I do mine on the kettle over direct heat, turning every 30-seconds to a minute or so until I get a decent amount of char. I then take them off, or move them to the indirect side to keep warm if I am cooking something else. Here's a photo from earlier this month, with the chiles on the 'warmer' while I get the corn finished:
MAK 2 Star pellet
Big Green Egg
Fuego gasser
Pitboss ceramic griddle
Eastman Outdoors wok burner
Ooni 16 pizza oven
Cast iron chimenea with pizza steel
Breeo smokeless fire pit, with Titan rotisserie and Titan Santa Maria style adjustable grate
Oklahoma Joe Bronco
Local Fred Meyer grocery (Kroger) has Hatch chiles, store brand, for $1.49/lb. Mosca above noted "Hatch" vs Hatch chiles. What is the difference, how do I tell?
I did a lot of reading about New Mexico peppers. Honestly I don’t think you can. Within what are called Hatch peppers, there are dozens of varieties. And within the Hatch Valley, Big Jims from “over here” can be slightly different from Big Jims “over there”. And even The Hatch Chile Pepper Store, on their own website, says that peppers grown right next to each other can vary in heat level.
The ones I’m getting are fantastic, and I’m not going to think about it past that.
To be clear, I won't be cooking anything else, this will be a dedicated process solely for roasting the chiles.
Even though it might be a bit more trouble, I am kinda inclined to try 2 zone with a chunk of wood on the coals and letting the chiles sit on the indirect side for half an hour or so before moving them over to the hot side for blistering. I don't think doing that can hurt anything... ya think?
EDIT: Moments after I posted this, I started thinking the very thoughts that barelfly posted a short while later, namely that the skins are the only thing that could take up any smoke, and they're gonna get blistered and charred anyway. Very little chance the subtlety of a short amount of time with smoke would persist through that step, and then all the skins come off anyway.
So belay the above: Just gonna blister 'em over coals. Easy peasy. Thanks for all the input folks!
Smokin-It 3D
Weber Kettle with an SNS
Masterbuilt kettle that I call the $30 wonder grill
Bullet by Bull Grills gasser
Anova WiFi sous vide machine
Thermoworks Thermapen and Chef Alarm
My only thought on trying to get smoke on these. The skin will be removed, so will they maintain that smoke? Or even take on smoke being that it’s a tough outer skin to start? And then charring afterwords so that you can peel. Does the char overtake that flavor.
I don’t think it can hurt but not sure if it provides what you are after. Perhaps try the process on a few first, then taste one on a tortilla to check for flavor. If it’s there, go for it. If not, then just crank the heat and roast them?
You know, as soon as I posted my most recent, I started to think exactly this. The skins are coming off regardless, and as you say, they're pretty substantial. I think I'm changing my mind!
Love, Love, Love those Hatch Green Chiles. I may need to reload up on a few more pounds before they are gone this season. I've been eating them with eggs like there is no tomorrow.
Large Big Green Egg, Weber Performer Deluxe, Weber Smokey Joe Silver, Fireboard Drive, 3 DigiQs, lots of Thermapens, and too much other stuff to mention.
Holy moly that looks fantastic! That scallopini cook the other day looked tremendous. And I can see that the Mosca Rule of Tomatoes is still in full effect...!
MAK 2 Star pellet
Big Green Egg
Fuego gasser
Pitboss ceramic griddle
Eastman Outdoors wok burner
Ooni 16 pizza oven
Cast iron chimenea with pizza steel
Breeo smokeless fire pit, with Titan rotisserie and Titan Santa Maria style adjustable grate
Oklahoma Joe Bronco
As of Sept. 1 Fred Meyer is out of Hatch chiles. Produce guy says short season. They get cases from Hatch NM, then bag them at the store. Looks like a store brand, but is not.
I just bought about 12.5 lbs yesterday. I'm wondering if I should go get some more... gonna be a long weekend of roasting them. The roasting isn't the bad part, actually, it's the PEELING.
UGH.
You guys have any real tips for getting the skins off these once they're smoked and roasted? I've put 'em in a plastic zipper bag to steam, but removing the seeds, ribs and skins still is likely to take a few hours, outside the roasting process.
My lovely bride puts them in a pyrex baking dish and covers with Saran (plastic) wrap, and leaves them overnight. You can see in the photos I posted above, she typically gets the skins to slide right off. But there's no real alternative for deseeding than just getting in there and scraping them out with your fingers. We never get them all, and we're fine with that.
Only took me about 45 minutes to stem, seed, and skin 25 lbs by hand. When I grilled them, I put them in a deep steam well pan covered in foil to steam, then into the fridge over night.
Last edited by 58limited; September 1, 2023, 05:14 PM.
I have yet to partake in Hatch Chile, I’m almost scared of trying them, knowing I’m going to love them. Hell I’ve joined in on the Rancho Gordo wagon, and slowly loving wild fork, bad influences, everyone of you!
Last edited by Richard Chrz; September 2, 2023, 11:16 AM.
