Which dried chilies?

[RonB]

I want to take a stab at beef birria tacos, but some around here can't take much heat.

What mild dried chilies should I look for. There is a Hispanic grocery/restaurant about 15 min from the house.

[Red Man]

Guajillo are mild with a nice flavor.

[CaptainMike]

Guajillos, as Red Man mentioned, Poblano/Ancho, California, New Mexico, Chile Negro. Any combination of those will give you good results with very little to no heat. Those are the ones I use regularly and if I want a little pizzazz I'll toss in cayenne, chipotle (smoked and dried jalapenos) and/or or arbol chiles.

Also, if the store is a carniceria then see if you can talk to the butcher and tell him what you're trying to do. They'll likely have goat meat too if you want to go authentico.

[shify]

Birria isn’t really spicy and none of the chiles typically in it (guajillo, anchos, etc) are spicy. If your recipe has Chile de Arbol I’d skip those to keep it less spicy

[Bad Hat BBQ]

Big fan of the Ancho that CaptainMike mentioned

[Texas Larry]

Yep, anchos, guajillos, and cascabels (with slightly more heat) could all fit the bill. A dried blend of those makes a nice chili powder. Stay away from chipotles and especially arbols and for less heat. FWIW.

[58limited]

The others pretty much mentioned all of the milder peppers. If you can get them, a dried red Hatch adds a nice but not too spicy note.

I posted my recipe awhile back, it does have some hot peppers that can be omitted but it really wasn't that spicy (by Texas standards): https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...o-tacos-recipe

[RonB]

Well - Back in the 70s, (the good ol days), I was stationed in San Diego. One day I went to a restaurant on base and saw that they had chili on t he menu. A choice of mild, med., or hot. I thought I liked hot , (raised in VA where pepper is considered hot), but ordered med to be safe. I
had never had anything that hot and I was drunk by the time I drank enough beer to cool the fire, so your advisement of "Texas standards" is noted.

Now I can take the hot stuff, but I don't go lookin' fer heat.

[RonB]

(Continued)

I look for flavor, and if it takes some heat to get there, I don't mind. I really like chili bean paste in Chinese, but can only use a little 'cause SWIMBO does not like anything hotter than East Coast med heat.

[Murdy]

I ordered some Thai food from a place in the Chicago burbs a few years back. I asked for it hot; they asked me, "American hot or Thai hot." I opted for Thai hot. I managed to eat about a third of it, and it was very good; however, once I got my mouth cooled back down, I just didn't have the will to consume any more of it. If someone would have broke in my house while I was eating my dinner that day, I think I could have successfully repelled the entry by throwing my food at his face.

[Mark V]

Most traditional recipes use guajillo and ancho, 50/50. Then add arbols for heat if desired.

[texastweeter]

Guajillo, ancho, and pasilla

[ofelles]

Ditto the above.

[barelfly]

the adobo recipe I use for birria includes what others have mentioned, guajillo and ancho, but also chipotle morita. I’ve posted a few times on it, because it’s birria and it’s one of my favorites!

But, either way, any combo is going to work. Just go with what you can find. I also think that the adobo sauce comes alive from the Mexican oregano and apple cider vinegar. That is if you go with that type of adobo sauce.

have fun! Makes me crave some birria!!!!!

[CaptainMike]

Oh yeah!!

[tbob4]

Jalapeno, Fresno, Santa Fe or Anaheim peppers - all with the seeds cored - will give you a little kick and bitterness without the heat. When I am cooking for myself, I leave the seeds in. When I am cooking for my wife, they are cored. It makes a big difference.

[fzxdoc]

Scoville Units tell most of the story for me when I'm cooking for people who don't like spicy dried peppers. One person's mild is another person's blow-their-eyeballs-out hot. So I start with SHUs but taste along the way as I'm cooking with peppers, mindful of who will be eating it.

FWIW, I compiled this list and keep it in my dried pepper basket in the pantry:

Anaheim: Seco del Norte when green. Mild with a sharp flavor. 600-2500 Scoville Units (SHUs)

Cascabel: Nutty and smoky. Traditional in Birria sauce. 1500-2500 SHUs

Ancho: Poblano when green. Sweet and smoky. Mole or adobo sauces 1000-2000 SHUs

Pasilla: Chilaca when green, Also called Chile Negro. Spicy raisin flavor. 1000 to 2000 SHUs

Mulato: a different variety of Poblano that is also dried longer than those in Ancho. Smoky with a hint of chocolate. 2500-3000 SHUs

Dried New Mexican Chile: Most common is Hatch. Heat index all over the place, so check the label for Mild, Med, or Hot. 700-8000 SHUs (Red ones are used for decoration)

Guajillo: Complex smoky flavor. Great in Chile Colorado. 2500-5000 SHUs

Puya: Fruity but very hot. 5000-8000 SUs

Chipotle: a smoked jalapeno. Chile Morita is smoked less and has soft purple skin. Chile Meco is smoked longer and has dark grey skin. 5,000-10,000 SUs.

