he gave the funnel cake a try - no complaints from him, must have been good because it was gone within seconds!



After some sweets, we went looking for some salsa samples….



my son….hahaha! Can you guess which one he tried!



then it was time for a little lunch snack - checking out these big ass turkey legs that came from this gigantic cooker! They were ok - I’ve had better but fun to get one. Been a while since my wife and I have had a festival turkey leg!

[barelfly]

Next up - some of the vendors on display!

this stop - a number of styles of molcajetes. I haven’t see this many styles in person before. Pretty cool to see and this lady was mixing something up into a paste. She knew what she was doing!





as we walked away, I see someone that looks familiar. Standing in a cowboy hat over a large Brazilian style grill. I watched for a bit as he took a flame thrower to the lump charcoal and as he looks up….it’s him! Cowboy Kent Rollins! He was busy so I waited a bit and went back to say hello and tell him I enjoy his videos. He was cooking up skirt steak from a local ranch and making TACOS!!!!!!!! haha. Tacos on red chile tortillas nonetheless! But he was kind enough to chat with me a bit and take a photo.






Just down the road, a demonstration on how to make a chile ristra. These are everywhere in New Mexico - we have a few at the house, one usually hanging on our front door that is probably 3-4’ in length. Another in our kitchen that hangs on our oven hood. You can use as decoration or use to cook with as you need chile. Start fresh but dry out over time and are beautiful decorations!

[barelfly]

Of course Smoked Transistors - it was fun! See the additional photos I shared below!

[STEbbq]

That looks like a seriously under-loaded taco there buddy. Hahaha.

[barelfly]

STEbbq - yes, but since it was free…..it was really good meat and Kent Rollins’ salsa was really good as well. So I told him I’d let him slide this time after we took the picture

[barelfly]

After the walk around the festival grounds, we headed out to the town to see some of the shops. It was absolutely packed! Walking around people on sidewalks, cars bumper to bumper on the street trying to find parking. But the main places were filled with people waiting on their roasted chile! Big roasters stacked 4-5 deep, hundreds of sacks of green chile just waiting for that kiss of fire and roasting!



and as I mentioned above, chile ristras everywhere! These are the longest ristras I’ve ever seen and the going rate was $12 a foot! Red, green, multi-colored chiles hanging for the taking!





and my wife’s pick of ristras to replace chile pequin ristra hanging on our vent hood at home. Really liked the splash of color on this one.



And then as we walked further down the street - the infamous Sparky’s. This place is usually busy but today it was Texas BBQ hot spot busy! The line wrapped around the building and didn’t really seem to be moving! But it’s a cool little spot with some fun statues around the building and across the street. All for that wonderful green chile cheeseburger

[barelfly]

And the last post for the festival was my purchase. I’ve been looking for a smaller paella pan, preferably carbon steel, so I can cook paella for just my wife and I. Well, this gentleman had a tent with some beautiful carbon steel pans, all made by him out of Paint Rock, Texas. I talked with him a bit, looked at the various offerings and decided to walk around a bit because it was early in the day and I didn’t want to walk around carrying anything. Well, I went back after and couldn’t help myself! So I ended up coming home with this 11” paella pan. I love that the rivets aren’t on the surface of the cooking area like others happen to have. It is such a cool piece of workmanship. He asked me how I would use it and what I liked to cook with. He said I’d be right at home when I told him I cook only on cast iron or carbon steel pans.

Randy’s company is called 3Nail Ironware www.3nailironware.com and he makes these paella pans as well as shallow fry pans and deep skillets. But I can’t wait to break this thing in when we get back home!











in all we had a great time and enjoyed seeing the town of Hatch booming with people, eating great food, smiling and enjoying that wonderful aroma of roasted green chile!

[SheilaAnn]

💕💕💕

[hoovarmin]

Love this pan! Expecting many paella posts in the near future!

[Jim White]

Definitely a bucket list item to make it there some day.

Thanks for this write-up, it felt like we were there with you.

[DaveD]

Wow, this was a great set of posts barelfly!! Delighted for you that you had such a good time, and it is excellent to see your smiling face Well done!!

[barelfly]

thank you both - I hope everyone enjoys these photos and posts given the love for green chile!!!

DaveD - I hope it brings back a bit of New Mexico for you! And Jim White if you do make it this way you gotta let me know so we can have a Sparky Green Chile Cheeseburger together!

[DaveD]

barelfly I miss NM a lot. It had its downsides to be sure, but so many upsides, like geology as far as the eye can see - which is a LONG way in that clear, dry air. I remember one could routinely see almost all the way to Socorro from up on the heights in eastern ABQ, 50-60 mile visibility. Contrast that with the <1 mile typical for Houston, with so so much water vapor in the air. There is nothing like the skies of NM...

[Sid P]

Looks like a great time!

[Draznnl]

What a fun time. Ristras and paella pans for everyone!

[hoovarmin]

That festival looks like a really interesting possibility for a future Pit meet-up. Fantastic thread, Jeremy. Thanks so much. You guys have me chomping at the bit to get in on the roasted hatch action.

[barelfly]

a Pit meet up would be excellent! Few spots in Las Cruces that re good and then Hatch!