Roasted up our second box of chiles today. After all the back and forth about which cooker, I just did them on the gasser as usual. Once I thought through the fact that the skins are coming off and no smokiness would get through them to the chile inside in the few minutes it takes to roast them, it made no sense to do it otherwise. Plus, all the drum roasters I ever saw in New Mexico were fired by propane gas too. If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me!
Got 'em covered in Saran on the counter for the next few hours so they can steam, then into the fridge. I'll process them tomorrow.
Its that time of year again but Hatch chilies have gone up in price quite a bit. My local HEB started carrying them at the end of July (pretty early in the season) and they were almost $2/lb. Online a 25 lb case is $70 this year.
Today I checked HEB and they have them on sale for $0.97/lb so I bought a case of hot chilies. There were two bad ones in the box so the produce manager deducted an entire pound. I paid $23.28 for 24 lbs of peppers, by far the cheapest I've ever bought them. I weighed the box at work and the total with the cardboard box came to 27.7 lbs. I'm going to roast them tonight.
I got 25# one year, that was way too much. I top out at around 5# before my taste buds move on to something different. They’re usually around $1/50/lb here.
My toys:
Weber Summit Charcoal Grilling Center (WSCGC) aka Mr. Fancypants
Pit Barrel Cooker (which rocks), named Pretty Baby
Weber Summit S650 Gas Grill, named Hot 'n Fast (used mostly for searing and griddling)
Weber Kettle Premium 22" named Kettle Kid, eager to horn in with more cooks in the future
Camp Chef Somerset IV 4-burner outdoor gas range named AfterBurner due to its 30kBTU burners
Adrenaline BBQ Company Gear:
SnS Low Profile, DnG, and Large Charcoal Basket, for WSCGC
SnS Deluxe for 22" Kettle
Elevated SS Rack for WSCGC
SS Rack for DnG
Cast Iron Griddle
Grill Grate for SnS
Grill Grates: five 17.375 sections (retired to storage)
Grill Grates: six 19.25 panels for exact fit for Summit S650
gasser
Grill Grates for 22" Kettle
2 Grill Grate Griddles
Steelmade Griddle for Summit gas grill
Fireboard Gear:
Extreme BBQ Thermometer Package
Additional control unit
Additional probes: Competition Probes 1" (3) and 4" (1), 3 additional Ambient Probes. 1 additional Food Probe
2 Driver Cables
Pit Viper Fan (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Pit Viper Fan new design (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Thermoworks Gear:
Thermapen MK4 (pink)
Thermapen Classic (pink too)
Thermoworks MK4 orange
Temp Test 2 Smart Thermometer
Extra Big and Loud Timer
Timestick Trio
Maverick ET 73 a little workhorse with limited range
Maverick ET 733
Maverick (Ivation) ET 732
Grill Pinz
Vortex (two of them)
18" drip pan for WSCGC
Ceramic Spacers for WSCGC in Kamado Mode: 2 sets each 1/2", 1", 2". The 2" spacers work best with the 18" drip pan. The 1+1/2 inch spacers work best with the 14 inch cake pan.
Two Joule Sous Vide devices
3 Lipavi Sous Vide Tubs with Lids: 12, 18 and 26 quarts
Avid Armor Ultra Pro V32 Chamber Sealer
Instant Pot 6 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Instant Pot 10 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Charcoal Companion TurboQue
A-Maze-N tube 12 inch tube smoker accessory for use with pellets
BBQ Dragon and Dragon Chimney
Shun Classic Series:
8" Chef Knife
6" Chef's Knife
Gokujo Boning and Fillet Knife
3 1/2 inch Paring Knife
I needa think of a good/better way to roast them. Last year I did about 12lbs I think, in my offset, but it was a little bit of a PITA, flipping, rotating, keeping an eye on them, etc.
I wish I had one of those baskets to put them in a rotisserie over a fire on my kettle or something. But building something like that to use once a year is also kinda overkill.
Not sure what to do, what to do...
Think just putting them in racks in my Camp Chef Smoke Vault is a good idea? I think I've only got 2 racks, but I could come up with something for more. Or buy a couple more racks. Run it at 350-400 for an hour at a time with buncha pecan chunks or something?
Roasting them on the kettle would also be small batches, so kinda a pain, too.
I wanna do a large batch all at once without having to flip and rotate. Lazy, I know. The rotisserie chile roaster drum is all I can think of for that.
I'm using the Weber and the PK-O but yes, it is a bit of a pain. The most I roasted in one year is 110 lbs - multiple orders over several weeks but that was really a PITA. I would like the roasting basket but, like you, its hard to justify for a once a year use.
Rarely do I need to roast my own green chile, I usually do 50lbs at the farmers market. But when I have had to, my gasser is my go to. Lay them out on the grates and let ‘er rip. I don’t think 350-400 is going to be hot enough to get the charring a flame will give. I know this is flip and rotate but it works if it’s not a huge batch.
I use a rotisserie tumble basket on my Weber gasser. Fairly cheap, mebbe $50/$60. Works for roasted red bells as well and probably wings. I need to try wings!
Comment