Arbol: Between a jalapeno and cayenne. Used sparingly in sauces or chopped for chile flakes. 30,000 to 50,000 SUs

Pequin: 40,000 to 60,000 SUs

Thai Bird's Eye: 50,000 to 100,000

For reference to fresh peppers:

Habaneros: 100,000 to 350,000 SHUs
Serranos: 6,000-23,000 SHUs
Jalapenos: 2500 to 8,000 SHUs
Paprika, pepperoncini: 100-900 SHUs
Bell peppers: 0 SHUs.

I love hot spicy food, but my husband, not so much. So I usually cook "guajillo and lower" on SHUs and have chopped fresh jalapenos, serranos or habaneros (all with their seeds) for me to sprinkle on top.

Kathryn

[58limited]

That is a great list. I'm printing it out to keep with my peppers for quick reference.

When I make chili powder (never the same recipe twice) I like to go a bit heavy on the Mulato pepper, gives it a nice depth of flavor. Even with all of the Latin markets around here Cascabels are hard to come by.

[texastweeter]

Love Paquin, have some on farm.

[barelfly]

What a great resource - I love that you have the flavor profiles added in more than anything! It’s that type of detail that truly makes a dish stand out when you are wanting a specific profile! Thank you for posting Kathryn!

[fzxdoc]

Yeah, 58limited , I have a hard time finding cascabels as well. When I do, I grab a bag or two. Found locally, they're about 1/4th the price of online ordering.

I like them in mole too.

Kathryn

[Potkettleblack]

You poor souls who don't have enough population diversity to have nice Mexican groceries near your regular grocery, or have a massive Mexican section in your grocery, with random Mexican stuff sorted in with the usual stuff... come New Years, Rompompe packages ready to go.

Come to Chicago... we have Cascabels for years.

[Potkettleblack]

fzxdoc's guide above is great, reminded me of a Kenji article, which I dug up:

https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-clean-and-prepare-dried-chilies-chili-powder-substitute

How to Buy Chilies


Dried whole chilies can be found in most large supermarkets and any Latin market. They come in a baffling array, so I decided to taste every variety of whole chili I could find, taking note of both its spice level and its flavor profile. I saw that most of them fell into one of four distinct categories:

• Sweet and fresh: These peppers have distinct aromas reminiscent of red bell peppers and fresh tomatoes. They include costeño; New Mexico (a.k.a. dried Anaheim, California, or Colorado); and choricero peppers.
• Hot: An overwhelming heat. The best, like cascabels, also have some complexity, while others, like the pequÃn or árbol, deliver more heat than anything else.
• Smoky: Some peppers, like chipotles (dried, smoked jalapeños), are smoky because of the way they are dried. Others, like ñora or guajillo chilies, have a natural musty, charred-wood smokiness.
• Rich and fruity: Distinct aromas of sun-dried tomatoes, raisins, chocolate, and coffee. Some of the best-known Mexican chilies, like anchos, mulatos, and pasillas, are in this category.

I'd be sure in the processing to remove all seeds and ribs. That will prevent any runaway heat.

With everything Mexican, I start the search with Rick Bayless.

https://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Birria-Goat-or-Lamb-with-Sauce/

He uses just a single pasilla for a 3-5 lbs piece of meat.

After Rick, I look to Pati Jinich:

https://patijinich.com/birria/

Patty uses 10 guajillos for the same amount of meat.

She also offers a Jalisco style (gonna be hotter, that's Jalisco): https://patijinich.com/jalisco-style-birria/
4 ancho, 4 guajillo, 4 cascabels and 3 morita chipotles

The Jalisco style is gonna be a bigger chili flavor, fruity ancho, smoky guajillo, complex cascabel, and more smokiness from morita chipotle.

Last, I look around Chicago, particularly if there's a famous place for it. For Birria we'd be in luck, as we have Archer Height's Birrieria Zaragoza, which has been recognized as a Michelin Bib Gourmand for good quality and good value cooking (bit more prestigious than it sounds). Best I can do there is a video interview at Zaragoza. I think it's arbols that go in the sauce, which is bad for you, as they are HOT!

https://youtu.be/1NTJSV7X9Oc